The End of an Era at Rossini.com

Tonight, we will be turning off the long running, faithful, web servers that have been a part of our business for over 15 years.

When we first started our business venture, in 1994, our original focus was on presentations offered on 3.5" disks. We developed a process for being able to create graphical presentations that would run right off of the floppy, and we were able to crunch up to 100 pages on a single disk. Our programs were used by a wide array of economic development organizations, and won many awards.

But, soon, the Internet came calling, and people were no longer interested in shoving 3.5" floppies into their PCs. Heck, now we have computers that don't even have a CD drive! We joined the Internet revolution. I had been working with the DOE, and was already using the Internet and email, but, finally it progressed where it was becoming more and more available to the public.

At first, we converted our disk programs to HTML, but soon we were designing from scratch and making websites for cities, counties, states, and economic development organizations. In the beginning finding a place for your website to "live" was difficult. We were one of the first companies in the entire Metropolitan Kansas City area to offer quality websites. There were even fewer places that could host websites.

We tried a few website hosting firms, but, it was expensive, difficult to find, and one we had went out of business along with all of the websites we had on their servers. We also wanted to offer services that were not available with other hosting firms. We wanted to offer database programs, and we wanted the ability to write programs with CGI, C++, Perl, etc. to extend our capabilities. We finally came to the conclusion that the only way for our business to grow was to be able to handle the servers ourselves. We had to make the business decision to provide our own website hosting. So, we went on the adventure of learning how to manage a web server.

At that point in time, you couldn't just go to your neighborhood computer sales store and purchase a web server. We had to have our servers built from scratch. We ordered the fastest processors we could find. The servers had multiple hard drives, and other components such as tape drives for backups. A server runs 24/7, 365 days a year, and are rarely turned off, so we had to have the fastest and most reliable hard drives available at the time. To keep all of it cool, we had to have multiple fans installed as well. 

I came from the world of UNIX, which was an advantage since the best platform at the time was Linux. Thankfully, Linux is very similar to UNIX. Then we had to go about the business of learning how to manage a web server. There were things such as Apache for managing web hosting, Qmail for email services, spam and virus software, reporting software, backup, etc., etc. It's a pretty big job to keep the servers up-to-date, and manage thousands and thousands of email, and presenting your websites to the entire world 24/7.

Over the years we had to keep up with new software releases. We also had to learn to protect our servers from hacking and DDos attacks. Eventually one server wasn't enough, and we maintained three of them. Hardware had to be updated over the years, and the servers themselves were completely replaced with new models multiple times. Over the years, though, our mainstay named servers: ns.rossini.com, and ns2.rossini.com have been faithfully serving up webpages for a long time.

Eventually the cost of hosting at server farms became more than we were willing to pay, so, we moved the servers into our home office. That meant being responsible for the backups, and for the power being on, and managing all of the server software. Since our area is notorious for losing power at the drop of a hat, Joe put together a backup system that included a bank of batteries in our basement to take over if the electricity goes out, and a gas electric generator if the power was out longer than the batteries could hold out. For about 4 years we have had high-speed wireless Internet access directed to a dish antenna on the top of our house with four IP addresses, a high-speed switch, and wireless router for the office.

At times they were our best asset. Particularly in the beginning there were very few companies offering web hosting. We were able to assure our customers that their website and email were being hosted on a business-only, secure server. At other times, they were an anchor, particularly when you're up at 2:00 a.m. after a vicious thunderstorm, doing a graceful shutdown from the console, and Joe is out in the rain, starting the generator, or, you're halfway between Kansas City and St. Louis and a customer calls and says "I can't get my email."

As the Internet matured, other companies started virtual hosting services, or "cloud" hosting. We've had our eyes on it for awhile. At first it was not completely reliable, and still didn't offer the options and control that we needed. But finally, cloud computing matured, and today, it is reasonably priced, reliable, and offers all of the options that we need. We've been working for a year moving all of our clients with their web pages, applications, online forms, email, etc. over to cloud hosting. Finally, today, the only domain left on the servers is rossini.com. Today after 5:00 p.m., we're turning them off.

