While this isn't really huge news, we're pretty happy to have been doing the newsletter for two years straight. We hope the newsletters are useful and informative. If you'd like to see something covered here, let us know. We'll do what we can.

The time has come for another round of server upgrades.

Specifically, all eight servers that make up our "cluster" have gotten new motherboards and CPU's. The upgrade converted each machine from a single-core processor to a dual-core processor (basically that means two CPU's per server instead of one), plus each processor is now at least a gigahertz faster. All in all, the upgrade has just about quadrupled the available CPU power of the cluster.

The upgrade also involved a significant RAM upgrade, further improving our cluster performance.

We took each cluster server offline one at a time and let the remaining cluster members handle the load. The upgrades were completely transparent with no down time or disruptions in service.

If you're not sure what we mean by "cluster", it is a collection of eight servers that are all identical, that handle all the web, email, shell, FTP, etc. traffic. When you connect to "islandnet.com" you have a one-in-eight chance of connecting to any particular server. If one server breaks down, the others take over for it.

You've got a site with traffic you can't interrupt

So, you've got a website with a domain name and you'd like to transfer both to Islandnet without interrupting traffic. The following process should ensure that you don't see any interruptions.

One, you'll want to copy your website files to your account on our system. You can test your website using your account name like so:

http://www.islandnet.com/~USERNAME/

Of course, you need to replace "USERNAME" with your actual Islandnet.com username. This also assumes that you've got a "home" page called "index.html," "index.htm," "index.php," or *something* of the form "index.XYZ." You can name your "home" page other things but generally if you do so, you'll need to have a ".htaccess" file that tells browsers which file to load first. Also, "homepage" and "main" will work on Islandnet's servers.

Two, you will want to setup your account for the domain name you're transferring to us. To setup a "host" (another word for a domain name) with your account, you'll need to go to the following URL:

https://helpdesk.islandnet.com/accountman.cgi?tab=hosts

While setting up the domain name, you will get a warning telling you that the domain does not point at our system. This is okay since you'll be pointing the domain at our system later. You should also note that setting up the host on our system will mean you will get charged ($4.95 per domain over the limit for the package you've got) for the domain name hosting from the time it's setup.

Three, you'll need to e-mail "domains@islandnet.com" to let us know you need the domain pointed at your account. Once this third step is taken, the only thing left to do is to have the domain name transferred to us and point it at our servers.

Four, you'll need to make sure your domain name is not "locked" on the system where the domain name currently resides. A "locked" domain simply means it cannot be transferred without your direct intervention on the current registrar's system. To "unlock" a domain, you'll need to log into your current domain registrar and look for a "locking" option related to the domain name you want to transfer. At this point, you will also want to ensure that the e-mail address you've got on record with your current registrar is current and correct. It's important for step five below.

Five, you will need to go to our domain registration page at the following URL and transfer the domain:

https://helpdesk.islandnet.com/domreg.php

This step creates an e-mail that goes from our system to the current domain registrar. The e-mail requests a transfer from the current registrar to us. The current registrar will respond with an e-mail confirming the request. The e-mail from the current registrar will get sent out to an e-mail address given as the e-mail address recorded as part of the domain name record. If the e-mail address on the current registrar's system is incorrect or no longer current, the confirmation e-mail will not get to you and the domain will not get transferred to us.

Six, reply to the confirmation e-mail from the current registrar.

Seven, wait 24 to 72 hours for the changes to take place. You will get an e-mail telling you that the domain name has been transferred.

Eight, use the domain registration account you have on our system to point the domain name at our servers, then wait another 24 to 72 hours for the changes to propagate throughout the Internet.

Nine, once you're satisfied your domain is pointed at our system you can cancel your account with your other host and / or delete any website files you have on their system.

Note: If you want the domain pointed at us more quickly, you can skip the part where the domain is transferred to us and, instead, simply point the domain name at us. You can then transfer registration of the domain to us later without any interruption in operation of your website. In order to point the domain at us, you'll need our DNS settings, which are available at the following URL (at the very top of the page):

