ServerBeach Blog

Liz Gannes on NewTeeVee reports on YouTube CEO Chad Hurley who addressed an audience at a recent Startup2Startup dinner in Palo Alto. Chad discussed how YouTube started, including the ServerBeach $129/mo unlimited data plan they used. It was all caught on tape. Here is an excerpt:

ServerBeach had two pipes, one for redundancy, and YouTube was using one and a half of them, with rest of its customers limited to just half of the one left. ServerBeach had a great plan, $129 month for unlimited data. “They weren’t necessarily prepared for a service like YouTube.”

He’s right. We weren’t quite ready for their explosive growth, but found a way to manage. We captured our sentiments in this tongue-in-cheek video send off to the YouTube gang (who btw, loved it!) after they moved their last servers from the Beach over to Google.

Since the new release of popular web browser Mozilla Firefox 3.0, over 14 million downloads have been registered by the counter posted on the Spread Firefox website. But just in a few hours (about five) after the Mozilla Firefox 3.0 was made available to the public, security flaws have been reported.

TippingPoint, a provider of network-based intrusion prevention systems, was informed about existing security issues in Mozilla Firefox 3.0 through its program Zero Day Initiative (ZDI) that rewards security researchers for exclusive information disclosing vulnerabilities founded in software products.

Even the new security features of Firefox 3.0 have the main priority to maintain personal information safe and to protect users from phishing and malware, TippingPoint confirms the existence of a critical vulnerability of high severity that affects Mozilla Firefox 3.0 (ZDI ID: ZDI-CAN-349) and prior versions of Firefox 2.0.x: “We verified the vulnerability in our lab, acquired it from the researcher, then promptly reported the vulnerability to the Mozilla security team shortly after. Successful exploitation of the vulnerability could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code. Not unlike most browser based vulnerabilities that we see these days, user interaction is required such as clicking on a link in email or visiting a malicious web page.”

Read full story…

Around the internet, it’s being said that in just five hours, the new version of the Firefox Web browser had as many downloads as its predecessor got during its entire first day.
Firefox 3 has been in development for nearly 3 years and has been publicly tested since November.

Tuesday’s release was delayed as visitors checking for the update overloaded Firefox’s Web servers. When Firefox 3 was finally released for download, the Firefox website was distributing nearly 9,000 copies every minute. By Tuesday evening, Firefox 3 had reached 1.6 million downloads.

Guinness World Records must certify the world records sought by Firefox supporters for the most software downloads in a 24 hour period. This process could take some time, some speculating a week or longer.

According to AlertSite, an Internet monitoring company, the Firefox website was slow or at times unreachable for approximately 2 hours beginning around 12:45 p.m. ET - which just happened to be 15 minutes before the scheduled release time. Ouch! Luckily, performance improved later in the day.

Firefox 3 includes several enhancements to help its users organize their frequently visited Web sites and block access to sites known to distribute viruses and other malicious software. Another added feature for users of Yahoo’s mail service is that they can now use Firefox 3 to send e-mail by clicking on a mailto link that is included in a name or contact link on a web page.

I’m curious to see the Guinness World Records final number.

Free Webinar Hosted by PEER 1 Offers Strategic Insight on Issues Surrounding SaaS Development

PEER 1 will host a free webinar with partners OnDemand Solutions and Mural Ventures, Tuesday, June 24 at 2 p.m. EDT. In this first-time event, industry experts will share their extensive experience and innovative methodologies that have helped ISVs build successful and profitable Software as a Service (SaaS) applications. Attendees will learn how to escape pitfalls that have hobbled other ISVs, potentially saving their businesses thousands of dollars.

SaaS is here to stay, with an estimated 25 percent of all software delivered in the next few years expected to be SaaS, according to Gartner projections. As successful SaaS companies know, in order to take advantage of the considerable benefits of this delivery method you must run your company in a completely new and different way rather than rely on the traditional methods. This webinar will help companies avoid many of the more common mistakes.

What: Free webinar on “The Seven Deadly Mistakes of ISV SaaS Offerings,” which include:

• Cannibalizing your current revenue by providing your existing offering to the same customers
• Underestimating the power of and need for customer service in the SaaS model
• Offering free trials that don’t convert prospects to customers
• Underestimating the importance of web-centricity for marketing, sales and support

Who: Featured speakers

• Mike Jalonen, CEO, OnDemand Solutions
• Jeff Hagins, Partner and CTO, Mural Ventures
• Robert Miggins, Vice President of Business Development, PEER 1

When: Tuesday, June 24, 2008 – 2:00 p.m. Eastern

To Attend: For more information and registration visit http://www.bulldogsolutions.net/Peer1/PER06242008/frmRegistration.aspx?bdls=15176

“We are very pleased to be offering this valuable webinar along with our partners,” said Robert Miggins, vice president of business development for PEER 1. “Through our experiences we have found there are many reoccurring key issues that business owners and developers alike are unaware of. Through this presentation we will give listeners practical steps and insight to address these issues and in turn increase customer reach and satisfaction.”

