News Vlexo - An update for you…

The week and ahalf since we have moved to our new provider we have had 100% uptime, though this is only the first week and a half; though I did have services with this new provider of ours before free users were moved over. Hopefully we will be able to uphold this uptime for the rest of the month and upcoming months. With the provider we are with now, I can safely say, we are in safer hands if we were to compare services to what we were with, then you’d be blown out the water. From my uptime monitor which I created to watch the uptime of our service - it has said that we have been up 100% since we moved servers; so things I can say are going well! e.g.

2008-07-05 100.00 0.000 0.253 0.240 0.325 0.324
2008-07-04 100.00 0.000 0.244 0.245 0.345 0.331
2008-07-03 100.00 0.000 0.240 0.242 0.303 0.311
2008-07-02 100.00 0.000 0.257 0.257 0.322 0.327
2008-07-01 100.00 0.000 0.316 0.316 0.383 0.398
2008-06-30 100.00 0.000 0.262 0.262 0.315 0.322
2008-06-29 100.00 0.000 0.286 0.286 0.373 0.388
2008-06-28 100.00 0.000 0.283 0.283 0.348 0.351
2008-06-27 100.00 0.000 0.324 0.324 0.408 0.408
2008-06-26 100.00 0.000 0.320 0.320 0.520 0.546

I’m sure we can keep this ‘reliability’ up, as said, the network we are on and the server we are on is just superb! Things are going good within the Vlexo Community!

Thanks for reading,

Jonathan

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(We sent a newsletter out) No, I have not gone mad, the transfer is taking place as I type this up and it’s going fairly well! There are some larger accounts which are taking up some time in which this could be all done in half an hour though we will have to wait until all accounts have been transferred. We are sorry for such short notice however the network we are currently on is not stable enough thus I had to move out as soon as we could; plus we got the problem solved with the account that wasn’t playing nice and that didn’t want to transfer! (No doubt, it was one of my own sites, thus why it was fairly large, though it was transferred to another server - away from our free users) We did indeed say the transfer would most likely take place tomorrow however I had time on my hands and thought: “Why not today?”!

At current 1% of accounts have been uploaded (According to WHM) so this will take sometime however your sites are still on the server which we are transferring away from, so they are up and they will take the latest information which has been stored at the latest date! So if you make any changes (Which we highly do not recommend) then your account may differ when it transfers to the new server. Though we of course have backups available 24×7 and plus we won’t delete the data that is currently on the server (reliability) so any new data can of course be reloaded to update to the latest possible ‘version’ (So to speak) of your website! All we ask is that you plead and beg for mercy for us to perform such action, however a simple request on the forums will suffice.

Users on the variable server have not been affected at-all during this shift.

Thanks,

-Jonathan Jones

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Hello,

We did say that the transfer would initially take place on the 21st of this month. (Yesterday) However we have ran into some problems so we are going to initiate the transfer on the 24th, this is the final date of when we can do the transfer, so this is when it will be done. We are sorry for any inconvenience however we are having considerable problems with transferring some of our larger websites that we have hosted on the server. Though if we do find a way around such problem, we will of course intitiate transfer at a much earlier date however at moment in time, it’s not feasible for us to do right now.

Thank you for your patience,

-Jonathan Jones

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To all free users and to whom it is concerned, Vlexo’s free servers are going on a move to a whole new jungle, a jungle where bugs do not pester you, a jungle where you are not hit by angry gorillas; this is a whole new kinda’ jungle where these things simply do not exist. We are indeed going premium on our free users by moving to a more reliability enhanced network; where downtime is a factor which is virtually planned upon only.

We have been having a rough time in this month with the downtime that has been occurring and this not server downtime, this is actual network downtime from the data center. Yesterday we struck a deal on a Quad2Core machine, which will cost us initially $220 per month (With all the essentials included such as WHM/cPanel with fantastico) and this was quite a special deal as we are knocking the monthly price off by $100 per month; by payment up front a $500 setup fee. Which I would never do unless I believed in such a company, I’d give away that amount of cash on a dedicated server. This fabulous company who have had a presence for quite sometime are a company called and seriously they have been serving my utmost important websites for around 6 months and I’m just enjoyed with the service they provide. I know if I go with them, I’ll be able to sleep at night, where before that wasn’t possible as at some point it came to the point where I was constantly worried about the network going out and relaying that information to users as I try to keep all users up-to-date as possible on situations that arise.

