Using Anycast allows higher performance, decreased latency, and scaling across multiple locations, better meeting our customers’ needs.

Anycast Nameservers

Our new nameservers, which are Anycast-enabled are as follows:

• ns1.greengeeks.net [75.2.69.7]
• ns2.greengeeks.net [99.83.188.187]

Legacy DNS Shutdown

On September 30th, GreenGeeks will shut down our legacy DNS infrastructure and will make default the Anycast-enabled nameservers.

The legacy nameservers, with the IP addresses listed below, will no longer respond after September 30th:

• chi-ns1 [99.198.112.83]
• chi-ns2 [69.175.59.162]
• ams-ns1 [107.6.141.186]
• sgp-ns1 [103.3.62.28]

GreenGeeks has already re-directed the legacy nameserver aliases to the Anycast DNS cluster and automatically adjusted domains registered through the GreenGeeks registrar to the Anycast NS.

Domains registered through third-party domain registrars need to be updated manually.

Although the legacy nameserver aliases will continue to work after the nameserver shutdown, GreenGeeks strongly recommends updating all nameservers to the Anycast DNS to avoid mismatches between the backend nameservers & the domain registrar.

Private Vanity Nameservers

For users with private vanity nameservers under non-GreenGeeks domains, you’ll need to adjust the IP address assigned to each nameserver to match those provided below:

• ns1.domain.com [75.2.69.7]
• ns2.domain.com [99.83.188.187]

Private vanity nameserver adjustment is a two-step process involving registering the IP address for each nameserver with the domain registrar and updating the corresponding A record within the GreenGeeks DNS zone. For more info about private nameservers, refer to our support article on Setting up Private Nameservers

The post Legacy DNS: End of Life appeared first on GreenGeeks Blog.

This year, our team members Ericka Barboza and Marco Berrocal will be attending in person. So, feel free to stop by and say hello as they love interacting with WordCamp folk.

What Will You Find at WordCamp US 2023?

Not only is this year’s WordCamp US at an incredible location – the Gaylord is just phenomenal – you can also be a part of quite a few talks and gatherings. For example, on the 24th, the contributor day is open for everyone.

There are a lot of great talks at this year’s WordCamp US. Some of the ones that stand out most to me include:

• For All Userkind: NASA Web Modernization and WordPress – Abby Bowman and J.J. Toothman talk about how NASA’s web modernization efforts include WordPress and the challenges they face revamping its websites and adding its first on-demand streaming service.
• Tell the Story You Want To Tell – In this talk, you’ll hear the story of how Ken Liu, an award-winning writer, lost faith in storytelling and how he rediscovered the meaning of narratives in day-to-day life.
• Modern WordPress Development – While this talk might be a bit more advanced in comparison to beginner tracks, Gary McPherson will go over some of the more profound components that you can integrate into the WordPress development experience.
• Learn WordPress: A resource for you and your community – Presented by Courtney Patubo Kranzke, the Learn WordPress element is a resource for those who want to understand more of what the content management system can do and what you can do to contribute. This is a great talk for beginners!
• Gutenberg: Next – WordPress Co-founder and CEO of Automattic, Matt Mullenweg, will discuss the improvements delivered in 2023 and the plans going forward for WordPress. This will also include a live Q&A at the end, so bring your questions!

Personally, I’m highly interested in learning more about what NASA is building and how it’ll incorporate video-on-demand. Then again, I’m a bit of a geek when it comes to anything space and science related.

Plus, being able to toss questions at Matt Mullenweg would be fun. Especially after the most recent updates in WordPress 6.3 that are a bit questionable, such as the ability to add links to Gutenberg. It now takes extra steps just to set it to open in a new window.

Anyway, from the talks available, it’s sure to be a great weekend for those joining.

Interesting Facts About National Harbor, MD

The Gaylord Convention Center is located along the Potomac River just south of Washington DC. As such, it’s surrounded by some amazing attractions and a lot of US history.

One of the features in the area is the Capital Wheel, a 165-foot Ferris wheel with an amazing view of the most prolific national monuments in the country.

