Tuesday, July 27. 2010
GigeNET Cloud Feature Release July 26th 2010 - Snapshots and VPN!
Hello,
We have been working diligently over the past few weeks to bring everyone a new feature release to the cloud.
The most important changes we have made are the introduction of Snapshots and VPN access to the cloud private network. We have also added automatic network reconfiguration of machines along with many other minor enhancements.
Here is a list of what we have changed in the new release.
Billing
- Bandwidth Blocks: pro-rate charges when purchased mid-month
- Ability to Mark Payments as Refunded added
- Auto-Replenish auto-enabled by default
- Problem in navigating payment methods in the list that has more than 10
- Auto Replenish failure now sends an email notification with information.
Deployment
- RDNS is now set on deployment
Management
- Customers are sent Email Notifications from Fraud Center
- Trial Credit Handling has been added
Misc
- Home button is no longer selected on order forms.
New Features
- Bandwidth Billing Tracking improved
- Authentication Database added for VPN
- Automated Phone Verification added to Order Forms
- Ability to Clone VMs added with Snapshots
- Network Reconfigure Action added
- Introduction Slideshow added for new clients
Machine Operations
- Other VM actions are now denied because of credit account.
User Interface
- Bandwidth Block Proration is now available
- There is now a warning / notice that disk cannot be shrunk
- After Requesting IPs with no credits the loading bar no longer stays.
- Hyphens are now valid in many places.
- Can now logout of inactive accounts.
- Multiple interface enhancements to improve usability.
- Page navigation after deleting a VM now works.
- Resource Block Limitation are now per client
- IPs are now Limited on a per client basis
- Bandwidth Block Purchases are now Logged in the Credit History
- Added Ability to create VM snapshots
- No longer Accept Post from outside
- Can now update ticket history status
- District of Columbia (DC) is no longer missing from states dropdown
- Add Payment Method page now has phone number field
- Bandwidth Billing Issues have been corrected
- Multiple payment methods can no longer be assigned as default
- Order form display is no longer doubles in Google Chrome
- Dashes are not allowed in hostnames / names of machines
- Ability to create/ modify account for VPN Users has been added
Website
- Form created for Custom Solutions
- Contact Us Form Created
We have been working diligently over the past few weeks to bring everyone a new feature release to the cloud.
The most important changes we have made are the introduction of Snapshots and VPN access to the cloud private network. We have also added automatic network reconfiguration of machines along with many other minor enhancements.
Here is a list of what we have changed in the new release.
Billing
- Bandwidth Blocks: pro-rate charges when purchased mid-month
- Ability to Mark Payments as Refunded added
- Auto-Replenish auto-enabled by default
- Problem in navigating payment methods in the list that has more than 10
- Auto Replenish failure now sends an email notification with information.
Deployment
- RDNS is now set on deployment
Management
- Customers are sent Email Notifications from Fraud Center
- Trial Credit Handling has been added
Misc
- Home button is no longer selected on order forms.
New Features
- Bandwidth Billing Tracking improved
- Authentication Database added for VPN
- Automated Phone Verification added to Order Forms
- Ability to Clone VMs added with Snapshots
- Network Reconfigure Action added
- Introduction Slideshow added for new clients
Machine Operations
- Other VM actions are now denied because of credit account.
User Interface
- Bandwidth Block Proration is now available
- There is now a warning / notice that disk cannot be shrunk
- After Requesting IPs with no credits the loading bar no longer stays.
- Hyphens are now valid in many places.
- Can now logout of inactive accounts.
- Multiple interface enhancements to improve usability.
- Page navigation after deleting a VM now works.
- Resource Block Limitation are now per client
- IPs are now Limited on a per client basis
- Bandwidth Block Purchases are now Logged in the Credit History
- Added Ability to create VM snapshots
- No longer Accept Post from outside
- Can now update ticket history status
- District of Columbia (DC) is no longer missing from states dropdown
- Add Payment Method page now has phone number field
- Bandwidth Billing Issues have been corrected
- Multiple payment methods can no longer be assigned as default
- Order form display is no longer doubles in Google Chrome
- Dashes are not allowed in hostnames / names of machines
- Ability to create/ modify account for VPN Users has been added
Website
- Form created for Custom Solutions
- Contact Us Form Created
Monday, July 12. 2010
Upcoming Features in next release
In the next week or so we will be pushing out some updates and new features to our GigeNET cloud servers product. A lot of changes are in the back end, code cleanup, efficiency. Some new features though will include:
1) Cloning / Snapshots of your Cloud Server
2) Scheduled Backups of your Cloud Server
3) DNS Hosting
4) Ability to build a new Cloud Server off of a snapshot / template
5) SSL - VPN Access to private network
6) RWHOIS / IP Address SWIP
We also upgraded most of the nodes to 5620 from 5520 processors. We also added another SAN Cluster to the network. We learned alot from the first couple of SANS which we have applied to the new one. We at some point will need to make a small adjustment to the other SANS in the next couple of weeks and everything should be smooth sailing from there.
We have a huge list of features coming out after this release some of which I cannot divulge at the moment but they will be pretty cool.
1) Cloning / Snapshots of your Cloud Server
2) Scheduled Backups of your Cloud Server
3) DNS Hosting
4) Ability to build a new Cloud Server off of a snapshot / template
5) SSL - VPN Access to private network
6) RWHOIS / IP Address SWIP
We also upgraded most of the nodes to 5620 from 5520 processors. We also added another SAN Cluster to the network. We learned alot from the first couple of SANS which we have applied to the new one. We at some point will need to make a small adjustment to the other SANS in the next couple of weeks and everything should be smooth sailing from there.
We have a huge list of features coming out after this release some of which I cannot divulge at the moment but they will be pretty cool.
Thursday, July 1. 2010
Cloud Servers are the Best Servers
Whats all the talk about Cloud Servers?
