Big news! Over the next couple of weeks we will be migrating accounts to our new and improved infrastructure!
Some of the highlights:
- Even faster servers with more powerful CPUs and pure SSD storage.
- Massive WordPress benefits from changing from Apache web server to LiteSpeed Enterprise.
- New backup infrastructure: Servers will be backed up every 6 hours, fully encrypted using AES256, with replication to two offsite locations on different continents.
- MySQL databases will now be backed up every hour and also replicated in realtime to an offsite location. We know that backups aren’t exactly cocktail party conversation fodder, however we take the safety of your data very seriously and have spent a great deal of time and resources ensuring the most robust strategy possible.
- New spam filtering solution which we hope will prove to be more user friendly.
- Improved virus and malware scanning.
What Do You Need to Do?
New Clients:
If you are one of the many new clients who have signed up since February 15th, you don’t need to do a thing.
Existing Clients:
Migrations begin on Friday the 11th March and will be completed over the weekend of 18th to 20th March.
With a migration of this scale there are steps that you will need to take in advance to ensure that the process goes smoothly, so please read the following sections carefully:
Domain Name (DNS) Update
If we manage your domain name, you don’t need to do a thing.
If your domain name is with Godaddy or another provider, you will need to make DNS changes, or add us on to the account so we can make the changes for you.
If you use a 3rd party for email, (Gmail, Exchange, etc) you don’t need to do a thing.
If you use our email, when the migration starts, you’ll want to do the following:
We can only provide limited support for your devices as we can’t see them and they vary wildly. If you are unsure of how to do any of the following, please find a local provider who can look at the devices and provide you the best possible support.
- Shut down ALL your devices – phones, tablets, desktops, etc)
- Turn on the first device and put it in airplane mode, or disconnect the wifi.
- On the device you just turned on:
- Make sure the incoming and outgoing mail servers are: mail.yourdomain.com (obviously substitute your actual domain for yourdomain.com).
- If you use IMAP then the port should be set to 993.
If you use POP then the port should be set to 995. - The SMTP port should be set to 587
- In all cases TLS must be turned on. The servers will no longer accept plain text, unencrypted connections.
- Turn the Wifi back on and connect to the server.
- Repeat steps 1-6 for each of your devices, one at a time.
New Email Functionality
Post-migration you will notice that emails will no longer be tagged as “Possible Spam” or “Definitely Spam” in the subject line. IMAP users will see a new “spambox” folder that will contain emails considered spammy. POP users will receive a daily report detailing any blocked emails and giving a link to release them in case they were erroneously filtered.
This new solution is smart in that it will automatically whitelist anyone that you reply to ensuring trouble-free delivery to/from people with whom you correspond. Of course it goes without saying that you shouldn’t reply to any spam emails (tempting though it may be sometimes!) as you will be whitelisting the sender.
You can also train your new spam filter. Legitimate emails that were misidentified as spam can be forwarded to assp-notspam@yourdomain.com and spam emails that got through to your inbox can be forwarded to assp-spam@yourdomain.com.
