Distribute.IT - Notice - Service Disruptions

This blog will no longer be used as a communication channel - please visit the new Support Centre

2011-07-11T18:29:00.002+10:00

We want to move onwards and upwards from the malicious hacking attack, and as such we are closing down this historical communication channel. As of today, Monday 11th July, no new service notifications will be posted on this blog, please refer to the new DistributeIT Support Centre from now onwards.

DistributeIT partners will be able to refer to all historical notifications posted on this blog (starting from 23/06/11) on the Service Notifications section of the new DistributeIT Support Centre.

We encourage all partners to subscribe to the RSS feed that is now available to ensure partners are up-to-date with developments.

Domain name renewals, registrations and transfer status updates

2011-07-11T16:07:00.000+10:00

Below is an overview of the current status and submission methods of domain name renewals, registrations and transfers for .au domains and .com/.net/.org/.biz/.info domains. If you find anything is not working as described below, please supply feedback to feedback@distributeit.com.au.

Renew .au domains
Automatic processing is offline. For urgent requests, manual processing is available by contacting DistributeIT support team on 1300 711 044 or via domains@distributeit.com.au. If it is urgent please ring as we are currently inundated with tickets and processing time is slower than usual.

Register .au domains
Online – You can register domain names through the Partner Console or directly through the API/WHMCS module. Orders placed get processed via our workflow system, and you can track progress via the Partner Console. If you have problems, please email feedback@distributeit.com.au with the details of the domain transferring and any errors encountered.

Transfer .au domains
Online – You can submit a transfer request through the Partner Console or directly through the WHMCS/API module. Renewals for inbound transfer requests if requested should be operational. If you have problems, please email feedback@distributeit.com.au with the details of the domain transferring and any errors encountered.

Register .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz, .asia, .mobi domains
Online – You can register domain names through the Partner Console or directly through the API/WHMCS module. Orders placed are processed via our workflow system, and you can track progress via the Partner Console. If you have problems, please email feedback@distributeit.com.au with the details of the domain transferring and any errors encountered.

Transfer .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz, .asia, .mobi domains
Online. You can submit a transfer request through the Partner Console or directly through the WHMCS/API module. If you have problems, please email feedback@distributeit.com.au with the details of the domain, account request and any errors encountered.

Renew .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz, .asia, .mobi domains
Online. These domains can be renewed through the sub-accounts for each of your customers. Please note that until Wednesday 13/07/11, renewal requests will be processed at your retail prices, with any difference between retail and wholesale rates being credited to your commission account. If you have problems processing transactions, please email feedback@distributeit.com.au with the details of the domain, account request and any errors encountered.

Configuring reseller accounts before the scheduled Domain Renewal Process

2011-07-11T09:37:00.000+10:00

The domain renewal process has been scheduled to run at: Wednesday 13th July

Please configure your accounts accordingly, following the instructions below.

Wholesale Only/WHMCS/API Resellers
Partners who wish to control their own notices, invoices, register domains at wholesale prices and ensure no emails are sent to end clients (excluding those sent from auDA/iCANN) - will need to ensure that emails are redirected to yourself and disabled from being sent to your end user. To do this, please follow these step-by-step instructions. Please read the support articles for further information on configuring the platform for WHMCS/API Resellers.

Retail Level/Template/Whitelabel Resellers
Partners who use DistributeIT's white-labelled template system for their customer purchases, domain renewal emails and control panel will need to do the following:

Configure your email templates. You can use either the generic supplied email templates, or customise them with your own details. The generic parameters in these emails relate to your organisation and are configurable in the Partner Console under the Custom Managment tab, 'Client Contact Details'. Login here https://theconsole.distributeit.com.au/reseller
Configure the branding of your control panel used by your customers. To manage your control panel theme, for full instructions on how to brand the control panel, click here.
You will also need to tell the system to send the emails to your clients directly. To do this, please follow these step-by-step instructions.

You can also temporarily disable the emails from being sent to your customers by following the API instructions above. Please remember, that in doing so, your customers will not receive emails regarding their domain expirations as we will be sending the emails directly to you as their reseller.

Here are some useful links for whitelabel resellers:

If you have any questions or concerns about the renewal process or template email configuration, please contact our reseller support team via support@distributeit.com.au

Scheduled release of Domain Renewal Processes on the Partner platform

2011-07-08T18:34:00.002+10:00

As you know, DistributeIT domain names have been imported into Netregistry Group’s Partner Console for ongoing management. During the initial migration, all active partner accounts and domain names were imported, giving resellers access to administer their domain names and provide services to their clients.

The next key step in bringing functionality to the new platform is to launch the renewal processes.

The domain renewal process has been scheduled to run at: Wednesday 13th July

Before then you will need to contact reseller support for manual renewal of domain names. After the renewal process has run you will be able to renew your domain names through your reseller portal, until this time for urgent renewals please contact the reseller support team on support@distributeit.com.au or call 1300 711 044.

Before the process occurs, there is important information that you need to be aware of, so you can configure your account to work in a way that is best suited to your needs. When the domain renewal process goes live, email reminders for domain renewals will be generated for all domains that are within 89 days of expiration. The configuration of your reseller account will determine whether these emails are sent by DistributeIT directly to you or White-labelled to be sent from you to your end-users.

All DistributeIT partners should have received an email about configuring their reseller accounts in preparation for this schedule. If you have failed to receive this email please contact reseller support at support@distributeit.com.au or call 1300 711 044.

Clarification of different Partner level logins

2011-07-08T17:57:00.000+10:00

We have had a number of queries from resellers about logging in to their control panel and administering their services. In the partner console, there are 3 different levels of login, each offering a different level of administration.

Partner Console/Reseller master level login
This level of login will allow you to access all domains and sub-accounts that belong to you, as well as enable you to control theming/branding (for whitelabel) or API (for WHMCS/API) reseller settings. This should be the primary login that you use when administering your reseller account. The username and password for this login will be supplied to you, if you are unsure of these details you can contact the reseller support team for assistance.

Resellers can log in at this level via: https://theconsole.distributeit.com.au/reseller

Account level login
This level of login will allow you access to administer domain names that exist in your personal wholesale account. There is no access to domains that are in your sub-accounts belonging to your end-users. Any invoices under this account will be charged directly to you at your wholesale rates. The username and password for this level of administration is the same as your master level login, and you are able to update the password for your account online, or reset if you are unsure of your login using the “forgot account password” link.

This level of login is also available to whitelabel/template end-users, if you allow them to log in and manage services. See http://support.distributeit.com.au/category/integration/template-whitelabel for further information on using the white-label template solution for your end users.

Resellers can log in at this level via: https://theconsole.distributeit.com.au/
Resellers' end users can log in at this level via their partnerconsole host name.

Domain level login
This level of login will allow you access to administer your domain name and/or hosting services. There is no access to change account level details, or to access invoices on the account. An example of how to use this login would be to provide it to a website designer, who needs administrative level access, but who should not be able to view/change account level contact details. The usernames for this level of console login are available to be retrieved at the account level, or can be recovered from the “forgot domain password” link on the login page.

Resellers can log in at this level via: https://theconsole.distributeit.com.au/
Resellers' end users can log in at this level via their partnerconsole host name.

Contract Helpdesk x 5 - Immediate Start

2011-07-08T11:38:00.000+10:00

Due to the recent acquisition we require 5 x immediate staff, to work with us on a 3 month contract role, on our very busy help desk.