Though let me say first, we are actually moving onto one of their hybrid servers FIRST then we will initially make the switch over once we can get such deal settled. However their hybrids are probably more powerful than the Quad2Core however it’s still a lovely deal which we are making! So keep in touch with us and if you want to know more about this, email me @ admin [AT] vlexo.org!

The thing about moving to a more secured solution at and the most beneficial thing which can turn out for our free users is essentially the ‘pro-active management’ they provide, they will watch over our server to check if it is running fine and if it isn’t they have (From what I have experienced in the six months I’ve been with them) more than able staff to carry out operations to fix said problems. - If their network does go down, they will usually inform you before hand however if it does go down unexpectedly they will try and get in contact with you; to inform you on such scenario if it were to happen; which I find unlikely with them. You might also want to look around and see the solutions they provide if you are interested in their service, however they are a highly recommended by Vlexo.com if you are looking for something which can undoubtedly serve you reliability with super-fast support.

So if they are so good, why isn’t Vlexo’s main website/forum hosted at WiredTree?

We believe we have moved to a more than stable environment to which we have on our hands and our website is safe and secure with all the same reliabilities WiredTree offer. Frankly the only reason our main website not as hosted with WiredTree is because we do not like hosting our main means of support on a the same network that we host our free-users on. For example, if the network went down which our free users were on, they would have no where to go for support, so instead we think, what are the chances of 2 datacenters having 2 pro-longed or whatever periods of network downtime. - Though this doesn’t mean WT will have network downtime, as there is most certainly a chance or even of planned downtime. Where even if this happens the system we have setup will provide a system where a means of support is always available.

You may also want to take a look at the information pages they have setup:

http://wiredtree.com/supportservices/servershield.php

Servershield is a security method they install on your server to make sure it’s safe and of course secure preventing anything terrible happening! As you can see by the above link, they provide a detailed overview of what they do and how they operate things. - Though this is pretty much advanced-standard securing of a server.

This must be the service, I love the most about them, and it can be found on this page:

http://wiredtree.com/supportservices/index.php

We provide advanced monitoring for your server and the services on it. Each server comes with 24/7/365 monitoring as well as proactive response to any downed services. Sleep soundly knowing WiredTree is watching your server. (More…)

From what I’ve experienced with WiredTree is that they actually do what they provide and this is what I love about them as they have provided me with the best support I have seen in a provider for almost 5 years that I’ve been in this business and from when I first started with a web host. They literally respond to tickets in minutes and this is pretty consistent in the 6 months I have been with them, which is why we are more than happy to give out $500 in advance setup fees to pay off some of the monthly bill as in the up coming months, this will save us a lot of money; which is initially why we are doing this. (As I do know we will be with this company for at least 2 years! ‘Unless their service starts to slide however I’m sure that won’t happen as they survive on that aspect.’ Though they are a true testament to what a VPS & dedicated provider should aim towards; as they and others will thrive and enjoy this industry knowing they have such company behind them.

More information will be passed throughout the up coming week!

Thank you for reading,

-Jonathan Jones

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The blog is about a thread on the Vlexo community forum which shows Vlexo’s forum back in 2007, using the wayback machine, this tool is a pretty awesome tool which has around 85 billion pages recorded from the history of the web! Now people were posting about this so I had to take a look for myself as I have never really used this tool on Vlexo as for some reason when I use this tool and look up “Vlexo.com” the page(s) that come back from when we had an old hideous design; the images don’t show up.

From the looks of things, we had a good thing going back then and we still do now, just take a look for yourself here! - Ok, maybe not as good as what we have now, as that was when the forum was virtually brand-spanking-new! However take a look at this wayback of the forums in June of 02, it looked pretty active then and it was; as it was a time when we offered free reseller hosting. - Which is why I’m so interested in bringing that back!

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I was re-configuring the backups system and noticed it wasn’t working, so I got it fixed and patched up so backups are now being made on a remote server everyday. (The backups replace each other at 1AM US Central time; everyday) Now I’m confident we can offer our backup server like we have on our website, I’d just like to say that even though we do keep backups you should too! We do require something from you in order for this service to be applicable to you! The requirements are as follows!

