The Tech Bench: A Script for Fixing File Permissions

suPHP and FastCGI require files and folders to have a specific set of permissions/ownership different from other handlers. Without these permissions set correctly you will see a lot of errors such as: “403 Forbidden”, “500 Internal Server Error”, or simply generic errors that commonly have the word ‘permission’ in them.

It can be very time consuming to track down and check file permissions across a whole server. Luckily, fixing permissions and ownership on a server running  cPanel can be scripted. One of the members of our MST, Colin Roche-Dutch, created a simple script for ServInt called ‘fixperms’ that you can wget to any cPanel server. Simply run the fixperms script, specifying the user (or all users), and the errors disappear.  It is a good generic fix if you cannot find your permission problem, or if you have just switched your handler and need a quick way to change every user account on the server. Read more

Thank You, Norman Edmund

 

I woke up this morning to the news that Norman Edmund passed away last week at the ripe old age of 95.  To a man whose proudest possession is a 48-inch fresnel lens rescued from a discarded TV, this was like like learning Santa Claus had died.

That’s because Norman Edmund was the founder of Edmund Scientific — the company that sells the coolest science gadgets in the world.

Back in the 20th century, every boy or girl with a nerdy streak (like me) desperately yearned for something — check that:  nearly everything — in the Edmund Scientific catalog.  Edmund sold microscopes, telescopes, gyroscopes, rockets, prisms, lab sets, robot parts, crystal radio kits — even lasers!  The point is, it was all cool stuff, and it was all real.  These weren’t crappy toy versions of science gadgets; they were “lab quality,” and you could actually build, grow, fly, peer through, connect and learn things from them. Read more

Evaluating Disk Storage, Part 2: RAID

A savvy web hosting customer knows the importance of a storage solution that allows users to access and interact with their data quickly. In Part 1 of Evaluating Disk Storage, we talked about the benefits and drawbacks of different types of drives. But to assess the reliability and performance of an enterprise storage solution, it is important to know both the type of drive as well as the RAID configuration.

RAID arrays and controllers allow for much higher capacity, performance, and reliability than individual drives. And some of the surprising benefits and limits of each type of drive in a RAID array dictate the optimal choice in any given application. Read more

SOPA/PIPA Update: We are Winning!

Today PIPA was dealt a crushing blow when Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) pulled his planned cloture vote on the bill, agreeing to go back to the drawing board. The original vote was planned for Tuesday, Jan 24, but today he announced “In light of recent events, I have decided to postpone Tuesday’s vote on the PROTECT I.P. Act.” In a later statement, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) said his committee wouldn’t take up SOPA until “there is wider agreement on a solution.” “I have heard from the critics and I take seriously their concerns regarding proposed legislation to address the problem of online piracy.” “It is clear that we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products.”

This shows huge positive progress on both PIPA & SOPA!

The fight isn’t over. These bills are not dead, they’re just not coming up for a vote right now.  But that doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate our remarkable accomplishment! Read more

Calling Your Senators about PIPA is Easier Than You Think

If you’re a subscriber to ServInt’s Twitter feed, you may have noticed we’ve tweeted nearly 30 separate “PIPA Facts” today.  We did this because we wanted to empower all our online friends and colleagues with easy-to-remember information that would make phone calls to their senators as quick and painless as possible.

It’s easy to get scared off when people ask you to upgrade your protests against bad policy from the virtual to the real world.  Tweeting and changing your Facebook status seems so much easier than actually picking up the phone and talking to somebody — somebody who you might feel understands the bill in question better than you do.

But that’s where you’re wrong.  The fact is, your elected representatives almost always know a lot less than you do about what you do for a living — and they actually want you to help them understand how legislation will affect businesses in their state or district.

Calls to your elected representatives don’t have to take long.  A few well-informed points, contained in a few simple sentences, are really what they’re seeking, and they’re what will make the difference.  It’s easy.

So here’s what we need you to do — preferably tomorrow, but certainly no later than Monday, Jan. 23: Read more

What I Learned at CES: PIPA is the New SOPA

SOPA seems to be breathing its last!  Although Rep. Smith has indicated that he’ll remove the controversial DNS blocking provisions of the bill, we’ve heard that the bill is so poisoned, hearings won’t resume, essentially killing the bill.  That’s a huge victory for the Internet industry. This bill had big money interests behind it, and we in the Internet community were outspent to a ridiculous degree — but at the end of the day our voices were heard. Victory, right?