The roles are located in our Ultimo office in Sydney, very close to Broadway shopping centre.

We are looking to hear from skilled, enthusiastic staff who are available to start immediately. Ideally they will have worked on a helpdesk previously, with ISP/webhosting/domain name experience highly regarded. Hours are flexible.

View the full job ad and apply here.

Phase 2 Migration postponed due to equipment failure

2011-07-07T22:24:00.006+10:00

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:

The outage and migration of Distribute.IT and Click 'n Go hosting to Sydney scheduled for 1am to 8am Friday 8th July has been postponed due to a technical complication.

Netregistry Group regrets to inform affected customers that a vital part of the new equipment purchased last week to support the migration of Distribute.IT and Click 'n Go Hosting Services from Melbourne to Sydney scheduled for tonight has failed in final testing.

As a result we are postponing the Phase 2 planned migration described below. As new equipment needs to be supplied from off-shore, we are unable to reschedule this migration until firm delivery dates are provided by our hardware vendor.

There will therefore be no outage between 1am and 8am and hosting services will continue to operate normally.

END SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

Useful Support links for DistributeIT Resellers

2011-07-07T18:55:00.000+10:00

For DistributeIT resellers that are starting to customise their theming, order process and include custom forms on their own websites, please view the following Support Pages.

Modifying the Console theme
Custom Entry Points & Sample Forms

Important Outage Notification for Shared Hosting Accounts - Phase 2 of the Technical Migration

2011-07-07T18:14:00.003+10:00

As you may be aware from previous notifications, the Netregistry Group are migrating all DistributeIT (and it's retail arm Click 'n Go) hosting services onto our secure cloud clustered, load-balanced hosting infrastructure – a system housed at the Global Switch data centre, the largest in the Southern hemisphere.

Phase 2 of this migration will see a physical relocation from the previous DistributeIT data centre in Melbourne to Netregistry Group's data centre (Global Switch) in Sydney. During this time there will be an expected downtime of approximately 4 hours for shared hosting clients. It is important to note that this maintenance will impact both reseller hosting accounts and end-user accounts.

Shared Hosting Servers that are being Migrated

If you are currently hosted on the following DistributeIT Plesk shared hosting servers, you will be affected by this outage whilst they are migrated onto Netregistry Group's infrastructure.

Plesk 1
Plesk 2
Plesk 3
Lahar
Avalanche
Torrent
Tornado
Storm
Volcano
Whirlwind

Expected downtime: Up to 4 hours during the outage window stated below.

Outage Window: 1am - 8am Friday 8th July, 2011 (AEST)

NOTE: Customers previously hosted on the servers Hurricane, Drought, Blizzard and Cyclone who have received free Netregistry hosting products will NOT be impacted as a result of this maintenance.

We sincerely apologise in advance for any inconvenience caused as a result of this relocation, however as you can appreciate it is required to ensure shared hosting clients are provided a stable hosting infrastructure long term.

DistributeIT Partners

The Partner Console reseller platform and control panel will not be impacted during this maintenance, and will continue to function. As per previous notifications, you can login here: https://theconsole.distributeit.com.au/reseller/

Click 'n Go Clients

The console control panel will not be impacted during this maintenance, and will continue to function. As per previous notifications, you can login via: www.clickngo.com.au

Technical Migration - Known bugs & issues

2011-07-07T16:25:00.000+10:00

We are aware that customers are experiencing some issues with the new platform once they are logged into their account. These are the known issues, that are currently being looked at by our team.

Domains missing from account

There is a small percentage of domain names that are not currently in customer accounts. These domains could not be mapped to reseller accounts accurately due to inconsistencies in the DistributeIT data that was available to us.
We are currently matching domain registrations with existing customer accounts by email and contact mapping. Domains that can be matched will be consolidated over the next 48 hours.
For domains that we cannot match systematically, we will provide details for a manual restoration service after the systematic matching is complete.

Default email templates (content) bugs

We updated these template emails in a very short time frame. While all care has been taken by our team, there have been a few template details that were missed. These have been resolved as they have been reported by staff and resellers.
Please note that resellers have the ability to modify their own reseller email templates, and are free to do this at any time.

If you identify any new issues, please report the issue/s to support@distributeit.com.au, so our team can fix them globally.

Migration Feedback and Bug Reports

2011-07-07T15:26:00.000+10:00

Our team is committed to reviewing and improving this platform to better meet customer needs, and we encourage any constructive feedback. Any requests and feedback submitted will be reviewed, and we ask for your patience and support in identifying and resolving these issues, as there will be ongoing refinement.

Please submit all constructive feedback and reports of bugs in they system to feedback@distributeit.com.au

Technical Migration Support Links

2011-07-07T14:58:00.002+10:00

Now that phase 1 of the technical migration is complete, to make this transition easier we have created the following support documents.

WHMCS & API

WHMCS Integration FAQ link: http://support.distributeit.com.au/integration/api/step-by-step-guide-apiwhmcs
If you are experiencing trouble following the step-by-step instructions above, please contact the reseller support team for further assistance via support@distributeit.com.au.

API FAQ link: http://support.distributeit.com.au/integration/api/domain-api
This lists the changes to API functions. If you experience troubles integrating and using the API, please contact the reseller support team for further assistance via support@distributeit.com.au. You will need to provide as much detail about the issue you are experiencing, so our team can document and investigate the problem.

WHITELABEL SYSTEM

Step-by-step setup guide: http://support.distributeit.com.au/integration/template-whitelabel/step-by-step-guide-whitelabel
Please note that we have been responding to initial feedback and have been making changes to default templates as we go. Partners are able to disable the system from emailing their end account holders via the reseller settings section. If you have specific questions not answered in the setup guide, please contact us at support@distributeit.com.au with your questions and we will try to answer them as soon as possible.

NEW DOMAIN ORDERS & INBOUND TRANSFERS

If you wish to order new domains are transfer domains, you can do so through the Partner Console. Please use the search box appropriate to your purchase type (registration alone or registration and hosting). If you experience any issues please contact support@distributeit.com.au for further assistance.

DOMAIN RENEWALS

Due to the migration taking longer than expected, the domain renewal system is still being brought back online. Links to renew domains within 89 days of expiration will be added to the platform within 48 hours. If you have an urgent renewal request that needs to be processed today, please email support@distributeit.com.au and a representative will be able to assist you.

HELPDESK

The helpdesk is under heavy load today due to the release of the new platform. We are working through issues for customers as quickly as we can, however, due to the volume of requests there may be some delays in responses. We ask for your patience at this time and if you have an urgent issue, please contact our team by phone on 1300 711 044 or email support@distributeit.com.au.

Phase 1 Technical Migration Complete - Login information

2011-07-07T13:34:00.001+10:00

We have now completed phase 1 of the technical migration of DistributeIT and Click 'n Go customers onto Netregistry Groups platform. You will now be able to login (see login information below) to your account to manage current domains, register new domains, process renewals or transfers.

We are currently ironing out the final outstanding issues that have occurred from the migration, updates will be posted as soon as information becomes available.

DistributeIT Login Information:
Login to Reseller Portal via www.distributeit.com.au
Account Ref: Use your previous DistributeIT AccountNo (4 digits)
Password: Use your previous DistributeIT password

To reset your password visit http://theconsole.distributeit.com.au/execute/forgottenAccount. This will allow you to reset both the account (domain) and reseller level user details.

