cPanel is generally considered the most widespread domain control panel and, by many the best. enables the owner of a domain to carry out all admin and management tasks involved in running a domain, including but not limited to providing access to the folder on the server which is to contain the root of a web site and storage space for email together with a mail server to accept incoming messages and send the outgoing ones.
A few months ago cPanel was bought by a British Venture Capital Company. They soon decided that the only way they would see the returnss they usually expect would be a massive price hike. The rise was steep but worst for large-scale hosting providers who run servers containing hundreds of domains - our upstream provider calculates their increase as over 1,000%. After a careful study of the environment, they are making DirectAction as a replacement domain controller, although some customers have opted to stay with cPanel, preferring the increased cost to the convenience of not changing,
In the few weeks since the announcement of the price hike, our providers have configured new servers with their own software which, under control of the control panel, carries out the actual work with thousands of domains. Now the mammoth task of m0ving most of those domains from the cPanel servers to the DirectAdmin ones. THis has been going very well but we have no idea when it will be the turn of our domains to move. What is encouraging is the news that all passwords have been migrated successfully. If that continues, the process will be completely transparent and you can continue as before.
Shortly before the migration starts we will be told and will endeavour to let you know, probably by phone (and voice-mail). Shortly after that all our domains will close while their contents are moved. (Note that this move is between two compiuters in the same building, on the same internal network and under the control of the same team.) The expectation is that after a short while evrything will recover and you should be able to access your mail and check your web sites and mail boxes.
If it seems to be taking far too long, try accessing this web site ensemblehosting.uk - even if your web server is not working, you can still use your computer to access another one. If you cn;t get us then there are two possibilities: the migration has not finished or it has with errors and I have not found a solution (there won't be any progress until that situation is resolved). If you do get through to this website then the migration was successful at least with us (if ypu like, check milkless.co.uk and theunderwoods.org.uk) Ring me and put me in the picture. I will sort it out with the provider as soon as I can. If the passwords have been changed, as soon as I can, I will set new admin login and mailbox passwords and tell you by phone. Shortly after that this website will carry instructions on how to log in to DirectAccess and change your passwords.
Unfortunately I may not be available at the right time to give the best service. before all this began we planned a holiday in Norfolk ending on Thursday 28 August. We have been visiting some old haunts of mine (from over 60 years ago!) And will spend most of Wednesday going to Aldeburgh and nearby, On Thursday, however, we will be back home shortly after mid-day.
Do make sure you make a note of my phone number from recent e-mail.