https://helpdesk.islandnet.com/help/servers.php

Islandnet Picks

Canadian War Museum	404 Research Lab	Dilbert Blog	Old Time Radio Shows
"War, huh, what is it good for? Absolutely nuthin!" While war is probably the single most self-destructive activity human beings practice, it's something that just doesn't seem to lose popularity: That is as long as popularity can be defined as something that's practiced frequently by a wide range of people all over the world. November is the month many nations honour their veterans and war dead: Including Canada. Visit the Canadian War Museum website for a quick tour of Canadian military history--peacekeeping, humanitarian efforts, foreign incursions, domestic clashes, and war efforts from 1000 A.D. to the present.	It's really annoying when you try reaching a page and you get a "404" error instead. You know, the "Page Not Found" error. Well, what you'll find at this URL is a whole lot of interesting information about the 404 page, it's history, why you need a 404 page, and a collection of interesting 404 pages. How 'bout the 404 page that displays a new haiku each time the page is loaded? Check it out. WARNING: The 404 page collection contains an "adult" section with content ranging from suggestive to nudity, crude drawings, images and text.	If you're a techie, work in an office, or just work in a cubicle, you're probably familiar with the comic strip "Dilbert." Well, we're techies so we love Dilbert. Of course this blog isn't actually written by the Dilbert character created by Scott Adams. It's actually Scott Adams' blog. Scott Adams writes humourously about everyday events, current events, and even politics. Sometimes he even tackles quite serious topics such as torture and governments spying on its citizens. You'll find the blog and related site material generally non-offensive; however, the blog contains occaisional profanity.	Remember Orson Wells' "War of the Worlds," the radio show that caused panic when it was first broadcast the day before Halloween in 1938? Well, I suppose most people don't remember it being broadcast. After all that was 69 years ago. The good news is you don't have to remember. You can simply download a copy and listen for yourself. There are lots of old time radio programs available at this website. You'll find classic stars like Vincent Price and Bob Hope as well as classic literature like Edgar Allan Poe's "The Telltale Heart."

Islandnet.com Hosted Sites

Mark Zuehlke	CFAX Radio 1070	Queen Anne's Lace	Duralite Batteries
We've featured Mark's site (hosted by Islandnet) here before but we thought it was appropriate to feature it again in November. You see, Mark has written a great selection of books about Canada's military history. You can read some good-sized excerpts from many of his books, including ones related to military history. We think you'll find the excerpts gripping and informative. So, if you'd like to bone up on your Canadian Military history for Remembrance Day, take a look at Mark's site.	CFAX has been around since 1959. We're proud to say that CFAX has hosted their site with Islandnet.com since the early 1990's. Check out the CFAX site and listen to their broadcast live. Take their online poll on the issue they're featuring today. E-mail one or more of their radio personalities. Or, take part in one of their contests.	Wow, get a load of the lace on top of the frills on top of the ruffles on top of the embroidery on top of the poofs. You won't find many websites dedicated to clothing as frilly and poofy as this one is. If you're looking for something to dress your baby or a loved one's baby, this is the place. Or, if you or a loved one has a little girl that loves lace 'n frills, this is the place. Queen Anne's Lace is an Islandnet.com hosted website and is also a home-based business where all the products are made by hand.	If you're into radio controlled aircraft, you're going to have to visit this site. As the name suggests, you'll find all kinds of batteries you can use for your radio controlled aircraft hobby. However, you'll also find other things, including a complete turbo-prop engine for radio controlled aircraft. That's right a genuine turbo-prop--cool! Islandnet.com is proud to host the Duralite batteries website.

We Love Websites!

Websites are our business--hosting them and building them. If you need a website--blog, retail, business-to-business, personal, database-driven, or something else--Islandnet has plenty of website development and programming experience. Call or e-mail us if you'd like anything from graphics to nit-picky programming.

Common Extensions

Hey, there are more extensions than we can cover but here's a summary of the most popular extensions you're likely to see while cruising the 'Net.

Some Background

When you click on a link in your web browser, you're taken to an URL, where a file is loaded into the browser. It's similar to loading a document file in your favourite word processor but the file is delivered over the Internet.

There are things happening in the background though. When you click on a link, the file you're linking to needs to be served from--you guessed it--a server. The server will check the file to see if it's one that simply gets sent to the browser as-is or one that needs to be processed first.

Generally, files that need to be processed before being sent to someone's browser are ones that contain some sort of scripting. So if the file needs to be processed, the server will scan the file looking for any commands or instructions that need to be executed. If something needs to be executed, the server executes the instructions and delivers the resulting code to a person's browser.

Also, you may come across files that web browsers do not display at all. For example, archive files are not for display. A browser will typically handle the request by simply handing off the file to the operating system and / or another program.

.html

As explained at the begriming of this article, this extension stands for "HyperText Markup Language". This is without a doubt the most prevalent file name extension used for website files, as it's been around as long as the "web" has been around.

.htm

This file extension is for files of exactly the same type as ".html" but it's been shortened to "HyperText Markup."

.shtml

This file extension is stands for "Server-side HyperText Markup Language." When retrieving a file, a server will know from the ".shtml" extension that it needs to look for instructions in the file. These instructions will generally be fairly "basic," meaning what is done with the file is fairly limited. This extension is no longer common because most servers will treat ".html," ".htm," ".shtml," and ".shtm" files all the same.

.shtm

Same as ".shtml" above .

.php

This extension stands for "PHP Hypertext Processor." PHP is probably the most popular scripting language used on the Internet and is a scripting language designed specifically for the Internet. To read more about PHP, read an earlier newsletter article here or visit php.net.

