We’ve been working solidly over the last week with the migrations and upgrades. I thought it would be good to give an update on where we are now at to keep those interested in the loop.

Server Migrations have been moving quickly.  We are around 35% through the server migrations at the present time. We prioritised the servers with the most issues, and those that would be most difficult to move. We estimate that all the moves should be complete within the next two weeks or so.

The migrations have been almost seamless. While we have tried to do things with as little disruption as possible, we have had to solve a few problems, mostly with some of the more complex scripts. Where there have been issues, we think we’ve been quick to resolve them, and set up scripts to deal with them in future.

By way of an example, one of the main issues was that some users were connecting to their mail using the old server IP address.  It’s much better to connect using the server’s hostname, because we can change what that points to and it also allows SSL to be used, increasing security and lessening the chance of ISPs interfering with your connection (some ISPs block/limit outgoing mail to help prevent spam). Please contact us if you’d like to know the new hostname for your server. We will be checking to see if anybody is connecting to the old servers and notifying them, but if you do have any problems with emails please just get in touch.

A note on Spam. It became apparent that many servers were on spam blacklists or had poor mail reputations, and tickets on this issue weren’t being handled correctly. We found one server which had been on a blocklist since March, and other clients contacting us who’d never been able to send mail reliably.

We very quickly dealt with the sources of spam on the affected servers and outgoing mail traffic dropped by more than 80% as a result. Most servers are now clear of all blocklists however, it can take a little time for some spam lists to remove listings. We have been migrating these affected servers first but if you still experience any blocks let us know and we can prioritise your move to one of our new servers, where this issue doesn’t exist.

Support has been going well. We’ve found the Hostroute clients to be very friendly and understanding. We’ve also received good feedback on what you’d like to see changing and will be implementing most requests as soon as the migrations are completed.

I would stress that it is important that if you have any issues, you can get in touch with us straight away. We don’t mind dealing with simple issues at all. If you are not sure if the problem is at your or our end, it’s best to check with us anyway. We are also open at weekends, so if you have any problems even on Sunday morning, feel free to ask us immediately rather than waiting until Monday morning. The internet is 24/7 and we believe you should be able to easily contact us on any day of the year.

The Billing Migration is almost there too. We have set up the new system and are currently testing migration scripts between the current billing system and the new system. As soon as that is done we’ll send a email.

Some people have asked why we are doing this billing migration away from the current system so quickly.  The support we offer should mainly be about hosting issues and configuration. Instead, most problems are due to billing and domain administration, which we believe are responsible for around 75% of the issues that Hostroute clients experience.

I was explaining the problems to my sister this weekend. She works in Theatre Design so I used an analogy. I explained that I was going to see a play. Getting in was difficult, but after a lot of work I managed to get a ticket. When I arrived at the theatre I realised that not only was my seat taken, but that all the seats were facing the wrong way. The complications meant that all the actors putting on the play had to help sort the mess out. Those actors should have been putting on a play, which is the whole point of the theatre. The administration of where people sit is just ancillary.

The point is that we can run a fantastic hosting service, but we need to sort the long-standing billing issues urgently because they cause too many problems.

Here are a few of the issues that a move to our own billing system in (hopefully) less than 72 hours will solve. I’ve also included notes on the points if you need to do anything urgent.

• Login Failures. After a reset, the current system sometimes does not let you login. If you need to do something urgently, let us know and we can do it for you manually. Our new billing system does not have this issue.
• Domain Activations. Sometimes the current system does not immediately register or renew domains. We’re running audits at the moment, but if you are concerned that your domain name has not been renewed, let us know. Again, our new billing system deals with this correctly.
• Errant Suspensions - We’ve encountered a few cases where accounts have been incorrectly suspended. We believe this is either a bug with the current system not updating due dates, or a glitch in the suspension script. We will be disabling account suspension after the move away from the current system, and auditing any suspended accounts. Obviously, our new system does not errantly suspend accounts.
• Double Invoices – We have found a few double-generated invoices where customers were invoiced twice for services, such as domain renewals. We will shortly be auditing invoices to check for any duplicates, and getting in touch accordingly to issue refunds and credit notes.

Finally I would like to thank all the Hostroute customers for their patience during these migrations. I’d also like to reiterate the invite to join and contribute to our forums, where we’d love to have some feedback and suggestions.

PS – This blog is now running on WordPress 3.2!