Well, Cloud Servers are simply the way of the future. Traditional VPSs, for the most part, cannot handle scalability like Cloud Servers can and are also not as redundant as Cloud Servers by a long shot. Why is this? Its very simple. Cloud Servers have Redundant Centralized Storage which allows us to bring your machine up on any node connected to the pool at any time. If one node goes down its not a problem. The Cloud Server is simply brought up on another node in a small amount of time (seconds). If you need to grow your server from 8 GB of memory to 16GB of memory and the node you are currently on doesn't have enough free ram you would be out of luck with a VPS. With a Cloud Server, however, you can be live migrated without ANY DOWNTIME to another node with plenty of free space.
If you look at Gigenetcloud.com's pricing, its along the same lines as a traditional VPS. So why are people still purchasing traditional VPSs? Maybe they are not informed? I believe it has to do with education and the simple matter of knowing the difference. The fact of the matter is traditional VPS setups just can't compare to the new Cloud Server concept.
When you are searching for a provider you want to look for a few things. The first thing most people look at is price and this fact cannot be refuted. Gigenetcloud.com has done extensive market research and is at a very good price point for the consumer. The second thing people should look for is support. Here at Gigenet we have always prided ourselves on support. We spare no expense to bring you knowledgeable on-site technicians 24/7/365 that are more than capable of handling any minor/major issue that should occur. We also offer Full Management of servers so if you have problems you can turn to Gigenet for answers. The third thing you should look at is Network and Uptime. At Gigenet, our uptime has always been stellar and our Network is second to none. We have an Internap Optimized network which basically means we have a diverse set of carriers and Internap devices to ensures the best route is taken each time for outbound traffic. This method is far better than traditional BGP and will guarantee the best ping times for those in need of low ping times. Another thing that people should look for is ease of use and features. Gigenetcloud.com is CONSTANTLY adding features and its not going to stop anytime soon. We are offering more and more platforms for our Cloud and the features are continually rolling in. We have created our portal from nothing to make sure you can take full advantage of the Cloud Environment. Scaling has never been as easy as it is with our Cloud Servers. If you need another server FAST Gigenetcloud.com is definitely the place to house your applications.
When you are in the market for a VPS/VM/Cloud Server just remember the difference between them and understand that Cloud Servers (not VPSs or VMs) are the way of the future. Here at Gigenet we are simply taking the Cloud Server concept and making improvements in every single area from Network (10GB Infrastructure throughout, Internap Optimized, Diverse Paths, Redundant Equipment at every level), Performance (We have the fastest IO performance in the market), and Technology (We use the newest XenServer and E5600 Series Nodes). I hope this helps everyone in the decision for their hosting needs.
Well, Cloud Servers are simply the way of the future. Traditional VPSs, for the most part, cannot handle scalability like Cloud Servers can and are also not as redundant as Cloud Servers by a long shot. Why is this? Its very simple. Cloud Servers have Redundant Centralized Storage which allows us to bring your machine up on any node connected to the pool at any time. If one node goes down its not a problem. The Cloud Server is simply brought up on another node in a small amount of time (seconds). If you need to grow your server from 8 GB of memory to 16GB of memory and the node you are currently on doesn't have enough free ram you would be out of luck with a VPS. With a Cloud Server, however, you can be live migrated without ANY DOWNTIME to another node with plenty of free space.
If you look at Gigenetcloud.com's pricing, its along the same lines as a traditional VPS. So why are people still purchasing traditional VPSs? Maybe they are not informed? I believe it has to do with education and the simple matter of knowing the difference. The fact of the matter is traditional VPS setups just can't compare to the new Cloud Server concept.
When you are searching for a provider you want to look for a few things. The first thing most people look at is price and this fact cannot be refuted. Gigenetcloud.com has done extensive market research and is at a very good price point for the consumer. The second thing people should look for is support. Here at Gigenet we have always prided ourselves on support. We spare no expense to bring you knowledgeable on-site technicians 24/7/365 that are more than capable of handling any minor/major issue that should occur. We also offer Full Management of servers so if you have problems you can turn to Gigenet for answers. The third thing you should look at is Network and Uptime. At Gigenet, our uptime has always been stellar and our Network is second to none. We have an Internap Optimized network which basically means we have a diverse set of carriers and Internap devices to ensures the best route is taken each time for outbound traffic. This method is far better than traditional BGP and will guarantee the best ping times for those in need of low ping times. Another thing that people should look for is ease of use and features. Gigenetcloud.com is CONSTANTLY adding features and its not going to stop anytime soon. We are offering more and more platforms for our Cloud and the features are continually rolling in. We have created our portal from nothing to make sure you can take full advantage of the Cloud Environment. Scaling has never been as easy as it is with our Cloud Servers. If you need another server FAST Gigenetcloud.com is definitely the place to house your applications.
When you are in the market for a VPS/VM/Cloud Server just remember the difference between them and understand that Cloud Servers (not VPSs or VMs) are the way of the future. Here at Gigenet we are simply taking the Cloud Server concept and making improvements in every single area from Network (10GB Infrastructure throughout, Internap Optimized, Diverse Paths, Redundant Equipment at every level), Performance (We have the fastest IO performance in the market), and Technology (We use the newest XenServer and E5600 Series Nodes). I hope this helps everyone in the decision for their hosting needs.
Wednesday, June 23. 2010
Hybrid Solutions
I wanted to take the time to explain when and why you would use a Hybrid solution instead of an all cloud solution. Many people are confused when it comes time to expand their website and they have to start thinking about multiple servers instead of just one which most people are used to. The question a lot of people have is "What should I put on the cloud and what should I put on a dedicated server?" The answer is complex but it can be explained fairly easily. Most of the time a cluster will have the following components:
Load Balancer(s)
Content Server(s)
DataBase Server(s)
Fileserver(s)
Image Server(s)
The question would be which of those would need a dedicated server and which would be good to run on the cloud?