DistributeIT Reseller end user (client) Login Information:
There is a new method of authentication
Email Address: Your email address used to register the domain name
Password: Recover password via the tool available on http://[resellerID].partnerconsole.net/execute/forgottenAccount. The password reset link will go to the current email contact for the account and allow them to reset their account level login. The URL and email template should be white-labelled, you the reseller can review the content of the email and modify if required via their reseller account -> Emails -> authentication/passwordChange.

Click 'n Go Login Information:
Login to your account via www.clickngo.com.au
Email Address: Your email address used to register the domain name
Password: Recover password via the tool available at www.clickngo.com.au

WHMCS & API clients IPs whitelisting management

2011-07-07T11:32:00.000+10:00

DistributeIT Resellers requiring access via WHMCS or the API are able to configure their IPs for whitelisting directly in their Reseller account management panel. The full instructions on this and other added functionality to your new Reseller administration panel (Partner Console) are available at http://userguide.partnerconsole.net/the-reseller-console/reseller-account-functions/reseller-api

ANNOUNCEMENT: distribute.IT Reseller Pricing maintained

2011-07-07T10:23:00.000+10:00

Netregistry will shortly be making an announcement regarding the successful import and migration of domain names from the old distribute.IT system into the new platform.

I am now announcing that we have imported existing DIT pricing and will respect original pricing for the short/medium term. If your pricing has changed there will be one of two reasons:

a bug in our script
your pricing was below wholesale and we have reset it to a more appropriate level.

If your pricing has changed, please get in touch with the Reseller Sales Team who will deal with initial issues on a case by case basis.

Our focus for the next few days will be on the major issues facing large numbers of resellers – please keep that in mind.

In due course we will review individual accounts to ensure our pricing is sustainable – but for now the focus is on continuity.

Consolidation of Reseller accounts within the Netregistry Group

2011-07-06T14:09:00.001+10:00

We have received a number of enquiries from DistributeIT resellers regarding consolidation of their newly created TPP Internet accounts. Phase one of the technical migration will be underway from 5pm 06/07/11 until 10am 07/07/11 (AEST) and upon completion DistributeIT resellers will be within Netregistry Group's technology platform, segregated under a co-branded TPP Internet and DistributeIT.

At this initial phase, unfortunately we are unable to automatically consolidate customers accounts. Our software is virtualised, however each virtualisation will only support a single brand per account - so you can have all domains in a DistributeIT account, or a Netregistry Account or a TPP account or you can have two separate accounts. In due course we will have a single wholesale brand, TPP Internet, and we'll consolidate all the separate reseller virtualisations into one.

Date and Time of Technical Migration - Phase 1

2011-07-06T09:31:00.001+10:00

All DistributeIT and Click 'n Go customers were notified last night of the technical migration that is occurring tonight starting at 5pm Wednesday 6th until 10am Thursday 7th July 2011 (AEST).

Unfortunately there was a typo in the notification which incorrectly stated June instead of July. We apologise for this human error.

DistributeIT Technical Migration onto Netregistry Group's platform: Phase 1

2011-07-04T18:43:00.002+10:00

As many DistributeIT partners are eagerly awaiting the technical migration we wanted to be as transparent as possible as to the current status. Below is an overview of what will be migrated in this initial phase. Partners will all receive an email on 05/07/2011 providing more information about this first phase of the migration, including some FAQs.

Phase 1 Migration Date:

Scheduled for Wednesday night 06/07/2011.

Included tasks for this phase of the migration:

1. Importing all DistributeIT reseller accounts into the Partner Console. This will be co-branded TPP Internet (the Netregistry Groups main Wholesale brand) and DistributeIT.

2. Importing all existing DistributeIT domains into the Partner Console into whitelabeled reseller accounts.

3. Making an API available for API resellers, of which all the main DistributeIT API functions will work. A complete list of functions will be provided to resellers as soon as possible.

4. Making a WHMCS plugin available, which will behave in a very similar way to the existing DistributeIT WHMCS plugin.

5. There will be a template/whitelabel system available for all resellers. Although this will function slightly differently to the existing system, we believe there will be greater functionality. A complete list of functions will be provided as soon as possible.

6. We will have new base hosting product with configurations available so resellers can elect to re-sell cloud hosting, more information on this is to come.

Excluded tasks for this phase of the migration:

7. Unfortunately existing DistributeIT customer hosting products will not be imported in the first phase of the migration. We will be working to import these soon, so customers can renew their hosting contracts. Until imported, no existing accounts will expire and there will be no disruption of service, ie. they will continue to work.

8. For DistributeIT clients that have already set up a hosting account with the Netregisry Group, this will not be linked to the DistributeIT account in the first phase of the migration. Unfortunately you will have to temporarily have two logins to the system. We will work to consolidate these over the coming weeks, so customers can access via a single login.

9. The SSL platform for DistributeIT won’t be imported in the first phase of the migration. Customers with existing SSL certificates will be fine. Customers who need to purchase new certificates or who have certificates expiring will need to contact our Support team for resolution.

10. The SMS platform for DistributeIT won’t be imported in the first phase of the migration. Customers using this service/platform will still be able to access the original version in the short term until a long term strategy is finalised.

Additional Notes:

12. The Partner Console reseller platform has just completed beta testing, so it is possible that functions previously available to DistributeIT customers may not work as customers expect them to. Our team are committed to reviewing feedback and making improvements to this platform to better meet customer needs, and encourage constructive feedback. Requests and feedback submitted will be reviewed and we will endeavor to meet client requests in the time that we have available. Once again we ask for your patience during this migration period.

Updated details for DistributeIT enquiries

2011-07-04T09:46:00.001+10:00

For all Distribute.IT enquiries please direct your queries to support@distributeit.com.au.

Please no longer send your enquiries to the previous email distributeit@netregistry.com.au, as this email address will no longer be in use. For more pressing and urgent enquiries call 1300 711 044.

Enquiry response times for DistributeIt and Click 'n Go customers

2011-07-01T11:38:00.000+10:00

In the 7 days following the acquisition of DistributeIT and Click 'n Go, Netregistry Group's support centre has received and responded to 5,700 legitimate email enquiries from distressed customers. This does not include the influx of phone calls we have received to resolve emergency issues.

We wanted to assure you that our staff are working around the clock, at full capacity, to attend to individual problems and respond to all enquiries. We appreciate your patience during this very difficult time. If we have not yet responded to your enquiry, please bear with us, you will shortly receive a reply.

Change of NS IP address for Partners

2011-06-30T10:51:00.001+10:00

DistributeIT's primary DNS server ns1.dithost.com has been migrated to Sydney, and the IP address for this server has been updated.

Resellers/Partners masking DIT Name Servers with their own glue records (a.k.a. Child Name Server records) will need to update their primary NS hostname record at the registry database to ensure fast DNS resolution for SOA/Zone files of customers.

The old server IP is still operational however the performance of this server has degraded and it is being deprecated.

OLD ns1.dithost.com IP: 113.21.225.18
NEW ns1.dithost.com IP: 202.124.241.11

We are currently reviewing the list of Resellers we are aware of who use the custom glue record to assist them in updating the IP, however those Resellers whose parent domain name is not registered with DistributeIT will require to update the record on their own via their registrar.

