CloudNine Web Services

PHP 5.3

admin — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 22:05:56 +0000

We have updated all servers to PHP 5.3.10 for performance and security improvements. If you encounter script errors, please update whichever software you are running to the latest version. For developers: here is a list of changes between PHP 5.3 and PHP 5.2. If your custom software encounters errors, this is likely why.

Introducing CIPS

admin — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 19:54:15 +0000

Introducing CIPS, the C9WS Computationally Intensive Processing System. A 26-core x64 elastic cloud open to all C9WS clients. CIPS is not a web hosting service in itself, but it is a lot of things – a distributed cloud computing platform, a powerful number-crunching tool, and a remotely accessible development/linux environment. It’s got almost the entire Debian repository installed, complete with X11 forwarding. All C9WS customers can log in – information is in your cPanel. Give it a try – hop on and do some development, crunch some data or just explore the Linux cloud. This is intended as a remotely-accessible general purpose Linux computing cloud as a service for our clients.

Alternate System Choices

admin — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 21:11:43 +0000

We are happy to announce that we now offer several hosting environments to choose from.

In addition to our fan favorite cPanel-on-CentOS, we now offer a few non-Linux solutions. FreeBSD and OpenIndiana (essentially Solaris) are both now available. Please note that these systems are set up with developers in mind and offer little in the way of a control panel (meaning you won’t find cPanel there). You’ll need to be comfortable with doing most or all of your work via SSH.

For any developers who wish to move or create accounts under either of these systems, please contact support!

We are also able to set up simple accounts for code testing at no cost. As with all of our servers, a full development toolkit is available. For those of you using our Linux systems who simply wish to develop, but not serve content off of, our BSD/OpenIndiana systems, simply SSH in and log in with your existing C9WS credentials. You will be able to operate with a regular shell environment, though inbound network access is disabled.

Recent Downtime

admin — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 17:03:08 +0000

We have resolved the recent downtime issues and thank you for your patience.

PHP 4.x End of Life

admin — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 12:00:24 +0000

Starting July 1, 2011, we will be uninstalling PHP 4 outright from all C9WS dedicated and virtual servers. PHP 4 has had a good, long run, but it’s become such a security and maintenance problem to keep, that we’ve decided that it’s time to move on. Pretty much all web applications have moved to PHP 5.2 (if not PHP 5.3!), and we don’t think many people will be affected by this change. If you’ve been using PHP 4, you should update your scripts, and change your cPanel setting to PHP 5. For advanced users who have been piping individual scripts to PHP 4, you should update your path from /usr/bin/legacy/php4 to /usr/bin/php. Thank you for your understanding.

PHP Pear Packages

admin — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 15:23:48 +0000

As of last night, PHP pear packages can be automatically downloaded and installed simply by including them within a script. In other words, simply using a package in a file will cause the missing package/module to be installed, no need to use the installer in cPanel.

PHP 5.3

admin — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 23:53:24 +0000

C9WS will begin rolling out the PHP 5.3.3 update to all servers today, upgrading from the previous version of 5.2.13. There are many changes to PHP between versions 5.2 and 5.3 as this is a major upgrade. For more information, see PHP.net.

PHP 5.3 will be the default PHP version for all new accounts and all clients’ accounts will be set to use PHP 5.3. If your site is not compatible with PHP 5.3 or you prefer to use PHP 5.2.14, you may make this change by selecting PHP Configuration in cPanel. Because PHP 5.3 is a major new version, many scripts will require an update in order to function.

Due to performance improvements as well as the number of new features included with PHP 5.3, we recommend all clients use PHP 5.3 at this time. See ttp://us.php.net/migration53 for a description of changes if you have written your own code and you want to move it to PHP 5.3.

C9WS Redesign

admin — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 23:47:27 +0000

We have some ideas down for a C9WS site redesign but are still looking into what exactly we want out of a new site. We are still looking for feedback – what would you like to see in a new C9WS.com? (Our hosting service itself will be unaffected, only the theme and/or layout of C9WS.com will change.)

New Site Design

admin — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 23:55:02 +0000

We have begun preliminary investigation into redesigning the CloudNine Web Services website. We are looking to roll out a beta of a new working design sometime in mid to late January 2011.

Currently we are discussing several aspects of a proposed new site:
1. Format: Straight up text layouts? Blog (like the current design)? CMS?
2. Content: Nothing but hosting plans? Programming resources, too?
3. Integration: Build the order system into a page? Keep it separate?

We are interested in hearing feedback from anyone who has a suggestion – please mail it to support@c9ws.com. Thanks!

Security Updates

admin — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 17:25:06 +0000

We’ve just finished a big round of software updates, bringing you the best security possible.