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SYSTEM STATUS AND HOSTING NEWS
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19 Dec 2023
Tue 6:00 PM | | [Completed] Switch reboot affecting server RS23
The switch in this rack is showing errors on one of the fan modules so we have scheduled a replacement module. While doing this work we will be taking the opportunity to replace all fan and PSU modules with new components providing better airflow.
This will involve a reboot of the switch causing 1-2 minutes of network downtime.
The work is scheduled for Wednesday 20th December between 6pm and 7pm.
Update 1830: This work is now complete with all fans and PSUs replaced. The switch came back up fine and all devices have internet connectivity restored.
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30 Nov 2023
Thu 3:10 PM | | [Resolved] Mailbox issues on RHIS servers
We are currently experiencing issues with our RHIS email service. At present, customers are unable to log-in or receive email. Our team is aware of the issue and are actively working to resolve it as quickly as possible.
We understand how important email services are and we apologise for any inconvenience you are experiencing.
Update 19:20: Email services have now been restored. Please be advised there may be a lag in receiving email.
We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused. |
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16 Nov 2023
Thu 10:10 AM | | [Resolved] Mailbox issues on RHIS servers
We are currently investigating an issue affecting mail server connectivity. We are working on it and thank you for your patience.
Update 11:25: A fix has been implemented and we are monitoring the results. |
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7 Nov 2023
Tue 10:00 PM | | [Completed] Chester server migration
The hosted accounts on Chester have been migrated to a newer, more powerful server called Murphy. This new server retains all your data, databases, emails, settings and everything else done within cPanel. All data was migrated while websites and services remained online.
Please note the new server has a new IP address. If you are using external nameservers you will need to update the DNS settings at your end to reflect the IP address change. However, the old IP address will continue to work for the time being to allow a smooth transition with no downtime. We will contact you directly if you need to manually change the DNS settings for your domain as this only applies to a very small number of clients.
If you use our server for emails you should use "mail.yourdomain.com" (replace yourdomain.com with your actual domain name) for both the incoming POP/IMAP and outgoing SMTP server in your email client rather than the host name. |
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13 Sep 2023
Wed 5:15 PM | | [Completed] Maintenance Notice - RS23 switch replacement
We will be replacing the primary network switch for RS23 for a more powerful device. This work was initially planned for last week but has had to be rescheduled due to damaged hardware.
There will be a period of downtime while we unplug cables from the old switch and plug into the new one.
The maintenance window is as follows:
Start date/time: 18.09.23 19:00 BST
End date/time: 18.09.23 22:00 BST
Outage Duration: 10-20 minutes
Updates will be sent before the work starts and when it is complete.
Update 18.09.23 19:30: The planned maintenance window is now in progress. There will be brief periods of downtime whilst this work is undertaken.
Further updates will be provided shortly.
Update 18.09.23 21:20: This maintenance window is now closed.
Unfortunately, we were not able to do the switch change and the old switch remains in place. We will need to reschedule this work, hopefully for later this week.
Early on in the maintenance window while preparing for the uplink swap some config changes had an adverse impact on other areas of the network. Despite troubleshooting this evening we thought it best to reverse all work and thoroughly examine what happened to fully understand it tomorrow morning. We didn't expect anything tonight to affect other parts of the network and it is critical to know why it did.
Update 19.09.23 13:10: We will be retrying the switch change work this evening. The new maintenance window is as follows:
Start date/time: 19.09.23 18:00
End date/time: 19.09.23 21:00
Outage Duration: 10-20 minutes
During the window above please expect a brief period of downtime while cables are moved to the new switch. Apologies for the shorter notice period but as the work was not completed last night and with the deteriorating state of the current switch we thought best to proceed ASAP now that the issue experienced last night is resolved.
Update 19.09.23 19:35: Tonight's work to change the switch in this rack has been completed successfully. Due to the way we did the swap, downtime was minimal - approx 20 seconds as the network cable got moved.
Therefore, this maintenance window is now closed. |
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23 Aug 2023
Wed 8:10 AM | | [Completed] Maintenance Notice - US Network
On August 27, 2023, beginning at approximately 09:00 CDT / 15:00 BST and lasting for approximately 1 hour, the US network operations team will be performing maintenance on the network.
During this time there may be brief periods of variable latency and/or packet loss for the US10 (Chester) and US08 (Beach) servers.
The maintenance window is as follows:
Start date/time: 27.08.23 09:00 CDT / 15:00 BST
End date/time: 27.08.23 10:00 CDT / 16:00 BST |
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22 Aug 2023
Tue 4:15 PM | | [Completed] Maintenance Notice - UK Network switch replacement
We have an upcoming maintenance window affecting the servers RS08 and RS23. During this maintenance we will be replacing the primary network switch within the rack with a newer, more powerful device.