So, goodbye old friends. They have been a constant presence for 15 years. But, everything has it's time. Time to pop the cork.

No Safe Surfing With IE For Now

A critical vulnerability with IE has occurred, and at this time we do not recommend using IE, versions 6 thru 9, for browsing, and there is no current patch. Read about the advisory here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/security/advisory/2757760

The following article, from Windows Secrets discusses the details:

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If you use IE, don’t — at least not for now

By Susan Bradley on September 19, 2012 in Patch Watch

A serious vulnerability in Internet Explorer 6 through 9 has come to light, and there’s no patch at this time.

If you must use Internet Explorer for specific applications, use another browser as much as possible and remove or disable Java.

Yet another zero-day exploit targets IE

Microsoft Security Advisory 2757760, dated Sept. 17, warns of a newly disclosed IE vulnerability that could allow remote-code execution — which means an attacker could take over a targeted PC with the same rights as the current user. (This type of threat is why we recommend setting up a non-admin account on the PC you use most of the time.)
According to the advisory, Internet Explorer 10 (included with Windows 8) is not threatened. But that caveat is irrelevant because few Windows users are running Win8 for any purpose other than testing the new OS.
What to do: Here, in a nutshell, are your options:
1) Use another browser. Until Microsoft releases a patch for this new threat, simply do all your Web browsing with Firefox or Chrome — and make sure they’re fully updated.
2) Remove Java. If you must use IE, ensure that Java is fully disabled or not installed. I discussed this in my Sept. 6 Patch Watch column.
3) Use the Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit. If you can’t operate without IE and Java, Microsoft’s EMET software can help. A RationallyPARANOID blog has a helpful how-to guide for installing EMET. Brian Krebs also has an excellent post on using the toolkit to protect IE.
Look for more on EMET — what it is and how it protects you — in next week’s regularly scheduled Patch Watch. And if Microsoft releases an out-of-cycle IE update before then, I’ll let you know. In the meantime, keep an eye out for a soon-to-be-released Microsoft fixit for Internet Explorer; it should provide protection until a patch is ready. I’ll post an update in the Lounge when it’s released.

Update Friday

Friday is the day when I usually do website updates for my customers. I do have a fair amount of them to do today, as usual.

But, I set aside some time this morning when I first opened my laptop for some delayed, and much needed, updates for my own PC. There have been some nasty PC bugs flying around lately. Seems they come as fast and as often, and are as annoying, as the flies we have in the garage around the pears we picked the other day.

However, housekeeping is something we all must do if we want to keep our data safe and private. So, this morning I updated all sorts of things: my mal-ware software, an update that AVG has been griping about, a new update for Thunderbird, along with a Java update, Framemaker update, Flash update, and Adobe Reader update.

Pretty much all of that is security updates, and it is a necessary side note to being safe on the Internet these days. For many of you just having a browser installed (Firefox, Explorer, Chrome, etc.) is enough to spark an update of add on applications like Java and Flash. And, if you have not updated these items and have been holding out, like I have for a week or so, you really need to take the time and update these applications.

Not sure what to do? Well, if that's the case, then use your browser as a guide and a tool for add-on applications. In your browser, check for add-on updates through the menu in your browser. In Firefox, go to Tools, then Add-ons. Explorer: Tools, then Manage Add-ons. This way you can safely check to see if helper applications like Java or Flash needs to be updated. And, of course, as always, keep your virus protection software up to date!

So (yawn!) three "restart now to install your changes" and one good hot cup of coffee down the hatch, and I was good to go this morning!

"Beauty and the Beast"

For now I still digress into somewhat personal blog entries. I figure, it's still nice, even on a "technical" blog to let people get to know us.

