Widomaker
Upcoming Office Closures (Dates in October & November 2013)
Widomaker’s main office is usually open by appointment, 9am – 4pm, Monday – Friday. However, for several upcoming periods in October and November (2013), the office will be closed, office appointments will not be available, and walk-ins will not be accepted. Telephone support will still be available during these periods. Customers should always contact our office by telephone for assistance (757-253-7621), and should always call before stopping by the office.
The following are the dates that the office will be closed:
Friday October 25 2013 – Thursday October 31 2013
Monday November 4 2013 – Friday November 8 2013
Tuesday November 19 2013 – Thursday November 21 2013
D-Link Router Security Issue
Vulnerabilities have recently been discovered that affect certain models of D-Link broadband routers. If you are using one of the affected models you should take steps to update the firmware of your router with the security patch provided by D-Link, or replace the device.
The list of affected D-Link router models can be found in CERT Vulnerability Note VU#248083 or in D-Link’s page on the issue. D-Link’s page says that firmware updates should be available by the 31st of October, 2013.
An example photo of a D-Link DI-524 wireless router (one of the affected models) can be found here.
If your D-Link model IS NOT listed as affected then you DO NOT need to take any action.
You should not continue to operate a vulnerable D-Link router because it will put your computers and personal information at risk.
If you would like to replace an affected D-Link device, and you would like to purchase a replacement router from Widomaker, please call, or e-mail, our office to discuss the available options.
[Resolved 8/18] DSL outage in Williamsburg on 8/17
As of 7PM, Saturday, Aug 17th, there is known issue affecting some DSL customers in certain parts of the Williamsburg, VA, area.
[Completed] Scheduled Downtime Sunday August 25th 2013
Widomaker has scheduled some planned downtime for, Sunday, August 25th, 2013, in order to perform maintenance and relocate several servers to a new data center. Click “Read the Rest of This Entry” for details and updates…
Storm related issues calling our office
July 11, 2013, 1:16PM
Today’s recent storm has caused some issues when trying to contact our office by telephone. Currently you can call our office but we will not be able to answer your call. You can leave a message but we will not be able to listen to your message until the storm related issues are resolved.
Please feel free to call and leave a message. We will try to return your call during business hours once the issues are resolved.
Also, feel free to e-mail us instead of calling.
All Widomaker Internet and web hosting services remain unaffected. Only calling our office by telephone is affected by today’s storm related issues.
Advantages of upgrading to the Premium DSL package
DSL customers who contact us to upgrade their Basic or Standard DSL package to the Premium DSL package can enjoy faster speeds and other premium Internet services that work better with the faster DSL speed. The following services benefit from the faster Premium DSL speed. Many of these services offer a free trial period for new customers…
Call (757-253-7621) or e-mail our office to inquire about upgrading your DSL speed to the Premium DSL package!
Plesk Web Server Anti-Spam
In an effort to block more spam, and better avoid spam related issues, new anti-spam software from Parallels has been added to the Plesk web hosting server. Any web hosting customers who notice any new issues regarding spam blocking should contact our office to report them.
Change of Business Hours from June 12 – 17
Widomaker’s telephone sales and support hours will temporarily change from June 12 – 17. During that period our weekday telephone sales and support hours will be from 10:00 AM until 6:00 PM. Our Saturday telephone hours will be from 10:00 AM until 4:00 PM. Our office hours during that week will be by appointment only. We anticipate returning to our normal telephone hours on June 18.
We apologize to anyone the slightly shortened hours may effect. If you call outside of, or during, those hours and are prompted to leave a message, please do so. Leaving a detailed message allows us to research the information provided so we can better help you when we return your call.
Memorial Day Holiday and Change of Business Hours for Week of May 28-31, 2013
Widomaker’s office will be closed on Monday, May 27, 2013, for the Memorial Day holiday. In addition, Widomaker’s telephone sales and support hours will temporarily change for the week of May 28, 2013 to May 31, 2013. During that week our telephone sales and support hours will be from 10:00 AM until 6:00 PM. Our office hours during that week will be by appointment only. We anticipate returning to our normal telephone hours the following week.
We apologize to anyone the slightly shortened hours may effect. If you call outside of, or during, those hours and are prompted to leave a message, please do so. Leaving a detailed message allows us to research the information provided so we can better help you when we return your call.
[updated 5/23] Plesk Web Hosting Server Changes to Begin Thursday 5/16
[update 5/23/2013] The migration process will be complete this evening (Thursday). One last sync of e-mail data from the old server to the new one is scheduled for this evening or early Friday morning. That will copy over any messages that happened to go to the old server address after the switch to the new server address was made. You may notice that messages you previously saw and/or deleted may reappear when this happens. Due to our efforts to not miss anything, that is unavoidable.
Additionally, for customers that have databases hosted on the Plesk hosting server, any changes made to MySQL databases on the old server, between early Thursday morning (5/16), when the migration began, and when the DNS was pointed to the new server (for most sites, between 5/21 & 5/22), may not be reflected on the new server. That was one of the reasons we suggested to not make any changes to the site during the migration process. If any of those changes are critical, we may be able to have our migration team retrieve database records from the old server (during that time frame), if necessary. However, we must be notified ASAP, in order for our migration team to be able to help because they are only available for a limited period of time.
[update 5/22/2013] The migration process is mostly done. The DNS switch was made on 5/21. The final steps will be completed on Wednesday (5/22). Anyone who controls their own DNS (instead of Widomaker) should contact us to get the new IP address.
[update 5/17/2013] The migration process is mostly done. The final steps will be completed on Monday (5/20) when the new server and IP address go live. Anyone who controls their own DNS (instead of Widomaker) should contact us to get the new IP address to start using on Monday.
[update 5/15/2013] The migration process has been scheduled to start early Thursday morning (12:00 AM) and last through noon on Friday. It’s possible that it could go though Saturday.
[update 4/30/2013] The migration process has been postponed and is being rescheduled for the week of, May 13th, 2013, It may last for several days. This date may change.
[update 4/19/2013] At this time we are planning to begin the migration on, or around, Monday, April 29th. It may last for several days. This date may change.
There are some upcoming changes that may affect Web Hosting customers who have a domain name hosted with Widomaker. Please pass this message along to your IT staff or Webmaster.
Beginning in the next couple of weeks, we will be migrating all web hosting accounts to a new, upgraded, server. We do not anticipate significant problems with this process. However, when moving from one server to another, sometime issues can arise.
An exact date that this process will begin will be posted on Widomaker’s web site (http://home.widomaker.com/) soon. At this time, we are planning on starting this process toward the end of April or the beginning of May.
Before this process begins, we suggest that you…
– make sure you have an up-to-date backup of your web site data including any databases
– make sure you have an up-to-date backup of any settings, such as a list of your e-mail accounts and/or custom DNS records
– if you had any unusual customizations made to your web hosting or DNS setup that was not done via the normal features of the Plesk Control Panel, please contact us regarding themOnce the migration date has arrived…
– avoid making changes to your web site or e-mail addresses
After the migration process has completed…
– Verify that all aspects of your web site, e-mail, mailing lists, password protected directories, etc., are working properly. If you notice any issues, notify us immediately so our migration team can investigate.
