More thoughts on where we're heading. Updated 9/29/2003

[Joe]

What's the next month or so bring for HostPC? I go month to month, and try to set goals, then work them down one at a time. From time to time, I update you via the forums, ask your opinions and feedback, and just basically keep you updated on what we're doing. So, here goes.

First, and probably the most important project. DirectAdmin. We'll be rolling out the DA control panel in the next 30-45 days. I've been working with it in the background, and am fairly certain that this is the direction that would be in the best interest for HostPC. In the beginning however, there will be some limitations.

1. There will be NO SSH available on DirectAdmin initially. There's a security issue with SSH at the present time with offering it. DA developers are constantly working towards addressing the issue (Jailed environment) - so I'm fairly confident that they'll have the issue resolved shortly.

2. Some of the features that we currently enjoy with Ensim, such as daily backups, spam-o-matic, etc won't be available immediately on DA. There's a lot of re-writing to do.

3. Initially - there will be NO FRONT PAGE customers allowed on the DA servers. This will likely change over time. Customers needing Front Page, will be put onto existing Ensim servers.

4. Two servers are already built, and will be (hopefully) colocated at the DV2 datacenter in Atlanta GA. They're both high end P4 servers, with 2GB RAM, dual 80GB drives, etc. They will definately handle the loads. Service packages will remain the same. I anticipate account pricing to remain the same also. More details on pricing will be available as we get closer to the actual roll-out.

We've had several questions about if HostPC will convert customers to the new DA structure. The answer is no, and yes. We WILL allow you to move to DA, and for a lot of you, I'd encourage it. But we will not get into moving data, setting up accounts, etc. on a regular basis. We're able to keep our support staffing levels low, thus keeping prices low. We WILL offer a paid conversion option - which will include moving data to the new servers. We will not be able to setup mail settings, etc - we will assist with DNS updates, if you registered your domain with us. Details on pricing will be available as we get closer.

Next item on our agenda. Billing. This is a bad subject to bring up, but we need to get our accounts in order. There have been several customers that had paypal subscriptions, that for one reason or another allowed their subscriptions to lapse, or cancelled them due to reasons beyond their control. Thats fine, we record each one, and do manual billing for most of them. Starting later this week, we'll be asking all of you to sign up in our new accounting system, and renew your billing subscriptions. I understand there's some concern with Paypal among customers, and we now offer payments via credit card, processed by Paysystems. You'll be given the option to renew your billing choices soon. Please watch for an e-mail from us concerning this. All manual billing will end no later than October 15, 2003. We accept Paypal, Credit Cards, checks, money orders, etc - there's no reason that we can't do transactions online... contact us for more details if needed.


Well, as you can see, I tend to get wordy with these "thoughts" - so I guess I'll stop here for now. I appreciate your feedback or comments at any time.

Joe

[/code]

[tstern]

Hmm... I really rely on SSH access... hopefully it will be resolved by then...

t

[Joe]

Here's some notes on how we're progressing with this plan.

As some of you know, my wife has been very sick. We need to take her to Boston General Hospital for a consultation September 25 & 26. During that time, I will be mostly "out of touch", except by cell phone, and hookup via laptop at night.

During this time, I've made arrangements for emergency tech support services to be handled by Dixiesys. Mike and Gary will be monitoring all servers for problems, and will check into the helpdesk and handle any emergencies that arise. I will also be available via cell phone in an Emergency, and can relay the message/issue to Gary or Mike. Emails to support will be handled based on priority, but may be delayed a few hours. Your best bet for NON emergency issues is the helpdesk, for emergencies, contact me via the 1-877 number on our homepage.

Before I leave, actually early this week, the new servers (with DirectAdmin) will be shipped to the DV2 Datacenter in Atlanta GA. I expect them to arrive on Wednesday of this week, and be online by Thursday.

I can not, in good faith, put any customers on these servers until I'm here to monitor them 24/7. So, after I return (9/27 or so) , we'll begin setting up clients on those servers.

There are some restrictions we will initially impose on these servers, which may change as time progresses (and server updates are done).

1. There is NO IMAP functions on the servers at the current time. This is scheduled to be changed in the near future. If you need IMAP, now is not the time to move to DirectAdmin. POP3 (normal) mail services work fine.

2. There is no SSH access on the servers at this time. This is for security reasons. Clients will not be allowed SSH access on DA servers for the forseeable future (until DA can jail the SSH environment). Unknown completion date.