Right now my niece is visiting for the summer. Those who know us are aware of our two, 1 ton each, Percheron horses. Our Tess is 26 years old this year. She is a large black Percheron mare. And, yes, she really weighs 2000 pounds. Our latest acquisition, Nimmy, is a rescue when he was abandoned at a local boarding stable. We've had him for 3 years now, and he actually weighs in at an estimated 1,800 pounds. So, we exaggerate a little at the 2 tons - obviously we're about 200 pounds short. Nim is 10 years old this year, and we've had him for 3 years now - he is black with a star on his forehead.

But, my summer tale involves my niece, and her relationship with the horses. We started introducing her to the horses when she was 4 1/2 years old, and we taught her safety around horses, and to respect their power. We put her in a saddle on Tess when she was 5 1/2 years old, and she was a tiny speck on the massive shoulders of our mare, and completely unafraid. She is now almost 10 years old, and she is quite the seasoned horse person, having been around horses for half of her life now.

Once we got Nimmy, she fell in love with him, and he fell in love with her. When she arrives at our house, the first thing she does is jump out of the car and run to the fence crying "Nimmy! Nimmy! Come here boy!" And, it never fails: When Nimmy hears her voice, he comes immediately, no matter how long she has been away, and no matter where he is in the pasture.

The other day we came home after shopping, and we saw that Tess was at the fence, but we could not see Nimmy. My niece said "I'll get him." So, she hops out of the car and runs up to the fence, again crying "Nimmy! Nimmy! Come here boy!" A few seconds later, our massive boy comes galloping to the fence, mane flying, nostrils flaring, large hooves churning up the dust. Once he neared the fence, he came to a sliding stop (well, at least as much of a sliding stop as a Percheron can manage), and with complete precision ended up a mere foot away from our niece, with her completely unflinching, waiting for him. With this drought our pasture is dry, and the dust billowed up around them and almost hid our niece from view. Then the billows cleared, and revealed the tiny speck of a girl caressing the large muzzle of the massive "beast." Truly an example of "Beauty and the Beast" if I ever saw one.

Yes, yes, yes. I have said I would turn over a new leaf and start blogging. Well, hopefully this time I can keep it up.

It is SO hot here in Kansas right now that you don't feel like even sticking your nose out the door to find out how hot it REALLY is out there. So, from the comfort of my basement office, I can sit in the coolness and do my thing.

I was taken back to an earlier time this morning after viewing some clothes online from a store that I use. See? It's too hot even to go try on clothes! Thank goodness I know my size and can order without getting hot. Anyway, there was a pant design on there that instantly transported me back to an earlier era. The pants had a base color with HUGE flowers on them. The era was ......... (text removed to protect the innocent) ............ and I had this pair of bell bottom pants that were bright blue with huge daisies on them. There wasn't much room for anything else, and they were so bold and bright, and I remember going to the park with them once and playing with a frisbee on the grass with bare feet. What a nice memory .... except for those pants!

Thank goodness I can order something else, like a nice, respectable, pair of dark navy pants, and leave the flower pants to the kids.

Lol.

When you are browsing the web, keep a lookout for the LizaMoon malware. There is an increasing number of links on the Internet that have been hijacked by this malware. Typically, while browsing, all of a sudden a very official looking alert window will open and inform you that it is going to scan your PC. If you follow through, malware gets installed on your PC.

If a window pops up wanting to scan your PC, even if it looks like a legitimate Windows alert (this can be faked), don't run it. Stop the process by clicking the red X on the alert window, or, close your browser. Use Windows task manager if that doesn't work to end it. Then, run a full virus scan of your PC with your virus protection software.

Don't ever run or install virus protection software that presents itself to you while browsing. ONLY use the software you have on your PC to run scans.

Long Time, No Blog

Yes, I know it's been awhile since I have blogged, but I am turning over a new leaf today.

I received an email this morning that was structured so that it appears to be from the U.S. Social Security Administration. It was structured to imply that if you are having financial or credit woes that you can apply for a new SSN.

DON'T BE FOOLED BY THIS EMAIL, and don't click on any of the links. Above all, don't reply to any web based or email inquiry unless you have initiated the contact and you are absolutely sure that you have reached the website you intended, and never give out your SSN to an unsolicited email.

