We are scheduling a maintenance window for iSeek - Darklite Hosting Services on Thursday the 29th of January. During this window, we will perform a number of hardware and software upgrades as described below.
Date: Thursday January 29th
Time: 7:00am - 12:00pm
Duration: 5 hours
Review of Upgrades:
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1. Servers
We are adding a second powerful IBM server to the cluster, essentially doubling the current available capacity. As the new machine, the new IBM server will become the primary server within the cluster.
Existing Server
- Dell 2950
- 2U Rack Mount Enterprise Server
- Processor: Dual Core Xeon 3.2Ghz 2MB Cache
- 64bit extended CPUs
- Memory: 4GB RAM
- Storage: 6 x 72GB SCSI
- Total Storage 432GB
- Redundancy: 2 x Hot Plug Power Supplies, Redundant Fan Kit
- RAID 5
New Primary Server
- IBM x 3650
- 2U Rack Mount Enterprise Server
- Processor: 2 x Quad Core Xeon 5140 12MB Cache
- Memory: 4GB RAM
- Storage: 3 x 146GB SCSI
- Total Storage: 438GB
- Redundancy: 2 x Hot Plug Power Suppliers, Redundant Fan Kit, RAID 5
2. Firewall
We are replacing the old Soekris firewall with a Cisco firewall, fully managed by our Cisco qualified network engineers.
Existing Firewall
- Fully Managed Soekris Monowall Firewall
- Dedicated Hardware Solid State Firewall
- 3 x 100Mbps Ports
- Unlimited VPN Support
- Web Based Management
- 35Mbps Rated Capacity
New Firewall
- Cisco 5510
- 5 Fast-E and 2 Gig-E Ports
- Supports:
- 50 Vlans
- 250 VPNs
- 170Mbps VPN throughput
- 300Mbps Firewall throughput
3. Hpshere
Our control panel software is the powerful Hsphere system. We are upgrading from the SSE (single server edition) of Hsphere version 3 patch1, which is out of support, to the most recent Hsphere release. This solution allows us to easily add and upgrade additional servers, and provides for a future-proofed solution.
Top new features in H-Sphere 3.2 Patch1
- Added FreeBSD 6.3, FreeBSD 7.0 support
- Introduced New Licensing mechanism compatible with Parallels OpenFusion Standards: With this integration Parallels H-Sphere is more flexible in terms of licensing and new licensing options are available
- Introduced new XP Reloaded design: A new skin with better look and feel has been introduced, as a result interface becomes more clear and intuitive
- Apache 2.2.X support: now is possible to use Apache 2.2 in the web hosting plataform, additionally is possible to switch between Apache 1.3 and 2.2
- More advanced PHP Configuration: is possible to run in same unix box php 4 and php5, with options for switching between versions, php can run in different modes: libphp, cgi and fastcgi with both versions
- Ruby on Rails support
- H-Sphere Jail: users can access to their home directories as a shell chrooted environment.
- Update Linux/Unix and Windows Boxes from CP: Now is possible to update your h-sphere software in all the servers of the cluster as well as add new services directly from the control panel
- Improved Usability:
- Simplified plan wizards: now is possible to manage a customized list of billable resources
- Human Signup Validation: captcha has been introduced as way for validating signups.
- Improved auto-responders configurations at admin and user levels
- Extended functionality of suspending and resuming accounts: better tracking on all the process and included options for auto resume accounts.
- New & Improved resources:
- Possibility to define as separate resources Hosting and Mail Alias.
- Control Web Access: Define protected directories from CP
- Mail SMS: Forwarding email to SMS
More definitive advantages of the recent Hsphere release can be found here:
http://download.hsphere.parallels.com/release_notes/3.2p1/
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We apologise for any inconvenience this maintenance window may cause. We have extensively prepared and tested these upgrades for the last two months in order to minimise the downtime. Once the work is complete and we have run a series of tests we will send a further newsletter on the benefits of the upgrades.
Thank you for your ongoing support and custom - iSeek - Darklite Hosting
Liam Coyle Managing Director - Seek Internet
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