3. Awstats will NOT be installed by default at the current time.

4. Database-o-matic will not be installed. A substitute is built into DA.

5. Spam-o-matic will not be installed at the current time.

If, after reading the above, you'd like to move to the DA servers, and you KNOW how to move your own data, update your own DNS, setup accounts (with tutorials), let me know by following up in this thread. Let me know which domains you'd like to move, and we'll put you in a waiting list.

Thanks for reading - if you have any questions, as always, just let me know. I'll be posting more about this in the coming days.

Joe

[starfighter]

Joe,
Will resellers be able to move their accounts onto these new servers?
Also is there another stats program to replace awstats?
ANd is there any kind of spam protection built in?


I would hope that IMAP will be added in the very near future. And ssh would be nice but i can wait for that.


Dan
Starfighter Design

[Joe]

Joe,
Will resellers be able to move their accounts onto these new servers?
Also is there another stats program to replace awstats?
ANd is there any kind of spam protection built in?
I would hope that IMAP will be added in the very near future.


Yes, resellers can move, definately.
Unsure on the stats program at this time - but you can always install your own version of awstats.. they just wont be globally installed like on Ensim.

No spam protection by default, but we're working on some tutorials to show you how to filter your mail with Procmail - very easy to do.

IMAP - agreed, it is being developed/tested now, so it will be online shortly. They seem to be pretty proactive with upgrades, which I find appealing.

Joe

[thevillageinn]

thanks for keeping us all updated Joe.

I wish you and your wife all the best and a successful and speedy recovery.

[Joe]

Over the past couple of days, I've been doing a lot of thinking about our plans for the future, and to be honest, I'm VERY excited thinking about where we will be 3 months from now. I'd like to take this opportunity to share those thoughts with you. Forgive me if this gets drawn out a bit - if you've read my other "thoughts" threads, you'll know I tend to get wordy, but I think it's only fair that I discuss plans with you - so you know what we're doing, where we're headed and if we anticipate any obstacles along the way. So here goes :)

1. The rollout to the TranxactGlobal (DV2) Datacenter is nearly complete. The racks are installed, IP blocks assigned, 2 servers onboard, 3 more will be shipped from here this week to join the cluster. All servers are new, with high end specs. I'm frankly tired of using old, used equipment that we don't have direct knowledge of. These new machines have all passed through my hands, been inspected and are in top working order. I'm very comfortable that these machines will continue to serve us well into the future.

We'll be installing the DA licenses to these servers this week, and will be ready for a Monday 10/6 rollout.

Colocation services are now fully available. We've got plenty of space available, and a VERY flexible bandwidth pipe that can burst when needed. We've got a very good relationship with TranxactGlobal, and can modify our bandwidth needs at any time. Contact us at sales@hostpc.com for more information on colocation services.

2. Concerning the DA (directadmin) Control Panel. Earlier, I mentioned a couple of concerns I had with the software. My two concerns involved IMAP services and SSH. The folks at DA have assured us that they are working very hard to have IMAP services available in the near future. Given their speed at releasing updates, I belive this to be true. They've got a lot of stuff done in a short amount of time. I believe IMAP is right around the corner. SSH however is still delayed. There will be no SSH/Telnet rights granted to any users on this system until it is securely modified. The ETA on this is still several months away. SSH really shouldn't be needed by most people - anything you need to do, including cron settings are available through the control panel. (YIPPEE!)

3. Customers on Ensim will be encouraged to move to the DA control panel. Here's why.

A. The DA panel offers a LOT of FEATURES (http://www.hostpc.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=490) not found on Ensim. Features such as cron scheduling, databses, parked domain names that you can setup yourself, client controlled DNS settings, File Manager, instant backups on demand, password protected directories (much easier on DA) and more.

B. Security. DirectAdmin is MUCH better at releasing security updates than Ensim. As many of you are aware, security is a major issue at HostPC - we won't do ANYTHING that MAY compromise security or performance on our servers. DA fits that pre-requisite better than the older Ensim software.