Updating Name Servers
1. Login to your Reseller Account via http://www.distributeit.com.au/login/
2. Search the parent domain associated with the record
3. Click "Manage Name servers based on this domain"
4. Replace old the IP with the new IP listed below
5. Update your parent domain Zone file to replace the IP address of your primary NS hostname

UPDATE: Information about Reseller Prepaid Account Reconciliation

2011-06-30T08:07:00.002+10:00

We have received enquiries from a handful of Resellers regarding pre-paid account reconciliation. To provide some transparency, below is a summary of events up until today.

Situation up until 29 June 2011

DistributeIT Database was restored as at 20/5/2011
Reseller deposits between 20/5/2011 to 10/6/2011 were uploaded into the system
We were provided an additional excel spreadsheet of all purchase / credit transactions between 20/5/2011 and 10/6/2011 to be loaded into the system
This spreadsheet contained some errors, before accuracy of this information can be confirmed this spreadsheet will not be uploaded
We have been additionally been provided a spreadsheet of transactions from 10/6/2011 to 23/6/2011 (before system went back up)
As soon as we identified there were incorrect reseller credits in the live system, we decided to temporarily set them to zero on 29/6/2011 until the accuracy of information is confirmed by international registries

Today (30th June) there will be a teleconference to provide an update on the progress confirming accuracy of the information provided. As soon as more information is made available from registries to confirm the accuracy of transactional information, we will be in a position to provide more information regarding the outcome of this teleconference tomorrow. The resolution of this issue was previously advised as being within the month, this is now looking to be more like within the next week.

Some updates for 29 June 2011

2011-06-30T08:01:00.000+10:00

New developments for the 29th June 2011:

Reseller prepaid credit was set to 0 for reconciliation purposes. Whats account reconciliation? Ensuring that the credit in the resellers account equals the $$ paid by reseller. This is necessary because following restoration of the payment processing we saw discrepancies between what reseller paid and what they had in their credit.

Resellers WhiteLabel system is down, this means clients of resellers are unable to renew their own domains without asking their reseller to do it. API resellers not affected.

Retail (Click'N'Go) customers can submit a manual domain renewal form to renew domains since they're unable to login via Click'N'Go website (it's down) . Form located at: http://www.netregistry.com.au/clickngo/RenewalForm.pdf

Shared hosting services (Plesk) which are expiring 29th June to 30th July receive 1 month free hosting, because we can't take payment. We've disabled auto-suspension and we'll re-enable account expiration in Plesk once we have a system to take payment for the services.

Static info:

Reseller portal URL is up and running: http://www.distributeit.com.au/login.html
Domain admin portal is up and running (does not allow renewal) : https://www.distributeit.com.au/cgi-bin/domain_new_login.pl
Retail (Click N Go) domain renewal form located at: http://www.netregistry.com.au/clickngo/RenewalForm.pdf
All registry access was restored and all types of renewals should now be working
Reseller prepaid credit top up is available in DIT Reseller system however currently being reconciled
Credit Card payments to DIT for domain renewal now works
Password recovery for retail customers - up and working, simply request a password reset ( https://www.distributeit.com.au/cgi-bin/domain_new_password.pl )
Password recovery for reseller customers - this is done via email, so will continue to work in this way
SSL orders - currently unavailable
In-Transfers - currently unavailable
New registrations - currently unavailable
SMS services - database was badly corrupted, still under review. Current ETA is 24hrs to uptime for the system.

Hosting services up for renewal

2011-06-29T19:01:00.000+10:00

As both Distribute IT and Click 'n Go clients are currently unable to renew their web hosting services through the DistributeIT systems, we have now ensured that no hosting services will expire before they are migrated into the Netregistry platform. This will safeguard against any clients hosting services from being suspended during this period.

Unfortunately for those clients whose hosting services have already been suspended, these will remain suspended until you contact us to have it re-instated. Please emails us immediately via support2@distributeit.com.au

As soon as we have migrated services into the Netregistry platform, clients will have access to renew services directly and billing will resume.

Direct customer domain management issues with the Whitelabel interface

2011-06-29T16:03:00.002+10:00

Please be aware that Partners (Resellers) utilising the Whitelabel template system are currently unable to allow direct customer management of domains. Our System Administrators are currently investigating this issue. However until this is resolved, Partners using the whitelabel system will unfortunately have to manually process domain renewals directly through the Distribute IT system unless they also use the API (which is operational).

Although clients of whitelabel Partners cannot renew domains direct, they are still able to login via the reseller system to change delegation, view the domain password and update contact details.

Unfortunately at this time we cannot provide an ETA.

Domain Renewals for Click 'n Go customers

2011-06-29T15:18:00.001+10:00

Currently the automated domain renewal process for Click 'n Go customers is not reliable. Until we migrate customers within the next week over to the Netregistry Group platform, customers who wish to renew their domain name/s will need to use the manual domain name renewal form, click here.

Service notification sent to DistributeIT partners with pre-paid credits

2011-06-29T13:12:00.000+10:00

The following notification has just been sent to DistributeIT partners with pre-paid credits.

As a result of widespread and significant inconsistencies that have been identified within the DistributeIT partner pre-paid credit balances, we have set all partners credit balances to ZERO. We will then start to reconcile accounts and once completed we will then re-instate correct pre-paid credit balances.

We will make best commercial endeavours to complete this reconciliation within one calendar month, however it is dependent on the completeness of the available data.

We ask all partners to pay per transaction for services such as domain name renewals, using credit cards during this reconciliation process.

DistributeIT partners using the API (including WHMCS) will need to insert their credit card details, deductions per transaction made through this API will be processed at the normal wholesale rate.

We sincerely apologise for any inconveniences that this may cause. Any enquiries regarding this notification, please email accounts@distributeit.com.au

Wrap up of Service Status for 28/6/2011

2011-06-28T23:56:00.002+10:00

Wrap up for 28 June 2011

All registry access was restored and all types of renewals should now be working
Reseller prepaid credit top up now available in DIT Reseller system
Credit Card payments to DIT for domain renewal now works
Password recovery for retail customers – up and working, simply request a password reset
Password recovery for reseller customers – this is done via email, so will continue to work in this way
SSL orders – currently unavailable
Inward-Transfers – currently unavailable
New registrations – currently unavailable
SMS services – database was badly corrupted, still under review. Current ETA is 48hrs to uptime for the system.

Restoration of SMS services

2011-06-28T19:08:00.000+10:00

Unfortunately the database running SMS services is very badly corrupted and recovery of these services is taking longer than expected. The current ETA for restoration of these services is 48 hours.

If you have any urgent enquiries regarding the SMS services, please email support2@distributeit.com.au and we will respond to your enquiry as soon as possible.

Credit card payments for domain renewals and account top-ups

2011-06-28T18:49:00.000+10:00

We have restored the webpay system functionality to enable credit card payments for all domain name renewals and Distribute IT partner prepaid credit top-ups. Confirmation emails upon receipt of these payments are also being successfully sent.

If you have not yet paid for your domain name renewal, please login now via the following links:

Login location for DistributeIT partners: https://www.distributeit.com.au/login.html
Login location for Click 'n Go customers: https://www.distributeit.com.au/cgi-bin/domain_login.pl

Password recovery tool for Click 'n Go customers

2011-06-28T18:33:00.000+10:00

Our technicians have now restored operation to the password recovery tool that can be used by all Click 'n Go customers. If you have not yet received an email containing your newly assigned password, please visit the following page:

https://www.distributeit.com.au/cgi-bin/domain_new_password.pl

With this password you will be able to login to the system to manage your domains. Please be aware that at this stage no new domain registrations, transfers or new hosting orders are being processed.

