New Email Defense Vendor

Due to the recent problems with the migration to the new Email Defense system from our current provider (Tucows), we have selected a new provider, Reflexion.net.  We have been beta testing this for a week on our domains and a handful of customer domains with positive results.


Migrating to New Vendor on Monday, 3/26/07

On Monday, we will start to move the rest of our Email Defense customers to this new system.  This should be completed by 5PM ET on Monday.  If we host your DNS (this is usually the case), then there will be no changes on your end.  If not, we'll send you the MX records you'll need to change with your DNS host to make the new service active.

We will be adding all your current Email Defense accounts to the new system.  Due to the differences between the systems, the following will *NOT* be migrated:
    - User and domain accept/deny lists
    - Account passwords
    - Existing quarantined email

On Monday once we have set up your accounts on the new system, you as domain administrators will receive and email from us with your new login information.  If we host your DNS we will also make the new service active.  If not, the MX record information will be in that email.


Access to Old Email Defense Portal

You will still have access to the old system until the end of the month.  Your accounts will be able to log in there and release any quarantined emails.  During this time, your accounts will receive quarantine reports from the old system and the new system.  If you would like us to cancel the old system before the end of the month, please let us know--this will prevent your accounts from getting the old quarantine reports if you have had a chance to review and release any valid email.  If you
need the old system for longer than this, please let us know and we will extend it.


Migration FAQs

We have put together some FAQs on this migration.  This is a work in progress and we'll be adding more today and later based on any feedback we receive.


Service Credit Due to Prior Problems

We will be crediting your hosting account for one month of free Email Defense service due to the recent problems with our old vendor.  We are sorry this migration turned out to be a disaster.  Had we known in the beginning that the problems would have been so long-lasting we would have found a new vendor sooner.

If you have any questions about this, please email support@adaptivehostingsolutions.com

UPDATED 3:05 PM ET, 3/23/06: We will be moving all customers to the new vendor on Monday.

This morning we are evaluating a new provider for Email Defense. So far, it looks promising and offers more features than our current system. Once we have determined this is a good solution, we will offer those customers that want to move to it right away that option. If you would like us to contact you directly when this is ready, please submit a support request. Otherwise, stay tuned for an email later today.

UPDATED 2:10 PM ET: We are now accepting customers that want to beta test this new service. We have been using it since this morning and it is working well. To do this, submit a support request or send an email to support@adaptivehostingsolutions.com. If all goes well, we will be migrating all accounts to this new service next week.

Since approximately 5:30 PM ET, we have been seeing incoming email delays on mail through Email Defense. This is causing mail to be delayed and queued on the sending server. We have notified our vendor and are waiting for a response.

UPDATED 10:15 AM ET, 3/16/07: These delays subsided overnight, however, as of approximately 9:00 AM ET this morning, they have returned. We are waiting for a new update from our vendor. We are also actively looking for a new vendor for this service.

UPDATED 11:05 PM ET, 3/18/07: There are still some intermittent delays on incoming mail. As we noted on 3/16/07, we are in the process of testing a new vendor to replace our current vendor due to the problems of the last two weeks.

This is a follow up to the status updates posted here with details on the status of the Spam Quarantine Portal and reports. (originally posted 3/12/07)

Current Spam Quarantine Portal Status (Updated 3/18/07,  10:57 PM ET)
The Spam Quarantine Portal (SQP) should now be showing all quarantined messages. The backlog of old quarantined messages that wasn't showing previously has been processed.


Current Spam Quarantine Report Status (Updated 3/22/07,  1:00 PM ET)
Spam Quarantine Reports (SQR) are now being sent.

Email Defense is experiencing intermittent delays on incoming email. This is being investigated by our vendor. We will update this post when we have more information.

UPDATED 2:00 PM ET: The cause of the delays is a SYN flood DDoS attack on the email defense servers. Our vendor has taken steps to minimize this and mail is flowing better now but still not back to normal. They are continuing to work with their networking operations and upstream providers to minimize this.

UPDATED 2:15 PM ET: The delays have been minimized and mail is now flowing normally. We are waiting for an update from our vendor before calling this resolved.

UPDATED 7:35 PM ET: This issue has been resolved.

Since about 6:30 PM ET we have been seeing delayed delivery of incoming email for Email Defense customers.  We have notified our provider and are waiting for an update.  We will update this post with more information when we have it.

