Allow me to apologize in advance for the length of this email. However, this information is extremely important and relates to your websites if you host with me, so please read through it entirely.Â

In the last few weeks, I have received a growing number of reports that some of you were having problems accessing email and/or your websites. Because I’ve got everyone spread over a dozen different servers & locations, not all of you have experienced these problems and won’t know what I’m talking about. Those of you who have been with me over a year may remember that it was just about this time last fall when we had similar problems that caused me to move to an entirely new server company.

Although the company I am with now have been working with me to troubleshoot those few problem servers, I have found myself frustrated with the limitations of their support, partly caused by the type of account I hold with them. Although they recently upgraded their services to allow me to spread accounts over many different servers, I’m finding this doesn’t do me a lot of good if several of the servers still have stability issues.

 For those who are unaware of how it works…. I am currently leasing only portions of each server to host my websites on. Those same servers are also shared by other customers that I am in no way connected with. Because of this ’shared server’ environment, problems can arise when there are other websites on the same server that cause high-loads or compromise the stability of the server through insecure or poorly written scripts.  Unfortunately, there is no way to avoid these kinds of problems, as I have no control over or choice in what those other customers upload to their accounts. It is the curse of every shared server & hosting account.

Because of this, I have decided to purchase my own dedicated server. What this means is that I will own an entire server located in a datacenter and have it all to myself. Only my client websites will be hosted there and I won’t have to share resources (RAM, CPU, Bandwidth) with other, unknown customers.

This is a very big step for me and it will cause a few things to change with my services, not all of which will affect you immediately. I have outlined them below:

Changes in Service

1. VedaCMS:Â
Because I will no longer have a traditional support department to contact for every little issue, I am going to tighten up security drastically on my VedaCMS tools. They will still function the same, but you will no longer have the ability to edit directly from your web page by logging in and clicking the ‘edit’ button below content. Instead, you’ll need to login to a CMS control panel that allows you to edit text, photos and/or your calendar from one location. This is to protect against potential security holes in the current authentication system, which is script-based and not server-based. The new CMS control panel will be protected by a type of server security that is very difficult, if not impossible, to hack or exploit.Â

I have attached a screenshot (vedacms_screenshot.png) of the new CMS portal so you can preview how it will look. The system is still in the final stages of development, but I should have it finished by this weekend. The new CMS portal will be implemented when I copy each of your websites to the new server.

2. Hosting Fees:
Because this dedicated server costs almost six times more than what I am currently paying (not including the fees for the server management company I’ve hired for linux administration tasks beyond my abilities), I am reducing my ‘1 Year of free hosting’ for new clients to 6 months. This will only effect future clients. Those of you who had websites designed in the last six months (or are in current development) will still receive your full year of free hosting. However, beginning January 1st 2008, my hosting renewal fees will increase as follows:

• 1 Year Renewal:Â 150.00 annually
• 6 Month Renewal: 90.00 every six months
• Month-to-Month:Â 20.00 per month

As you can see, monthly fees go down for longer renewal terms. Please note that, even with the increases, I do not make a profit from hosting and never intend do. The renewal increases are to offset the additional costs of the new server. I provide hosting as a convenience and an extra layer of identity protection (unlike a traditional host, I do not store or even request your real name and address). The fees above are still very competitive for being housed on a dedicated server (from your perspective, it would be considered a ’semi-dedicated’ server since you are sharing the server with my other clients).

 Again, this will not affect those people who have already paid for the next year of hosting. The new renewal fees won’t apply until your next renewal cycle. However, if your hosting expires on or before January 1st, these new fees will apply.

Also, until now I’ve had a very informal and relaxed policy on when hosting renewal fees are paid. As some ladies know, I’ve waited up to six months or more beyond an expiration period before receiving renewal fees. Although I loathe having to adopt a more strict policy, I’m afraid it is necessary because of the far greater expense running a dedicated server than it was with the shared servers. Unless you email ahead to make arrangements or explain your situation, any account overdue past 30 days will be temporarily suspended until fees are paid.  I regret having to do this, but I can no longer afford to let hosting fees slip by indefinitely.

3. Webmail:
For those people who were currently using ‘RoundCube’, this will no longer be an available email client. Instead, you will have the option of using Neomail or Horde. Horde will have new custom skin which will drastically improve upon the aesthetics. I have attached a screenshot (webmail_screenshot.jpg) showing a portion of what your inbox will look like.

4. Support:
This is not definite yet….but I may outsource support for hosting-related issues. In the process of troubleshooting these server issues in the last month, I’ve fallen horribly behind on emails and design projects. What it ultimately comes down to is that I am a 1-person business and there is only so much of my time I can allocate between design projects, hosting support, existing client website updates and general new-client inquiries. When I get busy with one or more, I fall behind on the others. As my business grows, I’m finding myself less able to handle everything in a timely manner. Because of this, I am researching my options for hiring a support firm to handle hosting-related issues - so I can free up that time for design projects and existing client support.

What Happens Now

The new dedicated server is already setup and ready for accounts. However, the transition to the new server is going to take awhile, as I need to update each website individually with the new CMS portal. I will be doing this over the course of the next few weeks, with the goal of having everyone moved by the end of November. The system I have worked out is like so:

Transfer Steps:

1. I will email each lady just before I begin copying their website (Time: 1 minute)
2. Once your website is copied to the new server with the new CMS installed, I will test to ensure everything is working properly (Time: 2-5 Hours)

3. I will update your domain to point to the new server. (Time: 1 minute)
4.  After 12-48 hours (depending on individual ISP propagations), visitors and email will simply be routed through the new server instead of the old one. (Time: varies depending on domain propagation)

5. At this point, I will have you confirm that you a) Are viewing the website on the new server and b) have access to all of your old emails and can send/receive without problems (Time: depends on how quickly you can confirm this)

6. Once all of the above is finished, I will delete your old account off of the old server (Time: 5 minutes)

Note: Your websites will NOT go down during this process. I will simply be copying your current accounts to the new server and, once I’ve tested that everything is working properly, will update your domain to point to the new server (or have you update your own domain if I don’t have access). Everything will be copied, including emails though I highly recommend you backup, save or forward critical emails that would be devastating to lose just in case anything were to be lost in the transfer. The chances of that happening are slim, but it is better to be over-cautious. Because I’ll just be copying your files, you’ll still have a chance to login and retrieve old emails that weren’t transferred properly to the new server.

In addition to the server move, I currently have three open design projects (one nearing completion and two not yet started) that will require part of my focus in the next three weeks - so my schedule is going to be incredibly tight until all of this is finished. Aside from emergencies or business-impacting updates, I would be incredibly grateful if you held off making update requests that are non-critical for the next two weeks.

I realize this is an inconvenience and I do apologize.

I will be emailing each of you individually over the course of the next two weeks, so there is no need to reply to this email unless you have questions or are confused about the information above. Those who were experiencing technical difficulties will be the first accounts I move.

Thanks for your understanding and please don’t hesitate to email if you have questions.Â
Tara