About PEER 1
PEER 1, a leading online IT infrastructure provider, believes in the limitless opportunity of the Internet and the business growth and continuity it provides for its more than 10,000 customers. PEER 1 delivers highly scalable managed hosting and co-location solutions to ensure customers’ online presence is always fast, always available. Since 1999, PEER 1 has grown to include data centers and network points of presence in 17 major cities across North America and Europe. Serving a variety of companies, PEER 1 offers solutions that grow through every stage of web commerce, regardless of company size. The company’s headquarters are in Vancouver, Canada and the stock is traded on the TSX under the symbol PIX. For more information visit: http://www.peer1.com.

About ODS
OnDemand Solutions provides business and technical services to established and startup organizations who are already using, or who are looking to use, the OnDemand or “Software as a Service” (SaaS) delivery model. Our services and best practices are designed to rapidly develop and launch new OnDemand and SaaS businesses, accelerate growth for organizations with a current SaaS offering, and assist independent software vendors (ISVs) to convert from a perpetual license model to a subscription revenue model.

About Mural Ventures
Mural Consulting is a specialized team of Software-as-a-Service experts. We work with ISVs and Service Providers to create SaaS strategies that drive real actions, and then execute those actions side-by-side with our clients. We deliver business success in the fast-changing, competitive SaaS environment. Mural has conducted over 300 executive SaaS business design sessions globally. From that experience, we’ve assembled 8 Key Success Factors for SaaS success. These KSFs form the foundation for all of our strategy and execution services.

Goosh.org, a UNIX-like command-line interface for Google combines the search functionality of Google with the simplicity of command line. Do any of you remember the days of Pine for email?

Written by Stefan Grothkopp, Goosh dubs itself “the unofficial Google shell,” a clever browser-based interface that mimics command-line interaction. The results are displayed in the same color style as Google with blue links, green links, and black text.

Type ‘help’ for a list of commands -

Check out a location -

Or check out a blog -

Definitely check out all of the commands in the help file and give it a try. I will be Goosh’ing all the time!

There are many things that are not boldly announced when visitors view our website. There is also a lot of misconception around the internet when people look at ServerBeach and our support or policies. I’ve decided to list a few things here that many people just aren’t aware of when considering using ServerBeach.

Did you know -

* Technical support is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

* Our Customer Service is available by telephone 24 hours, 7 days a week.

* At ServerBeach you have a dedicated Account Manager.

* Our DCops is available around the clock and there for all of your maintenance needs day or night.

* Server reloads are 100% FREE!

* Our forums are full of great people (both ServerBeach employees and customers) willing to assist other customers.

* By logging into the MyServerBeach customer portal you can

• Reboot your server
• Reload your server
• Rescue your server
• View Flash Tutorials on the different Control Panels that we offer
• Manage your own DNS
• View your payment history

…and so much more!

Have you ever submitted a ticket and needed it to be escalated or wondered what the status of your ticket was? Maybe you just want a quick update? Give us a call any time, day or night and find out instantly!

At ServerBeach, we are committed to customer satisfaction. If you have a question, give us a call. Or if you just want to say hello, give us a call! As a matter of fact, if you happen to be local to San Antonio, Texas or just visiting in town stop by our office, say hello and come meet the Teams!

I announce this a lot on our customer forums and I’d like to add it here as well - You can find me on the ServerBeach Forums as “QT” and I am always available via chat, private message on our forums, and e-mail. Don’t hesitate to share your comments, ask your questions, or just introduce yourself. All of us at ServerBeach look forward to meeting new people and building great relationships, so come say hello!

For a limited time only, get 25% OFF our Dell™ PowerEdge Series hosting plans. With these prices, you also get the ServerBeach ValuePack which includes:

* DIY tools
* Choice of data center
* 24/7 support
* The rock-solid, ultra-fast PEER 1 network backbone.

Click here to view these 25% off deals.

Life’s better at The Beach!

I’ve decided to re-post an article that I stumbled on this morning over at Computer World. If you have a funny (true) story that’s taken place in your IT world, feel free to send it my way and I’ll post it here.

This IT pilot fish works for a small, privately owned retail chain — and that means a tight ship, budgetwise. “All six of our servers were on one UPS capable of running the entire computer room for 20 minutes,” says fish.

“One summer afternoon we heard a zap and sizzle outside the building, and half of our electrical supply went out. Some lights and outlets worked, some didn’t. And, of course, the entire computer room was dark.”

The four-member IT department races to the server room and quickly comes up with a plan. First step: They’ll run a 100-foot heavy-duty orange extension cord to the one working outlet within reach.

Next step is attaching a UPS that, in turn, will have two power strips plugged into it. Into the power strips are plugged six more UPSes, one for each server and its attached peripherals.

One by one, the servers are shut down, connected to the new jerry-rigged electrical source and powered back up.

“About half way through this adventure, an end user poked her head through the door and asked if it was OK to continue to use the server applications during the blackout,” fish says. “We all glanced at each other, and the VP of the department answered, ‘Of course! We’re up on the B.O.C.!’

“The end user then proceeded to walk down the hallway, announcing in a loud voice to the other users that they could continue to work, as the B.O.C. network was up and running.

“We had to close the door tightly and stifle our laughter at this announcement, as we couldn’t let her know that B.O.C. was an acronym for ‘big orange cord.’”

If you’d like to see your story posted on the ServerBeach Blog, please send it to me at cpugsley@serverbeach.com.