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ZJS Technology, Inc.
Web Hosting, Software Development, Information Technology Consulting
Bulletins
 
10/24/2011Service interruption on October 24, 2011
 At approximately 12:50pm EDT, a circuit breaker failure in the Peak 10 data center in Ft. Lauderdale caused an interruption of power to the entire data center. As of approximately 3pm, power was being restored and servers brought back online. I apologize if this caused any inconvenience to ZJS Technology clients. I will follow up with the data center and post additional information about why the redundancy designed into the power systems did not prevent this outage, and post a follow up.

5:25pm UPDATE: A routing issue caused by the power outage in the data center is causing problems for some ZJS Technology clients. The data center is aware of the problem and working to resolve it.

12:40am UPDATE: The routing issues are now resolved and all domains for ZJS Technology clients should be functioning normally.
4/15/2011Service interruption on April 15, 2011
 At approximately 4:20am Friday morning, server Helios experienced a hard drive error, similar to Wednesday's event. The server was returned to service at approximately 9am. An analysis of the server logs shows the server's primary hard drive is reporting an intermittent error. The data center is recommending replacement of the hard drive.

Helios will be taken offline late Friday night/early Saturday morning. Appropriate backups of all current data for web sites and email on the server will be performed. After the backups, the data center will replace the drive, and reinstall the operating system and Plesk control panel. At that point, I will restore all web sites and email. The server will be offline for approximately 6 hours. I will do my best to keep service interruption to a minimum.

Thanks for your patience while this is resolved.
4/13/2011Service interruption on April 13, 2011
 One of our web and mail Linux servers, Helios, suffered a hard disk error at about 3:45pm. For this type of error, the server does a lengthy health self-check before it will resume normal operations. Customers with a domain on this server experienced an outage lasting approximately 90 minutes. The server recovered from the error and is operating normally again.
12/7/2010New dedicated server for backups and monitoring.
 ZJS Technology has deployed a new server with Corenetworks, a Michigan-based networking and data center firm. This server will be used for storage of critical backups from the Ft. Lauderdale data center, as well as monitoring and reporting on the status of other servers.
11/22/2010Service interruption on Nov 22, 2010
 At approximately 4pm on 11/22/2010, a switch failure in the Ft. Lauderdale Peak 10 data center caused a disruption of network traffic, resulting in a loss of connectivity for ZJS Tech's servers. The outage was intermittent, and lasted for approximately 30 to 90 minutes. Peak 10 is working to analyze the failure in redundancy. I will share any relevant details when they are available. In the meantime, thanks for your patience while this was going on.
3/1/2010New server now online
 I’m pleased to announce that ZJS Technology has brought another web server online. Nicknamed “Helios,” the new server offers high bandwidth and memory, multiple CPUs with multiple cores, along with redundant hard drives. The new server features the latest version of the Plesk control panel, and a choice of webmail interfaces. The Horde webmail interface currently enjoyed by customers on other ZJS Technology servers is available on the new server, and an additional webmail choice, AtMail, is also available. Each domain owner can choose which webmail interface to use. I’m excited to add this server to the mix. It should be a workhouse for many years to come.
12/2/20091Vault Data Center is now Peak10
 Over the last several years, I’ve been thrilled with the performance of the 1Vault data center in Fort Lauderdale, where the bulk of ZJS Technology’s technical infrastructure resides. Extremely high uptime, great network performance, and excellent technical support have been constants at the 1Vault data center. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who noticed. 1Vault has been acquired by Peak10, one of the largest and best data center companies in North America. Peak10 should bring a lot to the table in terms of available resources for future expansion. They’ve retained the 1Vault data center staff (great move!).
11/1/2009More on PC and online security
 The never ending battle for control of your PC continues. Yes, your PC. In recent weeks, I've had half a dozen people contact me for help in ridding their PC of fake antivirus software. The number of fraudulent “phishing” emails being sent to people continues to increase. How widespread is the problem? Authorities in Spain recently arrested a small group of men who had amassed control of a network of more than 12 million personal computers. It's an all out war. The cybercriminals who want control of your PC are persistent and unscrupulous.