C. Costs. I would be remiss if I didn't express to you the cost savings HostPC will enjoy moving everyone to the DA servers. The cost of a Direct Admin license is less than half that of an Ensim license! Combine that with the fact that we've got PLENTY of space at TranxactGlobal with quality bandwidth, consolidating everything to the new datacenter makes SO much sense. Here's how I invision this happening:

Starting immediately (Monday 10/6), any customers that want to move to DirectAdmin servers in the new datacenter will be allowed to - no additional costs, no downtime. We'll give you 10 days to move your data, update your nameservers and get comfortable before we delete your old accounts - that will insure that DNS is updated everywhere, and you'll have NO downtime. We will not be able to offer data "moving" to the new servers as a general rule. We will (soon) offer a dump/restore feature for clients - for a one time "moving fee". You'll still need to setup your mail accounts, etc., we'll simply move the data to the new server (like a "copy" command) - you're responsible for the rest. The cost you pay will simply be to cover the bandwidth charges and the time for the tech to move the data. This will be done on an "as available" basis.

The customers that voluntarily move, will be awarded extra perks as an incentive. I'm not sure what they'll be, but may include extra bandwidth, more storage space, etc. I'll have to think about that a bit.

Judging from the feedback already received, I'm invisioning a LOT of clients moving to DA immediately.

When we start to empty servers at Rackshack, we'll start consolidating the servers there to reduce our monthly expenses. This will happen over the next 2-3 months. Currently, we have 9 servers in Rackshack - I'd like to consolidate that down to one or two. That would be nearly $1000 a month in savings to HostPC. Profit and effective management will be the key to our continued success. By cutting expenses, we'll insure our continued viability and longevity.

and lastly

4. Redesign of the HostPC website. We're ready to rollout the new design for HostPC on Sunday, October 5. I think the new design is cleaner and easier to navigate. You'll be able to find Q&A on the most requested topics, helpful FAQ's and live chat to our technicians. In getting ready for the new website, I sat down with the staff (virtually) and discussed our offerings as far as plans/diskspace and bandwidth - as well as pricing. Here's what we concluded:

A. We will continue the $25/yr sale product - that was an extremely popular price point. We will probably make some minor changes to the disk/bandwidth quotas for future packages. This will not affect current customers, only new signups on the DA panel.

B. We will be modifying the packages a bit, in terms of disk space and bandwidth. Here's why. It's become a "game" in the hosting business - who can offer the most disk space and the most bandwidth for the cheapest price. The "game" has gotten so far out of hand that recently I've seen similar packages to ours going for $1/month - thats $12 a year! Thats ridiculous, and we won't play that "game" any longer. Less than 10% of customers use more than 20% of their allotted bandwidth/disk space. Rather than playing the competitive "game" I'm going to concentrate on offering STABLE, SECURE service that will be here long into the future, when other hosts have gone "belly up". We offer a good product, with quality and dependability. We've been here for FIVE years, we're not going anywhere, and no, I'm not building up services so we can sell the company - it's not going to happen - we're in this for the long haul.

I think you'll be pleased with our new packages. Upgrading is always an option - we've got plenty of room to grow, on ALL servers.



Thank you for allowing me to share my feelings on the direction HostPC is headed towards. I'm always open to feedback and comments from our customers, as well as potential new customers. We look forward to serving your hosting needs WELL into the future! Thanks for growing WITH us!

Joe & The HostPC Support Staff[/url]

[starfighter]

Joe,
I love the new control panel. I WILL be moving all of my reseller account domains to the new servers as well as another domain that i administrate as soon as you allow people to move over to it.


Dan
Starfighter Design

[BarryTolar]

Do we open a helpdesk ticket to be moved or what ?

Thanks
Barry Tolar

[Joe]

Yes, after next Monday, we'll begin taking requests, through the helpdesk to be setup on the DA server.

[Joe]

After a very hectic 36 hours of yet another server crash at Rackshack, I've made some decisions on our future hosting arrangements at Rackshack.

I've discussed this with Nick, and Gary @ Dixiesys. I've come to the conclusion that Rackshack is a great datacenter, with great connectivity, but we've outgrown their support level.

I've decided that I can't rely on Rackshacks hardware to be reliable for our customers any longer. When you order a server from Rackshack, you take what they have available. That particular server might have been in use for 2 months or 5 years. Hard drives get recycled, re-imaged with "fresh" copies of Linux and control panel software, but in the end, they're still "used" drives.

The service we have gotten in the last few months from rackshack has been poor....to continue strong on our business plans to provide excellent service we feel we must move out of rackshack to continue strong..we hate to force ppl to move off ensim...however we dont feel we can continue to provide the service we have committed to you staying at rackshack.

Therefore, I am going to accelerate the migration to the DV2 Datacenter. We have 2 servers in place, 2 enroute there as of today, and 2 more on order from our vendor. Each server represents approximately $1,000 in investment, plus the rack/bandwidth costs at the colocation center every month.

