37 replies to this topic

[BJ-ATL]

This will be sent out in an email also.

This notice is to make you aware of a few important server changes that we will be making in the near future. All three changes will happen starting on September 6th, 2010.

The first change is that we will no longer be offering PHP 4.x. This version is no longer being supported and will have no further bug or security fixes. This means all servers will run PHP 5.x only on the server's upgrade date. If you have any software that requires PHP 4.x and is not compatible with PHP 5.x, you will need to make sure it is up to date and PHP 5.x compatible. You can enable PHP 5.x for your site now by logging into your control panel, clicking on PHP Configuration, and selecting PHP 5 as the default. If you don't do this we will make this change for you at the time the server is updated.

We will also be changing the way that PHP 5 runs on our servers. We will be switching to suPHP, which will allow the processes to run as your user ID rather than running as the same user ID for everyone on the server.

In addition to PHP updates, we will be updating mySQL on all servers from version 4.x to 5.x. This may also affect some software and you should check with your software vendors to make sure any installed scripts are compatible.

The changes will be made in the morning hours on the dates listed below. While we don't expect any issues, we are of course available to assist you in case you need help. Feel free to contact our support team if you have any questions or see any issues during the change.

We will also be posting in the forum hosting status section as servers are changed. That url is http://forums.asmall...hosting-status/

The timeline for this change is listed below.

Server			   Date of change
-----------------------------------
Aaron		   September 6th, 2010
Adam			September 6th, 2010
Adama		   September 6th, 2010
Aldo			September 6th, 2010
Alex			September 6th, 2010

Alvar		   September 7th, 2010
Amelia		  September 7th, 2010
Apollo		  September 7th, 2010
Arzt			September 7th, 2010
Athena		  September 7th, 2010

Bea			 September 8th, 2010
Ben			 September 8th, 2010
Bernard		 September 8th, 2010
Boomer		  September 8th, 2010
Boone		   September 8th, 2010

Bram			September 9th, 2010
Brian		   September 9th, 2010
Cally		   September 9th, 2010
Caesar		  September 9th, 2010
Carmen		  September 9th, 2010

Charlotte	   September 13th, 2010
Christian	   September 13th, 2010
Cindy		   September 13th, 2010
Colleen		 September 13th, 2010
Cooper		  September 13th, 2010

Daniel		  September 14th, 2010
Danny		   September 14th, 2010
Diane		   September 14th, 2010
Edward		  September 14th, 2010
Eloise		  September 14th, 2010

Emma			September 15th, 2010
Ethan		   September 15th, 2010
Felix		   September 15th, 2010
Frogurt		 September 15th, 2010
Gaius		   September 15th, 2010

Galen		   September 16th, 2010
Gerald		  September 16th, 2010
Goodwin		 September 16th, 2010
Harper		  September 16th, 2010
Horace		  September 16th, 2010

Ilana		   September 21st, 2010
Ivan			September 21st, 2010
Jacob		   September 21st, 2010
Jason		   September 21st, 2010
Juliet		  September 21st, 2010

Karen		   September 22nd, 2010
Karl			September 22nd, 2010
Keamy		   September 22nd, 2010
Kelvin		  September 22nd, 2010
Liam			September 22nd, 2010

Lindsey		 September 23rd, 2010
Luke			September 23rd, 2010
Mars			September 23rd, 2010
Matthew		 September 23rd, 2010
Mikhail		 September 23rd, 2010

Miles		   September 27th, 2010
Mrfriendly	  September 27th, 2010
Mrpaik		  September 27th, 2010
Mshawking	   September 27th, 2010
Nadia		   September 27th, 2010

Nathan		  September 28th, 2010
Nikki		   September 28th, 2010
Paulo		   September 28th, 2010
Penelope		September 28th, 2010
Penny		   September 28th, 2010

Pickett		 September 29th, 2010
Rachel		  September 29th, 2010
Radzinsky	   September 29th, 2010
Randy		   September 29th, 2010
Roger		   September 29th, 2010

Rose			September 30th, 2010
Roslin		  September 30th, 2010
Ryan			September 30th, 2010
Sam			 September 30th, 2010
Sarah		   September 30th, 2010

Saul			October 4th, 2010
Scott		   October 4th, 2010
Seth			October 4th, 2010
Starbuck		October 4th, 2010
Steve		   October 4th, 2010

Susan		   October 5th, 2010
Thehydra		October 5th, 2010
Thomas		  October 5th, 2010
Thrace		  October 5th, 2010
Tom			 October 5th, 2010

Tricia		  October 6th, 2010
Widmore		 October 6th, 2010
Yemi			October 6th, 2010
Zach			October 6th, 2010
TheHydra		October 6th, 2010

If you do not know which server your site is on, you can find that information here: http://www.asmallora...tras/server.php

All the best,
A Small Orange LLC

[Jeff Schroeder]

Will it be possible to upgrade the host system to something newer than RHEL4? Just because my ssh connection is walled off from concatenating /etc/redhat-release doesn't mean I don't know kernel 2.6.9 is likely a RHEL4 / CentOS 4 kernel. That is very old.

Not only that, but will you be offering RHEL6/CentOS6 servers when it is released?