There will be a period of downtime while we unplug cables from the old switch and plug into the new one.
The maintenance window is as follows:
Start date/time: 06.09.23 17:00 BST
End date/time: 06.09.23 21:00 BST
Outage Duration: 10-20 minutes
Update 05.09.23: Unfortunately this switch replacement work for RS23 needs to be postponed due to the new switch being damaged in transit. We have no timescale for the replacement but hoping to have it on site within a week at which point a new announcement will be posted with the work schedule.
Update 06.09.23 16:45: The work on the RS08 switch will be starting on schedule soon after 5pm. Due to the successful prep work we expect the downtime to be minimal (less than 5 mins) closer to the start of the maintenance window.
Update 06.09.23 19:35: This work is still happening. We have run into a few issues which have caused a few instances of downtime (under 1 minute). We are running some final tests now before switching over the server to the new switch which will cause another few minutes of downtime.
Update 06.09.23 20:30: This work is now complete and the maintenance window closed. RS08 is now connected to the new, much more powerful switch.
The work caused a few periods of downtime of under 1 minute each time. This was more than we had planned for but within the total downtime estimate previously notified.
A separate announcement will be made for the RS23 switch replacement in the future.
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13 Feb 2023
Mon 10:30 AM | | [Resolved] Incoming email delays
We are receiving reports of incoming email delays of over 40mins from some external hosts for our UK cPanel users on RS08 and RS23.
The data centre staff are investigating.
Update: This issue is now resolved and any delayed email should be delivered within the hour. No email has been lost during the delays. We regret any inconvenience caused. |
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7 Nov 2022
Mon 11:35 AM | | [Resolved] Mailbox issues on RHIS servers
We are seeing issues with mailbox connections affecting multiple mail servers on our RHIS platform. This is being investigated and is affecting webmail and email client connectivity.
Update 13:50: Some mailboxes are coming back online but the service is still liable to interruption and slow connections. W2-S Internet Services wishes to thank you for your patience while this issue is resolved.
Update 08.11.22 09:31: The mail service is still not fully resolved and data centre staff are still working to improve the stability of the mail servers. As a result, some connections to the mail servers may be slow or intermittent.
Update 08.11.22 16:02: We are seeing an increase in successful connections but these may be slower than normal at present. Work is ongoing to improve connectivity to the mail servers and also to speed up delivery of incoming emails. Our apologies for any inconvenience caused.
Update 08.11.22 20:53: Some of our customers are continuing to experience intermittent issues with the email service. This is due to a load issue on the servers which the engineering teams are working around the clock to resolve. We appreciate the urgency and we are doing our very best to rectify this as quickly as possible.
Thank you for your ongoing patience, we apologise for any inconvenience.
Update 09.11.22 13:03: The server engineers have continued working to bring loads down overnight. The overall performance of the email environment has improved. We are however still seeing some mail queued for delivery. We have been made aware of some intermittent issues with delivery and logging in to email services, and our teams are continuing to work on this.
We understand the importance of email to our customers and we are working to restore full service and will continue to provide updates as information becomes available.
Update 10.11.22 09:00: The data centre engineers have confirmed that mail is now being delivered to all customers. Some customers may experience a slight delay in emails being delivered. If you are experiencing any outstanding issues please contact support. |
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22 Apr 2022
Fri 8:25 AM | | [Resolved] Connectivity issues to our RHIS Servers
We have identified an issue causing intermittent connectivity issues to our RHIS hosting platform for some websites and emails. We are working on this as a priority, please bear with us. Thank you for your patience. This does not affect the cPanel servers that the majority of our customers are now using.
Update 12:05: A fix has been deployed for this issue and we will continue to monitor connectivity to the platform.
Update 14:05: This has now been resolved. If you are experiencing any connection issues please contact support who can investigate this further. |
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23 Feb 2022
Wed 1:00 PM | | [Resolved] Email Delays on RS08 and RS23
Due to an issue with one of our spam filtering servers, some users may be seeing delayed delivery of incoming email. We are working on getting service back to normal.
Update: All filtering servers are now functioning normally and the queues on the email cluster are clearing. Delivery speeds should already be back to normal in most cases. |
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29 Nov 2021
Mon 10:00 AM | | [Completed] Richards server migration
On Wednesday 1st December 2021 the hosted accounts on Richards will be migrated to newer, more powerful hardware. The new server will retain all your data, databases, emails, settings and everything else done within cPanel. All data will be migrated while websites and services remain online, however there will be a period of downtime of up to 5 minutes while some firewall rules that forward all traffic to the new hardware are implemented.