Here are a few tips to help minimize the threat:

1) Think before you act on emails. The email titled "Just got this funny joke," or "Forward this to everyone you know," is often not from someone you know, regardless of the sender’s address. It can just as easily be from a malicious computer program that infected the computer of someone you know. And it is trying to infect your computer. Attachment? Forget it. Don't open it. Link? Click at your peril. Best to just delete the email. Encourage your friends to send you personal messages, and politely ask them to leave you off chain email lists for jokes and other mass mailings.

2) Phishing emails: A bank sends you an anonymous notice (“Dear Account Holder”), notifying you of an important upgrade or change to your account. The email instructs you to click a link to log into your account. If you click on the link, you'll be taken to a page that looks like the bank's account login page, including a web address that is surprisingly similar to that of the bank's real web site. If you try to log in, there's a good chance you've just handed someone your bank account number and password, which they can use to log into your actual bank account at the real bank web site. This is not unique to banking. Phishing emails made to look like the came from eBay and Paypal are very common.

Reputable companies don't send anonymous emails with direct links to account login pages. The delete button is your friend. Use it. Be naturally suspicious of these types of emails.

3) Keep your PC and software up to date with the patches offered by software publishers. Yes, it's a pain, but new vulnerabilities are frequently discovered in Windows, Internet Explorer, Firefox, and many other programs. If you've had bad experiences with patches that cause your PC to malfunction, at least consider applying vendor service packs. For example, as of this writing, Windows XP is up to Service Pack 3, and Windows Vista is at Service Pack 2. These can be downloaded directly from Microsoft at Microsoft.com.

4) Use strong passwords for all of your online accounts. One of the most common cyber attacks I see is known as the “brute force” password attack. The bad guys try to gain access to online accounts by literally trying every word in the dictionary, common first names, and short sequences of numbers. The most effective way to defeat this type of cyber attack is to use a password that mixes letters, punctuation and numbers.

You don’t need to be paranoid about cyber-criminals, but you do need to be aware the threat exists. A little common sense and a small amount of effort keeping your PC up to date and your passwords secure will go a long way toward keeping you from becoming a victim of a cyber-crime.
8/21/2008A word or two about anti-virus software
 Anti-virus software has improved dramatically over the last decade. Severe disruptions from viruses and malware, affecting many thousands of computers, were frequent occurrences. Such things now seem to be a rarity. Newer versions of email programs, particularly Microsoft Outlook, once a primary carrier for viruses, are much safer and less likely to spread viruses.

Infections still occur. Old viruses are out there, and new ones are created all the time. The consequences of getting one can be minor, usually just wasting time to clean it up. It can also be very costly, resulting in lost data, stolen passwords, sensitive files, or personal information like credit card or social security numbers.

Many new PCs arrive with anti-virus software already installed. Norton Anti-Virus seems to be a favorite of the PC manufacturers. Unfortunately, in my experience, Norton, once one of the best programs for defending your PC against infections, is now one of the worst. McAfee is similarly quite poor.

I routinely recommend AVG and AVG Free by Grisoft. I’ve been using them both for several years, and they have never failed to protect any machine I have installed them on. AVG (the subscription version) has more features, but for the average user, AVG Free is perfectly adequate. It is reliable, doesn’t tax your PC’s memory or CPU as much as many of the big name programs, and it is effective.

In the last six months, I have helped clean-up three PCs that became infected with severe viruses. Two were running an up-to-date, paid subscription version of Norton. A third was running McAfee. Neither of these programs detected the problem. In one case, the infected PC could barely function because the infection was so widespread. And Norton still couldn’t detect a problem. In all three cases, AVG or AVG Free cleaned up the problem quickly and easily.

Even if you have a current, paid subscription for Norton or McAfee, consider abandoning the subscription in favor of AVG Free. It seems illogical that a free program would outperform leading commercial software, but it does.

AVG and AVG Free can be found here: AVG and AVG Free by Grisoft

Let me end by saying that it’s not enough to install a good anti-virus program. The most common way to get a computer virus these days is to invite one in. For example: Someone you trust sends you an email with an attachment, you open it, and a virus in the attachment infects your PC. A good anti-virus program will catch this 99.9% of the time, but if it’s a new virus, it may not be recognized. Another example is downloading files from non-trusted sources. File sharing services and sites like Facebook and MySpace are notorious for serving up viruses for the unwary and the unprotected. You need to be cautious about what you download! If the source cannot be trusted, don’t download from it!
5/4/2008ZJS hosts IEAH.com: Go "Big Brown!"
 ZJS Technology is proud to be host to IEAH.com. The name may be familiar to you: IEAH Stables is the owner of Kentucky Derby winner and Triple Crown hopeful, "Big Brown." IEAH came to ZJS Technology with requirements for high bandwidth hosting that another host had been unable to handle. ZJS has been able to provide a high performance, cost effective solution for IEAH's exciting web site.