DistributeIT partners can request to have the password supplied via email, unfortunately this system is not automated.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: Bulk solution for distribute.IT Partners.

2011-06-28T17:56:00.000+10:00

Netregistry is working on a solution for distribute.IT partners that will address the major issues identified to date. This is an alternative to the current DIT System.

We believe that after an exhaustive evaluation of all the alternatives this is the one that is best suited to the requirements, circumstances and issues that now need to be addressed.

Specifically, the solution we are expecting to deliver shortly addresses the following:

bulk import of names from DIT without requiring domain owners to agree to/acknowledge the change (no chasing customers for transfer authorisation)
no associated retail arm – pure reseller brand
Full White Label capability
WHMCS integration that respects the current distribute.IT API Calls
negotiable pricing tables per customer
brandable notification emails
full integrated solution with hosting and other services for resellers who want to resell hosting etc
single sign on for resellers to manage full portfolio
Partner branded interface to provide partner customers per domain login and self management capability
much, much more.

I don't want to be more specific about the solution at this point other than to make the following points:

This is a full featured Partner platform designed from the ground up to take all the best features and capabilities of the Netregistry/TPP/PlanetDomain and MD Web Hosting Reseller Systems.
It has been in development for years
Although it has not yet been released, it's been in production for certain reseller brands that have beta tested it for some time.
It is a little early in our release cycle and needs a bit of polish, but is fully featured, production ready, rock solid and has a large development team standing behind it.
I believe featurewise it is a superset of the DIT System – in other words it brings many, many new features and misses none.

We expect to be in a position to migrate all DIT partners within a short period – days, not weeks.

I ask you for a few more days of patience and support. I will continue to update you here and on our blog with further information as it becomes available. I am bringing forward this announcement as there continues to be significant challenges with the DIT system and I believe in the interest of all, we need to move partners onto a permanent solution, although ideally I would have made this announcement once I had a specific day targeted for the migration.

What I can say is that this outcome has been worked on from the day we announced the acquisition of distribute.IT. I truly belive this outcome is the best for Partners – no end customers need be inconvenienced with confusing domain transfer notices that mention providers that compete with you. I look forward to working with you all and building an ongoing relationship based on providing you with the best partner products, services and tools designed to help you profitably grow your business with your customers and with us.

Larry Bloch
CEO
Netregistry

Netregistry Group decides to retire the Click 'n Go brand, please login via the DistributeIT systems

2011-06-28T13:35:00.003+10:00

Following the recent hacking event and the acquisition fo Distribute.IT and Click 'n Go by the Netregistry Group Ltd, we have decided to retire the Click ‘n Go brand. Customer's can continue to manage their domains and services via the Distribute.IT control panel (see link below), however, please not there is still limited functionality.

Click 'n Go customers will be migrated into Netregistry - you will become a direct client of Netregistry. This means you will get all the benefits of our world-class infrastructure, our highly experienced 24x7 technical support staff, access to a complete suite of services and hosting customers can be assured that they will be placed on our secure cloud clustered, load-balanced infrastructure – a system housed at the Global Switch data centre – the largest data centre in the Southern hemisphere.

All Click 'n Go customers were notified today via email, providing them with login details to the Distribute.IT registry systems that our technicians have restored. Please login here: https://www.distributeit.com.au/cgi-bin/domain_login.pl

If you have not received your new login details, please note we are working through the list of bounced emails and all such custoemrs will be contacted in due course. If you haven't received your new password and have not had a call within 24 hours, please email support@clickngo.com.au and make sure to set:

Subject: CNG Customer needing password

and include the following information in your email:

Your Name
Telephone Number
Company Name
Domain Name(s)
CnG User ID
Email Address

and any other information that will help us identify your account with Click 'n Go.

Update for Click 'n Go customers

2011-06-28T13:12:00.000+10:00

All Click 'n Go customers should receive an email today regarding their services.
There will be separate emails sent outlining your options regarding website/email services and new details regarding your domain management login.
Any emails that fail to send we will contact customers directly.

UPDATE: Domain Registry's data sync currently in progress

2011-06-27T14:19:00.001+10:00

The most recent stable backup of the Distribute.IT management system was on 23/05/11. As we have restored systems from this backup any transactions, updates, modifications between 23/05/11 and 11/06/11 to domain names that existed in the system are currently correctly recorded in the Registry, but are incorrectly displaying in the Distribute.IT system. Similarly, domains registered between 23/05/11 and 11/06/11 currently exist in the Registry but are not listed in the Distribute.IT system.

We are actively working to reconcile these modifications and registrations to ensure the Distribute.IT system displays the latest information. Please bear with us whilst this reconciliation occurs.

Additionally once the systems went offline on 11/06/11, modifications were being handled manually via instruction via emails sent to the Distribute.IT Gmail account. Again domain status in the Registry will be correct, however the Distribute.IT system, at this stage will be incorrect.

We are actively working on reconciling the data, which will load in the missing domains. Once this is completed we can then sync domains with all the various registries to load the correct state into the Distribute.IT system. We have to sync one Registry at a time. As you can imagine this is a time consuming process and these will be ranked in priority, based on the total number of domains under management in that Registry, for example .au will be the first Registry.

Because of all this, pending items that clients are initiating through the restored Distribute.IT platform are queuing and being periodically processed manually. Please bear with us, as this manual process is longer than normal. As soon as the reconciliation processes are completed, we will start to automate these items and systems will return to regular operations.

Domain Admin Login Page

2011-06-26T18:59:00.001+10:00

The Domain admin login page for all retail domain names can be accessed here:

https://www.distributeit.com.au/cgi-bin/domain_new_login.pl

This page is for logging in to manage individual domains for direct customers.

Note, passwords to those accounts were also rolled/reset. We will notify users of passwords to those interfaces as soon as data on domains and users becomes available.

UPDATE. .nz now live, data syncing to registries

2011-06-26T10:57:00.000+10:00

Netregistry and Distribute.IT engineers have informed that Distribute.IT .nz management should now be operational.

We have been running some scripts on the system, to bring the .au data into sync with the registry. This should then ensure that resellers account data reflects the .AU registry for itens such as contacts and passwords.

While we are doing that we have to stop the crons so updates stay pending, as they queue. This will be going on through the day, so changes may not reflect as quickly as you are used to, but they will happen, please be patient.

UPDATE: Available domain endings

2011-06-25T17:56:00.002+10:00

Please find below the list of available TLD endings for which the Distribute.IT System is fully functional (and those that are still unavailable).

.au : available
.com/.net: available
.co.uk: available
.info: available
.asia: available
.mobi: available
.org: UNAVAILABLE
.nz: UNAVAILABLE - see below
Webnic: available

Webnic domain TLDs:

.hk

.ph

.jp

.kr

.sg

.my

.tw

.in

With .NZ, the issue is that our security keys are non-functional and we therefore cannot get authority into the .nz system until we are issued a new set of keys. This will most likely not happen until business hours in New Zealand (but we will continue to try and get this resolved).

UPDATE: Registry Systems presently functional for Distribute.IT

2011-06-25T16:51:00.002+10:00

Distribute.IT can now confirm we now have administrative access and EPP access to the following registries:

.info

.asia

.mobi

(in addition to .au, .com, .net which we already had).

We should get .org in the next 24 hours.

We should also be able to get .nz working soon too.

Unsure of ETA for .biz atm.