A few other things to keep in mind include:

1. The “American Way” is a 3,000-foot promenade running through the center of National Harbor that was designed to page homage to the American experience.
2. There are more than 150 stores in National Harbor, not including the Gaylord. So, make sure you bring some money along to enjoy as much of what the area can provide.
3. If you’re interested in watching some games or other popular programming, there is an 18 by 32-foot Jumbotron in National Harbor. Can you imagine playing the Xbox or Playstation on something that massive?

Hope to See You at WordCamp US in National Harbor!

As you’re visiting WordCamp US, don’t forget to stop by and say “hi” to Marco and Ericka, who will be attending on our behalf. Although the Gaylord is relatively large, they should be fairly easy to find.

I’d like to finish by thanking all of the organizers, speakers, volunteers, attendees, and sponsors who put in the time and effort to make WordCamp US something amazing. Between the locale and the talks, it’s definitely one that I wish I could attend myself.

Have a great weekend and enjoy everything National Harbor and WordCamp US have to offer.

The post WordCamp US – National Harbor, MD 2023 appeared first on GreenGeeks Blog.

The new Anycast DNS platform promises faster page load times and improved reliability for websites hosted on the GreenGeeks network. 

What is Anycast DNS?

At its core, the Anycast DNS is a more efficient method of routing DNS requests.

Instead of directing requests to a random nameserver like traditional DNS, Anycast DNS routes requests to the closest server geographically, reducing latency and helping to ensure website availability during a partial outage.  

How is Anycast DNS different from traditional DNS?

With traditional DNS, all requests to a single IP address get directed to the same physical backend server. 

In contrast, on the Anycast DNS platform, multiple servers are distributed globally and configured under the same IP address.

When the DNS queries are received, Anycast can route the request to the nearest server in the network. These qualities make Anycast DNS particularly useful for websites or services with a global audience, as it allows for faster and more efficient DNS resolution.

In addition, anycast DNS can provide increased resiliency and redundancy, as queries can be routed to a different server if one server goes offline.

Improvement in the Numbers

We’ve compared the response times of our new Anycast DNS with our Legacy DNS across various cities around the world, and we’re excited to share the results with you.

Benefits of GreenGeeks Anycast DNS:

Faster Page Loads

With Anycast DNS, your website will load faster than ever!

Multiple DNS servers distributed globally mean reduced response times for all queries, reducing the load time. 

Enhanced Reliability

Anycast DNS improves the overall reliability of your website.

If one DNS server goes down or becomes unavailable, traffic gets automatically routed to another available server. 

That redundancy means your website will remain online during a partial network outage. 

Improved Scalability

Since Anycast’s capacity is not limited to a single backend server, it can handle higher traffic levels without slowing down or becoming overloaded.

These benefits make Anycast DNS a dependable option for eCommerce sites or popular blogs.

Better Protection against DDoS Attacks

Finally, Anycast DNS can help protect your website against distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. 

By spreading traffic across multiple servers, Anycast DNS can reduce the impact of an attack if one server becomes overwhelmed with malicious traffic.

What do I have to do to take advantage of Anycast DNS?

There are two simple steps to converting an existing domain on the GreenGeeks traditional DNS to the Anycast-based DNS platform:

First, you need to update the nameservers for your domain with the domain registrar to the GreenGeeks Anycast nameservers.

• ns1.greengeeks.net
• ns2.greengeeks.net

Second; after updating the nameservers with the domain registrar, the backend DNS zone needs to be updated to set  the correct NS & SOA records in order to take full advantage of the Anycast DNS platform.

For users without custom DNS records(meaning records that you’ve manually added), you can reset the DNS Zone from the  from the cPanel(or WHM)  using the DNS Zone Manager.   Resetting the DNS zone will rebuild the DNS zone using the default values, including the NS & SOA records.

If you have custom DNS records that need to be retained, or need to update a number of domains, submit a  Support Ticket Request and the GreenGeeks’ Support Team will be glad to assist you with updating the backend DNS zone’s NS & SOA records to match the new nameservers. 

Are existing customers being forced to switch to Anycast DNS?

Although GreenGeeks recommends switching existing domains over the GreenGeeks Anycast DNS cluster, it is not required, and you can continue to use the Legacy DNS cluster.

Can I create my own Private Nameservers for the GreenGeeks Anycast DNS platform?

