The latest release of Microsoft's .Net Platform is available on our services now. The new .Net 5.0 brings together the best of the .Net Framework with the best of .Net Core, and is the future for both of these existing platforms.

It is available now on all plans that include ASP.Net, and can be turned on from the "Website Settings" page for your domain in our control panel. All existing versions of the .Net Framework (2.0 to 4.8) and .Net Core (1.0 to 3.1) are of course still available to use as well.

If you have any questions about using the new platform, please do not hesitate to contact us.

The upgrade to SQL Server 2019 for all customers was completed yesterday as scheduled and notified by email a few weeks ago.

If you are trying to connect to SQL Server using an older version of Management Studio, you may not be able to connect. We recommend that all customers trying to connect install the latest version of Management Studio, which is available free from Microsoft here:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/ssms/download-sql-server-management-studio-ssms?view=sql-server-ver15

If you have any questions or problems, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Dear Customers,

As you may remember from previous messages, last Saturday (26^th 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that the number of sites that were failing these tests was unacceptably high - whether due to scripts still being out of date or being incompatible with MySql 8.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 (2^nd 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

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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:

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Only about 24 hours left to qualify for the promotion!

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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

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.

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 in a window starting at 00:30 UK time (GMT+1) and ending at 06:30.

Customers on our US hosting will have received an email previously about the migration of websites to a new server on the evening of Friday 12th April. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen issues, there has been a delay in completing this. It is still progressing, however we now will not be sending out the IP changes (or making them automatically where possible) for approximately 48 hours.

Please accept our apologies for this and please watch for the IP change email in the next couple of days.