UPDATED 9:40 PM ET: Our testing has indicated the delays are back to seconds like they should be and the backlog of mail has been--or is in the process of being--delivered. We'll continue to monitor this.

UPDATED 8:15 AM ET, 3/9/07: Our monitoring throughout the night confirmed the delays have been resolved and backlogged mail was delivered shortly after 9:40 PM ET last night.

Many of the problems with Email Defense after last week's migration have been resolved, however, there are some outstanding issues.

Resolved Issues:
- Spam quarantined after approximately 4:30 PM ET on 3/14/07 is now all showing in the Email Defense Portal. (added 3/15/07)
- Portal logins should now be working from quarantine reports and the portal login page. (added 3/10/07)
- The rare problem with messages being bounced to the sender after being accepted by Email Defense has been fixed. (added 3/10/07)
- All domain settings were reset so "high likelihood" spam is now quarantined instead of denied to match the behavior of the old system. Domain administrators have access to change this if desired. (added 3/8/07)

Outstanding Issues:
- Spam Quarantine Reports not being sent to all accounts:
This is being worked on. (added 3/10/07)
- Less Spam in Quarantine than Before the Migration:
Some quarantined spam is not showing up in the portal. See this update for more details. (updated explanation on 3/15/07)

Spam Quarantine Reports have not been sent for all accounts/domains since the migration last week. Some accounts/domains may have received these but we haven't received them on our own domains and have had one customer report the same. Our Email Defense provider is working on resolving this.

You can log in to view your quarantine at any time at http://edefense.adaptivehostingsolutions.com/

We will update this post when we have an update on this.

UPDATED 3/10/07, 12:05 PM ET: Quarantine reports are going out for most users. A fix is in the works and should be tested tonight.

We are currently seeing incoming mail through domains on Email Defense being delayed anywhere from five to forty-five minutes.  Our Email Defense provider has identified the cause and it working to fix it. They are hoping to have this resolved by this afternoon.

No incoming mail is being lost. It is being accepted by the new Email Defense front end. However, due to a large number of messages on the outbound end, these messages are being queued longer (sometimes much longer) than normal. The cause of the backlog has been identified and steps are being taken to minimize it and eventually eliminate it. We will update this post when we have more information.

UPDATED 3:15 PM ET: We have been in contact with our Email Defense provider and they are still working on this. Unfortunately, we don't have an ETA on when this will be resolved. If you want your domain temporarily removed from Email Defense until this is resolved, please submit a support request and we'll take care of it.

UPDATED 8:10 PM ET: We just received an update from our Email Defense provider and they are giving an ETA of four to five hours to have the backlog of mail delivered and the delays reduced to a manageable time.

UPDATED 9:25 PM ET: Since our last update we have been seeing queued emails from earlier today being delivered so it does look like the backlog is being actively reduced.

UPDATED 7:30 AM ET, 3/2/07: The backlog has been cleared as of approximately 1:00 AM ET this morning and mail is being delivered normally at this time. We'll continue to monitor this to make sure everything is back to normal.

If you are using Email Defense but provide your own mail service, be sure you are allowing incoming connections from the new Email Defense server network, 64.97.158.0/24.

The new Email Defense service is now active. Last night's spam quarantine reports contain links to the old quarantine report which are no longer valid. You can log in at http://edefense.adaptivehostingsolutions.com/ to view the new Email Defense portal with your newly quarantined items. All passwords and other settings are retained in the new portal.


Accessing Your Old Email Defense Portal

Standard Email Defense users (that aren't Domain Administrators) will see the following link at the top left of the page in the new portal:
View Old Quarantine will take you to your personal quarantine in the old system. You should check your old quarantine and release or delete the messages there. This link will only be available for seven days.


Domain Administrators will see the following links at the top left of the page in the new portal:
View Old Quarantine will take you to your personal quarantine in the old system. View Old Domain Quarantine will take you to the domain's quarantine in the old system. These links will only be available for seven days.


New Settings

Blocked Languages
You can now block messages in a specific language. Domain Administrators can access this through the Settings/Blocked Languages section of the new portal.


Updated User and Domain Administrator Guides

The following manuals have been updated:

• Email Defense End User's Guide
• Email Defense Domain Administrator Guide

Updated Knowledgebase Articles

We are still working on updating our Email Defense Knowledgebase articles. We will update this section when they are complete.


Questions

If you have any questions, please submit a support request.