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All posts by artur

Shared hosting plans upgrade

Hosting

Along with the very exciting news about the launch of the VPS product, something equally important received no attention. You may have noticed that the Home and Professional shared hosting packages were upgraded to:

HOME:
200 GB Storage
2,000 GB Transfer

PROFESSIONAL
300 GB Storage
3,000 GB Transfer

The prices did not change, the plans are $6.55 and $9.99, and of course all of our existing clients are automatically upgraded to the new feature set.

New VPS product launch

Hosting

As we enter the second week of 2007, I am very happy to present a revolutionary new concept in hosting, Virtual Private Server (VPS) technology, also known as Virtual Dedicated Server. It allows for one server to have many virtual machines coexisting side by side. Each with their own set of software, root user, services, virtual memory and cpu process isolation. In plain terms, one physical server can host many independent servers.

Honestly it’s not such a new concept, IBM has used it in their mainframes since before history of time. But the technology was not available in any reasonable way to end users until very recently.

What it is good for:

1) Websites with sensitive data who cannot afford a security breach. Regular hosting accounts share space and daemons (server software: email, web, database, etc.) with each other. There is always a risk that one user’s poorly written script will open a back door to hackers to steal other users’ information. VPS technology eliminates this risk almost completely because only your own software runs on your VPS.

2) People who don’t want to share a server with too many users. Since VPS users have guaranteed storage space, there are significantly fewer users than on a shared system. For instance, while a shared system may run 500 websites, a VPS may only host 10-30 other users.

3) Users who need more resources than a shared hosting server can provide, but can’t justify a full dedicated server. CPU intensive websites are generally moved onto VPS to free up resources on our shared hosting servers. This is common practice for customers with very intensive websites such as forums and other database intensive applications. Since VPS can allocate CPU “time” it helps to guarantee that your website runs quickly.

4) People who can’t afford a dedicated server but REALLY REALLY want one.

5) Developers, great for testing applications. VPS allows you to isolate your software until you are absolutely certain it is ready for prime time.

6) Users that don’t want the hassle of dealing with operating system issues. Such as kernels, file systems, etc.

What it is NOT:

1) A VPS is NOT a dedicated server.
2) You cannot compile your own kernel.
3) Limited RAM. Although everyone has Guaranteed RAM, they may burst up to the full amount of ram on the server. But as more users are added, everyone scales down to whatever is available at the time.
4) You don’t have 100% of CPU time, same situation as #3.

We are very excited about this new VPS line and time will show that it is the next step in hosting technology.

Server ORANGE upgrade

Maintenance

If I could pick one thing to do all day long for the next 10 years, without a moment’s hesitation, it would be tinker with server hardware. I’m talking about the kind of stuff that your IT department geeks are too ashamed of talking about by the water cooler.

Unfortunately (or fortunately) my role in the company has drifted into another arena and I rarely get to geek out. Yesterday (Wednesday, Nov 1st) was an exception. Shared server ORANGE, is a mature server that has been running for almost two years without any major issues. It hosts several hundred websites and is by no means overloaded. But in the past two weeks it was having high server load that could not be explained.
While only a handful of customers noticed that email was arriving slower than usual, our network admin was busy putting out this “fire” by following every procedure to decrease load. This helped stabilize the situation somewhat, but it was a patch at best, and by no means a solution.

When all possibilities were exhausted, I was called in to make the final call. My directive was to upgrade the hardware and take our users out of the line of fire, and then troubleshoot the old parts to see what is causing the problem.  To make the story a little shorter, that’s exactly what they did and it made a tremendous difference.
So if you ever wondered what some of these systems consist of, here is a base line shared hosting system that we use today:

  • 2 Dual Core XEON 5130 (2.00 GHz) Woodcrest CPU – 4 Processors total
  • 1366 MHz bus speed
  • ECC Registered RAM
  • Hardware RAID Controller for SATA Drives
  • WD Raptor 1500ADFD hard drives with 10,000 RPM drive speed fastest in its class

Normally the shared servers use SCSI hard drives which are much faster than SATA, but to ease the transition of an already working server, WD Raptors were used because we could simply take out one of the old drives and rebuild the array onto the new (much faster) Raptors, one at a time.

It sure worked well! No delays of any sort!  And it turned out to be a bad drive in the array that could not keep up with the rest of the healthy hard drives and was slowing down write operations.
So the moral of the story, most problems disappear if you just throw money at them.

One rough Monday

Maintenance, Misc

So while last Friday went without any problems, today is Monday so something was to be expected. No wonder that it is supposedly the most common day of the week for heart attacks.

