Gandi IWI Blog

IP Transit Outage in France Telecom

Leland Vandervort — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 12:16:00 +0100

Some customers located on networks in France Telecom (Orange, OpenTransit, etc.) may be experiencing difficulties accessing Gandi Services. A network incident has occurred within the FT network and is affecting many of their customers' access to large portions of the internet. France Telecom are working to resolve the issue.

We will keep you updated as more details are made available.

Update: 13:50 CET: The issue at France Telecom appears to have been resolved.

Maintenance Gandi.Net and API

Leland Vandervort — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:18:00 +0100

In order to deploy the new version of the website, we will be performing maintenance tomorrow morning (13 January) between 06:00 and 08:00 CEST.

During this time the Gandi website and the reseller APIs will be inaccessible. It will not be possible, therefore, to perform any operations to purchase, renew or modify Gandi products during this time. This maintenance should last less than half an hour but we we are of course leaving sufficient margin in case a rollback may be necessary.

The VPS Server, Gandi Mail, Blogs, Gandi Sitemaker, and other Gandi services will not be affected by this maintenance.

We apologise in advance for any inconvenience.

Gandi Technical Team

Incident in One of Our Datacentres

Leland Vandervort — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 09:14:00 +0100

We have detected a partial outage in one of our datacenters affecting a number racks. Our technical teams are investigating the issue and we will keep you informed as further details become available.

Several services are impacted and customers may experience service degradation with the Gandi Website, Gandi Mail, and some transactional activities via the site.

The Hosting platform is not impacted.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

EDIT [10:42] : The outage is caused by a faulty network equipment. We are working on the full resolution of the problem. But Gandi services should not be degraded anymore.

.CN domain creation suspension

Ryan — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 18:41:00 +0100

Hello,

Following a change in the Chinese registry, which is (in)directly managed by the Chinese government, it is no longer possible for us to sell .CN domains.

After an initial change at the end of last year that surprised everyone in limiting purchase of these domains to companies only, the registry has just added a very clear and simple rule: in order to have stricter control over the domains that are sold, they simply and plainly forbid new registrations to registrars that are not Chinese!

Renewals and transfers do not appear to be concerned by this for the time being, though we are not immune to unwelcome surprises.

We will keep you informed as events unfold.

-50% discount for .ME extensions

Lyn — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 11:28:00 +0100

The Registry in charge of .ME (nic.me) extensions is offering a -50% promotion in creating new .ME domains. Domain transfers and renewals are not affected by this promotion.

This means creating new .ME domain names are on sale at $12.00, or 7£, (excluding tax) for A rates until February 1st 2010.

Maintenance overnight 30-31 December

flyou — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 12:24:00 +0100

We will be performing a maintenance during the night of 30-31 December.

This maintenance will start at 00:00 AM CET, December the 31th and finish at 01:00 AM CET.

During this time most Gandi services will be impacted.

All operations will be supended throughout the maintenance period.

Thank you for your understanding.

EDIT : We will performing an other maintenance during the night of 29-30 December between 00:00 AM and 00:15 AM CET. Operations will be suspended during few minutes.

EDIT 30 dec. 00:25 AM__ : maintenance take more time than expected.

EDIT 31 dec. : Maintenance completed.

Gandi Customer Service during the Holidays

Lyn — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 15:49:00 +0100

We would like to bring to your attention that two holiday celebrations fall on Fridays this year (December 25th and January 1st ) which means our support team will also be deservedly celebrating these events.

Our team will none-the-less be present, although reduced in numbers, the following Saturdays – (December 26th and January 2nd ) to assure our continued customer service.

In the case of a serious problem with one of your servers during this period, please indicate in your request that your server is *blocked*, so that the engineers on standby can quickly take action.

If you have a renewal, or some other delicate operation to make, we would especially advise you to avoid doing it during these days, and send in advance your request (= now would be best).

Our customer service department wishes you and yours all the best for the holiday season.

Datacenter outage- resolved

Nicolas — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 19:43:00 +0100

We experiment a major outage in one of our datacenter rooms. We'll keep you updated as soon as we have additional information.

Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience

Gandi team

20:26 CET it was a power outage, services are coming back now

20:55 CET Gandi's website is back online, as well as email. The GandiBlogs will return shortly as well as the servers that were affected. We are currently verifying the disks' Raid state

00:10 CET All services are now stable, however we have still received no communication from our hosting partner as to the cause of the outage. As such we are remaining on standby in case of any further incident

09:20 CET 21/12/09 Equinix have scheduled a maintenance window at 10:30 CET to switch over to generator power. There should be no impact to services, but our teams are on alert in case this activity does not go according to plan.

--11:10 CET 21/12/09__ Equinix have not yet effected the switchover. Our teams are still on standby alert while we wait for an update.

11:30 CET 21/12/09 Equinix have now effected this switchover.

.HK domains now available at Gandi!

Ryan — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:18:00 +0100

Gandi does not just limit its development of new extensions to European countries. If we get many requests for a particular extension and if it does not have major conditions along with it, then we will be happy to add it.

We are therefore pleased to announce that we now provide .HK Hong-Kong domains! This extension is open to everyone, though you will be asked for a contact ID number for each owner contact, depending on the type of the account. Individuals will need to provide their passport number; companies, associations, and public organizations will need to enter their business or association registration number.

.HK domains are available for €24 (£22, $35) excl. VAT under A rates. Note that transferring a .HK domain is more expensive (€60, $99, £60 excl. VAT) than a creation, though it adds a year to the expiration date.

You can see all .HK prices here.
More information on the extension can be found here.

Accented .EU domain names open on December 10th at 11:00 CET!

Ryan — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:31:00 +0100

From December 10th 2009 EURid, the registry that is in charge of the .EU zone, will allow domain names to be registered that include accented characters for the first time. This is of course a great benefit to the 28 countries of the European Union where accented characters are very common: http://www.eurid.eu/en/eu-domain-names/idns-eu.
There will not be a Sunrise period to guarantee protection of existing trademarks. The registry has chosen to use the "first-come, first-served" approach. This means that if you already own a domain name in its unaccented version, you will not be given priority for buying the same domain in its accented version. For more information on .EU Internationalized Domain Names (IDN), we recommend visiting their FAQ on the topic.

You can already start placing your accented .EU domain order requests at Gandi! All pre-registration requests will be sent to the registry (in the order that we received them) on December 10th. Orders that cannot be completed will be fully refunded. To pre-register an accented .EU domain name at Gandi, simply write it in its accented form in the domain name search box on Gandi's home page.

As a reminder, the IDN System is specified by RFC standards 3490, 3491 and 3492. This system is now recognized by all modern web browsers (ex. http://www.스타벅스코리아.com). However when using IDNs for email, only the encoded version (below) is recognized at present. It is not possible, for example to have an email address like ryan@스타벅스코리아.com.

Technically, the "special" characters are encoded using a conversion table. This is why an IDN domain name will begin with the four characters: xn––. For example: bébé.eu becomes xn-–bb-bjab.eu. So ryan@bébé.eu would become ryan@xn-–bb-bjab.eu for use in email.

IDNs are also now available on a first-come, first-served basis!

If you would like to comment on this, please visit the GandiBar!

.PT domains available at Gandi

Ryan — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 10:17:00 +0100

With the addition of this highly-anticipated extension, we have completed the coverage of southwestern European countries!

In order to register a .PT domain, you must have a Portuguese taxpayer ID, as well as a document that proves that the domain name corresponds to a trademark, family name etc. (for example: the TVA number of the company Martin would be needed to register martin.pt).

If you do not meet this criteria, you can nonetheless register a .COM.PT domain. These domains are open to everyone, with the condition that individuals must provide a national ID number or passport number, and companies must provide their intra-Community VAT number.

The registration .PT and .COM.PT domains are sold at €24 ($35, or £22) excl. VAT per year under A rates. Transfers of .PT or .COM.PT to Gandi are available at only €1 ($1, or £1) for all.

See the .PT information page.

If you would like to comment on this, visit the GandiBar!