The answer can go many ways but for the most part you would probably need a dedicated server for your Database server because, if its a high load server, its going to need a lot of the resources that a dedicated server can provide. Because a database has a lot of IO load you would need to have a fast RAID configuration for most busy databases. Another thing you might consider to put on a dedicated server is a Fileserver. The reason why would be because the amount of space some people need to run their sites can be quite large. If you are using the cloud for this you will be paying a bit more because cloud storage can be more expensive in nature than running a dedicated server with larger drives in a RAID configuration. Also, you don't want to have to duplicate your data over and over again across your content servers when you grow in to a cluster environment. Its easier to maintain your files on one machine rather than 5+.
Where the cloud excels is the content servers and the load balancer function. You can scale on demand very quickly with the cloud. Having your content servers on the cloud will allow for almost limitless scalability. If your site spikes because of certain times of year its very easy to bring up more content servers to accommodate those spikes and bring those servers down right after the holiday is over. This saves money and time and can keep your site up and running under extreme circumstances. Having this ability is truly priceless when you are administrating a growing site.
You could build a cluster entirely in the cloud and scale on demand. I'm in no way discounting the clouds ability to host Databases and Files but since we aren't just a Cloud provider we are able to step back and look at all our services to see which ones work for certain applications. The best thing to do is divide and conquer your cluster. The more modular it is the easier it is to spot problems and fix them. The cloud gives you the ability to bring up as many tiny servers as you need to build a very efficient cluster.
To sum things up, it really depends on the size of your site and how much load is on each service you have running. Most sites can be hosted entirely within the cloud but there are those bigger sites that require a bit more of a Hybrid Solution. To learn more about our hybrid solutions contact a Gigenetcloud sales rep today at sales@gigenetcloud.com!
Load Balancer(s)
Content Server(s)
DataBase Server(s)
Fileserver(s)
Image Server(s)
The question would be which of those would need a dedicated server and which would be good to run on the cloud?
The answer can go many ways but for the most part you would probably need a dedicated server for your Database server because, if its a high load server, its going to need a lot of the resources that a dedicated server can provide. Because a database has a lot of IO load you would need to have a fast RAID configuration for most busy databases. Another thing you might consider to put on a dedicated server is a Fileserver. The reason why would be because the amount of space some people need to run their sites can be quite large. If you are using the cloud for this you will be paying a bit more because cloud storage can be more expensive in nature than running a dedicated server with larger drives in a RAID configuration. Also, you don't want to have to duplicate your data over and over again across your content servers when you grow in to a cluster environment. Its easier to maintain your files on one machine rather than 5+.
Where the cloud excels is the content servers and the load balancer function. You can scale on demand very quickly with the cloud. Having your content servers on the cloud will allow for almost limitless scalability. If your site spikes because of certain times of year its very easy to bring up more content servers to accommodate those spikes and bring those servers down right after the holiday is over. This saves money and time and can keep your site up and running under extreme circumstances. Having this ability is truly priceless when you are administrating a growing site.
You could build a cluster entirely in the cloud and scale on demand. I'm in no way discounting the clouds ability to host Databases and Files but since we aren't just a Cloud provider we are able to step back and look at all our services to see which ones work for certain applications. The best thing to do is divide and conquer your cluster. The more modular it is the easier it is to spot problems and fix them. The cloud gives you the ability to bring up as many tiny servers as you need to build a very efficient cluster.
To sum things up, it really depends on the size of your site and how much load is on each service you have running. Most sites can be hosted entirely within the cloud but there are those bigger sites that require a bit more of a Hybrid Solution. To learn more about our hybrid solutions contact a Gigenetcloud sales rep today at sales@gigenetcloud.com!
Friday, June 18. 2010
Gigenet Cloud Server product makes it into Major Newspaper
The Daily Herald wrote an article about GigeNET and our cloud server product. She got some of the terminology wrong but its pretty cool i guess!
http://dailyherald.com/story/?id=388621
http://dailyherald.com/story/?id=388621
Thursday, June 17. 2010
Client Portal Improvements and Fixes
Hello,
Its been another great work here with the development team and the client portal. Here are some of the new releases and fixes that have made their way into the portal.
[Admin Interface] Sending a staff Ticket no longer Owns the Post to the Client
[Billing] Half cents. When adding Adding Credits is now fixed.
[Billing] Auto-Replenish auto-enable on first purchase.
[Billing] Credit cards can no longer be deleted.
[Deployment] Update cPanel to CentOS 5.5
[Deployment] RDNS is now set to the hostname on deployment
[Jobs] Stability upgrades to thread management in backend.
[New Features] Improved Bandwidth Billing Tracking
[New Features] New Orders now have Automated Phone Verification
[User Interface] Bandwidth Block Purchases are now Logged in the Credit History
[User Interface] Bandwidth Block no longer gets erased when creating a new VM.
[User Interface] Forum Logins no longer override each other. Only logins from the client portal will be logged out.
[User Interface] Can now logout of inactive accounts such as the demo.
There will be more to come by the end of this week and all of next week will be very exciting. Expect some hot new features and many usability upgrades.
Thanks
Its been another great work here with the development team and the client portal. Here are some of the new releases and fixes that have made their way into the portal.
[Admin Interface] Sending a staff Ticket no longer Owns the Post to the Client
[Billing] Half cents. When adding Adding Credits is now fixed.
[Billing] Auto-Replenish auto-enable on first purchase.
[Billing] Credit cards can no longer be deleted.
[Deployment] Update cPanel to CentOS 5.5
[Deployment] RDNS is now set to the hostname on deployment
[Jobs] Stability upgrades to thread management in backend.