You can configure Private Nameservers under your domain that refers to the GreenGeeks Anycast DNS cluster and provide all the same benefits.

For more information refer to our support article on Setting up Private Nameservers.

The post New Global Anycast DNS Service from GreenGeeks appeared first on GreenGeeks Blog.

It just means you’ll no longer be able to manage your Cloudflare integrations within the GreenGeeks cPanel dashboard, or any other cPanel host, for that matter.

This doesn’t mean your websites will stop working on the popular CDN. It merely means you’ll no longer be able to add, manage, or configure the domains on Cloudflare directly from your cPanel.

To help ease the transition process, we’ve outlined what you need to know and how this may impact your GreenGeeks website.

Customers with Existing Cloudflare Configurations

There will be no impact on existing Cloudflare configurations. The records that are currently configured to point to Cloudflare will continue to resolve as normal.

This means you won’t need to make any adjustments to the configurations you already have in place.

To make modifications to a domain previously configured with Cloudflare through GreenGeeks, you’ll need to access the Cloudflare Dashboard.

Customers Without Previous Cloudflare Configuration

As the feature has been deprecated, you’ll no longer be able to configure new domains for Cloudflare through your GreenGeeks cPanel.

This means you’ll need to log directly into the Cloudflare Dashboard to configure and manage your domains.

For additional information on how this change may impact your sites, please refer to our Support article outlining the Cloudflare deprecation.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

In a Nutshell…

Even though the API integration for Cloudflare has been deprecated from the cPanel, you’ll still be able to manage your domains through Cloudflare’s dashboard. Any domains that were added prior to this change will still be active on Cloudflare.

The bottom line is that the function has simply been removed from cPanel.

The post Cloudflare Integration Deprecation – What it Means for GreenGeeks appeared first on GreenGeeks Blog.

Although the inclusion of our Amsterdam data center has been helpful for our Asian customers, we felt having web hosting closer could be of great benefit to them. In other words, there are fewer hops for visitors to access those pages. The end result is a streamlined experience when viewing content centered near the south-Asian regions.

Customers will enjoy all of the same services and features they do in our other data centers, such as Shared Hosting, WordPress Hosting, Reseller Hosting & VPS Hosting, along with domain name registration and other add-on services we offer as part of our web hosting platform.

Some of the benefits to Asia-Pacific customers:

• Faster Local Page Loads
  Visitors accessing your content from the Asia-Pacific region will have fewer hops, which means your sites will load faster for your visitors within the region. This directly impacts the visitor experience which has many benefits such as improved rankings and conversions.
  
• Maintenance During Non-Peak Hours
  The data center will be maintained during non-peak hours according to Singapore Standard Time (SST), which is UTC+8:00. This provides fewer interruptions as opposed to severs in other time zones.
  
• Improved SEO Rankings
  Searches for local content will improve due to geographic location. For those operating businesses in the area, this can boost visibility in search engines.
  
• Best Green Web Hosting Around
  In addition to following SS-564 Part 1: 2013 SG Standards for Green Data Centers, our commitment to renewable energy still applies in that 300% of the power used to host your website is fed back into the grid from renewable sources. We will also plant a tree for every hosting account provisioned.

Ready to Migrate to Singapore?

If you have web hosting through GreenGeeks and are looking to move your service to our Singapore data center, make sure you open a support ticket from inside of the account manager requesting migration options. There is so much to gain, especially if you’re focusing your content on local consumers.

The post GreenGeeks launches new data center location in Singapore appeared first on GreenGeeks Blog.

This database server upgrade is necessary to ensure the continued stability and security of the GreenGeeks network and your hosting account.

What will the upgrade process entail?

The MariaDB upgrade process will upgrade all instances of MariaDB on our network from version 10.3 to 10.5.

This update includes required security updates and releases necessary for the security and stability of databases.

How long will the upgrade process take?

We expect the software upgrade to be no more than 20 minutes per server.

During the upgrade period, the MariaDB/MySQL server will be inaccessible to ensure the continuity of the data.

Since the upgrade is at the server level, there won’t be any alternations to your existing databases or the data contained within.

When will the upgrade be complete?

All servers are scheduled to be upgraded by December 26, 2022.

Are there any significant changes from MariaDB 10.3 to 10.5?

