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Sep 8 |
Problem with UK Web Server "Leda"
Posted by Paul Woodland on 08 September 2020 11:45 AM |
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We are currently urgently investigating an issue with one of our UK web servers, "Leda". Websites hosted on this server are currently unavailable due to the issue. As soon as we have more information, we will update this page.
UPDATE 13.49: The websites have been running without issue since the last update. We believe a networking issue caused the problems, which has now been fixed. We are continuing to monitor in case of any further issues. Please accept our apologies for the problems on this server today. Read more » | |
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Aug 16 |
SQL Server 2019
Posted by Paul Woodland on 16 August 2020 09:36 AM |
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The upgrade to SQL Server 2019 for all customers was completed yesterday as scheduled and notified by email a few weeks ago.
If you have any questions or problems, please do not hesitate to contact us. Read more » | |
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Jul 22 |
July 2020 News: Upgrades & Domain Prices
Posted by Paul Woodland on 22 July 2020 09:53 AM |
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CONTENTS
Dear Customers, We hope that all of you are doing well and keeping safe during this strange time for everybody. We have been continuing to operate as normal since the beginning of this outbreak, and expect to continue to do so. If there is any way that we can assist you or your business during this time, please do not hesitate to contact us. We have a few updates for you this time about upgrades to SQL Server and PHP, as well as changes to some of our domain registration prices. If you have any questions about these, please get in contact so that we can assist you.
SQL Server 2019 Upgrade On Saturday 15th August, we will be upgrading all of our customer Microsoft SQL Server instances to SQL Server 2019, the latest version of SQL Server that Microsoft has released, so that all of our customers have access to the latest technology. This will be being done as an in-place upgrade to reduce the disruption. The window for the work will be between 12.30am and 6.00am UK Time (GMT+1) on Saturday 15th August, we will be doing each server one at a time. The downtime for each server during this period should be less than an hour and will be kept as short as possible. It is being done overnight to reduce the disruption that this will cause. No changes will be required to connection details, and there are not expected to be any script compatibility issues - however you may wish to check with your developer that scripts are compatible with SQL Server 2019. The only impact that the upgrade is expected to have on customers is that older versions of SQL Server Management Studio will no longer be able to connect to the server properly. Microsoft make the latest version of Management Studio available for free to all users, so you can simply download the latest version from the Microsoft website here: This affects Microsoft SQL Server databases only, and not any MySQL or other databases, which will remain as they currently are.
PHP Upgrades At the same time (12.30am to 6.00am Saturday 15th August) we will also be applying the latest upgrades to PHP available on the server. As each website will continue to use the same major version as it already does, but be updated to the latest minor update of that version, there should not be any action that customers need to take. There is not any expected downtime during this process. We do recommend that customers upgrade to the latest major version of PHP (7.4) wherever the scripts on their website are compatible. This can be done from the "Website Settings" page for the domain in the control panel. Where scripts are not compatible with the latest version of PHP, we do recommend that customers talk to their developers or software suppliers about making them compatible, in order to ensure that websites remain stable and secure, as older versions of PHP can have security issues that are no longer patched.
Other Updates and Maintenance There will also be other miscellaneous updates and maintenance being performed at the same time (12.30am to 6.00am Saturday 15th August). There is not any extended downtime expected for these, but they may require brief server reboots during this window.
Changes to Domain Prices Since October when we last updated our prices, there have unfortunately been further large increases by some registries on the cost of their domains. Although we have absorbed these costs so far, we are having to increase the cost of some of the domains we sell. These price changes will take effect for domain registrations and renewals that are paid for on or after the 1st August 2020. Renewals paid before this date will be at the old price. The prices that will be changing are as follows: All Nominet UK domains will change from £5.99 to £6.99 per year excluding VAT, this includes: .uk .co.uk .org.uk .me.uk .plc.uk .ltd.uk
.net domains will change from £14.99 to £15.99 per year excluding VAT There will be no changes to domains not listed above, including .com domains. These prices have been kept as low as possible, and are still cheaper than a number of the large UK domain registrars, especially our prices for .uk and related domains, which are significantly below the renewal prices of the large registrars. Hosting plans, servers, SSL certificates and other services are not affected. We have never increased the price of our hosting services for existing customers, and this will not be changing. Only domain prices are affected, due to the registries increasing the costs to us.