Please note we have not enabled regitration of new domain names.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Distribute.IT WOIS Service resumed

2011-06-25T15:12:00.000+10:00

A critical piece of damaged infrastructure, the WHOIS Service, has been repaired and is now operational.

DOMAIN ONLY SYSTEM UP: Working partially.

2011-06-25T14:15:00.004+10:00

NOTE: New registrations still cannot be registered.

The Distribute.IT domain management system is back up and running. There are some ongoing issues our engineers are working on to address. Currently we have back end registry connections to

AusRegistry (.AU)
Verisign (.com/.net)

.biz and others are not yet up but will be in due course. That will be announced on this blog.

The API and WHMCS integration is back up and working. Some users still can't see the login page but this is most likely due to DNS propagation issues and will resolve itself in due course.

The best up to the minute communications on this matter is on the Whirlpool forum here:

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1724177&p=-1&#bottom

(that link takes you to the last post on that board).

Please report any reseller issues to resellersupport@distribueit.com.au and include relevant info in the subject line.

Netregistry / DistributIT thank all customers for their patience and support and apologise for the difficulties faced as a result o fthe original hacking incident.

UPDATE: SSH for colo, SMS update, WHOIS

2011-06-25T12:50:00.000+10:00

SSH services resumed for co-lo

VDS – if you are having issues, please email details including phone numbers to contact you by emailing resellersupport@distributeit.com.au with Subject: VDS Issue
.
SMS – some client services restored (about ½ of all clients, other ½ still down). That's moved up the priority list now.

WHOIS – we've had some major breaks on that this morning. It's close to being up here, if that fails we've got 2 staff in Sydney working solely on replicating and getting a service running out of Syd today.

If all goes well here, WHOIS may be resumed within the next hour.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Setting Distribute.IT System live

2011-06-25T12:42:00.000+10:00

We are setting the system live. Currently for Verisign (.com/.net) and .au, still working on the others.

There is a TTL (Time to Live) in the DNS that will take a bit of time, so it may take some time for services to be visible to all resellers.

Those resellers that have not received a notification email overnight with your new password, please email:

Name:
Company:
DIT Account Number:
Login:
Email:
Phone contact:

To resellersupport@distributeit.com.au with Subject: Reseller [A/C #]: Password Not Yet Received

There may well be further issues but we are choosing to get the system up without extensive testing so please be careful and report any errors to the email address above.

UPDATE: Progress of restoring Distribute.IT Systems

2011-06-25T12:29:00.000+10:00

We have had some decent wins this morning, which is about time, yesterday was a complete grovel.

Front end of the domain management interface has largely been sorted - this is the interface resellers use to manage their domain names.

Back end of the domain management interface has largely been sorted for the major registries. This is the part that interfaces with the various registries for registration, transfer etc.

Tying those two systems together are a bunch of automated scripts. These appear to be missing. Our engineers are working on restoring/rewriting these. That should be the final step from what we can see we can see before a general release, pending final testing.

WHOIS we've recovered what we need – and I'm relatively confident are close to getting that up. I'll have a further report on that soonish.

Reseller prepaid credit with Distribute.IT

2011-06-24T16:06:00.002+10:00

Netregistry Group will endevour to honour all Distribute.IT reseller’s with pre-paid credits
Following yesterday’s news regarding the acquisition of Distribute.IT and Click n Go’s customer assets, I would like to announce a conditional commitment to honouring monies in reseller pre-paid accounts.

Under the old Distribute IT payment plan, a number of resellers were participating in a prepaid credit system. This allowed them to register and renew domain names and services with previously deposited monies.

As a result of the acquisition deal the Netregistry Group are legally not liable for any monies which are owed by Distribute.IT as they form part of the liabilities not acquired by Netregistry.

That said, as a gesture of good will and in the interest of assisting resellers, we endeavour to honour all prepaid reseller credits.

Let me say straight away that as this is an unfolding situation I am basing this decision on preliminary and possibly incomplete information. I will qualify our intention by saying that if we discover the quantum is materially more than currently appears to be the case, or if other material information arises that impacts this decision, we may have to honour less that 100 cents in the dollar. So I am announcing an early, conditional but clear intention. I hope thereby to alleviate some uncertainty around the status of these monies.

That conditionality noted, this means that any credits which were previously sitting with Distribute.IT will be transferred with the asset acquisition. This will allow resellers to purchase from Distribute.IT / Netregistry using those credits via your reseller accounts.

Please note that this will not happen immediately. We ask for you to bear with us whilst we asses billing and payment history and gather information relating to each reseller.

Current Status of Specific Services - 2pm 24/06/11

2011-06-24T14:06:00.000+10:00

Domain Management Platform

Netregistry & Distribute.IT’s technicians are working to restore access to Distribute.IT’s registry system so partners can manage their domain names. Unfortunately the system will be restricted to management and renewals only, ie no new registrations will be available and no new hosting accounts will be able to be ordered.

For urgent domain registrations, domains can be registered through Netregistry or TPP Internet.

Web Hosting – Shared Hosting Services

Please be aware, all data that is up now is being run from Melbourne. For the data that is up now in Melbourne, the System Administrator team are working to physically migrate it to our Sydney data centre (Global Switch) in due course. More information will be provided as it becomes available.

VPS and Co-Location Services

SSH access has been disabled temporarily for security reasons. As soon as the domain management platform access is restored our engineers will look at solutions for customers disadvantaged by this. We apologise however security and stability is of primary importance.

Latest update from the team in Melbourne

2011-06-24T12:13:00.000+10:00

We attempted to re-sync a large volume of data to Sydney overnight which failed at around 4am.

At this stage we've gone to a Plan B, and are looking at having to restore the Distribute.IT system out of Melbourne. Not the end of the world, but adds in complexity for us next week – because at best we need the data in Sydney and running from there next week.

I've got one Distribute.IT Level 2 Customer Service operator going to Sydney today to start training and mentoring the Netregistry staff, and another either late this evening or tomorrow.

The distribute888@gmail.com email address still has around 700 open items in it, the Customer Service operator's here put in 12+ hours yesterday working on that, till we sent them home around 8pm. We've prioritized those items with domain renewals, domain updates at the top of the list. Status updates the like today will all be cleared out and directed to the Netregistry update page, as will partners asking when the domain management system or aspects of it will be online.

From this point forward please do not send anymore email to the gmail account.

Right now we are evaluating VDS and co-lo operations.

Urgent customer enquiries contact

2011-06-24T11:42:00.001+10:00

If your domain name/s has expired, you will need to contact us to renew it for you. Or if you had a website or email with Distribute.IT and you're delegated to the nameservers ns1 and 2.dithost.com - you need to setup a free hosting account with Netregistry as a matter of urgency to put up a maintenance notice and restore email operation for your business.

Customers who are experiencing the above please contact us via the emergency contact address distributeit@netregistry.com.au.

Customer Service contact details

2011-06-24T10:02:00.000+10:00

Support contact channels have been restored for customer correspondence as below, please contact the appropriate channel for a resolution on your query:

Domains (renewals, transfers, registry info, delegation): domains@distributeit.com.au
Accounts (billing, client data/lists, prepaid credit): accounts@distributeit.com.au
Support (tech support on hosting, email, dns, ssl, sms): support@distributeit.com.au
Reseller Support (API, VPS): resellersupport@distributeit.com.au

Please be aware there are delays in response due to the number of queries incoming and the size of the service uptime restoration ahead.