MariaDB 10.5 includes some significant enhancements, including the addition of the ColumnStore storage engine and upgrades to overall InnoDB performance.

The majority of these changes are at the back-end server level and will not impact end-user websites.

More information on the new features, along with other changes and improvements, for MariaDB 10.5 can be on the MariaDB website.

MariaDB 10.4 Changes
MariaDB 10.5 Changes

How do I check the MySQL/MariaDB version?

To see the current MySQL/MariaDB version, access the Server Information page under the General Information section of your GreenGeeks cPanel.

The version information will be displayed next to the line for MySQL Version.

Can I opt out of this upgrade or request a specific MariaDB version?

Unfortunately not; unlike PHP versions, the MariaDB/MySQL version is a globally shared resource at the server level, and we cannot run different versions for each hosting account.

If you require a specific MariaDB or MySQL version for your websites, we invite you to consider the GreenGeeks Managed VPS platform. With a GreenGeeks Managed VPS, you have full administrative access to control your server to suit your needs, including custom MariaDB/MySQL versions and other software options otherwise unavailable in a shared environment.

Our Support team can assist with any questions about upgrading to a Managed VPS.

The post MariaDB Upgrade – What You Need To Know appeared first on GreenGeeks Blog.

The Problem

Like most other shared hosting providers, GreenGeeks has offered email forwarders within cPanel. This lets customers automatically forward email from one address to another.

Oftentimes, forwarders are created to forward email to external providers, such as Gmail. This would allow users to collect all of their messages in one location. But that’s not where the problem lies.

This labels GreenGeeks as the server sending spam and inadvertently causes our IP addresses to get blacklisted. In turn, this causes normal mail to be rejected by other providers and damages our overall network reputation.

If you’ve ever had an email or IP address blacklisted, it can cause all kinds of trouble. Especially from a professional or business standpoint.

It can result in your email interactions coming to a screeching halt.

The Solution

GreenGeeks is always trying to improve the service we provide to our customers. As the world’s #1 Green hosting provider, our goal is to not only be the best but provide the best service we possibly can.

Sometimes, this requires us to “go against the grain” in our approach to reach this goal.

To help stop forwarded spam from causing more problems with mail delivery, GreenGeeks will soon begin blocking the ability to add new forwarders to known free providers.

This includes, but is not limited to, Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook.

How You Can Help Improve Your GreenGeeks Email Experience (And still get your emails)

Thankfully, there is an easy solution to this, and that’s to set your Gmail, Yahoo, or Outlook account to connect directly to your GreenGeeks email account and transfer the emails via a POP3 or IMAP connection.

This stops any spam you may receive from being forwarded and damaging your IP reputation, while still allowing your emails to be sent to another account.

Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook all provide easy methods to connect your account(s). Customers who wish to keep a copy of the original message on the server when forwarding can still continue to do so if configured properly.

Essentially, this provides the same functionality as a standard email forwarder. Only in this case, it’s done from your Gmail, Yahoo, or Outlook accounts.

Conclusion

cPanel email forwarders are not a suitable solution for forwarding mail to an external email account on another server. While this appears to be a quick and simple solution up front, this can lead to severe consequences for your mail reputation and overall email deliverability. 

Customers who require assistance with configuring their GreenGeeks email with another provider are encouraged to open a Support ticket via their GreenGeeks dashboard.

Our friendly staff is available 24/7 to assist you with making the necessary changes.

The post External Email Forwarders: The End of an Era appeared first on GreenGeeks Blog.

If you have further questions, feel free to contact us.

How does this affect my GreenGeeks service?

Once deprecated, you will no longer be able to access the Horde Webmail Client in cPanel, or direct Webmail login.

Why is Horde Webmail being deprecated?

The Horde Webmail client is scheduled for deprecation because it is no longer under active development. This means the developers are no longer offering updates to meet future needs.

There have been no STABLE releases of Horde for more than five years. As the software depends on PHP 7.4, which will reach its End of Life in November, there are no guarantees Horde will be either functional or safe for the foreseeable future.

Why is it dangerous to use End of Life version of PHP?

Each release branch of PHP gets support for two years from its initial stable release. During that period, bugs and security issues are fixed and released in regular point releases.