Requirements - If you have any of the following you are applicable to a free backup

• More than 100 posts on our forum…
• Premium member…
• You have given something back which we find useful!
• If we delete your website or files we will give you a free backup of all the files which have been backed up. (Free of charge, no matter the size of the backup)
• If we feel kind enough and generous to download the backup for you and give it to you!
• If the size of the file isn’t to big, we are more than happy enough to restore it for you!
• You haven’t commited anything wrong! (Meaning you have not had your site suspended or you have not recieved any infractions)

These are full backups, which can be overwritten over your initial account or which can be used to gather your sql database, public_html files, generally everything including your email database! - These backups don’t have to just be used to replace your current cpanel account files/databases, as you can use them to retain deleted files and of course databases which have corrupted.

It’s quite expensive for a free service to give out free backups, thus why we have ‘requirements’ otherwise this service might possibly be abused. People who are active on the forum will obviously get this service free of charge; no questions asked. In any event where a scenario could occur, let’s just say the hard-drive on the server explodes and is non-functional and no data can be retained off that hdd. - Let’s just say we get the hdd replaced however all data is missing, all we would have to do is ‘wget’ the backups on the remote server onto the our dedicated server then restore it via WHM; thus it would re-create the account you had on that day. (Thus giving us a fail over in any occurrence of a scenario happening such as this, however it’s high unlikely something like this would happen, though there is still that percentage where things could possibly go terribly wrong)

Will this free remote backup service still be readily available as Vlexo’s service grows?

I can firmly say yes! Remote back ups are a huge advantage in the service we provide, thus why we provide such service. Though as we grow we do actually plan on using more and more hdd space (On our remote back up server) thus our provider who provides us with such service has upgrade plans which we can firmly upgrade to; with two clicks! Though this may cost a lot more money in the future we have bright prospects for the future of Vlexo.com! Qaulity, reliable hosting is what we pride ourselves as! You don’t get too many free hosts offering free remote back ups, right?

Make your own back ups!

We love helping people out, but constantly giving out back ups is not our issue nor do we want to make it such an issue. Unless you have deleted a terribly important thing, then we will give you the credibility of a back up, credibility is what we say people should come to us with if they have made a major accident with their website!

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Would you like to see a new requesting process at Vlexo? The current ordering system we have in place, is one where you submit information to us via forums or either email. (A lot of the email requests are rubbish and do not follow regulations) However we would like to introduce an automated system where you would submit information via an online form or an online systematic series of forms. (No forum/email required) With this new system we would be approving and disapproving applications/requests sent in. This way we would receive more requests and requests which we can identify via IP addresses as this new system would give such availability. The catch with this is that you would indeed have to sign up to the forums (Which does not take long) however requests would be approved more quickly specifically if the user submits threads in introduction, introducing him or herself.

Our current setup at this moment in time is actually pretty confusing, thus why we want to make a change to the setup as newbies do not understand how our system works and what will get your account approved or disapproved. The new system will hopefully come around when we get our new website into shape and when of course we have our advertising campaign up; to effectively show of effective this new system is. This will not decrease the service we already provide, so don’t think ‘just because we are getting more users’ our service won’t decline and get more sloppy! If needed, I’ll purchase another dedicated server with the same specification and we’ll load balance the two servers together or if it’s just an upgrade of RAM that needs giving; then that will decision will be made! - We have the plans, so you need not worry!

Thanks for reading!

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So a lot of people must be wondering on the future of Vlexo and what new snazzy services we will be offering in the future. Let me just say, we will be offering new services from which you should expect ’soon’, in a time period I can’t give you at the moment. However when and if you see any of our services changing, expect some huge stuff which will be on offer which will follow after that change!

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So what should we be expecting?

• Free WHM reseller hosting - We have seen quite a big jump in such a market, thus why we are entering it.
• Post for hosting - This market is quite saturated at the moment, however to extend the services we provide and to offer the ability of ad-free hosting, this market will be available for those wanting to post to get hosting with us!
• Re-vamped website, with portal, from which you’ll be able to edit account details from within, such account details will include the reason why your account was suspended; if ever suspended.
• The forums will also be worked on, to increase traffic and interest into the forums, we will be having it integrated into the new site design!
• An increase in traffic, we are looking at around 50,000 unique visitors per month and we are always ready to take on this huge volume of traffic and of course the increased volume of cpanel accounts created.
• ‘Website of the week’ will also be making a firm come back as this was one of the services which somewhat got the community active and excited.

Why?

