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Managed Services

Managed Services - server administration and server security services for hosting providers.

1. Server Administration

1.1. Apache disk utilization issues as user and site numbers increase

SYMPTOMS:
Disk I/O becomes poor as more and more Apache users and sites are added to the server.

 

RESOLUTION:
Add HTML clipboard “noatime,nodiratime” to the hsphere and var (root if var is contained with root) partitions and remount those partitions.

1.2. Apache SSL PCI Compliance

SYMPTOMS:
PCI Compliance scans shows Apache is not PCI Compliant in the area of SSL

 

RESOLUTION:

Edit httpd.conf, httpd.conf.tmpl.custom, and check the various lserver et all Apache configuration files as appropriate to add/modify the following:

  SSLOptions +StrictRequire
  SSLProtocol -ALL +SSLv3 +TLSv1
  SSLCipherSuite ALL:!ADH:!aNULL:!eNULL:!LOW:!EXP:RC4+RSA:+HIGH:+MEDIUM

Then restart Apache.

Testing that SSLv2 is Disabled

 openssl s_client -connect HOSTNAME:PORT -ssl2

If you receive the certificate and a ton of other lines, you still have SSLv2 enabled. Otherwise, if you receive anything like these you're fine:

CONNECTED(00000005)
write:errno=54

1.3. Control Panel Service

SYMPTOMS:
Keywords:  CP not starting, control panel not starting, cp down, control panel service down, psoft.hsphere.CP

When you browse the control panel page (or login page for the control panel), you get the following error message:

  HTTP Status 404 - Servlet psoft.hsphere.CP is not available
  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  type Status report
  message Servlet psoft.hsphere.CP is not available
  description The requested resource (Servlet psoft.hsphere.CP is not available) is not available.
  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Apache Tomcat/5.0.16

 

RESOLUTION:
Log into the control panel server and do the following:

   RedHat Linux, RedHat Enterprise, CentOS, Whitebox Linux:

   service httpdcp stop
   sleep 2
   service postgresql restart
   sleep 2
   service httpdcp start

   FreeBSD

   /usr/local/etc/rc.d/apachecp stop
           sleep 2
           /usr/local/etc/rc.d/postgresql.sh restart
           sleep 2
   /usr/local/etc/rc.d/apachecp start

1.4. Cron errors executing Webalizer

SYMPTOMS:
Error executing program: [user_id] /hsphere/shared/bin/webalizer -p -Q -N 20 -D /var/log/dns_cache.db -r [domain name] -n [domain name] -o /hsphere/local/home/[user id]/[domain name]/webalizer /hsphere/local/home/[user id]/logs/[domain name]/[domain name].1098662400,256

 

RESOLUTION:
Log onto the server in question; switch over to the root user.

Change to the directory where the logs are stored having the problem.

Example:  cd /hsphere/local/home/[user id]/logs/[domain name]/

Compress the oldest log files leaving the current log uncompressed using "gzip -9"

Example:

gzip -9 [domain name].1099180800

Repeat as necessary for each domain logs having the problem.

1.5. FrontPage Forms come from anonymous@hostname

SYMPTOMS:
Even though the end user control panel has the FrontPage From / Reply to email address set, FrontPage based forms has a "from" email address of anonymous@hostname (where hosthame is the hostname of the server that the FrontPage HTML file is located on).

 

RESOLUTION:
1.  Log onto the server that has the form with the problem
2.  cd /usr/local/frontpage
3.  Edit the "domain:80.cnf" file
4.  Make sure you have the following lines (you will have to create the sendmailcommand line, but you may also have to create the other lines):

mailreplyto:[email address without brackets]
mailsender:[email address without brackets]
sendmailcommand:/var/qmail/bin/sendmail -f[email prefix without brackets]\@[domain name without brackets or www] %r
smtphost:[IP address of your mail server without brackets]

Example:

dynamicnet.net:80.cnf

mailreplyto:support@dynamicnet.net
mailsender:support@dynamicnet.net
sendmailcommand:/var/qmail/bin/sendmail -fsupport\@dynamicnet.net %r
smtphost:66.187.148.120

You do not have to restart any services after making changes to the .cnf file in /usr/local/frontpage

1.6. Postgresql system database will not start or restart

SYMPTOMS:
The postgresql system database on the control panel server will not start or restart.

 

RESOLUTION:
Take the following steps in order from least invasive to most invasive:

1.  Make sure there is no postgresql pid file (extension will be .pid) in /var/run and ~postgres/data

If you find .pid files, remove them; and then try restarting postgresql.