[New Features] Improved Bandwidth Billing Tracking
[New Features] New Orders now have Automated Phone Verification
[User Interface] Bandwidth Block Purchases are now Logged in the Credit History
[User Interface] Bandwidth Block no longer gets erased when creating a new VM.
[User Interface] Forum Logins no longer override each other. Only logins from the client portal will be logged out.
[User Interface] Can now logout of inactive accounts such as the demo.
There will be more to come by the end of this week and all of next week will be very exciting. Expect some hot new features and many usability upgrades.
Thanks
Network RFO on 6-17-10 3:30AM EST
Hello,
On June 17th 2010, at approximately 3:30AM EST the chassis on one of our distribution routers had a fabric failure. This failure caused certain modules to show a variety of errors. After debugging the issue and finding the fabric malfunction we quickly replaced the chassis itself with a spare. The network is now back fully on-line.
No machines were rebooted, this was purely network related. Only a certain portion of the cloud was affected by this. We have ordered a replacement chassis this will give us another spare until we migrate to the chassis that has been ordered.
GigeNET has not had a network outage in over 2 years. It is unfortunate that our new cloud product suffered isolated network loss from this event. Network interruption is not a common event here and we plan to take every precaution to prevent this kind of event in the future.
Our emergency network response team was able to replace the chassis in record time and we thank them for resolving this outage in a very timely manner.
We thank you for your continued patronage.
Best Regards
On June 17th 2010, at approximately 3:30AM EST the chassis on one of our distribution routers had a fabric failure. This failure caused certain modules to show a variety of errors. After debugging the issue and finding the fabric malfunction we quickly replaced the chassis itself with a spare. The network is now back fully on-line.
No machines were rebooted, this was purely network related. Only a certain portion of the cloud was affected by this. We have ordered a replacement chassis this will give us another spare until we migrate to the chassis that has been ordered.
GigeNET has not had a network outage in over 2 years. It is unfortunate that our new cloud product suffered isolated network loss from this event. Network interruption is not a common event here and we plan to take every precaution to prevent this kind of event in the future.
Our emergency network response team was able to replace the chassis in record time and we thank them for resolving this outage in a very timely manner.
We thank you for your continued patronage.
Best Regards
Thursday, June 10. 2010
Gigenet on CRN Spotlight: 10 Hot Emerging Vendors For June 2010
CRN has listed us as #2 on there top 10 emerging vendors of 2010!
Gigenet
Company: Gigenet
Tech Sector: Services
Key Product: Gigenetcloud
The Lowdown: Gigenet, Arlington Heights, Ill., in 1997 started as a virtual Web hosting and application development provider, but re-launched in 2004 as a provider of managed dedicated servers, cloud servers, virtual servers, co-location, and managed storage backups. The company offers a 100 percent uptime SLA for its managed dedicated servers, and its cloud hosting services start at $10 per month or 1.3 cents per hour.
Hosting providers can repackage and resell Gigenet’s services to their customers while providing Level 1 and Level 2 support in return for benefits including a discount of up to 30 percent. Or they can sign on as affiliate partners and receive commissions for customers brought to Gigenet.
Here is the link
Pretty awesome!
Gigenet
Company: Gigenet
Tech Sector: Services
Key Product: Gigenetcloud
The Lowdown: Gigenet, Arlington Heights, Ill., in 1997 started as a virtual Web hosting and application development provider, but re-launched in 2004 as a provider of managed dedicated servers, cloud servers, virtual servers, co-location, and managed storage backups. The company offers a 100 percent uptime SLA for its managed dedicated servers, and its cloud hosting services start at $10 per month or 1.3 cents per hour.
Hosting providers can repackage and resell Gigenet’s services to their customers while providing Level 1 and Level 2 support in return for benefits including a discount of up to 30 percent. Or they can sign on as affiliate partners and receive commissions for customers brought to Gigenet.
Here is the link
Pretty awesome!
Wednesday, June 9. 2010
Bug Fix Day for the Portal
Ever wonder when we make releases to the portal for changes and updates? The simple answer is that we do them daily. Sometimes they are small increments, minor fixes etc, other times they are major pushes of features and lots of fixes.
Here is a quick overview of what we have changed in the last few weeks.
[Misc] Visiting Login Page While Logged In
Got the login link stuck in your browser history and keep going there? We have fixed it to automatically redirect you to the home page when you are already logged in.
[User Interface] Page changing after delete doesnt work.
If you have enough VMs to have multiple pages of them. We had some minor issues with that page not being maintained after deletion.
[User Interface] Resource Block Limitation Needs to be per client.
Clients can now ask for more resource blocks added to their account when needed. Before we were not able to provide this service to our customers without making the change for everyone. If you need a very large cloud feel free to contact us and we can increase the limits on your account.
[New Features] Influence Customers to Buy Larger IP Blocks
Larger IP blocks are the way to go if you have multiple cloud servers. We do our best to conserve IP addresses and with the elastic IP system we have implemented it seems a lot of customers are using the smallest block size for their machines and that is really starting to add up. If you have more than one machine get a larger block.
[User Interface] XenServer 5.6
We have upgraded much of our infrastructure to XenServer 5.6 following the new release. This seems to be allowing us to provide some nicer features for our internal management and some performance enhancements in the resource pool life cycle.
Some more great new features are on their way. Stay tuned!
Here is a quick overview of what we have changed in the last few weeks.
[Misc] Visiting Login Page While Logged In
Got the login link stuck in your browser history and keep going there? We have fixed it to automatically redirect you to the home page when you are already logged in.
[User Interface] Page changing after delete doesnt work.
If you have enough VMs to have multiple pages of them. We had some minor issues with that page not being maintained after deletion.
[User Interface] Resource Block Limitation Needs to be per client.