Mail platform maintenance overnight Friday to Saturday (4 Dec to 5 Dec) [ completed]

Leland Vandervort — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:06:00 +0100

Our technical team will be performing maintenance on the Gandi Mail platform overnight tonight, starting at midnight (00:00 CET), for a duration not more than one hour.

During this time, reception of emails will continue to function normally, but customers will be unable to access their mailboxes via POP, IMAP or the WebMail.

Once this maintenance has been completed, you will again be able to access your mailboxes.

This activity is being undertaken to improve the performance of our mail platform, and is the first in a series of schedule maintenance activities.

Thank you for your understanding.

New kernel available for hosting servers.

aegiap — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 12:29:00 +0100

A new version of the 2.6.18-xenU Linux kernel is available for hosting servers. This version contains fixes for 4 security flaws (CVE-2009-3002, CVE-2009-2848, CVE-2009-1895, CVE-2009-1337) and enable the CONFIG_IP_ROUTE_FWMARK option.

A quick changelog is available.

As a new kernel version imply new modules, you can use this process to update your kernel modules on your server if you have the root access.

In order to make use of this new version, you will need to restart your server, which you can do simply with the linux command "reboot" if you have root access to your server. In case of GandiAI, the web interface allow you to restart your server. We will thus allow you to make arrangements to effect this reboot according to your own scheduling requirements.

The technical team.

Network Maintenance overnight 19-20 November

Leland Vandervort — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:12:00 +0100

We will be performing a major network maintenance operation during the night of 19 to 20 November in order to further improve our infrastructure.

This maintenance will commence on 20 November at 01:00 AM CET and finish at 07:00 AM CET.

During this time, three connectivity outages are expected, each lasting approximately one hour and will impact most Gandi services.

All hosting operations will be suspended throughout the maintenance period.

We apologise in advance for any inconvenience caused.

Hosting: Launch of multiple IP addresses for your servers

Ryan — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:33:00 +0100

Hello,

Today we have launched the functions allowing you to manage your own interfaces. You may configure up to 4 interfaces per server.

To add an additional interface, you will need to add additional IP address quota via the resource management interface.

Each additional IP address costs €1 excl. VAT per month (if paid monthly), or €10 (ex VAT) per year if paid annually, e.g. 2 months free!

This new function lays the foundations for us to provide you with some really cool features in the future such as an IP failover system, the utilization of IPv6 addresses or even creating a private networks between your servers.

As this has been at the top of your Wishlist for several months, we sincerely hope that this new feature will make you smile!

You can find documentation on this in our wiki here.

If you would like to comment on this entry please visit the GandiBar.

.MOBI domain name sale

Ryan — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:38:00 +0100

The registry is having a last-minute sale on .MOBI domains, that lets us provide them to you for 25% off the normal price. This means that you can purchase them for only €9 ($13.50 or £6.20) under A rates!

The promotion ends on December 31st, and only applies to creations.

See all .MOBI rates

Network Switch Software Upgrade

Leland Vandervort — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:00:00 +0100

As a result of a minor software upgrade on one of our distribution switches between 07h20 and 07h45 CEST, customers may have noticed two brief interruptions in network connectivity for the hosting DNS and network access for some servers. The upgrade procedure was intended to be non-service-affecting following the in-service-software-upgrade mechanism. We apologise for the inconvenience and are investigating the issue with the manufacturer to ensure that any software upgrades are transparent.

Your server on IPv6?

Leland Vandervort — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:42:00 +0100

Today we are opening the beta-test phase for the implementation of IPv6 on our hosting platform.

As a reminder, IPv6 is the successor to the current IPv4 upon which the internet is based, and given the generous attribution of the early IP addresses, the IPv4 address space is rapidly running out of available adresses.

Its replacement is gently making its appearance across the internet. An IPv6 address is made up of 128bits as opposed to 32bits for an IPv4 address. We are moving from 2^32 available addresses to 2^128 (excluding reserved allocations, of course) which gives us a few decades.. erm.. centuries to breathe!