The new server will have a new IP address. If you are using external nameservers you will need to update the DNS settings at your end to reflect the IP address change. However, the old IP address will continue to work for the time being to allow a smooth transition with no downtime. You will be contacted directly after the migration if you need to manually change the DNS settings for your domain as this only applies to a very small number of clients.
If you use our server for emails you should use "mail.yourdomain.com" (replace yourdomain.com with your actual domain name) for both the incoming POP/IMAP and outgoing SMTP server in your email client rather than the host name. The old Richards host name should continue to work for now but it is recommended to use mail.yourdomain.com in the future.
The new server's default PHP version will be PHP 7.4. If your site does not run on PHP7 you can manually select an older version of PHP via cPanel's MultiPHP Manager. PHP5 will be available as before but will no longer be set as the default. Please contact support if you need help with this.
We will update this notice once the migration is complete.
Update 01.12.21 10:00: The work to migrate this server is now underway.
Update 10:29: The migration has been completed successfully. If you experience any issues with your account please get in touch with support. |
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9 Oct 2021
Sat 9:00 PM | | [Completed] Knopfler server migration
On Monday 11th October 2021 the hosted accounts on Knopfler will be migrated to newer, more powerful hardware. The new server will retain all your data, databases, emails, settings and everything else done within cPanel. All data will be migrated while websites and services remain online, however there will be a period of downtime of up to 5 minutes while some firewall rules that forward all traffic to the new hardware are implemented.
The new server will have a new IP address. If you are using external nameservers you will need to update the DNS settings at your end to reflect the IP address change. However, the old IP address will continue to work for the time being to allow a smooth transition with no downtime. You will be contacted directly after the migration if you need to manually change the DNS settings for your domain as this only applies to a very small number of clients.
If you use our server for emails you should use "mail.yourdomain.com" (replace yourdomain.com with your actual domain name) for both the incoming POP/IMAP and outgoing SMTP server in your email client rather than the host name. The old Knopfler host name should continue to work for now but it is recommended to use mail.yourdomain.com in the future.
The new server's default PHP version will be PHP 7.4. If your site does not run on PHP7 you can manually select an older version of PHP via cPanel's MultiPHP Manager. PHP5 will be available as before but will no longer be set as the default. Please contact support if you need help with this.
We will update this notice once the migration is complete.
Update 11.10.21 09:32: The work to migrate this server will be starting shortly.
Update: The migration has been completed successfully. If you experience any issues with your account please get in touch with support. |
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9 Apr 2021
Fri 9:50 AM | | RHIS mailbox login update
We will be disabling legacy usernames for users of the RHIS mail platform on the 15th April 2021 to improve our services and streamlining your customer experience. This change will generally only apply to users who where set up on the system before 2010 and are using the old style login method.
A legacy username is a username that is not an email address, for example pop.joebloggs instead of joebloggs@domain.com.
Please check which you are using and, if necessary, update the username on your mailbox to your email address before 15th April by logging into your email client with the updated username. Please remember to check both POP/IMAP (incoming) and SMTP (outgoing) settings.
If you need any assistance please get in touch and we will be happy to help.
If your username is not updated by this date, you will no longer be able to authenticate your mail account and will not be able to access your emails. If this happens, please contact us to update your mailbox account.
Please note: This announcement does not apply if you are on one of our cPanel servers. |
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21 Dec 2015
Mon | | Important Security Note for Joomla users
The team at Joomla has released a new version of their software to address a critical vulnerability in versions 1.5 to 3.4. If you have Joomla installed on your hosting account you need to update Joomla as soon as possible to protect your site and the server.
You can read more about this vulnerability at the following URLs:
https://developer.joomla.org/security-centre/630-20151214-core-remote-code-execution-vulnerability.html
https://blog.sucuri.net/2015/12/remote-command-execution-vulnerability-in-joomla.html
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24 Jul 2014
Thu 11:00 AM | | WordPress Malware
Please be aware, we have seen a recent increase in the following attack, detailed at http://blog.sucuri.net/2014/07/malware-infection-breaking-wordpress-sites.html
Please ensure all plugins, themes and core installations of Wordpress are up to date.
For anyone using WordPress who has been a victim of hackers - this plugin could help with the cleanup: http://blog.sucuri.net/2013/10/cleaning-up-your-wordpress-site-with-the-free-sucuri-plugin.html
Please note, we don't offer any support for it, and we haven't extensively tested it. Use it at your own risk.