Clients can now ask for more resource blocks added to their account when needed. Before we were not able to provide this service to our customers without making the change for everyone. If you need a very large cloud feel free to contact us and we can increase the limits on your account.
[New Features] Influence Customers to Buy Larger IP Blocks
Larger IP blocks are the way to go if you have multiple cloud servers. We do our best to conserve IP addresses and with the elastic IP system we have implemented it seems a lot of customers are using the smallest block size for their machines and that is really starting to add up. If you have more than one machine get a larger block.
[User Interface] XenServer 5.6
We have upgraded much of our infrastructure to XenServer 5.6 following the new release. This seems to be allowing us to provide some nicer features for our internal management and some performance enhancements in the resource pool life cycle.
Some more great new features are on their way. Stay tuned!
Thursday, June 3. 2010
Connecting to the cloud with your COLO or Dedicated Servers for free
An awesome feature which is available with all Gigenet Cloud Servers is the ability to have devices outside of the cloud connect to devices inside the cloud at no cost. If you have a dedicated server with GigeNET, it comes free with a gigabit private network port, all Gigenet cloud servers come with a private vlan and private gigabit network port. In a few seconds your dedicated server and gigenet cloud server can communicate for free, securely over gigabit speeds.
This is also available for co-location customers, we just setup a customer today in fact, we ran a cross connect from his rack to the private network distribution switch and in seconds they were able to talk to each other as if they were local.
In this case the customer has a rack with his own SAN in it, he is now able to access the san with his Gigenet Cloud Servers. Another notch on the board for the powerful capabilities of the Gigenet Cloud service. The power and features of the cloud is infinite!
This is also available for co-location customers, we just setup a customer today in fact, we ran a cross connect from his rack to the private network distribution switch and in seconds they were able to talk to each other as if they were local.
In this case the customer has a rack with his own SAN in it, he is now able to access the san with his Gigenet Cloud Servers. Another notch on the board for the powerful capabilities of the Gigenet Cloud service. The power and features of the cloud is infinite!
The CLOUD and VPN
VPN (virtual private networks) is such a great technology. Telecommuting from home to the office securely is such a vital thing these days and with VPN technology it has become such an easy thing to setup. The most common VPN I use and which we will be offering standard on all cloud server accounts is SSL-VPN. SSL VPN allows one click access and setup to your private destination network. SSL-VPN simpley uses port 443 the SSL port for web browsers. This allows you to bypass any filters you might come across at a work environment, or a country which has internet censorship and blocks ports and protocols to prevent access to certain sites. Since blocking port 443 would pretty much prevent anyone from browsing most of the internet its unlikely this would occur. For some countries where they have government owned telecom companies, they try to prevent VOIP from working , like skype. Well you can use SSL-VPN to bypass this.
The SSL-VPN we will be providing will simply provide you with private network access to your cloud servers private network and private vlan. Lets say you had a server with very secure data on it and you wanted to secure it as much as possible. Well nothing would be no secure then removing its public interface from the internet and only allowing access to it from your private network IP. So you could VPN in, it would pass you the routes and boom access.
Now with other types of vpn, like IPSEC or PPTP you can setup a branch site to site vpn. In our portal you can select to install ClearOS which is a modified version of Centos 5 with a very slick control panel.
Once you install it, you add a user, you then turn on your choice of vpn, (Open VPN, PPTP, IPSEC). You then configure it with the subnet you want to assign the client VPN user and once they connect they have routes to your servers using the private network. This is cool if you want to setup your whole office to have private network access to your cloud servers. You basically setup your offices router to connect to the ClearOS box and everything using your router that is connected to the VPN will recieve the routes and will use the VPN to access it. You could for example setup a file server, the file server would look like it is local to you in your office.
So cloud servers are not just for hosting, they can replace your whole IT infrastructure in your office with just a few cloud server machines and a VPN connection. You can use VPN's and cloud servers to access your data securely while your traveling or working from home, you can use it to give temporary employees or contracts secure and limited access to data or infrastructure they might be working on.
In a world today of vast amounts of centralized data, the cloud and VPN services bring everything together in a secure , fast and reliable fashion.
The SSL-VPN we will be providing will simply provide you with private network access to your cloud servers private network and private vlan. Lets say you had a server with very secure data on it and you wanted to secure it as much as possible. Well nothing would be no secure then removing its public interface from the internet and only allowing access to it from your private network IP. So you could VPN in, it would pass you the routes and boom access.
Now with other types of vpn, like IPSEC or PPTP you can setup a branch site to site vpn. In our portal you can select to install ClearOS which is a modified version of Centos 5 with a very slick control panel.
Once you install it, you add a user, you then turn on your choice of vpn, (Open VPN, PPTP, IPSEC). You then configure it with the subnet you want to assign the client VPN user and once they connect they have routes to your servers using the private network. This is cool if you want to setup your whole office to have private network access to your cloud servers. You basically setup your offices router to connect to the ClearOS box and everything using your router that is connected to the VPN will recieve the routes and will use the VPN to access it. You could for example setup a file server, the file server would look like it is local to you in your office.
So cloud servers are not just for hosting, they can replace your whole IT infrastructure in your office with just a few cloud server machines and a VPN connection. You can use VPN's and cloud servers to access your data securely while your traveling or working from home, you can use it to give temporary employees or contracts secure and limited access to data or infrastructure they might be working on.
In a world today of vast amounts of centralized data, the cloud and VPN services bring everything together in a secure , fast and reliable fashion.
Friday, May 28. 2010
GigeNET Cloud Server network security protection
Here at Gigenet Cloud we have installed a blanket IDP (Intrusion Detection and Protection/Prevention) for our customers cloud servers.
Just to give you an idea of how well it works, on our dedicated server network if we turn up a windows 2003 machine without a firewall it usually gets hacked within a couple of minutes.