[IBBoard]

The thing is, distros like RHEL/CentOS update the kernel with security patches, even if they don't include features that bump the versions. Its a stability thing, and SysAdmins like it. CentOS5 isn't a huge amount better as it is only 2.6.18. CentOS6 would be good, but I'm guessing ASO will want to leave it a while before they deem it stable enough for servers.

It'd be nice if I could have landed on a CentOS5 VPS server as well, but never mind

/me wonders how many complaints and angry customers ASO will get, even though it is all good for security and the server as a whole...

[AndrewB]

IBBoard, on 03 August 2010 - 01:44 PM, said:

/me wonders how many complaints and angry customers ASO will get, even though it is all good for security and the server as a whole...

We'll get a lot of support tickets from websites that suddenly throw 500 Internal Server Error on page load.

We have a couple of scripts already in place that we've used to convert whole servers and minimize most of the issues from going from mod_php to suPHP. The majority of PHP problems I've seen in these changes include:

• the ownership/permissions changes (suPHP throws a 500 Internal Server Error)

• .htaccess directives that suddenly throw an error (such as php_value memory_limit 32M)

• custom AddType/AddHandlier lines customers occasionally put in to override our default PHP settings (causes scripts to downloaded instead of executing on the server)

.

Our scripts look for these and try to compensate for it, but there's always a few sites that slip through.

Most customers I've dealt with tend more upset about not knowing of the changes in advance than the change itself. So we're trying to get the word out so people can at least be aware of when to expect a "500 Internal Server Error" on their site and know that it's a quick and easy fix to get it back up and running.

There will be some other fallout. I plan to do a write-up of all the things that can break and what changes will need to be made to a site for any site owners who want/need to proactively prepare in advance.

[Matt Light]

Is MySQL being upgraded to 5.0.x or 5.1.x? If 5.1.x, is there a more specific version you can provide? I'm working on a some fairly major code changes and I'm curious to know if there are any new feature sets I'll be able to make use of. (MySQL 5.1.17 and/or 5.1.21 provide query cache support with prepared statements. I know... neither should be too useful in a shared hosting environment, but that's besides the point.)

I suppose the better question is: Cally is already at MySQL 5.0.x. Will she be seeing a MySQL upgrade?

Edited by Matt Light, 03 August 2010 - 08:38 PM.

[BJ-ATL]

Just to clarify mySQL will be upgraded from 4.x to 5.0.x. Existing 5.0.x servers won't be upgraded to 5.1.x.

[Tidalik]

Thank you A Small Orange for informing your customers well in advance!  

As someone who has been negatively impacted by server changes without notification, I am very happy to have been informed prior to any of these changes.

[Dan C]

Just out of interest, does suPHP run as FastCGI? If not, are we not going to see a negative performance impact as a result of this?

[NyteOwl]

The server I'm on is showing kernel version 2.6.18-164.15.1.el5 so it's pretty up to date. I'm also already using MySQL 5.0.91 and PHP 5.2.13 so I guess I'm already good to go

[cotinus]

From what I see, the server one of my sites is on (rachel) is already running MySQL 5.0.91-community and PHP 5.2.13. However, it's listed as one of the servers that will be updated on September 29.

So I'm a bit confused as to what changes will take place on September 29 to the rachel server. From what I recall (separate issue, my past four years support ticket history is missing on the new ticketing system) the changes for suPHP were made a while ago on rachel.

Can someone confirm what, if any, changes will be made on rachel?

[Danothy]

Any clarification on what constitutes 'morning hours'?  And I'm guessing this will be morning hours EDT?

[primatology]

@cotinus,I'm not on rachel, so I can't vouch for the situation over there. My best guess is that Rachel is currently running suPHP with both the 4.x and 5.x branches. You probably flipped the switch in cPanel to use PHP 5 exclusively, so it's not an issue for you. If you take a look at thephpinfo() ASO provides, however, the server definitely still has PHP 4 available. I assume that the update will simply disable PHP 4, while leaving suPHP and MySQL untouched.

By the way, it might be possible to get your old tickets back.

-ASO- Frank, on 30 July 2010 - 05:52 PM, said:

Yup, What MacManX said. We're trying to move away from the /help/ URL (direct access to supportsuite) and get people to use the support area within the client portal. They both access the same information, and if you used the same email address for billing as you do for support, all your old tickets will be in there as well.

There is no way to link accounts in esupport with accounts in whmcs unless the email address matches. We might be able to change the email address in supportsuite so it will show up in your billing area.

Edited by primatology, 04 August 2010 - 07:23 PM.

[MacManX]

-ASO- Frank, on 04 August 2010 - 11:48 PM, said:

Early morning EDT. The exact times have not yet been determined.

How about having a contest where the customer who guesses the "Early morning EDT" for his/her server wins a $10 account credit? I think it would be a great way to make customers aware of the impending change.

[jyc3]

Okay, what do I do if all this is just gobbledygook to me? I hired someone to set up my site years ago and have no idea what I have or if it is compatible with these changes. Any suggestions?

[Nepherim]

How/does this affect servers that already run processes as the owner-userID (ie, Yemi)?