We'll start accepting voluntary moves off Ensim this coming Monday (10/6) and will reopen sales to new customers on that date as well. We'll then begin consolidating our servers into DV2, and start cancelling them at Rackshack.

One question we got several times during this "crash" was why don't we have RAID drives. RAID is a mirroring system to insure data is stored in at least two different places. The simple answer was "Rackshack doesn't offer it". In the new datacenter, with our own servers, we will be able to offer it. We will also continue nightly backups in the user directories, and copies stored on another server in case of "crashes" or total failure of any drive array.

One question I am anticipating is "What happends if there's problems at DV2". I've thought about this, and discussed it with peers. I will maintain at least one, and probably 2 servers at Rackshack, just for data backup. Depending on our growth rate, I will also consider leasing Racks at another datacenter in a geographically different area, for the sake of redundancy.

So, what does this mean for you. Yes, soon (over the next few months) we will begin to require you to move to the new control panel. We'll assist if possible. Hopefully we'll have a transition plan in place shortly to assist with this. This also means that you'll be able to count on HostPC to bring you the BEST value for your dollar. It means you'll be hosted on NEW servers, not leased servers at Rackshack, or any other datacenter. This should insure years of continued high quality.

As always, your comments and suggestions are welcome.

Joe

[bluesguy]

Joe,

I'm with ya.. ready to move my sites to new servers when you require it.. I've been happy with the service on ensim1 except for lack of quota.. I figure if I go over, you'll let me know :)

Seriously... if ensim1 becomes compromised or otherwise unreliable, I'll be ready to move with a week's notice. The only thing I might need assistance with is moving databases.

Scott

[Ben]

Moving databases is a snap!

Just get a good dump of the database. I dont like the Mysql tools that come in the CP so I use one provided by Invisionpower (http://www.invisionpower.com). Its awsome. Then when you get your new account created and setup on the new server you can just make a new database with the same username and database name. Restore the database backup to that new database and viola, your done.

[bluesguy]

I figured it wasn't too hard.. I've done it moving from a RedHat server to Ensim.. just hadn't checked out moving from Ensim.

[Ben]

Your CP actually doesn't have anything to do with the backup. You can use an external tool (like I mentioned) and it works great.

you upload 3 or 4 files, navigate to the page you uploaded, give it your database name/pass etc and it backs it all up for you. Save the backup, when you move upload the backup tool and the backed up database and restore it the same way (after creating the new database etc).

I had all kinds of grief backing up my database (size issues) before I used the Invisionpower tool. I love that thing. Makes it super easy for me to get backups all the time of my dbase.

[northern]

As you know (or can lookup) I have a reseller account with Gary and the only reason I bought from you was the geographical redundancy. As it has turned out I haven’t really needed it (YET) so I have added some small sites here.

Just so I can get it off my chest - I am on Plesk with Gary, then Ensim with you and now a new one. I struggle with database stuff and non-Microsoft users who think the rest of the world surly knows even the basics of Unix stuff or Linux or PHPor MySQL or what ever THEIR favorite past time programs - operating systems are. Being a reseller is 1% of my income - 10% of my creditability and consumes far too much of my time keeping up.

That said- "change is good and the more I learn the more I earn." I need to repeat that 100 more times and I'll be ok.

If it doesn’t cost you too much Joe, Id like to stay out of Georgia, but if that was the straw that broke the Host’s back then I’ll go where you need to go

[Joe]

Thanks for your comments.

I'm going to probably maintain one or maybe two servers at RS, for "redundancy". My thoughts are that most people will WANT to move - we've received over 100 requests already to move to DA, wherever it is. Those who feel they absolutely must stay at RS, MAY be asked to move to one or two consolidated servers.

I've got 5 online in Atlanta now, 6 & 7 will be online Monday or Tuesday. I'm anticipating one or two complete servers will be full with this upcoming sale alone, leaving 4 or 5 for moves.

Let me also, at this point explain our numbering scheme.

ensim1 - reseller & hosting server
ensim2 - reseller & hosting server
www3 - WAS dedicated, being re-allocated. A new www3 will be online Monday.
www4 - WAS at RS - cancelled due to multiple hardware problems. New www4 online Monday
www5 - WAS dedicated, being re-allocated. A new www5 will be online Monday
www6 - hosting server.
www7 - reseller server
www8 - hosting server
www9 - NEW hosting server - Atlanta
www10 - NEW hosting server - Atlanta
www11 - NEW hosting server - Atlanta
www12 - NEW hosting server - Atlanta

www6, 7 and 8 will hopefully be consolidated into ensim1 and ensim2 in the near future (as they begin to empty off and move to 9, 10, 11 etc.