Update: Sucuri have posted some information regarding what could have possibly caused this.
http://blog.sucuri.net/2014/07/mail...ld-breaking-thousands-of-wordpress-sites.html
To clarify, it's not possible for an account on the same server on our systems to compromise another account, unless it's all hosted under the same cPanel username (example, addon domains, subdomains, etc).
This is however a plugin to consider updating immediately.
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14 Apr 2014
Mon 10:00 AM | | Heartbleed Bug Security Threat
As has been widely reported in the media, a vulnerability was discovered last week in OpenSSL (Version 1.01 and beta 1.0.2), the software that is used for encryption across much of the Internet.
We want to reassure you that the majority of the servers we use where not affected by this issue as they did not use the version of the technology that was affected. The server that was affected was patched last week.
While we have no indication the vulnerability was taken advantage of, we always encourage regular password changes. |
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10 Jul 2013
Wed | | WordPress Exploit - Please check your sites
If you have WordPress installed on your website, please go check you are running the latest version of WordPress (currently version 3.5.2). It is important that you do this RIGHT NOW.
There is an attack taking place and it is affecting a LOT of WordPress installations across multiple servers because people have not been keeping their WordPress installations up to date.
If you find your site has already been hacked please contact support. |
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12 Apr 2013
Fri | | WordPress/Joomla Admin Access
We are seeing increased traffic to a large number of WordPress sites on our shared hosting platform. The attack is not unique to ourselves and is affecting many hosting providers worldwide. When accessing your WordPress Admin Area you may find that you are prompted for a username and password not previously required. The credentials for this login are:
Username: protected
Password: wordpress
As soon as normal service is resumed, this prompt will be removed and the above credentials will no longer be required. We appreciate your patience during this time, and we will update this page once this has been resolved.
In addition it is recommended that you make sure you have a very secure password using letters, numbers, upper and lower case letters, and special characters such as &#)@!, etc. It is also recommend to NOT have a username of "admin."
More info from this TechCrunch article
Update: We are currently seeing further attempts from a large scale botnet targeting Joomla/Wordpress Administration areas. This attack has recently increased its hit rate and we have taken action to protect the targeted areas from these attacks. As a result of this you may now find you are prompted to pass a CAPTCHA check when attempting to login to your Wordpress / Joomla website. |
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26 Aug 2011
Fri | | Domain Renewal Group letters
The Domain Renewal Group (and various similar companies such as Domain Registry of America) have been sending out a lot of letters recently to our clients with .com, .net and .org domains. Their "courtesy" letters are made to look like renewal invoices or bills but are actually forms for transferring the domains away from your current supplier. Our clients are free to move their domains away from us at any time but you should be aware that the renewal fees charged by these companies are usually much higher than what we would charge so we wouldn't recommend it. You also have to question their unethical methods to have you transfer your domain to them.
If you bought your domain through W2-S Internet Services then you can safely bin these domain notices. Just google "Domain Renewal Group" if you want to see what other people think of these letters. If in doubt please contact us. |
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11 Feb 2011
Fri | | Fake mails alert
We're seeing an increase in fake mails again from criminals trying to steal your web hosting passwords. These emails should be ignored and deleted.
Example message:
Subject: Your your-domain.com account information has changed
New secret questions were added to your your-domain.com account.
To ensure that your account information remains accurate and secure we notify you whenever this information changes.
This change request was made on [a random date]
If the changes described above are accurate, no further action is needed. If anything doesn't look right, follow the link below to make changes:
[link to a fake site requesting your login details]
Regards,
your-domain.com Account Services
All genuine emails sent by W2-S Internet Services come from w2s.net and usually refer to you personally by name and will have the proper contact details in the email's signature. Keep your login details secure. |
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13 Jan 2010
Wed | | Spoof "mailing service" emails alert
Please be aware that recently there has been a sharp increase in fake emails suggesting that your "mailing service" has had a security upgrade. These emails then usually ask the user to click on a link to apply the new settings. The link itself is spoofed to look like it is from your own domain (or ours), usually in the form of http://your-domain.com/owa/service_directory/settings.php?email=you@your-domain.com, but is actually linking to an externally compromised host that we have no control over. The emails usually end along the lines of "Best regards, your-domain.com Technical Support," where your-domain.com is your actual domain.
Please note these emails are fake and designed to trick the user into logging on to a phishing site or compromise your computer. Please delete these emails and DO NOT click on the link or submit any login information to a 3rd party. If you think you have submitted your login details via one of these emails please change your email and FTP passwords as soon as possible via your site's control panel and contact us.
All genuine emails sent by W2-S Internet Services come from w2s.net and usually refer to you personally by name and will have the proper contact details in the email's signature. |
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