In the week leading up to the Kentucky Derby, IEAH's traffic began to increase dramatically. To keep the site humming along, we dedicated a Dell dual Xeon server with a 100Mbps backbone connection in our favorite data center. The result? Despite a tenfold increase in traffic on Derby day, IEAH.com sailed along smoothly, handling hundreds of thousands of requests from visitors anxious to know more about Big Brown.

Go Big Brown!
1/1/2008Free backup disk space now included with all plans
 Good backups are critical. I don't want customers to have to choose between making appropriate backups and expanding web content. Effective immediately, customers can maintain up to three backups images without impacting their hosting plan disk allotment. If you need assistance with your backup scheduling, contact me using the Contact Us.
12/15/2007Year end update
 It's been a while since the last update. It's been a busy year! ZJS Technology has quietly been growing its hosting client list while maintaining a high level of personal and technical service. That will remain the approach. The new customers continue to be referrals from existing customers. Thank you for your continued confidence!

Linux server "Apollo" celebrates one year of uninterrupted uptime! Apollo was the first server ZJS Technology implemented in the new Ft. Lauderdale data center, shortly after the data center opened. It has now been running for over 370 days without an interruption in service, providing web, FTP, database, and email services to dozens of ZJS clients. The extended uptime is testimony to the quality of hardware, software and networking infrastructure implemented in the data center.

Increased anti-spam measures: I've implemented tighter procedures to cut down on spam received by ZJS hosting clients, and to allow our anti-spam software to do a more thorough job of flagging spam so clients can easily parse and delete it when it comes to the inbox. This is an ongoing battle for everybody in the hosting business, and I will continue to refine and implement procedures that reduce the spam headaches we all have to deal with.

Sharepoint hosting: Microsoft's Sharepoint has been available for our Windows hosting clients for a while, but a recent implementation of a dedicated Sharepoint server for one of our hosting clients has allowed me to develop some specific expertise in managing Sharepoint servers. If you are interested in Sharepoint hosting, please contact me.

I'd like to take this opportunity to wish all of ZJS Technology's customers a happy holiday season and best wishes for success in 2008.
12/4/2006New data center
 ZJS Technology is pleased to announce a co-location presence in a new data center. The facility, operated by 1Vault Networks in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, is a state-of-the-art network operations environment featuring top tier Internet connectivity by Qwest, NTT, and Level 3. The facility is rated to withstand Category 5 storms, features triple redundant UPS and generator systems, underground backup fuel storage, armed guards, biometric and passive security systems, and sophisticated environmental control systems.

 

   



4/9/2006Sunshop Shopping Cart now available
 ZJS Technology is now a reseller and implementer for the Sunshop Shopping Cart system. I've worked with and built quite a few shopping carts over the years. Sunshop has impressed me with it's excellent blend of functionality and ease of use. I've now impemented it with two of ZJS Technology's customers, and the results are outstanding. If you need a shopping cart added to an existing web site, or want a new web site with a shopping cart, Sunshop is a powerful, elegantly simple, and reasonably priced.

Contact me to discuss your requirments.
11/1/2005Tools area of zjstech.com expanded.
 The Tools page of the web site now includes helpful diagnostic utilities: WHOIS, Ping and a Host to IP address resolver. These tools can be used by ZJS clients and visitors to help troubleshoot connectivity, domain and server name resolution problems.
10/30/2005Reseller plans now available!
 If you would like to be in the hosting business, but don't have the time, desire, or technical expertise to manage servers, ZJS Technology now has several reseller plans that can get you into hosting fast. The affordable reseller plans give you large blocks of server resources like bandwidth and disk space to repackage into your own web hosting plans. Click here to see reseller plan details.
10/28/2005New zjstech.com web site!
 The new zjstech.com site is nearing completion. It will serve both as a marketing vehicle for prospective ZJS Technology customers, as well as a customer service resource for current customers. Check back for updates and progress!
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