 

Not so fast! Read more

SOPA, PIPA & CES: First Reactions

I just arrived back in Virginia after three days at International CES in Las Vegas, where I was spreading the word about the dangers of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) on behalf of the Internet industry.

I had the opportunity to speak in front of large audiences about PIPA and SOPA, and I believe that our message resonated. Along with many other key legislative and industry stakeholders, I was able to meet with Senator Ron Wyden and Rep. Darrell Issa — and I got to engage in a lively and spirited debate with a Director from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

I have stories to tell, insights to share, and legislative updates to pass along. I’m in the middle of a few “catch-up” items of business back at the ServInt ranch, but I hope to get everybody a detailed CES report on Monday.  Please check back then, and thanks for your support!

Christian Dawson is the Chief Operating Officer of ServInt.

The Tech Bench: The Single Best Security Tip

Your server is only as secure as what you choose to serve.

Harsh words, but it needs to be said. At ServInt, we work very hard to deliver servers to our customers that are as secure as they can be. But every customization of and installation on a server creates holes in that security. It is simply the nature of the Internet and networking. If you have data to share, you must find ways for users to access that data.

Security is a balance. The most secure server is one that is powered down and not connected to the Internet. But obviously, this server is little more than an expensive brick. To be useful, clients need to customize their servers, installing various programs that serve data out to and receive data from users on the Internet. Read more

The Battle over SOPA and PIPA continues at CES

In a few hours, our COO, Christian Dawson, will be speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. This is an important panel discussion involving SOPA and PIPA, but it is also a proud moment for ServInt.

Before I came to ServInt, I spent years in the trenches launching various satellite-powered multimedia technologies — efforts which required me to attend the giant Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas each January.

These trips were a lot of work, but a lot of fun as well — and one of the reasons they were so much fun was because we had some of the coolest technology on display.  Trust me, in the early 2000s, satellites were hot, and it was fun being a “satellite guy.”  Our booths were swamped, reporters called us to make interview appointments, and there were few parties to which we weren’t invited.

Despite the fact that we were too cool for school, there was one thing we never got invited to do:  speak at any of the CES sessions.  That was a gig reserved for seriously important people only.  And that’s why ServInt’s presence on the “Infringement, Rogue Websites, and Copyright Crackdowns:  How to Catch Tuna Without Catching Dolphins” panel is such a big deal.

Today, ServInt’s leadership position in the efforts to stop SOPA, PIPA and other flawed anti-piracy legislation is being recognized by having our COO, Christian Dawson — in his role as one of the leading voices of the Save Hosting Coalition — represent the viewpoint of the internet infrastructure industry.

The battle against SOPA is hitting the mainstream, and ServInt is being recognized for all the hard work we’re putting into it. That’s great—but we still need your help. Make sure you follow ServInt on Facebook and Twitter for complete updates on SOPA and PIPA, and please visit savehosting.org to join the battle against this extremely dangerous and misguided legislation.

We’ll keep you posted on how the panel goes.  In the meantime:  break a leg, Christian!

Fritz Stolzenbach is ServInt’s Vice President of Marketing and Business Development

Jelastic Beta Updates

As many of you know, ServInt is in the midst of a beta test of the Jelastic Java cloud platform. Jelastic is a platform as a service offering that allows web developers to build and implement scalable Java applications in a cloud environment. It’s been a few months since the beta began and we thought we’d give you an update.

The beta test is a time when customers can take this new technology out for a spin to see what it can do. And in so doing, these customers allow the Jelastic team and ServInt to test the platform in real-world conditions. From the start, we’ve been impressed with the performance of Jelastic. The product is continually improving and the Jelastic team have been posting fixes to discovered issues very quickly. The product and the team have exceeded our expectations at every turn.

Since the beta has begun, we’ve had an incredible surge in usage with over 50 new customers per day. And they are really putting Jelastic through its paces.

Through it all, the Jelastic team has been adding features all the time. Just before the holidays, they announced the exciting addition of Apache CouchDB to Jelastic. Apache CouchDB allows for reliable database replication and scaling across multiple server locations, something ServInt is positioned for, with its east coast and west coast data centers.

As we look towards the end of the beta a little later this year, we are excited to be making final preparations to officially add Jelastic to our suite of hosting solutions. Check back soon for more details.

Kevin Nicastro is ServInt’s Vice President of Innovation and Technology.

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