As the day began and all system components began stressing out with highest load of the week (monday morning) the weakest link failed, the power unit. All 4 RAID drives were spinning and CPU usage (and power consumption) shot through the roof as the email began to pour in and tens of thousands of little files were being written to the mail system. But to be fair, these things happen, nobody is immune from hardware failure, this is why I always stress having a full backup of all your content.

In little less than an hour, everything was back to normal. RAID array checked out, file system checked out, temperature nominal on the new power unit. All was well until the hour-long outage began to catch up with us in the form of an avalance of email that was not received on time. When it began to pour in, it really hit hard.

The bad news is that it took a few hours to work through the queue and there was a delay with real-time messages.  The good news is that as a result of this experience a new mail system is being implemented that will eliminate 90% of all spam before it arrives at the hosting servers. This mail will be filtered out as it hits the network and will reduce the stress on machines that have other tasks to handle such as serving websites.

Testing will begin early next week and we should be fully implemented before end of the month.

A very good week

Misc

Today is Friday the 13th.  A mysterious day where you should stay in bed because terrible things will happen.  Don’t walk under the ladder, don’t spill salt, don’t cross the path of a black cat.  I don’t know, it’s the end of the day and still feeling happy and upbeat.

It has been an amazingly busy week in an overly busy month but for some reason I was able to tear myself away from the paperwork and look back in retrospect.  This happens less often now that things have become so busy, but I realize this is more important than having your head buried in daily routine.  Overall, I have to say that this was a very good week, much was accomplished.

It still shocks me to look over the New Sign ups roster and recognize just one or two of the names.  Used to be that majority of our new sign ups were either existing clients or referred by existing clients.  Today, our genetic pool has become diverse to the point where it is going to be difficult to say where the majority of our new clients are located.  Some in Europe, Middle East, Asia, South America and of course a great number from North America but it is becoming quite diverse.

While I’m here writing, something new and exciting is going to be announced in the upcoming week.  While I can’t tell you details yet, I will just say that we have added a sizable addition to our eBoundHost family.

I hope the week was as meaningful and successful to all of you as well.  Have a happy weekend and I’ll see you back on Monday!

Artur

Affiliate program details

Affiliates, Marketing

The new eBoundHost Affiliate Program was launched with the redesigned eBoundHost.com website, on August 1, 2006.

As the result of a six month industry study and collaboration with existing affiliates, it was determined that most participants prefer a large lump sum payout rather than a monthly recurring commission for the lifetime of the client. This is more profitable for the affiliates and is a better incentive to participate. The new program rewards an incredible $80 for every paying customer.

Who is this system for?
A: Anyone with a website. To participate in the program, the affiliate simply inserts their link at the bottom of their website.

To create an account, follow these prompts:
https://secure.eboundhost.com/afsignup

How does it work?
A: Affiliates have a unique link which sends visitors to eBoundHost. When a visitor from such a link signs up for service, a credit is issued to the affiliate account.

How do affiliates get paid?
A: This comes in two payments, first $40 is paid after the initial 90 days, and the second $40 is 90 days after that. If the client cancells, it means no further payments.

Tracking progress:
A: All information is listed on the front page of the AFFILIATES section of eBoundHost.com. Clicking through on the affiliate nickname or typing it into the form will show more detailed information. Only general information is on display for public viewing, sensitive information is always kept confidential.

Which plans are eligible?
A: Any standard, non-promotional package is eligible.

Are current affiliates effected?
A: Existing affiliates may elect to retain their old program or switch to the new system. No pressure!

Server maintenance WHITE and ORANGE

Maintenance

Dear eBoundHost Customers,

This is an emergency notification to let you know that servers WHITE and ORANGE which host your website and email, have been upgraded overnight to the latest software to patch up various critical vulnerabilities.

While the majority of users will experience no problems, we ask that you review your websites to make sure that there are no apparent errors.

There are several new and very exciting features in your control panel that were not previously available, and some of the older features are now easier to use. Please log in to familiarize yourself with the updated interface.

Some users may need to retrain their spam filter as it may have been effected by the upgrade. We encourage you to visit the anti-spam tutorial and follow these steps:
http://www.eboundhost.com/helpcenter/tutorials/spamfilter/

The big news, redesign

Hosting, Marketing

The newly redesigned eBoundHost.com website went live on August 1, 2006. This is a very proud moment for all of us in the EBH family since it represents many months of behind the scenes efforts. Award winning web designers and our own back end integrators worked closely to link the new graphics to our custom content management system.