Once a branch reaches the End of Life, no further support is provided, This includes updates for critical security issues.

Thus using an End of Life PHP means there may be known bugs at the PHP level that will never be fixed and may leave your site vulnerable.

What will happen to the data I have in Horde webmail?

Once deprecated, all data currently in Horde, such as contact lists or calendars, will be automatically converted and imported into the Roundcube Webmail client.

This is automatic, so, no action is necessary on your part.

How do I export the data I have in Horde before deprecation?

Although any Horde data will be converted to Roundcube format automatically, GreenGeeks strongly recommends creating individual data exports for anything important.

From inside the Horde Webmail, you can export any email, contacts, or calendar data for import into Outlook, Roundcube, or another local mail client.

Where can I find more information about the Horde Webmail deprecation?

For more information, please refer to cPanel’s article about the Horde deprecation.

The post Horde Email Deprecation: What You Need To Know appeared first on GreenGeeks Blog.

How does this affect my existing VPS?

Existing VPS plans will not be affected by this change. Only newly deployed containers will utilize AlmaLinux 8.

All existing CentOS 7 containers will reach End of Life on June 30, 2024, after which they will receive no further security updates.

What’s the difference between AlmaLinux and CentOS?

AlmaLinux is a variant of Red Hat Linux maintained by the CloudLinux team as a replacement for CentOS 8.

The CloudLinux team created AlmaLinux when the release model for CentOS 8 unexpectedly changed to a rolling release, and the CentOS team announced they would no longer be maintaining CentOS 8.

The released AlmaLinux distribution has minimal differences from CentOS and fully supports cPanel.

What improvements can I expect with AlmaLinux?

• Newer Linux Kernel version
• Updated application package versions
• Improved networking stack
• Overhaul of the package management system (yum vs dnf)

What PHP Versions are available with AlmaLinux?

AlmaLinux provides the following PHP versions:

• PHP 7.2
• PHP 7.3
• PHP 7.4
• PHP 8.0
• PHP 8.1

Versions below PHP 7.2 are NOT available on AlmaLinux 8-based VPS; these PHP versions are still available on CentOS 7.

How do I upgrade to AlmaLinux on my existing CentOS VPS?

Unfortunately, an in-place upgrade is not possible on your CentOS 7 VPS. Existing CentOS 7 containers will continue to receive security updates until June 30, 2024.

If you wish to upgrade to AlmaLinux, purchase a new VPS and submit a Migration Request within your GreenGeeks Dashboard. The GreenGeeks Support Team will copy over your existing cPanel accounts and any related settings free of charge.

The post GreenGeeks July 2022 VPS Platform Update appeared first on GreenGeeks Blog.

WordPress Management

Customers will now be able to manage their WordPress installations from right within the GreenGeeks Dashboard. You can access the new tools by logging into your GreenGeeks Dashboard > Hosting Tab (on left navigation) > Manage (on respective hosting account).

WordPress Install & Manage

We’ve taken the guesswork out of installing WordPress by streamlining the installation process. Simply use the optimized for WordPress step-by-step user interface to quickly install WordPress within seconds.

New tools have been added to manage your WordPress installations. You will be able to reset the admin password, and disable all plugins in case you are locked out from a bad plugin install/update, without having to log into WP-Admin.

You’ll also be able to see and manage all of your WordPress installations from one area.

WordPress Staging

We’ve also re-introduced our one-click WordPress staging. With just a few clicks, set up a staging environment to test your ideas without disrupting your live website and effortlessly push the changes to your live WordPress website when you’re done updating and testing.

WordPress Update Settings

Easily manage your auto-update settings from the dashboard. 

Developer Tools & more.

We’ve introduced a new section that will allow you to manage Cron Jobs, SSH access and Git right from within the dashboard, without the need to go into cPanel. In addition to these new additions, we’ve added Security and Statistics capabilities accessible from the dashboard. 

Incident Notifications

We have integrated our incident notification system into the GreenGeeks dashboard. If there is ever an issue with your service, a notification will be visible at the top of your dashboard, this will also allow you to be updated regularly on its status without the need to speak with support.

The post GreenGeeks Dashboard Update: WordPress, Developer Tools and more. appeared first on GreenGeeks Blog.