October 6th, 2009
On Monday, October 5, the BigDrum network experienced a server failure at 4:35PM CDT. This impacted sites on one of our shared server clusters. At that time the automated detection system did not trigger the “fail over” to the back-up server. While we received the notification of the initial problem, we did not expect the failure of the failover, which has worked successfully in part tests. After a second notification, we discovered the problem and manually triggered the failover and rebooted the impacted server. The total outage last approximately 30 minutes, from original failure to the time the sites were back online.
We have tested the system and will be replacing the impacted hardware this week. After testing the new hardware for performance and failover routines, we will migrate all impacted sites to the new server environment.
We apologize for any negative impact this had on your business during this time.
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August 13th, 2009
Adobe has released updates for its popular run-time applications, including Flash Player, AIR, Reader and Acrobat (Windows and Macintosh). Release versions impacted include:
- Adobe Flash Player 9.0.159.0 and 10.0.22.87 and earlier 9.x and 10.x versions
- Adobe AIR 1.5.1 and earlier versions
- Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9.1.2 and earlier 9.x versions
The level of security was designated as “critical” by Adobe, indicating that the vulnerability could be harmful to your computer. Visit the Adobe web site for detailed information about these updates.
BigDrum encourages you to get these updates installed as soon as possible to protect your computer and your data.
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July 7th, 2009
Microsoft announced a security problem this week for Windows XP and Server 2003 operating systems. The issue is related to how video is displayed when interacting with the Internet Explorer browser. This ActiveX video control can allow a hacker to gain control of any machine with this vulnerability. To note how important this issue is, Microsoft has released this information ahead of its normal second Tuesday of the month security update.
BigDrum recommends that you check out the
recommended fix that Microsoft has issued, keep your Windows Update patches current, and continue to update your anti-virus and spyware software.
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April 14th, 2009
On the afternoon of Monday, April 13, there was a brief period of email delivery delay that last about 90 minutes. This was due to an extremely large amount of undelivered spam email that was backing up the email server. As the backup grew, delivery of “good” mail was delayed. When this unwanted email was removed, the email serve returned to normal performance levels.
The fight against unwanted “spam” email continues, and BigDrum encourages you to continue to monitor your own spam activity using the Maia Mailguard available for each account for your domain.
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January 12th, 2009
In 2008 the BigDrum network underwent a substantial upgrade. In June, we moved to a new hosting environment, allowing us the opportunity to implement server virtualization. This allows us to provide stable and redundant services, but with a greatly reduced carbon footprint. Our new hosting facility is serviced by multiple backbone providers, ensuring minimal service impact, should a problem occur. All of the service improvements we made in 2007 are still in place; we also added a fully configurable email security system, allowing each email account the ability to monitor and manage spam activity.
Highlights from the past year include:
- 99.98% network planned uptime
- Updated server configurations with the latest in software updates
- Improved failover capabilities
- 12 hours of planned maintenance downtime for migration to new hosting location
- Under 2 hours of unexpected downtime, with no data lost
We are moving into our 12th year of providing hosting services in 2009, with many of the same clients who started with us in 1997. We have expanded our capabilities and our client list during this time, and will continue to provide the highest quality of service at a competitive price. Thank you for your trust!
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