As always, should you have any questions regarding anything in this newsletter, or need any assistance with any aspect of your service with us, please do not hesitate to contact us via the helpdesk at https://support.liquidsix.com.
Kind Regards, Read more » | |
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Mar 17 |
Statement Regarding COVID-19
Posted by Paul Woodland on 17 March 2020 09:10 AM |
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Customers will no doubt be aware of the current COVID-19 pandemic in many countries around the world. You will probably have heard from many companies via email about their preparations and any effect on their business. We have decided not to send a statement out via email, to avoid annoying customers with more notices, but are posting here instead for those customers looking for the information. The pandemic is not currently affecting any of our operations. As we already utilised home working and can manage all servers remotely, there is no impact at this time. All customer service remains unaffected. All of our major suppliers are also operating normally and have procedures in place that they are keeping us up to date with. Should the situation change, we will update the information here, or send an email to customers if the information is urgent. If you have any questions about this, or any other aspect of our services, please do not hesitate to contact us. Read more » | |
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Oct 30 |
Oct 2019 Announcement: MySql Migration and Last Day To Save on .uk Registrations!
Posted by Paul Woodland on 30 October 2019 05:12 PM |
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Dear Customers, As you may remember from previous messages, last Saturday (26th October), an upgrade to MySql 8.0 was scheduled in the early hours of the morning, along with a move onto new upgraded hardware at the same time. As some may be aware from announcements on the support site, this eventually had to be cancelled. The other updates and maintenance scheduled for that night were completed as expected. The MySql move was begun as scheduled, and the databases were moving across without issue. However, as part of this upgrade, a random selection of sites were tested after their database's moved to ensure that they were still working on the new server. Part way through this move it was deemed that the number of sites that were failing these tests was unacceptably high - whether due to scripts still being out of date or being incompatible with MySql 8. As such, to avoid these sites going offline, we were forced to abandon the upgrade, and leave everything running as it was before. Although the move to MySql 8.0 has had to be abandoned, it does mean that we have new hardware for MySql that is sitting empty and waiting. Therefore, we are scheduling a shorter maintenance for this Saturday (2nd November) between 12.30am and 5am, during which we will be moving MySql onto the new hardware, whilst staying with the existing version of MySql, 5.7. The expected downtime during this window is approximately 30 minutes. There are no changes to sites needed to prepare for this, as the major version is remaining the same, as well as the configuration. We are currently working out what is best to do in order to offer customers that would like it access to MySql 8.0, without affecting the websites of customers whose websites are not compatible with the latest technologies. If MySql 8.0 is something that you are interested in, please contact support to register your interest, and we can then plan the best way of doing this and keep you up to date.
LAST DAY FOR .UK PROMOTION -------------------------------------------------------------------------- At 6pm GMT tomorrow, our October promotion on .uk, .co.uk, .org.uk and .me.uk domain registrations is finishing. Don’t miss out! For only £5.00 exc VAT, register a new domain in one of these extensions for 2 years. This is a saving of £6.98 exc VAT. For more details, and to register your new domains, please see here: https://www.liquidsix.com/twoyearuk/ Only about 24 hours left to qualify for the promotion! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- As always, please contact us via the support helpdesk - https://support.liquidsix.com - if you need assistance with anything in this newsletter, or anything else to do with your hosting service. Kind Regards, The LiquidSix Hosting Team Read more » | |
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Oct 26 |
UPDATE: MySql 8.0 Upgrade Cancelled
Posted by Paul Woodland on 26 October 2019 05:23 AM |
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As per our recent announcements, tonight was scheduled to be the upgrade of the MySql server to the latest version, 8.0, as well as the move to new hardware. This was begun as scheduled, and the databases were moving across without issue. However, as part of this upgrade, a random selection of sites were tested after their database's moved to ensure that they were still working on the new server. Part way through this move it was deemed that the number of sites that were failing these tests was unacceptably high - whether due to scripts being out of date or being incompatible with MySql 8. As such, to avoid these sites going offline, we have been forced to abandon the upgrade. The current MySql server will remain in place, with no changes, whilst we consider the best option on how to proceed from here. We still wish to provide customers with the latest technologies, but will need a solution to the issue of out of date sites before doing so. We will make another announcement soon once we have finished investigating. The other updates and maintenance scheduled for tonight were completed as expected. Read more » | |