Friday, August 28, 2009

Perl problems

During the latest CentOS upgrade (from 4.7 -> 4.8) there was a bug introduced that affected some cPanel servers, specifically the Perl packages and version. The installed version of Perl should be 5.8.8, which it has been (and has been required to run cPanel 11.24 since late 2007). For whatever reason, the CentOS upgrade downgraded Perl to 5.8.5.

Since cPanel and a majority of the software on the server rely on the correct Perl modules being installed, this is a problem. Apache, the web server (which displays your websites) is unaffected, but mail delivery is.

We expect to have this issue resolved shortly and will keep you informed. This issue will be a problem for a wide range of servers running cPanel, so it's not just us. I just happened to be working late and noticed it. Lucky me. :)

EDIT: 1:20pm: All issues have been resolved, and we thank you for your patience.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

DNS Changes For Main Website

Some DNS changes were made for the main website, http://helloworldweb.com, which affects the Client Support and Billing Area. While the changes propagate there may be some short downtime. This change won't affect any hosting clients' sites, only our own.

If you need anything we'll be available on LiveChat as much as possible.

For those of you who use OpenDNS, you can login to your dashboard, check on this (or any other domain name), and request a CacheCheck (under the "Support" tab). They also allow you to request a cache refresh, though it doesn't seem to speed up they're releasing of the cached view any quicker.

But it made me feel better, to have a button to press. :)

EDIT 9:41pm: Annnnnnd we're back, worldwide. Guess I panicked for nothing!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Weak ciphers and SSLv2 disabled

As required for both PCI Compliance and general server security, our server has been configured to disallow Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) version 2 as well as "weak" cryptography. From this point on only SSLv3 will be allowed and supported. This isn't a change anyone should notice, as all modern browsers and email clients support SSLv3.

The only wrinkle in this process has been in the POP3 mailserver's SSL version implementation. Currently users are unable to connect and check email via an email client using SSL. Using an email client without SSL works fine (for both POP3 and IMAP), as does using webmail.

Since the setting changes were made through the WHM/cPanel's interface (necessary so the settings wouldn't be overwritten by a subsequent cPanel update), it appears to be a bug in the cPanel interface.

We have been working with a series of cPanel support techs over the past 26 hours to pinpoint and fix the issue, and will report when the issue has been cleared.

EDIT: Sat., Aug 22, 2009 12:47am: This issue is now resolved.

WordPress and Joomla updates available

Fantastico has made the following updates available:

* Joomla 1.5: 1.5.13 -> 1.5.14
* WordPress: 2.8.2 -> 2.8.4