On the cloud I have left windows machines open for weeks w/o issue, now i don't recommend that but its still pretty cool. And we provide it for FREE:)
Now this does not mean you should not install updates and setup firewall rules, but there is that extra layer of protection to help you sleep at night!
Here is stats since the 18th of may.
IDP attack statistics:
Attack name #Hits
POP3:REQERR:REQ-SYNTAX-ERROR 193991
WORM:SLAMMER:INFECT-ATTEMPT 168874
HTTP:SQL:INJ:CMD-CHAIN-1 29799
HTTP:SQL:INJ:CMD-CHAIN-2 29235
FTP:USER:ROOT 21800
HTTP:OVERFLOW:URL-OVERFLOW 17362
DB:MYSQL:ZERO-LEN-PW 15075
MS-RPC:DCE-RPC-UUID-BIND 13155
MS-RPC:LSASS:LSA-DOS-CHALLENGE 10851
SMTP:COMMAND:EXPN 8293
SMTP:OVERFLOW:TEXT-LINE-OF 7806
HTTP:INVALID:MSNG-HTTP-VER 7174
DB:MYSQL:FS-REQUEST 5515
SSH:BRUTE-LOGIN 3162
HTTP:INVALID:MISSING-REQ 2222
SHELLCODE:X86:NOOP-TCP 2062
MS-RPC:EVASION:LARGE-FRAG-1 1988
MS-RPC:DCOM:EXPLOIT 1982
FTP:PASSWORD:SATORI 1019
HTTP:AUDIT:UNKNOWN-VERB 492
HTTP:SQL:INJ:COMMENT 450
HTTP:DIR:TRAVERSE-DIRECTORY 415
HTTP:SQL:INJ:HEADER-2 388
HTTP:IIS:WEBDAV:XML-HANDLER-DOS 324
HTTP:SQL:INJ:HEADER-3 310
HTTP:SQL:INJ:SQL-INJ-URL 295
NETBIOS:ACCESS:ADMIN 253
HTTP:REQERR:REQ-MALFORMED-URL 231
NETBIOS:OVERFLOW:ASN-1-DER-OF 206
MS-RPC:OF:SRV-SVC-2 144
SSH:PRAGMAFORT-KEY-OF 138
FTP:PASSWORD:ROOT 105
SMTP:COMMAND:VRFY 81
FTP:DIRECTORY:DOT-DOT 79
HTTP:EXPLOIT:ILLEGAL-HOST-CHAR 78
HTTP:IIS:ENCODING:SINGLE-DIG-1 62
HTTP:XSS:AWSTATS-EXEC 46
DNS:INFO:TYPE-AXFR 42
HTTP:PHP:CMD-INJ 41
HTTP:SQL:INJ:CHAR-ENCODE 38
HTTP:XSS:HTML-SCRIPT-IN-URL-PRM 34
TCP:C2S:AMBIG:C2S-SYN-DATA 33
HTTP:IIS:IISADMPWD-PROXY-PASSWD 27
HTTP:PHP:PHPBB:PROOTPATH-INJ 26
HTTP:SQL:INJ:CONCAT 26
HTTP:EXPLOIT:IE-ZONE-SPOOF 20
HTTP:EXT:METAFILE 20
HTTP:INFO-LEAK:BOOT-INI 20
HTTP:IIS:ENCODING:PERC-PERC-1 17
TCP:C2S:AMBIG:OLAP-MISMATCH 17
HTTP:PKG:ALLAIRE-JRUN-DOS 14
IMAP:OVERFLOW:IMAP-CONT-OF 14
HTTP:PROXY:SQUID-NTLM-OF 13
HTTP:XSS:HTML-SCRIPT-IN-URL-PTH 13
HTTP:PHP:CMD-INJ-UA 12
DB:MYSQL:LOGIN-OVERFLOW 9
HTTP:PHP:PHPNUKE:4NALBUM-INC 8
HTTP:SQL:INJ:SLASH-STAR 8
NETBIOS:ACCESS:C-DRIVE 8
FTP:EXT:DOT-EXEC 7
TROJAN:MISC:LATINUS-CMD 7
HTTP:IIS:SAMPLE-ACCESS 6
HTTP:INFO-LEAK:HTACCESS 6
MS-RPC:MAL-DNS 6
IMAP:REQERR:REQ-UNEXPECTED-ARG 5
APP:KERBEROS:DOS 4
HTTP:INFO-LEAK:ASP-WEB-CONFIG 4
HTTP:INVALID:VAR-NEG-LG 4
SMB:TOOLS:PSEXEC 4
APP:KERBEROS:DOS-TCP 3
DB:MS-SQL:HELLO-OF1 3
HTTP:INFO-LEAK:HTPASSWD-REQUEST 3
HTTP:NCSA:PHF-EXEC 3
POP3:OVERFLOW:COMMAND 3
FTP:DIRECTORY:TILDE-ROOT 2
HTTP:IIS:IIS-EXT-BYPASS 2
RPC:RPC.TTDBSERVER:TT-MAL-FS-2 2
TROJAN:MYDOOM:MYDOOM-TROJAN 2
APP:BAKBON-NETVAULT-INT-OF 1
APP:LANDESK-OF 1
APP:NOVELL:EDIRECTORY-DOS 1
APP:ORACLE:WEBCACHE-METHOD-OF 1
HTTP:WEBLOGIC:ENCODING 1
SCAN:II:SNMP-PRINT-DOS 1
TROJAN:NETMTROPOL:CLI-REQ-5302 1
WORM:CONFICKER:C-ACTIVITY-2 1
Just to give you an idea of how well it works, on our dedicated server network if we turn up a windows 2003 machine without a firewall it usually gets hacked within a couple of minutes.