We'll eventually add replacement www6,7,8 numbering - as time goes on.

What I'm trying to say, is if you see current customers on www8, and you, as a new customer end up on www3 - don't think it's an older server - in fact, it'll be newer.

Thanks again for your comments and questions. If anyone else wants to know anything about us, please just ask, I'm pretty open about what I'll explain here.

Joe

[Anonymous]

I have a question here.
Will we move to DA together or we'll leave some accounts here in RS?
need I open a ticket to apply for this transfer?

thanks.
Thanks for your comments.

I'm going to probably maintain one or maybe two servers at RS, for "redundancy". My thoughts are that most people will WANT to move - we've received over 100 requests already to move to DA, wherever it is. Those who feel they absolutely must stay at RS, MAY be asked to move to one or two consolidated servers.

I've got 5 online in Atlanta now, 6 & 7 will be online Monday or Tuesday. I'm anticipating one or two complete servers will be full with this upcoming sale alone, leaving 4 or 5 for moves.

Let me also, at this point explain our numbering scheme.

ensim1 - reseller & hosting server
ensim2 - reseller & hosting server
www3 - WAS dedicated, being re-allocated. A new www3 will be online Monday.
www4 - WAS at RS - cancelled due to multiple hardware problems. New www4 online Monday
www5 - WAS dedicated, being re-allocated. A new www5 will be online Monday
www6 - hosting server.
www7 - reseller server
www8 - hosting server
www9 - NEW hosting server - Atlanta
www10 - NEW hosting server - Atlanta
www11 - NEW hosting server - Atlanta
www12 - NEW hosting server - Atlanta

www6, 7 and 8 will hopefully be consolidated into ensim1 and ensim2 in the near future (as they begin to empty off and move to 9, 10, 11 etc.

We'll eventually add replacement www6,7,8 numbering - as time goes on.

What I'm trying to say, is if you see current customers on www8, and you, as a new customer end up on www3 - don't think it's an older server - in fact, it'll be newer.

Thanks again for your comments and questions. If anyone else wants to know anything about us, please just ask, I'm pretty open about what I'll explain here.

Joe

[Joe]

Some accounts will definately stay at Rackshack. As I said, up to 2 servers will remain, I'd prefer one, but 2 if I have to.

No, you don't need to open a ticket. We'll announce HOW to do the moves sometime on Monday, here in the forums. We'll then open the systems up for new orders.

Moves get up to 7 days to move in to the new servers, get files transferred and get DNS updated, so there's no "downtime" for anyone.

Joe

[D9r]

The customers that voluntarily move, will be awarded extra perks as an incentive. I'm not sure what they'll be, but may include extra bandwidth, more storage space, etc. I'll have to think about that a bit.
Any decision yet on what the extra perks will be?

[Joe]

clients that are moving voluntarily are being upgraded to the current quotas at no extra charge.

[D9r]

Thanks! That's a nice gift. (don't let us put you out of business with all of these good deals though ;)

[thevillageinn]

what ever happened to the servers with HE.net in California...(info in this post (http://www.hostpc.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=292))? I just remembered having read this way back when, and with all this activity in Atlanta it got me to wondering.

-Dan

[Joe]

HE proved to be very unreliable for us.

Dixiesys has 3 servers there, downtime is more than you can imagine - it's not an option for us at this point.... I won't put you through that.

Joe

[thevillageinn]

well, I appreciate the uptime and reliability, and I'm sure others do too.

thanks again for all you do-
-Dan

[Joe]

This thread was just brought to our attention, so let me provide a quick update.

We HAD planned to leave at least one server at Rackshack, but due to the horrendous service we've received there, and the failing hard drives, I can't take that chance any longer.

Ensim1 can't even be rebooted at this point reliably. Ensim2 is having all kinds of problems with upgrades - we got a new Kernel installed, and rebooted once, that was the end of that. There's just NO reliability left in these servers.

So, bottom line is we will NOT be leaving any servers at Rackshack at this point. Everything is going EXTREMELY well at TranXactGlobal... we're very pleased with the capital investment in hardware, and VERY happy with the new DirectAdmin control panel - overall a very positive step forward for HostPC.

Thanks for bringing this thread back to my attention - it's good to keep you updated on our plans and progress.

Joe