Good Day,
I hope you are enjoying the summer and taking some time to relax with friends and family.
Last summer when I sent out a letter about changes with I Am Designs, it was to let you know that I was moving to Belize! Well, it’s been a year and we have settled in and learned a lot. If you want to read about our adventures down here you can look at the blog at: http://dev927.wordpress.com.
This year I am writing to let you know about a change happening with your hosting account. Due to changes in my business, and ever increasing security threats on the Internet, I have decided to move all my client websites from a dedicated server to a cloud server. Some of you may recall that just last March 2009, I switched hosting companies in order to increase the reliability (uptime) of your websites and access quicker responses to support concerns. The company that I went with (Rackspace.com) has done a great job especially in light of the huge increase in global hacker activity towards blogs and CMS systems in the past 3 months. So I am not changing companies, just moving to another division in their company.
Why are you Switching Servers?
- 24/7 Customer Support
With this new hosting service, you have the option to access 24/7 customer support provided by Rackspace Cloud hosting. You can reach them by phone, email, live chat or support tickets any time you have a question. You can ask about your account, get help setting up an email addresses and auto-responders, learn how to check your site stats or get help to upload files.
If you are interested in this extra support, it is available for an additional charge of $5/month on top of your regular hosting fee. You can still contact me to answer your questions as well – but unlike Rackspace Support, I need to eat and sleep. SO, if you do want to add extra support to your account, just let me know.
- Increased Security
While the security on a dedicated server is good, the security on the cloud is better. This is because it not only includes all the software and hardware updates, redundant power supply, secure location, around-the-clock monitoring, virus protection, daily backups, and 100% uptime guarantee, it also includes a firewall to keep your website even safer.
- More Control over your Hosting Account
You will now be able to manage certain functions like modifying email accounts, and checking the traffic statistics for your site. Some of these functions require you to log into your control panel, you will need to use information listed below to log in.
Click here to link login: ClientControlPanelLink
User: {{Username}}
Pass: {{Password}}
**Contact me if you need this information
The following links will provide information for these 3 most common tasks.
1. Set up autoresponders
http://cloudsites.rackspacecloud.com/index.php/What_are_auto-responders%3F_How_do_I_set_them_up%3F
2. Set up email accounts to forward to another account
http://cloudsites.rackspacecloud.com/index.php/What_is_email_forwarding%3F_How_do_I_set_it_up%3F
3. Check your web stats
http://cloudsites.rackspacecloud.com/index.php/How_can_I_check_my_website%27s_traffic_statistics%3F
- Better Organization
Well this is mostly for me. With all the changes in my business over the past year, I need to get all the accounts straightened out. This gives me a chance to clean out the old files and accounts, group related information so it is easier to keep track of, and start fresh. And you all know how bad I am at sending invoice on time, this will help me with that as well.
- More Cost Effective
And speaking of money, I need to keep my costs down too, so this one is also for me. I’ve felt the effects of the downturn in the economy just like everyone else. My client base is smaller this year, and moving to a cloud server is a more cost effective way for me to meet your hosting needs. This lets me continue to provide services like making small changes to your sites, answering technical questions, fixing mistakes and giving “how to” instructions free of charge.
What is a Cloud?
A cloud server is really just a cool way of saying pooled resources. Instead of having all the sites on an INDIVIDUAL hard drive connected to the internet, the sites are on a COLLECTION of hard drives on many computers. This allows more flexibility and faster scaling. So if your website suddenly gets a lot of traffic, it won’t overwhelm the server and cause it to crash. A dedicated server is great, but it can’t respond well to sudden spikes in traffic. And if the server’s hard drive fails on a dedicated server, it can take hours to restore (and have your site back up and running). Since the load and the data on a cloud is shared between several hard drives, a failure on one drive doesn’t crash the whole system and your website will stay online.
When is this happening?
The migration is already underway. On August 1, 2010 I started to backup all the data from the current server. I have also finished creating the new hosting sites, databases and email accounts on the cloud server.
The next step is to reinstall any open source software so that your sites are running the latest versions with the most up to date security patches.
After that I will upload the files that comprise your website. I will then check to make sure the site is working properly and fix any problems. The final step is to change the DNS for your domain to point to the new cloud server rather than the dedicated server.
I plan to have all of this complete by August 15, 2010.
How does this affect me?