On the cloud I have left windows machines open for weeks w/o issue, now i don't recommend that but its still pretty cool. And we provide it for FREE:)
Now this does not mean you should not install updates and setup firewall rules, but there is that extra layer of protection to help you sleep at night!
Here is stats since the 18th of may.
IDP attack statistics:
Attack name #Hits
POP3:REQERR:REQ-SYNTAX-ERROR 193991
WORM:SLAMMER:INFECT-ATTEMPT 168874
HTTP:SQL:INJ:CMD-CHAIN-1 29799
HTTP:SQL:INJ:CMD-CHAIN-2 29235
FTP:USER:ROOT 21800
HTTP:OVERFLOW:URL-OVERFLOW 17362
DB:MYSQL:ZERO-LEN-PW 15075
MS-RPC:DCE-RPC-UUID-BIND 13155
MS-RPC:LSASS:LSA-DOS-CHALLENGE 10851
SMTP:COMMAND:EXPN 8293
SMTP:OVERFLOW:TEXT-LINE-OF 7806
HTTP:INVALID:MSNG-HTTP-VER 7174
DB:MYSQL:FS-REQUEST 5515
SSH:BRUTE-LOGIN 3162
HTTP:INVALID:MISSING-REQ 2222
SHELLCODE:X86:NOOP-TCP 2062
MS-RPC:EVASION:LARGE-FRAG-1 1988
MS-RPC:DCOM:EXPLOIT 1982
FTP:PASSWORD:SATORI 1019
HTTP:AUDIT:UNKNOWN-VERB 492
HTTP:SQL:INJ:COMMENT 450
HTTP:DIR:TRAVERSE-DIRECTORY 415
HTTP:SQL:INJ:HEADER-2 388
HTTP:IIS:WEBDAV:XML-HANDLER-DOS 324
HTTP:SQL:INJ:HEADER-3 310
HTTP:SQL:INJ:SQL-INJ-URL 295
NETBIOS:ACCESS:ADMIN 253
HTTP:REQERR:REQ-MALFORMED-URL 231
NETBIOS:OVERFLOW:ASN-1-DER-OF 206
MS-RPC:OF:SRV-SVC-2 144
SSH:PRAGMAFORT-KEY-OF 138
FTP:PASSWORD:ROOT 105
SMTP:COMMAND:VRFY 81
FTP:DIRECTORY:DOT-DOT 79
HTTP:EXPLOIT:ILLEGAL-HOST-CHAR 78
HTTP:IIS:ENCODING:SINGLE-DIG-1 62
HTTP:XSS:AWSTATS-EXEC 46
DNS:INFO:TYPE-AXFR 42
HTTP:PHP:CMD-INJ 41
HTTP:SQL:INJ:CHAR-ENCODE 38
HTTP:XSS:HTML-SCRIPT-IN-URL-PRM 34
TCP:C2S:AMBIG:C2S-SYN-DATA 33
HTTP:IIS:IISADMPWD-PROXY-PASSWD 27
HTTP:PHP:PHPBB:PROOTPATH-INJ 26
HTTP:SQL:INJ:CONCAT 26
HTTP:EXPLOIT:IE-ZONE-SPOOF 20
HTTP:EXT:METAFILE 20
HTTP:INFO-LEAK:BOOT-INI 20
HTTP:IIS:ENCODING:PERC-PERC-1 17
TCP:C2S:AMBIG:OLAP-MISMATCH 17
HTTP:PKG:ALLAIRE-JRUN-DOS 14
IMAP:OVERFLOW:IMAP-CONT-OF 14
HTTP:PROXY:SQUID-NTLM-OF 13
HTTP:XSS:HTML-SCRIPT-IN-URL-PTH 13
HTTP:PHP:CMD-INJ-UA 12
DB:MYSQL:LOGIN-OVERFLOW 9
HTTP:PHP:PHPNUKE:4NALBUM-INC 8
HTTP:SQL:INJ:SLASH-STAR 8
NETBIOS:ACCESS:C-DRIVE 8
FTP:EXT:DOT-EXEC 7
TROJAN:MISC:LATINUS-CMD 7
HTTP:IIS:SAMPLE-ACCESS 6
HTTP:INFO-LEAK:HTACCESS 6
MS-RPC:MAL-DNS 6
IMAP:REQERR:REQ-UNEXPECTED-ARG 5
APP:KERBEROS:DOS 4
HTTP:INFO-LEAK:ASP-WEB-CONFIG 4
HTTP:INVALID:VAR-NEG-LG 4
SMB:TOOLS:PSEXEC 4
APP:KERBEROS:DOS-TCP 3
DB:MS-SQL:HELLO-OF1 3
HTTP:INFO-LEAK:HTPASSWD-REQUEST 3
HTTP:NCSA:PHF-EXEC 3
POP3:OVERFLOW:COMMAND 3
FTP:DIRECTORY:TILDE-ROOT 2
HTTP:IIS:IIS-EXT-BYPASS 2
RPC:RPC.TTDBSERVER:TT-MAL-FS-2 2
TROJAN:MYDOOM:MYDOOM-TROJAN 2
APP:BAKBON-NETVAULT-INT-OF 1
APP:LANDESK-OF 1
APP:NOVELL:EDIRECTORY-DOS 1
APP:ORACLE:WEBCACHE-METHOD-OF 1
HTTP:WEBLOGIC:ENCODING 1
SCAN:II:SNMP-PRINT-DOS 1
TROJAN:NETMTROPOL:CLI-REQ-5302 1
WORM:CONFICKER:C-ACTIVITY-2 1
Friday, May 21. 2010
Cloud Servers and High Availability Central Storage
One of the most important topics when it comes to cloud services is storage. But yet it seems that it is the most ignored by customers when shopping around. A true storage platform should have a storage layer that is physically separate from the nodes. This is important for one very good reason. Having a centralized storage allows you true data elasticity. The data is able to span server's, server pools, data-centers and even continents.
