tnolen

One of our web servers is experiencing some hardware issues.  It has rebooted itself twice today (2/20/2013).   This particular server was scheduled to be replaced in the coming weeks anyway, but these issues have moved up our timetable.  We will be migrating customer sites from the old server to a new one.  Normally, this would be done during scheduled maintenance hours, but due to the hardware failure, we will be migrating the sites as quickly as possible.  Downtime should be minimal or nonexistent as we will be running both servers simultaneously.  However, it is possible that changes posted to a site may disappear if they are posted during the migration. Please keep an eye on your site functionality and let us know if you experience any problems.  Please note that this server only handles a fraction of our customers so most sites/customers will not see any changes at all.

Update 2/28/2013 – We found the issue – a power supply with an intermittent problem.  We’ve migrated many sites, but there are more to go.  But, now that the server is more stable, we will be taking our time to migrate the sites so that there is very little to no interruption in service.

For issues concerning this, please email support@internetpro.net or call 256-547-6817.

We have updated our phone system to answer with an auto attendant during the day.  We did this so that our calls will be answered in a more consistent way.  We do know some people don’t like auto attendant, so a live person can always be reached during business hours by pressing 0 (zero).  However, the auto attendant is designed to route you to the person you need to talk with for your issue, so we recommend listening to the options and choosing the one that best fits your needs.   You can also dial directly to an extension at any time the automated system is talking.  For a list of company extensions, please visit our Contact page or press 6 when the auto attendant answers.

A new version of WordPress has been released which addresses 37 bugs and some security issues in the 3.5 series.  We will be applying the update to all of our managed WordPress sites.  These updates generally only take a few seconds per site to complete, but if you happen to catch us in the act, the site may be in “Maintenance Mode” for a few moments.

If you are interested in more details about what this update changes, you can check out the release announcement from WordPress.org.

If you have any questions, please contact us at support@internetpro.net.

To better serve our customers, we are expanding our office hours.  Since 2004, our office has been closed for lunch from 1:00 – 2:00pm, but we are now going to be open during those hours. This includes phone support as well as walk-in access to our main office.   Our phone support will continue to be 8:00am – 9:00pm 7 days a week, and our technicians are  still on call for emergencies 24 x 7 x 365.

Date: 1/14/2013 – Email from the domains of msn.com and hotmail.com are not coming through currently because of ongoing spam campaigns.  The mail servers responsible for the domains are listed on both the popular SORBS and SPAMCOP blacklists as well as some others.  We currently use SORBS as part of our email filtering, and this results in the messages being rejected.  Technicians working for Hotmail/MSN are aware of the issue and are working to correct it.

Date: 1-14-2013 – We have had several customers ask about our thoughts regarding Homeland Security’s recommendation to disable or uninstall Java.

In case you are not sure what Java is, it is a programming language that is designed to run on different operating systems (this is called “cross platform”).  Java can run on anything from a Windows PC, to Mac OSX, to a tablet or cell phone.  Because of this, we use Java in our iFoye technology which allows us to remotely support customers running virtually any operating system.  It is possible to disable Java in your browser so you will not have the security issues brought up by Homeland Security and then re-enable it if you need a support session from us through iFoye.

Homeland Security seems to think there is no “practical solution” to the problem.  However Oracle (the makers of Java) have released a new update which addresses the concerns made by the government.  We recommend that everyone running Java immediately run that update.   However, if you are uncomfortable with keeping Java live, just follow the instructions to disable Java in your browser.  We recommend running the update even if you disable Java.

December 21, 2012 – AT&T Network Engineers will be performing a planned maintenance on Birmingham-Alabama Gigabit Access Router 1. The work will be performed on 1/15/2013, during the maintenance window of 12:00AM-6:00AM, local router time. AT&T’s goal is to successfully complete the task and restore service within the stated time frame.

AT&T Network Engineers will be performing an IOS upgrade.

Due to the redundant nature of our network, very limited service interruption is expected although some increased latency may be experienced as the routes adjust when the AT&T circuit drops.

Update: 1/14/2013 – This maintenance has been canceled. We will notify users when it is rescheduled.

If there are any questions or concerns regarding this maintenance, please email support@internetpro.net or call 256-547-6817.