All of you will be affected in some way, and some of you more than others…
1. Email
If you mainly read your email messages using webmail, (ie. you use a browser to go to http://webmail.yourdomain.com or http://www.yourdomain.com/webmail), any messages that you have stored will be deleted once the old server is decommissioned. I recommend that you setup your email accounts on a desktop or laptop computer using a program like Outlook, Outlook Express, Thunderbird, or Incredimail so that you can download a copy of all the messages you want to save for future reference.
The steps to do this can be found here:
for Outlook Express: http://www.geohost.ca/support_email_client_outlook_exp_win.html
for Outlook: http://www.geohost.ca/support_email_client_outlook_xp_win.html
for Incredimail2: http://help.incredimail.com/incredimail/help_center/help_article.aspx?is=t&is=t&article_id=284&lang_id=9&referrer_id=4
Email Settings:
your username INCLUDES your website address – ie. maureen@iamdesigns.com NOT just maureen
Incoming server is: mail.yourwebsite.com *put your real website address in here
Outgoing server is: This depends on your internet provider. For example if you are with Telus it is smtp.telus.net, if you are with shaw it is shawmail.ed.shawcablee.net (for Edmonton residents)
***************************** SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES ******************************
If your company email can only be checked during your hours of operation and you are closed on the weekend: you might want to set up a gmail account, and have all your email accounts forwarded to it. This way you won’t lose any email during the switch, and you can turn off the email forwarding once the email transfer is complete on Monday.
If you need help to do this, please let me know.
*************************************************************************************
Addressbooks:
If you have created an addressbook in your webmail account, you should also export it, so that it can be imported it into your new webmail account.
See instructions to do this in Squirrelmail here: http://www.esu4.org/tech_handouts/Surgemail/AddressBookInstructions.pdf
See instructions to do this in Horde here: http://math.arizona.edu/support/email/ImportExport/addressexport.html
If you need help to do this please contact me BEFORE AUGUST 12TH so I can walk you through it.
2. Domain Names
Those of you who have your domain name registered through me don’t have to do anything. I will take care of getting it pointing to the new hosting space.
Those of you who are registered with a different company and manage your own domains will need to get the DNS pointers changed to the new server. Usually this involves going to the website for your domain registrar, logging into your account, and finding the area to manage “Name Servers or DNS”,
If you don’t know who your registrar is and you have a .com, .net, or .org domain, you can do a search by entering your domain in the search box at http://www.internic.net/whois.html.
If you have a .ca domain you can do a search at http://whois.cira.ca/public/
The old settings for the name servers were either:
ns.rackspace.com and ns2.rackspace.com or ns1.iamdesigns.com and ns2.iamdesigns.com
The new settings for the name servers are:
dns1.stabletransit.com and dns2.stabletransit.com
If you are managing your own domain, please be prepared to change the DNS settings, but not until the weekend of the 15th. I will be contacting you with more details about this process.
3. FTP Username & Passwords
For security reasons I have changed all the FTP usernames and passwords. You and your web person should make a note of the new settings – please contact me if you need them. These new login settings will take effect as of August 15, 2010.
4. Sites with Content Management Systems, Shopping Carts or Blogs
Some of you are able to update the info on your sites to keep them current with new products, services or news. I ask that you please stop modifying your site between Thursday, Aug 12,2010 and Monday, Aug 16, 2010 so that I can get a backup from the old server to move to the new server. I need time to move it over, set it up and test, and there are a lot of you out there! So in order to make sure the new server has all the info you added this week, you have to stop and give me time to move it.
For security reasons I have also changed the admin login info, which really shouldn’t affect you, but I ask that you also change your login info once the sites have been moved. There has been an increase in hacker activity in the past 4 months and that is one way to keep your site safe.
This probably seems like information overload, but it really is straight-forward. This email is mainly to inform you about what is going on with your hosting service and I will be contacting you about any things I think you need to pay particular attention to.
As always, you can contact me with any questions. Email is the easiest at maureen@iamdesigns.com. To talk by phone call 305-600-5683. If you get the voicemail, please leave a message and I will call you back. For those of you who like to chat, I can be reached on Skype (belizianblonde), gmail chat (esage.ca@gmail.com) , and Facebook (Maureen Abram).
I look forward to a smooth migration and hearing from you with any questions or well-wishes!
Maureen Abram
I Am Designs
305-600-5683