CONTENTS
I. Important MySql 8.0 Upgrade
II. September Upgrades: PHP, SmarterMail and Others
III. October Upgrades: MySql and Others
IV. Increases to Domain Prices (and one SSL certificate)

Dear Customers,

Welcome to the September 2019 LiquidSix Newsletter. There are some very important announcements in this newsletter, particularly regarding an upcoming upgrade to MySql which may require action to ensure there is no disruption to websites. We unfortunately also have to announce some price increases for our domain registration services (and one SSL certificate) due to continued increases in the cost of these to us. There are also announcements of general maintenance that will be happening in the next month and a bit.

I. Important MySql 8.0 Upgrade

During October, we will be performing a major upgrade to MySql 8.0, from the current MySql 5.6. We are making this change in order to keep up to date with the latest features, fixes and patches for MySql, after giving 8.0 some time to become as reliable as possible. There may however be some issues for very old scripts running on our servers, so there are actions that we are strongly recommend all customers who are using MySql on our servers take. Rather than detail these steps here, we have put together a knowledge base article on our website with our recommended steps to ensure that your website is compatible with the new version:
https://support.liquidsix.com/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/111/5/the-october-2019-upgrade-to-mysql-8

This change will take place on the 26th October (please see below), so we recommend that during the next 5 weeks you check any MySql sites for compatibility with MySql 8.0. We understand that for many people, the details in the article may be too technical. If this is the case, then we recommend sending your website administrator/developer the link above, so that they can check these details on your behalf.

II. September Upgrades: PHP, SmarterMail and Others

We will be performing maintenance on Saturday 28th September 2019, in a window starting at 00:30 UK time (GMT+1) and ending at 06:30. During this time, we will be doing the following:

• All current versions of PHP will be updated to their latest minor versions. The major version that a website is using will not be changed, so there should be no incompatiability upgrades. We do always recommend using the latest possible version on your site, for security reasons.
  
  
• A new major version of PHP, 7.3 will be installed onto the servers and will be available from the "Website Settings" page in the control panel. It will also become the default for new domains (existing domains will be unaffected).
  
  
• SmarterMail will be upgraded to the latest version. The mail servers may be unavailable for up to half an hour during the maintenance window whilst this is done (although it should be much less). This will add new features to SmarterMail and apply fixes. The user interface will remain largely the same.
  
  
• General updates will be applied to the servers and some of our backend systems. These should not impact customers, but some may require server reboots during this maintenance window.

III. October Upgrades: MySql and Others

We will be performing maintenance on Saturday 26th October 2019, in a window starting at 00:30 UK time (GMT+1) and ending at 06:30. During this time, we will be doing the following: 

• We are moving MySql to new, more powerful servers, at the same time as upgrading to MySql 8.0 (please see the details above regarding this). MySql databases may be unavailable for up to an hour during the window whilst we complete this. The same applies to both UK and US customers, but they will happen at different times during the window.
  
  
• General updates will be applied to the servers and some of our backend systems. These should not impact customers, but some may require server reboots during this maintenance window.

IV. Increases to Domain Prices (and one SSL certificate)

As our long term customers will know, our domain registration prices have only changed twice in the past 15 years, with the last change being about 4 years ago. We set the prices as low as possible, as we consider the registrations to be a service to customers rather than a way to generate profit. Unfortunatley, over the years the various domain registries have increased their prices to us and our suppliers on a number of ocassions. We have absorbed these costs and kept our prices to customers the same. But over time, the many increases, coupled with the sustained poor exchange rate in the UK has meant that we have no choice but to increase the amount that we charge, as some of the domain extensions were being sold below our cost price.

You can view details of these price changes on our website here:
https://www.liquidsix.com/domains/changes.asp

The majority of our prices have had to be revised upwards in order to cover the increased costs. The UK domain registry, Nominet, have not increased their prices recently and are unaffected by exchange rate changes, so there have been no increases for these domains (.uk, .co.uk, .org.uk, .me.uk, .ltd.uk and .plc.uk), they remain by far the cheapest domains that we sell. 

Despite these increases, our domain registration prices for common domains such as .com remain below many of the large UK registrars and our prices continue to be the same for both new registrations and renewal - we do not charge you a higher price after your first year is up, unlike some competitors. We hope that you will allow us to continue to provide domain registration services to you, but we do understand that the price increases may affect your plans. You can cancel any domains that you wish through the "LiquidSix Domain Registrations" icon in the control panel at any time so that you will not be charged for their renewal.

We have manged to keep most of our SSL certificate prices unchanged, however there has unfortunatley been one change, this is to the "PositiveSSL Wildcard Certificate" price, which is now £119.99 for 1 year and £229.99 for 2 years.

These pricing changes will apply to both new orders and renewals of existing domains that are paid for from the 9th October 2019. We are giving notice of these changes as we are aware of the effect that they may have and that some resellers who sell our services on may need to adjust their own pricing. We do appologise for any inconvinence caused by these changes and we hope that you can understand the reasons why we have been forced to do this and appreciate that we do so as infrequently as possible. Please be reassured that these increases do not affect the services that we provide directly, including hosting plans, as these have never been increased for existing customers and are not being increased now.

We would like to thank you for your continued custom. As always, if you have any questions about these changes, please do not hesitate to contact us via the normal methods.

Regards,

The LiquidSix Hosting Team