Update from Netregistry Group Chief Operating Officer - Brett Fenton

2011-06-24T09:14:00.000+10:00

My role was largely to figure out the strategy for us and them and manage all the operational details across both sites. Now we are in the technical execution phase, the strategy is largely in place.

Right now we are porting Distribute.IT's application and data to a clean and sandboxed location that we can completely control. We believe we can have the existing Distribute.IT domains system up, running out of Sydney by this afternoon (Friday, 24th June). So people using the API to that system, or the system generally will have domain management.

In parallel we are looking at exporting the data into the Netregistry Group console in case Plan A fails. Again, so customers will have at least some management capability available immediately.

The Distribute.IT system is a short term solution. We can't manage large numbers of applications, so I think it's fair to say retirement is likely in the medium term, and the system will be replaced by something equivalent or better. And again clearly communicated and well in advance of any changes. Just like we did with every other migration we've undertaken within Netregistry Group.

We are replicating shared hosting, that hasn't been lost, across to Sydney. For sites that are up and running, we'll announce further details – I don't believe there will be downtime (or at least significant downtime) while we port. This will be happening through next week.

We are reviewing the lost data to see what can or can't be recovered. In the meantime we'll provision new hosting accounts on the console for those clients, give them logins and invite them to load anything they have available in addition to creating mailboxes etc. If we can salvage user data, we can provide that. Again a set of processes that will happen over the next week. Though hosting accounts will be available tomorrow.

Co-lo clients are running and up, so we are reviewing that today, once a plan is drawn over those clients, we'll announce. Likewise on clients on VPS solutions.

We are still working on Registry access for a number of spaces to allow our Customer Service staff to manually manage domains on request.

People are asking about pre-paid credit. Again we need to look at the gross value of that credit and devise a plan. We'd ask for a bit of patience, the technical and communications side of things are the priority, the administration side will be closely reviewed next week. Again clients with pre-paid credit will be identified and communicated with, probably on a case by case basis either late next week, or early the week after. I would say there Netregistry has not purchased liabilities in Distribute.IT, so what we offer there will be as goodwill, not a legal requirement. Having said that we'll do the best we can for everyone in this sorry affair.

Netregistry Group acquires Distribute.IT and Click 'n Go

2011-06-23T18:32:00.000+10:00

Distribute.IT and Click 'n Go have recently been acquired by the Netregistry Group – the largest domain group in Australia. We want to help affected customers get back online as quickly as possible, but please understand that we have taken over management of this distressed business with very short notice. We appreciate your patience at this difficult time.

We will communicate to all customers via email as soon as possible. For more information and to view updates as they become available, please visit: http://www.netregistry.com.au/distributeit/

Systems Updates 22 June 4pm

2011-06-22T16:37:00.000+10:00

Technicians have advised they have made substantial progress now with restoration of the core reseller services (domains/ssl/sms). They advise they expect services will start to come back online from tomorrow, including the ability to manage domain names, whois service, etc.

We will be communicating with all resellers directly via email to confirm new passwords for all accounts, as we are changing these as a matter of process to ensure that your accounts are secure.

More updates on these developments will be posted as they come to hand.

Update, Shared Hosting Clients - 21st June 2011

2011-06-21T09:46:00.000+10:00

Our Data Recovery teams have been working around the clock in an attempt to recover data from the affected servers shared Servers. At this time, We regret to inform that the data, sites and emails that were hosted on Drought, Hurricane, Blizzard and Cyclone can be considered by all the experts to be unrecoverable. While every effort will be made to continue to gain access to the lost information from those hosting servers, it seems unlikely that any usable data will can be salvaged from these platforms. In assessing the situation, our greatest fears have been confirmed that not only was the production data erased during the attack, but also key backups, snapshots and other information that would allow us to reconstruct these Servers from the remaining data.

We have been advised by the team and the storage & capacity managers that we no longer have sufficient resources within the platform to transfer the 4,800 domains and accounts to other parts of the platform, and at this point we cannot undertake further provisioning of servers & accounts on the current infrastructure. This leaves us little choice but to assist you in any way possible to transfer your hosting and email needs to other hosting providers. We would like to thank those loyal customers who have stuck by us during this difficult time and elected to have their hosting remain on our servers. Your thoughts, consideration and kindness will not be easily forgotten. Much soul-searching and thought has gone into taking this course of action, but at this time we cannot see any alternatives for the affected servers.

When setting up Hosting with another Provider please email the new Nameserver settings which will be obtained from them to distributeit888@gmail.com and we'll make the changes as soon as possible.

The team will continue to try to recover the information from the affected servers; however at this time we have been advised by the recovery teams that the chances for recovery beyond the data and files so far retrieved are slim. The overall magnitude of the tragedy and the loss of our information and yours is simply incalculable; and we are distressed by the actions of the parties responsible for this reprehensible act.

Update - Sunday 19/6

2011-06-19T12:40:00.000+10:00

Staff are continuing to work through the remaining issues 24/7 and restore services to full operation as soon as possible.

Currently, we are into disaster recovery on the 4 remaining shared web servers - whilst we are working through this as quickly as possible, our support staff are also assisting clients where possible with setting up alternate hosting, to try and circumvent clients having to 'wait and see'.

We are hoping to be in a position Monday 20/6 to confirm reconnection of core domain registry, SSL and SMS services. The technical team on this task are currently working on data audits and reconnection of the various servers that provide these services.

When reconnection of reseller services is ready, we will be updating all reseller account passwords and sending each reseller information on this accordingly.

Contrary to some reports, DistributeIT does not store any credit card data in its databases or logs, so have no reason to believe that clients' financial data has been compromised. We also are NOT of the opinion that domain names have been compromised, as the nature of the attack appears to have been more targeted at destruction rather than theft, of data. As a matter of course, however, we will be refreshing all domain name passwords.

The DistributeIT Situation Thus Far...

2011-06-17T18:17:00.000+10:00

As you would be aware, DistributeIT was the subject of a targeted, malicious, attack by hackers late on Saturday, June 11. The attack was a deliberate attempt to take down the DistributeIT business, and doesn't appear to be specifically aimed at stealing client data for gain. The attackers were coordinated in their approach and set out to do as much damage to our systems and software as possible, which they were largely successful at achieving. The attack was very swift, precise and lasted only a short duration and was targetted towards destroying drive header files therefore maximizing the impact in the short time they had before our engineers shut down the Network.

Following the attack, our staff have been working around the clock to recover all systems. Whilst many client services were restored on the Sunday/Monday, there are services still impacted by the incident which our staff are continuing to work through. The attackers clearly knew what they were looking for, and what damage they wanted to cause.

We are very upset and grieved over the loss of business to our valued clients, and the magnitude of this callous attack affects us all. We are still in the dark as to the true motives of the attackers, however at this time we cannot afford to dwell on these matters.

At this stage our priority is and always has been to help our clients get back online as quickly as possible, and we will be working for as long as it takes to achieve this outcome. Following that, we will be in a better position to make a more detailed press release regarding the nature of the incident, and our plans moving forward.

Update 2pm - 17/6

2011-06-17T13:55:00.000+10:00

Engineers have confirmed that routing issues affecting some VDS clients have now been resolved and normal services returned to affected customers.

Work is continuing on the recovery of the remaining shared servers, but we are still unable to provide any accurate indication of time for resolution on these.

Reseller systems are progressing as outlined yesterday. Staff are working with the registries presently to configure and test connections prior to relaunch.

We are aiming to post some more detailed information on the nature of the attack and more detailed status of remaining issues later today, however our focus continues to be on restoration of services and assisting clients as quickly as possible at this stage.