Apart from the new look, there is plethora of exciting offerings. The new Home and Professional packages are the very first multi-domain offerings from EBH. Up to 12 domain names may now be hosted on one account for the Professional and up to 5 for Home.

Hard drive storage is upgraded to 25 GB and 15 GB respectively for Professional and Home packages. Bandwidth is at an enormous 450 GB for both packages. This means a virtually unlimited hosting package that will serve your needs for the foreseeable future.

Prepaid accounts are now rewarded with our lowest prices ever. Customers prepaying for a 24 Month term pay as low as $6.55 for a hosting account. Of course we realize that this is not an option for everyone this is why there are several billing cycles, Monthly, Quarterly, 6-Month, 12-Month and 24-Month. The more you prepay, the deeper the discount.

Domain names are always free for new accounts. This is a tradition that we intend to keep!

By far the most exciting news is our new affiliate program. A more detailed blog entry will be posted about this system because there is so much to say. But to summarize, referrals earn $80 for the affiliate. This is an incredible opportunity for our clients, by simply placing a link on the website, you can earn hundreds of dollars each month.

Happy Independence Day

Misc

On behalf of the eBoundHost.com team I would like to wish all of our US based customers a very happy July 4th. It is too easy to forget that freedom is not a given and by no means cheap. Much blood and sweat has gone into building this wonderful country and we must not forget that nothing is guaranteed. The First Amendment, freedom of education, lateral movement between social classes, world class medicine, and many others are what make this country so unique.

We are lucky and priviledged to be here, never forget.

We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

Support system

Hosting

New support system is in the works. It integrates with the email system and billing system, which means you don’t have to remember yet another login/password and you can still reach our support by emailing support@eboundhost.com. The system is trouble ticket oriented so you will be able to keep track of your issues in a much more organized way.

This is coming in the next few days an announcement will be made on our “news” section.

New pricing structure

Hosting

Very happy to debut our new pricing.  For years we have offered monthly, quarterly, 6 month, and 12 month pricing, however these were nothing more than multiples of the usual montly billing cycle.  It was meant more as a convenience to individuals who pay with checks, however, it was never very popular with the general population.  Then we discovered an earth shattering concept, incentives!  So while the base price for a monthly package did not change, we are deeply discounting the Universal and Premium hosting packages based on the length of your pre-payment.  The more months you pay for, the cheaper your hosting.

Considering that majority of customers renew their hosting account year after year, this makes all the sense in the world.

Upgraded packages

Hosting

New sale for the upcoming week!
Universal package upgraded to:
15 GB storage
500 GB transfer
5 domains

Premium:
25 GB storage
500 GB transfer
12 domains

This offer is only valid for new accounts.  Promotion ends 5/12/2006.

Windows update breaks Flash!

Hosting

Here is an insidious new twist from our friends in Redmond (Microsoft). Having lost a patent lawsuit to Eolas Technologies, Microsoft has “fixed” their Internet Explorer software to comply with the terms of the settlement.

As a result of this settlement, the latest Windows update contains a tweak to the Internet Explorer web browser which adds a border around EMBED, APPLET and OBJECT components such as Macromedia Flash, QuickTime, RealPlayer, Java and Adobe Acrobat. This breaks uncountable millions of pages throughout the Net.

To fix the problem, follow these steps:

1) Just below the last <object> in your HTML page, insert the following Javascript:

<script type=”text/javascript” xsrc=”ieupdate.js” mce_src=”ieupdate.js” ></script>

2) Open a new document in Notepad or your HTML editor, and copy & paste the following content into it:

theObjects = document.getElementsByTagName(“object”);
for (var i = 0; i < theObjects.length; i++) {
theObjects[i].outerHTML = theObjects[i].outerHTML;
}

3) Save this file as ieupdate.js

4) Upload both files to your web server, and the problem should be solved.

To read more about this issue and see other solutions available, please visit:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/ieupdate
http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/activecontent/articles/devletter.html
http://blog.deconcept.com/2005/12/15/internet-explorer-eolas-changes-and-the-flash-plugin
http://www.amarasoftware.com/flash-problem.htm

Even if your Flash based website appears to be unaffected at this time, we strongly suggest implementing the update immediately because your visitors will see a website that behaves in a way you never intended.

GOOGLE NEWS on Microsoft V. Eolas Technologies

Thanks to our friend and customer Ted of www.tedpadwe.com for alerting us to this news and finding the solution!

Web designer wanted

Hosting

Looks like we won’t be able to get along with just the plain vanilla theme, we’ll need additional graphics here and there to spice up the website.  If there is anyone out there who is reasonably talented and is available for small projects here and there, let me know




Just a moment...
Just a moment...