Maintenance – all servers

July 30th, 2010

This date is subject to confirmation, but on Saturday August 7th we will be performing minor maintenance on all servers to update to the latest versions of Apache, Nginx and PHP 5.2 to provide the latest features, security and performance.

This work is usually seamless with no disruption seen except for a momentary restart of the HTTP servers. We will, as always, do whatever we can to keep any disruption to a minimum.

Nginx – proven, stable, and fast!

Servers which do not currently operate Nginx will also have Nginx installed now that our configuration is proven after months of running on about half of our servers. The speed improvements are fantastic over a standard ‘cPanel & Apache’ setup.

PHP – last bugfix update to 5.2

We will be updating PHP from 5.2.13 to 5.2.14 which resolves numerous issues. Importantly, PHP 5.2.14 is also the last bugfix release in the PHP 5.2 series, meaning that we will be looking at migrating to PHP 5.3 in the near future where possible. News on this will be posted nearer the time; I mention this here only as an early warning – PHP 5.3 is a great improvement over 5.2, but with many changes. Security updates will also be issued for 5.2 so there is no urgent requirement for us to move to 5.3.

To ensure your site will be compatible with PHP 5.3, please check you are running the latest version of any software your site runs. Most popular software is now 5.3 compatible.

If you use your own scripts, a migration guide available on http://php.net/migration53, details the changes between PHP 5.2 and PHP 5.3.

As always if you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact us.

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Support Email Piping Issue Resolved

July 22nd, 2010

I am very pleased to report that the issue with our support email piping has now been resolved.

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Support Email Piping Issue

July 21st, 2010

We are currently experiencing issues with our email piping software which pipes the emails you send to us from your email client to the helpdesk resulting in the email bouncing back and not getting to us.

We are working on this right now but until the issue is resolved, if you need to reply to a ticket then please do so by going directly to your support ticket via your Client Area unti the issue has been resolved.

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MYSQL Errors on Caracas

July 19th, 2010

As you may be aware, caracas.footholds.net (91.198.165.201) – today experienced unexpected downtime.

I’ve investigated and made various tweaks to the system to prevent a recurrence of today’s problem, whereby MySQL became unresponsive for approximately 32 minutes. This had a few confusing side effects such as causing cPanel to stop functioning or give the impression that your account’s databases were not present, as cPanel relies on MySQL for real-time database information.

This is the only such problem we have ever seen with MySQL, across any of our servers and we sincerely apologise.

We use the latest software (PHP 5.2.13, MySQL 5.0.91 (5.1 is not possible to upgrade to on existing systems)) resulting in a stable and secure environment –  this is the only issue on Caracas (and one of only a few on any of our servers) to last more than a few minutes. We have a class-leading SLA which backs this up.

We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this caused.

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Join us on Facebook

July 9th, 2010

Following client feedback regarding important announcements and updates we are very pleased to tell you that we have set up a new page on the Social Networking website Facebook.

We understand that a number of clients forget all about our blog and so they miss out on important annoucements while other clients do not understand how to subscribe to a feed so we hope that joining Facebook will make things considerably easier for most to keep up with what’s going on. Our blog will remain so we will post on both our blog and our Facebook page which will hopefully cover all bases. If you are a Facebook member then simply visit our page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hampshire-Web-Design/141945892487868? and click on the “LIKE” button then any updates posted will appear immediately on your wall for only you to see which will save you having to keep checking our blog.

If you have any questions regarding this announcement then please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Thank you for your continued support.

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T9 – 91.198.165.131

June 27th, 2010

This server will be undergoing maintenance tonight to update its software which will result in a few minutes’ inaccessibility while we carry out the work. We will also be testing Nginx on this system, too!

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T9 – 91.198.165.131

June 7th, 2010

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Keep your software updated! FAO e107 users

June 6th, 2010

This is a reminder that it is vital to keep your site’s software up to date to prevent exploits which target outdated, insecure software versions.

Please ensure you always use the latest available version of any scripts your site uses. Tonight I have been cleaning up every single e107 installation across all our servers after a new exploit was discovered.

If you run e107, you must update to the latest available version or it is likely your account will be exploited – allowing attackers to gain access to your installation and launch attacks at innocent web users.

This applies to all scripts, such as various past WordPress exploits. The best way to keep updated is to check the script’s webpage, such as WordPress.org for WordPress. Most developers also provide RSS feeds, and the Softaculous auto-installer system is prompt to update its script versions too and can provide email notification.

In particular if you auto-install software to try it out, please remove it if you don’t use it.

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Possible Delays Wednesday 19 & Thursday 20 May

May 18th, 2010

Due to Andy being away on Wednesday the 19th May 2010 until Friday 21st May 2010 customers may experience slight delays in order processing and support although our 24 hour turnaround promise will remain.

During this period we will not be taking telephone calls personally, however you can leave a voicemail and someone will return your call ASAP.

Thank you for your continued support and we apologise in advance if this causes you any inconvenience.

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Kernel Upgrades

April 26th, 2010

Over the next few days we will be updating various shared hosting servers which will require a brief reboot. These will be performed after 11pm and will cause ~3 – 5 minutes disruption, but result in improved security and performance.

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