.asp

This acronym stands for "Active Server Pages" and is the extension for Microsoft's proprietary Internet scripting language. ASP pages are scripted just like other pages built using a scripting language. However, in the case of ASP, servers capable of hosting ASP pages need to be run on Microsoft Windows servers. ASP pages generally are not run on servers using Unix or Linux distributions, though they can be by using additional server software.

.do

This file extension is associated with the scripting language "JSP." These types of files can generate dynamic pages like other scripted pages.

.jsp

"Java Server Pages" is what "jsp" stands for. These pages are scripted pages using Java (not javascript, which is a completely different language) and are usually served from Unix or Linux servers.

.pdf

"PDF" stands for "Portable Document Format," which is a proprietary format developed by Adobe. Adobe developed the format so that documents could be shared between computers without losing any formatting embedded in the document. Although most browsers can handle PDF documents, they are not handled "natively" by browsers, which rely on browser "plug-ins" to display PDF documents.

.jpg

"JPG" (sometimes also referred to as "JPEG") stands for "Joint Photographic Experts Group Image File" and designates an image file format. JPG images are one of the most often-used formats on the Internet and are most efficient when used for "continuous tone" images like photographs.

.gif

"GIF" stands for "Graphical Interchange Format" and is probably the oldest image format used on the Internet. Although it is limited to displaying 256 colours at a time, the format is very efficient for displaying images that have very sharply defined lines, as opposed to JPG images, which are best used for continuous tone images.

.png

This acronym stands for "Portable Network Graphic" and denotes image files. The PNG format is relatively new compared to the GIF and JPG image formats and has many advantages over both the older formats. Click here to read an article about the PNG format in last month's newsletter.

.pl

When you see a file with the ".pl" extension, it's a "Perl Script" file. PERL is a scripting language that is quite common but which was not designed with the Internet in mind. Rather, PERL is a scripting language used on Unix and Linux systems and adapted for use with websites. PERL itself stands for "Practical Extraction and Reporting Language."

.zip

You will usually see this type of file when you're invited to download a number of files. One or more files can be combined into one "archive" file with the ".zip" extension. What is most useful about the .zip file is that it not only combines multiple files into one, it also compresses the files to make transferring them over the Internet faster. "ZIP" doesn't really stand for anything, except, maybe, to imply that everything is "zipped up" into a package.

.tar

A "TAR" file is just like a ".zip" file in that it is a file format that can contain multiple compressed files. However, a TAR file is usually created by and for use with Unix or Linux computers, although many popular archiving programs for Windows can also handle TAR files.

.gz

A ".gz" file is another compressed format like ".zip" and ".tar" files but the acronym stands for "Gnu Zipped." Like ".tar" files, GZ files are archives created on and for Unix or Linux systems, though some Windows archive programs know how to handle them.

The Helpdesk server was upgraded over the November 4^th weekend. It was off-line for about 30 minutes starting at approximately 3:00am Sunday morning. We can replaced some aging hardware, doubling the CPU power and RAM (memory).

During the upgrade, the Helpdesk was inaccessible but it is functioning normally again (as is attested by the fact you're reading this newsletter via the Helpdesk.

Liteon Computers in Nanaimo has become an Islandnet.com agent. That means you can pay in person at their store! Have a look at our agents page for a list of all our agents. Here's the important stuff you need to know about Liteon Computers:

Address:

409 Bruce Avenue
Nanaimo, BC

Phone Number:

250.754.3028

Hours:

Monday-Saturday, 10:00am-6:00pm

Payment Methods Accepted:

Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Cash, & Debit Card

But wait! Good ol' iPass supports both broadband and wireless connections!

So, if you're an Islandnet customer who has a high speed connection, you can now connect with your laptop from anywhere in the world--just like the ol' days--but now with newfangled high speed equipment. Just go to the iPass website, find an access point in the city you'll be visiting and you can get a list of access points in that city.

To use the iPass WiFi or Broadband services, you'll need to download the iPass client application from our website. To do so, click here.

Click here to visit the iPass website. Click here to view a demo of their WiFi / Broadband services.

Who Links to You? - Google tool

Ever wondered who links to your website? How do you find out?

Check out Google. They've got URLs for at least some of the sites that link to your website. What's more is you can even check to see if people are linking to particular pages on your site. Give it a try!

Go to Google and type the following into the search box:

link:www.islandnet.com

Of course, you'd replace "www.islandnet.com" with the site or page you're wanting to research.

What results is a page displaying the sites that link to the URL you've submitted.

While you're there, check out all the other stuff you can do!

http://www.google.ca/intl/en/help/features.html

Cool eh?

Legal Stuff

The information displayed in this newsletter and any previous or subsequent newsletters is for information purposes only. Islandnet.com, AMT Solutions Group, Inc. and related companies are not responsible for any losses or damages resulting from the use of information in the newsletter. While the information contained in this newsletter is believed accurate, readers must verify information for themselves. Sites we link to do not necessarily represent the opinions or policies of AMT Solutions Group, Inc.