Announcements

Server Software Upgrades

18/12/2007 00:00

This announcement includes extremely important information pertaining to our upcoming server software updates. It is critical that all clients take the time to read this announcement in its entirety. All resellers are asked to relay this information to their own clients and send out reminders in the run up to key dates as we will be doing.

An overview of the updates to be preformed have been listed below. Additional details on each update will be provided later in this announcement.

Update to cPanel v11

Update to Apache 2.2

PHP 5.2.5 configured as the PRIMARY PHP version PHP 4.4.7 configured as the SECONDARY PHP version Update of Eaccelerator Update of Zend Optimizer Update of IonCube Exim ACL updates Frontpage EOL Due to the magnitude and potential side effects of these updates, we will be contacting all clients multiple times over the course of the next month with reminders. For those of you that are already aware of the changes, we ask that you bare with us. The time table and key dates for the scheduled maintenance will be as follows.

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General maintenance commences: Monday, January 07, 2008

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Monday, January 07 - Maintenance to be preformed on all shared and reseller servers (shared hosting accounts and reseller accounts)

Update to cPanel v11

The update to cPanel and WHM 11 brings an extensive update with upgrades in nearly every section of the control panel. Along with a ton of new features the update brings enhanced security, an improved design and enhanced usability. For more detailed information, release notes or data sheets please see the official cPanel website. (http://www.cpanel.net/products/cPanelandWHM/linux/cpanel11/index.html)

Update to Apache 2.2

As of now all servers have been utilizing the Apache 1.3 web server and we now ready to make the upgrade to Apache 2.2. Although the update does not include many new features, it does include a new code base which is faster overall.

PHP 5.2.5 configured as the PRIMARY PHP version In May 2006 we installed PHP v5 in a testing environment in addition to the primary version 4 install. This allowed everyone to test compatibility between scripts in preparation for the upgrade to v5 as the primary in the future. Since February 2007, all new servers have had v5 as the primary install with no secondary and we're happy to report that there have been no issues reported or compatibility problems for anyone on this PHP version.

Due to the above, we now will be upgrading all of our shared/reseller servers to PHP version 5 as the primary version. I know many have been waiting patiently for this and some have hoped it would never happen; but with PHP announcing the end of official support for PHP4 at the end of this year, its inevitable that all hosting providers (including us) need to upgrade.

To confirm, if any clients are knowingly using scripts/applications that are not compatible with PHP5, please upgrade them soon to save any problems after the PHP5 upgrade. For any home made scripts (and others for that matter) we recommend testing them in PHP as guided at the link above to check all will work fine after the upgrade.

Please see the links below which provide additional detail on PHP5, script migrations, etc:

http://gophp5.org/

http://www.php.net/manual/en/migration5.php

http://www.php.net/manual/en/migration5.functions.php

http://www.php.net/manual/en/migration5.incompatible.php

http://www.faqts.com/knowledge_base/view.phtml/aid/22154/fid/1150

PHP 4.4.7 configured as the SECONDARY PHP version During the above work, PHP v4 will be put into place as a secondary install but it must be remembered that this is a temporary measure and must not be relied upon. We do not have a set date for when the secondary PHP4 will be removed but it will no longer be maintained or supported after the PHP5 install so all clients need to do whatever necessary to use PHP5 (in most cases, nothing special is needed).

Update of Eaccelerator

Update of Zend Optimizer

Update of IonCube

Eaccelerator is a PHP accelerator, optimizer and dynamic content cache. It increases the performance of PHP scripts by caching them in their compiled state, so that the overhead of compiling is almost completely eliminated. Additionally, it also optimizes scripts to speed up their execution times. After the maintenance is complete will be posting graphs of our servers showing the significant effect that Eaccelerator, combined with our custom server configurations and optimizations, have resulted in. Along with this software, both Zend Optimizer and IonCube will be updated to the latest stable versions.

Frontpage EOL (end of life)

In mid 2006 Microsoft announced the discontinuation of FrontPage server extensions. The official end of life was reached on June 30th of 2006. Because of these circumstances we will no longer be supporting FrontPage extensions as they are no longer maintained by Microsoft. Any client that uses FrontPage extensions will need to find an alternative method to update their website(s). Options include, but are not limited to: continue using FrontPage but upload files via an FTP program, use a web design program other then FrontPage, use a CMS system or Microsoft's new Expression Web Design software.

Exim ACL updates

Lastly, we will be doing our regular update of spam filters to help combat spam and lower the amount that is received to your inbox.

Please open a support ticket if you have any questions.

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