I firmly believe services need to be updated for any interest to be taken up by anyone as a service which keeps to it’s same standards doesn’t get very far, thus why we are updating everything; literally. Increased services show how flexible of a service we are, which is why we are showing such formidable presence in the free hosting world.

Free WHM reseller hosting

This service needs to be seriously exploited as it’s a service which every free-leecher (:p) likes, as people want to start their own hosting services and so on, which you can’t blame them for as it’s in their interest and by god; it’s the internet where things should magically be free! However these reseller accounts will be in my terms extremely limited as we want to provide a good service, not one where people will exploit or overload our servers with thousands of accounts per reseller. - Though seriously if you want to run that kind of business, where you host thousands of free accounts, get serious and buy yourself a dedicated server. Apart from that, that is all I have to say about the resellers we are going to be offering.

Post for hosting

I won’t be expecting too much from our posting for hosting schemes, however most of our other services will be specific to ad-hosting which sets post for hosting apart from the other services; as they simply won’t require ads.

Website

The ‘new look’, is what we are going for, our current design is fantastic and I paid quite a lot of money for it, it’s professional and to the point. However it doesn’t offer any flexibility, it’s just a website and it doesn’t advertise our services/forum well, which is why I’m going to have a design made for us which will be easier to navigate around for any newbies which want to join up! We are also going to be introducing a custom portal after a few months of releasing the website, from where you’ll be able to edit your cpanel details etc. That’s all I have to say about this for now!

Forum

Currently the forum is not integrated into our main website design, I could have it done right now, however this will not be done as of yet, until we get a new and ‘right’ design created for us. - Then integration of the forum into the main site will begin!

Increase in traffic

In the upcoming months, I’ll be purchasing advertisement spots on big forums, which should somewhat increase our daily traffic and should fetch us in some more activity.

Website of the week

Website of the week is indeed making a come back, where you’ll be able to win $15 - 40, just for the website you have hosted with us! - If that isn’t great, I don’t know what is, as it’s your website you are developing and you’ll get awarded for it!

Thanks for reading,

-Jonathan

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Very soon I’m going to be investing around $200 per month on marketing Vlexo and it’s services via Google AdWords and through the usage of purchasing ads through forums such as FreeWebspace.net and vBulletin-fans.com, which I believe in excess will bring Vlexo’s traffic hugely up and perhaps increase the pagerank of Vlexo.com in the next update. - As people all know I like to take things nice and slowly, in case new things come along, so I won’t miss out on great deals or changed prices, so I’m waiting on things to churn out so to speak so I can advertise at the peak timing. I’m expecting to have around 50,000 unique visitors per month with this advertising campaign, so I’m going to be needing to purchase another dedicated server to support the volume of people who want to be hosted for free with ads! Hopefully the ads will pay back to the total amount for the second server if not just some of it; though if it doesn’t that’s fine.

I also advertised Vlexo on this fairly large forum, however due to ‘The Planet’ (A huge dedicated server provider - they own 6 datacenters) the forum went down and my advertisement still hasn’t been put up yet, though of course I’ll allow time seeing as their forum was down for over 2 days. (It’s up at the moment from what I can see - it’s just that the admin of the forum just has not logged in due to the downtime problems, I guess with ‘The Planet’) Also I’ve noticed a steady increase in traffic, not by much but by 500 more visits per month and this is keeping pretty consistent. We just need to get more sign ups and accounts so we can become more popular than we are!

Thanks for reading,

Jonathan Jones

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We had problems restoring the old database as we did indeed make a network move to a more reliable and greener host - as the server we are on is powered by the sun! (Solar power) I will be making updates on this blog on a day to day basis to show that we keep updates/tabs on Vlexo.com - Even though we are a free web host we strive to communicate to our free users and VIP users! Though the good ol’ blog was very detailed it was messy which is most probable reason why I didn’t bother to restore the backup to my hearts content!  This new blog will share more information about what’s going on and how things are working out!

I was also thinking of getting this blog integrated with the website, so the blog actually looked like the website. - However I will delay this as we are getting a new design and I will be spending a lot of money, ‘getting it right’, as our current design is amazing and the designer who designed it is clearly very talented. So for now, I’ll just be finding a free theme which I can find on free wordpress theme sites, however there was a very good wordpress site which ‘Mano’ posted on the forums, so check this space out!

Thanks for reading,

-Jonathan Jones

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