If you wish to participate in the beta test phase, you must:

- Have some basic knowledge of IPv6
- Have a Gandi server in expert mode (i.e. with root access)
- Send us a request to participate to ipv6beta@gandi.net and include your gandi handle/user-id. (You will receive an email by return with the procedure to follow).

Initially, we will limit the beta test to approximately 50 servers, so don't wait to send in your request!

As usual, you can comment on this post here...

Stay Tuned! .AM and .FM domains are now available

Ryan — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:38:00 +0100

We are pleased to announce that Gandi now manages .am and .fm domains.

These ccTLD, while being the official extensions for Armenia and Micronesia, are frequently used for online radio stations, and who among us has not listened to internet radio?

I know I enjoy the benefits of seeing the name of an artist while playing, having a personalized playlist at work, or even just having a higher quality of sound than the old analogue radio. They were so 20th century

More and more radio stations are being created on the web and letting amateurs be heard all over the world. Radio is not just for the big guys anymore.

Here is the list of these extensions, with A rates shown (excl. VAT) and the link to the information page of each:

.AM from €54 ($78, £49) per year
.FM from €54 ($78, £49) per year

If you would like to comment on this, please visit the GandiBar!

6 new domain name extensions at Gandi: .GS .HT .SB .TL .MU .CX

Ryan — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:06:00 +0100

Our previous domain name discovery tour took us over the world's oceans, and introduced you to 5 new extensions managed by Gandi.

Here is another journey, where you can discover 6 new extensions that you can manage at your favorite domain name registrar. And since we went by sail last time, today's tour will be by plane.

Our trip begins in an archipelago without an airport, where less than 200 people live (mainly researchers), and where the temperature is frequently below zero. The archipelago of South Georgia is less than 1,000 nautical miles off the coast of Antarctica and from here we leave the .GS (South Georgia) archipelago and set a Northerly course towards warmer latitudes.

After traveling more than 5,000 nautical miles, and after flying over nearly all of South America, we come to the tropical climate of the Caribbean Sea, where we will land on the tumultuous Haiti home of the .HT (Haiti).

After sipping on a Piña Colada, a plate of local Shrimp, and then sunbathing for a few hours on one of the magnificent local beaches, we board the plane again. After refueling and taking off, we change course by 260 degrees for a loooooooong flight of nearly 8,000 nautical miles that will take us across the pacific ocean, the international date line, and the Tropic of Cancer. We will land on runway 24 of the Solomon Islands, home of the .SB.

A brief historic visit of this island that has played such a large role during the the Pacific War, and we take off again, this time for a shorter flight of only 2,000 nautical miles, due West, to a country where it best to have the authorization pass into its airspace, as internal conflict has given more voice to arms than diplomats. Welcome to East Timor and the .TL!

We continue 1,000 nautical miles west along our route, and there we see the o' so very small but charming .CX with the festive name (Christmas Islands). The beaches there are magnificent, the scenery is enchanting, and the local cuisine is rich is flavor (and spices ;)). Relaxed, and full of wonderful memories of our stay, we board out flight and head out to our last destination.

With our course set West-South-West to 255, we can sit back and enjoy the 3,000 nautical mile flight over the Indian Ocean. There, an island suddenly appears on the blue horizon, welcoming and bathed in sunlight.

Having the authorization to land on runway 32 we arrive at Mauritius home of the .MU!!

After a long journey far above the waves, we find ourselves on the most diverse island on the Indian Ocean. Halfway between Africa and Asia, colonized by the Europeans, here is a charming melting pot of people, language, and culture...

Our plane is in the Hangar, and so we will profit from our presence on this island paradise to wait for the new batch of extensions. We hope that you have had a pleasant flight, and we wish you a wonderful stay! See you again soon on Air Gandi!

Here is the list of extensions, with A rates shown (excl. VAT) and the link to the information page of each:

.GS: €30 ($40, £25) per year
.HT: €64 ($90, £55) per year
.SB: €44 ($60, £8.30) per year
.TL: €26 ($35, £18) per year
.MU: €42 ($58, £36) per year
.CX: €26 ($35, £18) per year

If you would like to comment on this article, please visit the GandiBar!