One of the hidden behind the scene features over here is the ability for us to move your cloud server from one host machine to another. This live migration is completely unnoticeable and the cloud server is able to process and function as it would normally.
Why is this important?
1) We are able to do maintenance on host machines and keep your cloud server up and running
2) If there is a hardware failure on the host machine we are not sitting there for an hour trying figure out the issue and fix it while your systems are down, we can instantly bring it online on another healthy node within seconds.
3) When you need to upgrade your resources and the host machine does not contain the enough resources you can be moved to another host machine that does. R4ckspace for example creates you a entirely new machine, giving you an entirely new ip address , and this gives you out of sync data.
There are many more advantages to this but what makes this even more amazing is that all of our cloud servers storage repositories are setup in HA (High Availability). If there is an issue with the master storage node, or it needs maintenance. Once again this is all transparent to the user and is done behind the scenes without downtime.
Now ask yourself, does your VPS Host have these capabilities?
Does your Cloud Server host have these capabilities?
Does your dedicated server have these abilities?
Do you use VPS.net, RackSpace, Slicehost or many others?
I bet your answers are no!
Oh and not let us forget about our disk I/O speeds. Our tests show the competition who use centralized storage do not even come close, and those that use local storage (and try and claim they are a cloud host) they still do not keep up! Some hosts even offer an upgrade to SSD at a ridiculous price and are still slower!
You don't have to believe me, you can try it for yourselves!
We give you all of the speed, the redundancy, high availability, and true elasticity at no extra cost. So next time someone is trying to sell you a VPS or a "cloud server" make sure you do your home work because things sometimes are not really what they seem.
One of the hidden behind the scene features over here is the ability for us to move your cloud server from one host machine to another. This live migration is completely unnoticeable and the cloud server is able to process and function as it would normally.
Why is this important?
1) We are able to do maintenance on host machines and keep your cloud server up and running
2) If there is a hardware failure on the host machine we are not sitting there for an hour trying figure out the issue and fix it while your systems are down, we can instantly bring it online on another healthy node within seconds.
3) When you need to upgrade your resources and the host machine does not contain the enough resources you can be moved to another host machine that does. R4ckspace for example creates you a entirely new machine, giving you an entirely new ip address , and this gives you out of sync data.
There are many more advantages to this but what makes this even more amazing is that all of our cloud servers storage repositories are setup in HA (High Availability). If there is an issue with the master storage node, or it needs maintenance. Once again this is all transparent to the user and is done behind the scenes without downtime.
Now ask yourself, does your VPS Host have these capabilities?
Does your Cloud Server host have these capabilities?
Does your dedicated server have these abilities?
Do you use VPS.net, RackSpace, Slicehost or many others?
I bet your answers are no!
Oh and not let us forget about our disk I/O speeds. Our tests show the competition who use centralized storage do not even come close, and those that use local storage (and try and claim they are a cloud host) they still do not keep up! Some hosts even offer an upgrade to SSD at a ridiculous price and are still slower!
You don't have to believe me, you can try it for yourselves!
We give you all of the speed, the redundancy, high availability, and true elasticity at no extra cost. So next time someone is trying to sell you a VPS or a "cloud server" make sure you do your home work because things sometimes are not really what they seem.
Tuesday, May 18. 2010
Cloud Computing Plain and Simple
Here is a great video explaining "The Cloud". Enjoy !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdBd14rjcs0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdBd14rjcs0&feature=related
Friday, May 14. 2010
So What really is Cloud Computing !
Cloud computing is all the rage ! The term "Cloud" is used as a metaphor for the the Internet.
Today, Cloud Computing is Internet-based computing, whereby shared resources, software and information are provided to computers and other devices on-demand, like the electricity grid.
It is a paradigm shift following the shift from mainframe to client–server that preceded it in the early 1980s. Details are abstracted from the users who no longer have need of, expertise in, or control over the technology infrastructure "in the cloud" that supports them. Cloud computing describes a new supplement, consumption and delivery model for IT services based on the Internet, and it typically involves the provision of dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources as a service over the Internet. It is a byproduct and consequence of the ease-of-access to remote computing sites provided by the Internet.
Based on the cloud drawing used in the past to represent the telephone network, and later to depict the Internet in computer network diagrams as an abstraction of the underlying infrastructure it represents. Typical cloud computing providers deliver common business applications online which are accessed from another web service or software like a web browser, while the software and data are stored on servers.
Most cloud computing infrastructure consists of reliable services delivered through data centers and built on servers. Clouds often appear as single points of access for all consumers' computing needs. Commercial offerings are generally expected to meet quality of service (QoS) requirements of customers and typically offer SLAs.
Today, Cloud Computing is Internet-based computing, whereby shared resources, software and information are provided to computers and other devices on-demand, like the electricity grid.
It is a paradigm shift following the shift from mainframe to client–server that preceded it in the early 1980s. Details are abstracted from the users who no longer have need of, expertise in, or control over the technology infrastructure "in the cloud" that supports them. Cloud computing describes a new supplement, consumption and delivery model for IT services based on the Internet, and it typically involves the provision of dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources as a service over the Internet. It is a byproduct and consequence of the ease-of-access to remote computing sites provided by the Internet.
Based on the cloud drawing used in the past to represent the telephone network, and later to depict the Internet in computer network diagrams as an abstraction of the underlying infrastructure it represents. Typical cloud computing providers deliver common business applications online which are accessed from another web service or software like a web browser, while the software and data are stored on servers.
Most cloud computing infrastructure consists of reliable services delivered through data centers and built on servers. Clouds often appear as single points of access for all consumers' computing needs. Commercial offerings are generally expected to meet quality of service (QoS) requirements of customers and typically offer SLAs.
(Page 1 of 2, totaling 18 entries)
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