Server upgrades and scheduled downtime

We will upgrade our application servers with more memory and our services will be unavailable while we replace the RAM.

The upgrade will be done Tuesday June 26 at approximately 7:30 AM CET (5:30 AM GMT, 1:30 AM EST) and it will take 30-60 minutes to complete.

We apologize for any inconvenience caused and thank you for your understanding.

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Font size in Compose screen

There are font size increase/decrease buttons in the lower left corner of Webmail, and these also control the font size in the Compose window in Runbox 5 Basic mode.

Now we have fixed a bug so it also works in Runbox 5 Enhanced mode where the Compose screen opens in a new window.

It doesn’t yet work when writing HTML messages since the HTML editor (TinyMCE) is a separate program and isn’t entirely integrated with Runbox.

For more information about the different versions of Runbox, please see the Webmail Help page.

 

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[Resolved] Reduced IMAP responsiveness 03052012

Recently we’ve been having some slowness and timeouts on IMAP connections, and we’ve been working to find the cause.

We have discovered that a misconfiguration has distributed load unevenly and we’re now working to distribute the connections better to improve performance.

Please let us know if you notice any difference in IMAP responsiveness in the coming hours and days.

Update: 01:30 – 2012/05/04 – Things seem much better now. Please let us know if you experience something else.

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Notice to customers paying via bank wire transfer (SWIFT)

For those of our customers who pay for their Runbox subscriptions via bank wire transfer (SWIFT), please note that our bank account number has changed from 7023… to 1503…

To pay via bank wire transfer and to ensure that your payment is sent to Runbox Solutions AS, please select “Pay with other methods” after choosing which products to renew in the payment process. You will then be instructed to pay to the correct bank account number.

If you have any questions, please contact us via https://support.runbox.com.

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[Solved] Network issues outside our data center

Some of our users are experiencing issues connecting to our servers. There seems to be some switches on the route to our systems that are not passing on traffic like they should.

The problem is outside our control but we are trying to find out what’s going on and will update you as soon as we have more information.

Update 1: This is not a very scientific result, but from this overview we cant see any issues except from Birmingham, UK: http://host-tracker.com/check_res_ajx/10185412-0

Update 2: The upstream provider of our upstream provider says this is solved now. We will get a report about the issue on Monday.

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Hardware and software upgrades

We have been hard at work behind the scenes for a while on both hardware and software upgrades of the Runbox email services.

Here’s a summary of what we’re currently working on:

New backup system

Last week we added a new backup system with advanced ZFS storage which triples our backup capacity. Not only does this allow us to store backup for much longer than the current one month, but the backup server is powerful enough to act as production storage in the unlikely event that the main storage systems go down.

New MX servers

We have recently added a new MX (mail exchanger) server as the first step in replacing all of our 3 MX servers. The new server is the first of 3 or 4 virtualized servers and is part of a new configuration regime that lets us roll out new servers much easier than before.

New database servers

Additionally we’re planning to replace the main database server with two new and much more powerful ones. This will not only improve performance of nearly all parts of the Runbox email service but make it much more reliable. We hope to have this completed within 2-3 months.

Other planned server upgrades

We’re also going to start replacing several other units with new, virtualized servers which will make our services much more manageable, flexible, and efficient. We expect these upgrades to be completed with 5-6 months.

Runbox 6

Meanwhile, we’re working on the next generation of the Runbox Webmail. Initially this will mostly be a compatibility upgrade as the entire Runbox web application has been rewritten to work with Mod_Perl2Apache 2. Runbox 6 will have a couple of new features such as message tagging and improved sub-account management, but will more importantly lay the foundation for further enhancements in the time to come.

More information about all these upgrades will be posted in the near future!

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Tips for choosing and protecting passwords

Most people feel that choosing a password is a hassle and consequently spend far too little time on it. However, establishing a good password regime can save you lots of time in the long run and lots of grief by preventing attacks by criminals — and it can even be fun!

How to easily create a great password

Just try to think of a password system that will help you create secure passwords that you can also remember easily. One simple example is to pick the first (or second, third, etc) letter in a sentence you invent. Then substitute some of them for symbols or add some numbers and special characters.

For instance, the sentence:

  • I really think that creating and remembering a complex password is a hassle!
  • …becomes Irttcaracpiah! when selecting the first letter of each word…
  • …which after replacing some of the letters with numbers or symbols ends up as the virtually unguessable Ir++c&racp1ah! (don’t use this password as your own!).

To make the password unique for each service you use, preventing a potential intruder from breaking into more than one account, add words or letters that are associated with each service.

Just think of a sentence and get creative — you can even use full sentences up to 64 characters if you want!

Password selection rules

In general, try to do the following when choosing a password:

  • Avoid using dictionary words and names.
  • Never use sequences of letters or numbers such as “qwerty” or “123456”.
  • Avoid familiar items that someone might guess (names, phone numbers, etc).
  • Use a combination of letters, numbers, and special characters.
  • Use 8 or more characters.

See also:

Protect your password

Once you have chosen a good password you need to protect it from possible attackers.

  • Avoid using one password for all your logins!
  • Try to choose a password you can memorize so you won’t have to write it down.
  • Never share your password with anyone.
  • Avoid logging in from public computers. If you do, then always use https://secure.runbox.com which provides encrypted transfer of all your data.
  • Check the Account page for any suspicious login attempts to your account.
  • Be careful opening email attachments from people you don’t know or trust — it might contain a computer virus, a key logger that will snatch your login information, or other malevolent programs.

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Fixed: Spam problems

You might have noticed an increased influx of spam recently, and it’s caused by problems with the RBL (Real-time Blackhole List) we have been using at Runbox. An RBL is a list of domain names associated with spamming, and is used when filtering spam.

We’re working on a solution which will be better than what we had before, and hope to have it running within a couple of days.

Update: This was fixed on friday 17th of february when we implemented SpamHaus RBL.

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Phishing messages alert

During the recent days we have detected and neutralized a number of phishing attempts.

The most recent phishing attack is falsified to appear sent from soc@nullus-cert.gov and has a subject starting with Phishing incident report call number.

The message contains an attachment with a name similar to US-CERT Operations Center Report 6458549.zip.

If you receive such a message, please delete or disregard it.

In general, be careful when opening attachments or links in messages from senders you don’t trust.

Also, please remember that Runbox will never ask for your login details, especially not by email. See this page for more information about phishing:

What is spam, and how to avoid it

If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

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