Scheduled Maintenance FAQ's
The following provides some generic advice for the upgrade of all services located in our Reading Data Center as part of the upcoming Data Center Migration in October 2020.
Am I affected by this Upgrade and Scheduled Maintenance?
If you have any services (including but not limited to; a Cloud VPS, Dedicated Server, Load Balancer, VLAN, Cross Site Cluster etc) in our Reading Data Center / Network Region, then you will be impacted by this Maintenance.
An email will have been sent to the registered Admin Contact listed on the Account notifying them of this.
What is happening as part of this Upgrade and Maintenance Period?
As part of our current datacenter refresh and upgrade program we will be migrating all services from our Reading Data Center to newly provisioned racks in Iomart’s flagship datacentre in Maidenhead. This will provide us with a higher capacity, faster network, a higher spec facility and greater connectivity options for cloud-xchange services or leased lines to the network. This will Data Center is also fully owned allowing us to ensure that our prices remain as low as possible into the future.
What do I need to do before the maintenance window?
We strongly recommend you perform a reboot of your Cloud VPS or Dedicated Server prior to the maintenance window. This is not mandatory, but will maximise the chance of your Server coming back online cleanly and will allow Windows Servers to apply any outstanding updates. This will also allow you to check that all required services start up as expected without manual intervention, and if not allow you some time to investigate and resolve this.
For Dedicated Servers we recommend that you check you have access to your DRAC prior to the maintenance window, so that if out of bands access is required after the maintenance, you have this option available.
My Server has LUKS or BitLocker Enabled, Can you enter the Decryption Passphrase for us?
Unfortunately this is not something we are able to do on your behalf. If you have LUKS or BitLocker enabled, it is your responsibility to ensure that the Passphrase is entered after the Maintenance has been completed allowing your server to boot.
For Cloud VPSs you can use MemShell to access the Server and provide this.
For Dedicated Servers you can use your DRAC to access the Server and provide this.
What is the Address of this new Data Center?
The Address is;
iomart, Spectrum House, Clivemont Road, Maidenhead, SL6 7FWCan you provide more information on this Data Center?
Certainly, more information on the Maidenhead Data Center can be found here.
iomart's Maidenhead data centre is situated on a purpose-built site near the centre of the town offering high quality, resilient and secure space across eleven data halls.
Located outside the M25 the facility offers high-speed secure connections to a wide range of Tier 1 national and international carriers.
Are you making any changes to my Server(s)?
No, No changes will be made to the Server(s) or any affected Services of the Maintenance.
What will happen to my Data on my Server(s)?
No changes will be made to any of the Data on your servers, this is a physical migration of the devices to a new location.
What will happen to my Server(s) IP Address(es)?
No changes will be made to your Server(s) IP Address(es), these will remain the same as before and will still be accessible as expected after the Maintenance has been completed.
As such no changes need to be made to any DNS records either before or after the Maintenance.
Are you able to let me know when my Server is back online following the Move?
Unfortunately we are not able to send individual notifications for when a Server is back online again. However we suggest you check the Server Status in your Memset Control Panel.
What do I need to do after the maintenance window?
We will ensure that any Cloud VPSs or Dedicated Servers with our Memset monitoring service enabled are available on the network when they are powered up again.
Additionally, if your Cloud VPSs or Dedicated Servers have Memset-monitored server monitoring configured to alert Memset 24x7 then we will ensure that all of your monitored services have started correctly.
To facilitate this there is out-of-band access tools available if required.
What Out of Band Access Tools are available?
Cloud VPS
To facilitate this we have our out-of-band console access Memshell available if required. This is available through your Memset account along with your server's status. Memshell documentation is available here.
Dedicated Servers
For Dedicated Servers these should come with a DRAC (Dell Remote Access Card) that will allow you access to the Server via the Virtual Console. If your Dedicated Server has a DRAC installed then a Link to the DRAC will be included on the Servers "Manage" Page in your Control Panel. More details and Documentation on DRAC's can be found here.
Additionally Access to the Dedicated Servers Serial Console is available using Memshell (Note: MemShell VNC Access is not available for Dedicated Servers). Memshell documentation is available here.
My Server has some issues after the Maintenance can you help?
No changes will have been made to the data on your server, including (but not limited too) the Operating System, IP Address, Data (Website, Email, etc.) as such its likely that a Service has not started as expected. In the first instance we recommend that you use the Out of Bands Access Tools for access your server remotely to diagnose and resolve the issues, details on these can be found above.
If you are still experiencing issues or require further assistance then you can contact our Technical Support Team.
Our Emergency Contact facility is available for any issues arising after the maintenance period that require immediate attention only, otherwise a Standard Support Ticket can be used and will be reviewed and responded to during office hours (Monday to Friday, 08:30am to 17:30pm (ex. Bank Holidays).
Click here to Open an Emergency Support Ticket, or Click here to Open a Standard Support Ticket.