Update 9pm - 16/6

2011-06-16T21:16:00.000+10:00

Firstly we would like to again express our gratitude for the many clients that have forwarded their generous words of encouragement and support as we work through restoring all services for clients. The sentiment from most, regarding the nature of the attack, appears to be universal and we appreciate everyone's support and many offers of assistance.

Please find following a detailed analysis of where we stand right now:

Registry Systems:
Engineers advise they are down to the final server required to restore normal client domain, SSL, SMS, etc functionality. This is a very sizable server in the group and unfortunately is taking a lot of time to check over thoroughly prior to releasing. At the conclusion of this we will be final operational checks and coordinating resumption of services with the Registries and governing bodies.

Realistically we are looking 24-48 hours before we get the final green light from all parties concerned. We will of course update you if this time-frame changes...

As previously noted, please forward any urgent nameserver updates and renewal request to distributeit888@gmail.com and we will action these as soon as possible.

Shared Servers:
DR recovery is continuing for the remaining 4 shared servers that are offline. This is also a very long and complicated process and we are unable to give a definitive ETA. We are acutely aware of the impact clients businesses are experiencing, so if any clients on these servers are wishing to redelegate to another provider (and have their domain registered through DistributeIT also), please forward your new nameservers to us for immediate attention and we will assist as much as possible to facilitate to move.

Dedicated/VDS Servers:
A large number of dedicated server clients are now fully operational, although we do note there are a couple that are still experiencing some issues. We are working through these directly with each client, so if you are experiencing any issues with a VDS or colocated server, please email us at distributeit888@gmail.com.

We would like to express our thanks, yet again, for your continued support and encouragement whilst we work through this painstaking process.

Update 9:30am - 16 June

2011-06-16T09:31:00.000+10:00

Engineers have this morning advised DR recovery on remaining servers, and registry services, is still progressing. Data recovery takes a long time to complete, check and then restore, especially given there are a few servers involved in this instance. It is also not possible to give a definitive ETA on any of the servers whilst this phase is underway.

Next update in 6 hours, or on restoration if sooner.

Update 6:30pm - 15 June

2011-06-15T18:52:00.000+10:00

Engineers advise that they are still progressing well through the remaining issues, but have not provided any further information on ETA's as yet for the remaining issues.

Further updates through the night will be posted on completion of any outstanding issues, otherwise we will provide another update on all outstanding matters early morning 16/6.

Domain Names and Renewals

2011-06-15T09:46:00.000+10:00

While data recovery processes are currently being carried out on our product servers, we have made provisions to assist you with expiring domains and processing of renewals and transfers.

.NZ Domains

An arrangement is currently in place with the NZ registry to extend all expiry dates. This will ensure that your domains will remain current should they expire in the near future.

Other Registry Renewals

For all other expiring domains that require renewal the previous instructions remain in place (http://distributeitsupport.blogspot.com/2011/06/urgent-domain-renewals.html) and the support team will attend to those.

Any other general inquiries such as name server management etc can be directed to distributeit888@gmail.com and will be addressed as necessary.

Latest State of Play for All Servers

2011-06-15T09:32:00.000+10:00

Shared Servers

The following shared servers remain down:

Hurricane
Drought
Blizzard
Cyclone

Data Recovery process are still proceeding on these servers. Unfortunately we are unable to offer an ETA at this point. We hope to be able to advise an ETA as the day proceeds.

Network Routing, Co-location, VPS & VDS

Changes to the network infrastructure are now completed. Most of the routing issues have been resolved and any clients that remain affected will see their routing issued resolved today. This should resolve any further server connectivity issues.

While we continue to assess network vulnerabilities, some port lock-downs will continue to be in place. We would ask that those of you affected by these measures please remain patient whilst we assess the various parts of the network.

Further, we would advise clients that they should ensure that all administrative password to their servers should be changed.

Updates 5:30pm 14 June

2011-06-14T17:45:00.000+10:00

Current status of works is as follows:

- In addition to the earlier list of servers that have now been restored, shared web servers Storm, Volcano, and Whirlwind have also been restored this afternoon
- Shared web servers Hurricane, Drought, Blizzard and Cyclone are still being worked on by engineers. No ETA is being provided on these at this stage.
- Engineers are still working on some routing issues for some VDS servers
- Domain Registration systems are still being reviewed by engineers. We do not expect these to be available until tomorrow at the earliest.

Please note that phone support is affected by this issue and will not be available until further notice. We apologize for the inability to provide phone support, but given the breadth of the incident, our call centre simply cannot handle the volume of calls presently. Please note that most staff are working outside of the office, so we are unable to provide any face-to-face support either - As we are sure you can appreciate, our focus is on getting client services operational as soon as possible, so have placed all available resources into assisting with restoration of services.

Urgent Domain Renewals

2011-06-14T13:58:00.000+10:00

For those clients & resellers requiring urgent domain name renewals for expired or expiring domains, please forward your requests via email to distributeit888@gmail.com and we will manually action these asap on your behalf.

Please only provide domains already past expiry or expiring imminently (next 24 hours or so) to ensure we can process the most critical renewals in a timely manner.

Updates - 12:30pm 14/6/11

2011-06-14T12:31:00.000+10:00

The following shared servers have now been cleared and reconnected. Services are operational on these servers again:

- Plesk 1
- Plesk 2
- Plesk 3
- Lahar
- Avalanche
- Torrent
- Tornado

Staff continue to work through all other servers and we will post updates as soon as they come to hand.

Updates - 10:30am 14/6/11

2011-06-14T10:55:00.000+10:00

Current status is as follows:

Staff are working through servers one-by-one to check for any problems, and then restoring. many of the colocation servers are reconnected, with staff now mostly focusing on virtual dedicated, and shared servers presently.

These efforts are continuing with staff working around-the-clock to get all services restored as quickly as possible. We are endeavouring to contact clients as quickly as possible, once we get confirmation your server/service is available again.

Notice - Service Disruptions

2011-06-13T20:26:00.000+10:00

Dear Valued Client,

As most of you are aware, Distribute IT's systems are currently offline due to a deliberate, premeditated and targeted attack on our Network.

The extent of the attack is quite broad and recovery efforts have been underway since the Network was locked down Saturday evening (11/6/11). This attack was a deliberate aim at the Company and our clients and as a valued client you should know the facts.

As at 8pm, June 13 (AEST):
- Engineers have now reconfigured the network from top to bottom, and completed phase 1 of their investigations
- Technical staff are working through all servers in the environment, one-by-one, investigating any potential compromise or issues, and will then be re-opening them to the Internet.

At this stage we are unsure on any data loss, and office communications (phone/email) are also affected. The first step has been for the engineers to work through the network config with a fine brush to ensure it is locked down, then systematically work through restoration of servers/services (which is the phase they are now in).

We will, in the interim, continue to post updates to Twitter (twitter.com/distributeit) to try and keep you all informed as best as possible.

Suffice to say we are confident of providing authorities with usable information to try and locate the source of this dispicable act. Our thoughts, however, are first and foremost with getting all services restored as quickly as possible, but as you can appreciate, given the nature of the attack, we will not be doing this without investigating everything to its fullest extent first.

Please accept our sincerest apologies for the significant inconvenience this is causing everyone involved. We would like to express our gratitude also at this time, to those many clients who have sent notes of support during a very difficult period.

Management & Staff
DistributeIT