Archive for category Network Info
InfoWest tops NetIndex Local Speed Ratings
Posted by randy in General, Hall of Fame, Network Info, wireless on August 2, 2010
InfoWest came out on top with the fastest downloads and uploads in the area according to NetIndex. Using data from the popular SpeedTest.net service, NetIndex compiles results based on geographic region and ISP.
You can see the most recent download results for St. George at http://www.netindex.com/download/4,1996/Saint-George/
Even more impressive are the upload results: http://www.netindex.com/upload/4,1996/Saint-George,-UT/
E-Mail Server Upgrades
Posted by Cassidy in Email and Spam, Network Info on March 3, 2010
Today, we’re happy to announce that we’ve just turned up our latest batch of upgrades on our Mail Server Cluster.
As of now, all of the InfoWest inbound and outbound email requests are served by four separate servers. These servers are similar to that which we’ve turned up in the past (DNS, Webmail, etc), in which they’re behind a Load Balancer. If one machine were to die, need maintenance, or become unresponsive, the Load Balancer will automatically pull it out of the queue and requests will be directed towards the other three. Once it is operational again, our Load Balancer will run a few tests for a few minutes and determine if it’s ready to be dropped back into the queue with the others. This also means splitting the load amongst four gives our clients faster email access and response times. You may notice a significant increase in speed when searching your IMAP folders in your email client or via our Webmail.
Sending email through our mail servers, as well as checking via POP3/IMAP means you’re automatically benefiting from the additional redundancy of our front-end load balanced cluster. We’ve deployed two of these servers at our Dixie Drive Data facility, and the other two in our racks at the Tonaquint Datacenter. Should one site go offline, your email will still flow and be reachable.
We’ve also recently deployed redundant load balancer cards in our diversely located Cisco 6500 switches. In the event one of the Load Balancer cards needs maintenance or becomes unresponsive, the other will take over immediately for all requests. Zero downtime is the goal.
Finally, with the above upgrades, we’ve enabled ManageSieve access for all of our email accounts. We imagine 99.5% of our users won’t be using this advanced feature, but for some it’ll be a neat way to create some filters and vacation messages on your own which are stored in your mailbox.
One way to access the filters is through our Roundcube Webmail program. In Roundcube you’ll now find a “Filters” tab. Within this tab, you will be able to create custom rules on our mail server to be processed when messages arrive. For instance, “Automatically Reply with a custom message to all messages sent to sales@mydomain.com”, or “Automatically move all messages from me@mydomain.com to the ‘MessagesFromMe’ folder”. I end up using my sieve filters to pre-filter messages sent from or to specific addresses into appropriate labels mailboxes, rather than let my email client handle it when I download the messages. This lets me know that wherever I check my email (home, work, phone or webmail), I’ll know the messages are already pre-filtered for quicker viewing by me.
If you have a “ManageSieve” plugin installed or available in your email client (Thunderbird plugin available here, but the webmail roundcube option is much simpler for the inexperienced), then simply point your ManageSieve access to ‘mail.infowest.com’ port 2000 to start setting up your own sieve filters.
Again, not everybody will use the ManageSieve option, but it’s there for those that want the advanced access and control that comes with creating your own custom filters.
We have plenty more great upgrades in the pipeline.
Stay tuned!
WebMail Upgrades
Posted by Cassidy in Network Info on February 4, 2010
Over the past month we’ve been experiencing some slowness and timeouts with our webmail. We’ve been surprised with the number of users checking their email on our webmail server throughout the day!
No longer is this a problem!
This past week we’ve deployed two faster, larger servers behind our load balancer to increase capacity, speed and reliability in our webmail setup. Those using Roundcube or “DWmail” will automatically hit the server that has the less load, giving our customers greater speed when checking their webmail on the go.
As load continues to increase in the future, this new balanced solution allows us to add as many servers as we need to keep things running smoothly.
Watch out for some more speed improvements in email storage and retrieval in the near future.
Storm and Network Updates – updated 12/25 – 8am
Posted by randy in Network Info, Network Notices, solar, wireless on January 22, 2010
It’s been an exciting week here at InfoWest. The long wave of snow and rain storms has posed a few challenges, but we’re doing our best to stay on top of them. Here’s an update on current efforts.
Mesquite / Scenic Arizona
Over the past 2 weeks, we’ve been working in bad weather conditions to repair a generator at the location we lease on top of Utah hill. We got the
Utah Hill - 1/2 Way Up 12/21/2010
generator and the automatic switching gear working again and tested last week in time for the storm. Yesterday around 1pm , Utah Power went out on the hill. Unfortunately the generator did not start up as expected. Expert sledders Ryon and Josh headed up the hill in snowmobiles late in the afternoon to attempt another repair. The snow storm was bad enough and the snow deep enough that they took much longer to get up the hill than we expected. Before they reached the summit it got dark and too dangerous to continue. Ryon and Kelly will attempt to get back up there today.
Our batteries kept our equipment running until about 4 o’clock this morning. I’ll post an update here in the comments when we get the generator running again.
Northern Washington County – Leeds, Silver Reef, Rockville, Springdale
One of our solar-powered sites went down late yesterday morning, due to a weak battery. We were able to get a generator to the site to recharge the batteries and got those sites running again yesterday afternoon. We will be testing all the batteries and replacing any that are weak today. We’ve dispatched a second generator to ensure another solar-powered site near Silver Reef weathers the storm.
Early this morning (about 5am) a Cisco 3550 switch on that same path failed. This particular failure does not appear to have been weather or power related. Aaron replaced that switch at about 7:30 this morning and currently services are up and running in these areas.
New Harmony area
We’ve largely weathered the storm in New Harmony, but there is a risk we will see some outages before the storm is over. The site we use is primarily solar-powered, with wind backup. Last week Ryon and Kelly made an inspection trip to the site on snowmobiles and found that our backup wind generator was burned up, probably due to overly-powerful winds. We replaced the wind turbine with a more robust model, but the high winds (currently gusting 50-80mph) cause it to go into a “safety braking” mode where it cannot produce power. Once the wind calms down, it should provide a much-needed “boost” to our battery charging capacity at the site. We’re looking for a small wind generator that can handle the strong winds at the site (suggestions welcome!). You can see the weather conditions in our Facebook video blog post from earlier in the week.
Proactive Measures
Over the past year, we’ve added high capacity battery backups to most of our remote sites, and we monitor all the sites for power problems so we can respond to outages before service is affected. Additionally, we’ve purchased two new portable propane generators for extended backup times. We plan to add more generators so we can more quickly respond to power outages at remote locations, and will be installing permanent backup generators at a number of remote locations soon.
As always, we’re trying to find ways to better monitor our services and will be reviewing the events of this week to find ways to better battle and prepare for the elements!
PLEASE SEE UPDATES IN THE COMMENTS!
Wireless Expansion Continues to Beaver, Utah
Posted by randy in Broadband, Network Info, wireless on December 2, 2009
We’ve just completed construction on our second tower in Beaver county. This tower will cover most of the town of Beaver, as well as Manderfield, and other surrounding areas. We are taking orders now for installation and expect to hook the first customers up within the coming week! Check out the coverage map to see if you are in the coverage area
Beaver Tower Coverage Map