If anyone has questions, please let me know.

We've come a long way.....baby!

I came across this web site link from one of my on-line newsletters:

http://www.archive.org/web/web.php

The site is called "The Wayback Machine," and they have archived websites as far back as 1999. It is very interesting to browse web pages that were used during the time frame where we were all getting used to our on-line world. We really have come a long, long way.

When we first started creating web sites at Rossini.com, the browsers didn't support any image formats except .gif. We only created images with 256 colors to make sure we were compatible with all types of computer equipment, and our target monitor was 640 x 480 resolution. If you think about those parameters, you can see how far we have come.

On the website, you can type in a domain, and the Wayback Machine will offer links for the website as far back as possible. I enjoyed looking at sites, ours included, going back to 1999. Give it a try; it really is an eye opener.

They also offer collections of archival sites, such as National archives, weather related sites, 2000 Election sites, September 11 archives, etc.

And all this time I thought it was just anoying!

For someone who has been dinged, popped, and trumpeted, over and over, by our favorite operating system since the days of Windows 3.1 (yes, I was there), and treated to the sight of the dreaded "blue screen," I was really amused by music I found that was created with Windows sounds. The video lasts about 2 minutes, and the music was created with sounds from Windows XP and 98. Who knew it was more than just an aggravation? Apparently, I have missed the mark, and should have been composing instead of cursing all of these years!

Here's the link to the video:
http://www.flixxy.com/windows-music.htm

Enjoy it!!

It's 12:00 a.m. Do you know where your domains are?

Do you know where your domains are registered? Every domain is registered with a company that keeps track of domain ownership. This is a very important fact that anyone who owns a domain should know.

The registrars keep track of the owner of the domain, the name, address, and email, and also a set of designated contacts named Administrative and Technical. Usually, any information regarding the domain, such as when it's time to renew the domain, goes to the Administrative Contact, and the Technical Contact. Also, the Technical Contact can access the account and change settings, such as the information that points to the server where the domain is located.

Why is this important? It is the main, and sometimes only, way the registrars communicate with the owners of a domain. For instance, when a domain needs to be renewed (domains have to be renewed every year, unless you purchase multiple years), an email alert will be sent to the contacts on record. If the email information isn't correct, then you won't know that the domain needs to be renewed. Then when the expiration date comes, the domain will be suspended until someone contacts the registrar, and after a grace period, the domain goes back out on the Internet to be purchased by someone else.

If you have changed any of your contact information, email, address, etc. it's important to login to your domain account and keep that updated. We have worked with many people who don't know where their domain is registered. If you fit into that category, then I highly recommend finding out where your domain is registered, and make sure you have access. If you should need to make a change, such as moving your domain to a new service, and you don't know the registrar information, then you may have to go through a lengthy process to retrieve that information.

If you don't know where to start, we can assist you in finding your registrar, and retrieving your user name and password. Then, keep up with the documentation, and keep your information current.

Protecting Your Data

We all have safety measures to protect the things we treasure. We protect our credit card and bank account information, we have keys to our cars, keys to our house, and we protect other account information by shredding information we don't want other people to view or use.

But, do you also take care to protect your online information? When we think about having information taken online thoughts usually go toward making purchases online. While it's important to stay sharp and protect your information while shopping, do you take as much care with the rest of your online information?

Today, being online means we all have at least one email account, possibly more. Most of us also have domain names we have purchased. Some of us probably are responsible for updating websites as well through some type of CMS interface. All of these services require user names and passwords for access. How strict you are about defining passwords will in large part determine how safe your data really is.

If your email address is part of the access code, i.e. your user name, then anyone online looking to get your information already has 1/2 of the access code. Your name is Bob, and your email is bob@hotmail.com, and your dog's name is spot - that's probably the password. If so, then the person is in your application, and there's nothing to stop it, except the password that's too easy to guess.