If that fails, then

2.  Edit /etc/sysctl.conf and make sure the following two lines are present (add them if they are not present):

kernel.shmall = 556742272
kernel.shmmax = 556742272

Save the file, and then run the following command:

sysctl -p

Try restarting postgresql.

If that fails, then

3.  Restore ~postgres/data/postgresql.conf from backup; chances are high some one changed the "sort_mem and shared_buffers" values in the file.

http://www.psoft.net/HSdocumentation/sysadmin/cp_acceleration.html#pgsql_memory_usage talks about these values; but they should be changed with caution.

ALSO, see http://www.psoft.net/HSdocumentation/sysadmin/fixing_hs_database.html

1.7. Webalizer on Unix-based servers stop updating

SYMPTOMS:
Webalizer on Unix-based H-Sphere servers stop working

 

RESOLUTION:
Log onto the server.
su to the root user.

Then for each domain not updating:

  mv /hsphere/local/home/user/domain.com/webalizer/webalizer.current
/hsphere/local/home/user/domain.com/webalizer/webalizer.current.bak

  gunzip /hsphere/local/home/user/logs/domain.com/domain.com.*

Then run the following (which may take some time to process):

  /hsphere/shared/scripts/cron/cron_rotate.pl

2. Support Policies and Procedures

2.1. Billable Time

When you open a support ticket by telephone, FAX, our help desk system, or via email, you are authorizing our support team to research, troubleshoot, log into servers, perform work, and help you any way they can.

If any of the services requested are outside of the contracted support bundle you have purchased, your account may be debited at our regular hourly rate billed in 15-minute increments if during business hours and 60-minute increments if after business hours when you don't have a 24x7x365 customer care contract in place.

Please see Managed Services Plans and Pricing for our current rates.


While our goal is to resolve the problem 100% of the time, and we will strive to resolve every request swiftly, investigation time is included under the umbrella of paid managed services even if initial investigation does not lead to immediate resolution. 

If there are any questions or you'd be interested in buying bulk administration time at a discount, please contact solutions@dynamicnet.net

2.2. Contact Information

Your business is important to us, so in order to serve you best, please make sure you have emailed your query to department best suited to serve you:

For sales and consulting, please email solutions  @  dynamicnet.net.

For questions regarding billing, please email accounting  @  dynamicnet.net

For all other inquiries, please email solutions  @  dynamicnet.net or feel free to call our office at toll free at 1-888-887-6727 or internationally at 1-717-484-1062 to leave a message for the appropriate person or department.

Thank you so much for your patience, and we will look forward to the opportunity to work with you as soon as possible!

2.3. Support Hours

Please note our general support hours are Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM CST.  If your ticket arrives outside of this time, we will still do our best to provide you with care.

If you are not on our extended 24x7x365 care contract, please talk to sales about our 24x7x365 service offerings – from one time projects to all year round.

Dynamic Net, Inc. – We Manage Server Holiday Schedule

Please note our office will be closed on the following holidays:

New Years Day
Memorial Day
Independence Day
Thanksgiving Eve
Thanksgiving Day
Christmas Eve
Christmas Day


If you have a 24x7x365 contract in place, please use our 911 system should our office be closed.

Please note we do our best to monitor email even when our office is closed, and will use our "best effort" to help if you have emergencies outside of our office hours.

2.4. Work on the server

We work on your server(s) under the following conditions:

  1. You are in good standing in our accounting department; please note we generally do give generous grace periods in case of illness, travel, and vacation.
  2. It is within 48 hours scheduled security patch day; this is the same day as the patch or the following day if patching took longer than expected with other customers.
  3. Is an emergency security patch that is in your best interest to install, update, etc. quickly.
  4. Is work you requested via a phone call, FAX, email, or help desk ticket.
  5. You are on our security log review service, and we noticed something that needs to be blocked or otherwise fixed.


When we do work on your server(s), we will send an email to the contact of record on the Managed Service contract letting you know what work was done on the server with the only exception of blocking attacking IP's if you are on our security log review service (and that exception goes away if you ask us to inform you of blocked IP's).

If the party who signed the contract includes additional persons to notify of changes, we do include those parties as well.

If you ever have any questions on about our work, please don't hesitate to call us at 1-717-484-1062, 1-888-887-6727, email helpdesk @ dynamicnet.net or solutions @ dynamicnet.net.

2.5. Need server administration and security 24x7?

Stuck with a server management nightmare after normal business hours? 

Why not contact solutions @ dynamicnet.net to find out how we can eliminate the paralyzing fear of a server down and no place to go for help? 

Let us be your safety net the next time Murphy’s wreaks havoc on your server!