In the recent past, most of you received passwords from system managers, like me, and we really are bad about assigning passwords that are hard to remember. But, we know how important it is to safeguard this information. Today, there are so many areas where people can sign up for services, and the password, along with the security, is up to you when you define your password. If you have not been been diligent about defining good passwords, then now at the beginning of the year is a good time to start.

What makes a good password? Basically, something random that is hard to guess. Yes, you have to remember it, but it will keep your information safe. For starters, a good password should be 8 characters in length. Preferably, it should contain numbers and alpha characters. Ideally, it should be completely random, and not something like brenda33, although that's better than Spot! :)

This small, but important safeguard could save you some big headaches later. Imaging having someone hack into your web registry and point your domain to another site, or get a copy of all of your email? All of these services should have a good password to protect them.

The saying is really true: better safe now than sorry later.

Beware Domain Search

We have encountered problems where customers have used some popular domain search tools, even at one of the registries, only to find the domain is "seized," and the only place you can buy it is where you did the search. This may not seem like a problem at first blush, but consider the situation where you may not be ready to actually purchase the domain. We found that the domain, while in the possession of the registry, was also up for grabs - that is, anyone who knows about the domain or who may be watching could just buy the domain out from under you.

No reputable registry will do this to you. So, who can you trust? If you are considering a new domain and want to try out a few combinations, in other words, search to see if the domain has been registered yet, please contact us. We are experienced with domain searches, and we can make sure that the domain you want is sold to you -- and only to you.

From My Little Corner of the World

As I am sitting here this morning at my desk in our office, out in the middle (or the edge, actually) of Kansas, I have communicated with a wide array of people. From this location, I talked someone across town through making some changes on his web page, and he will be showing his new on-line catalogs to people all over the world. Joe is taking an on-line course that he started last week, and he is communicating with the instructor. I have web site updates from customers, some here in our area, and some clear across the U.S. on the East Coast. I had several technical newsletters in my email this morning, along with alerts for the latest PC threats from the Internet. One of my favorite places to buy plug-ins for Adobe Photoshop sent me an email newsletter; I think I'm going to buy the Color Toolbox. In all, I had 8 newsletters in my email this morning, and I subscribe to all of them. And, yes, I received some spam, but since I keep my spam filter updated, most of them went quietly to bit heaven without bothering me. I have been in touch with one of my programmers who I have not actually seen in person for over a year - but we talk all of the time through email, and he works on the projects that I give him, and we share files through our server. I have purchased two domains from GoDaddy. That's just in the last three hours.

The Internet has become part of our everyday lives for most of us today. But, sometimes we fail to appreciate just what we have at our finger tips when we sit down on our PC's and connect. I don't know of any other method of communication that has come along in the last 20 years or so that has had such an impact on our lives. There is so much potential available to a small business today, if you just take advantage of the number of people you can potentially contact just by putting a site on the Internet, and inviting people to visit, or sending out a newsletter.

If you are a small business owner and have not yet published a web site, contact us, and let us get you started, and you can communicate from your corner of the world, too.

Start Of A New Year

Here at Rossini.com we are getting started on plans for 2008. We had a great holiday with my family, except our Accord bit the dust while we were in Alabama. It was bad enough that we actually bought a new vehicle. So, as we start the new year, we also have a new car, a 2006 Honda Element we christened "Pronto," since we had to make a decision so fast.

Anyway, some of our plans for the new year include a redesign of our website, the ability to purchase Rossini.com T-Shirts from our site, and reorganizing our office. The office really needs it, too.

Here's a tip for those of you who use FireFox: Did you know it has the capability to do tabbed browsing? If you have not tried it already, when you want to go to a new website instead of typing the URL at the top, go to the drop-down menu "File," and select "New Tab."

Instead of replacing the page you have been viewing, FireFox will put tabs above the viewing window and you can then visit another URL while leaving the other site in the browser, and then you can go back and forth between the two by clicking on the tabs. You can create as many tabs as needed within a browser session.

I like the tabbed browsing. It helps sometimes if you need to use information from more than one website, or if you need to compare information from two sites. Give it a try!