Hi Silvrbackers,

It's been awhile, but it hasn't been because we've been asleep! 

We’re changing the service provider that has been hosting Silvrback and this change will require some adjustments for many of you.

To be honest, such transitions create quite a bit of anxiety on our end as we realize not all things will work as smoothly as we’d hoped or as it worked in testing.

Why the Change?

We wouldn’t make a change of this nature without the belief that it will result in a better product from both a user perspective and from a management one.

Let me highlight a couple of these.

• Static IP Address. Our current provider provides a ‘dynamic’ IP address for Silvrback. This is not uncommon (in fact, it is common). However, some domain registrars (think Godaddy) moved toward a static or fixed IP requirement, which made us chase around to come up with a work around (see our last post). We now will have a static IP which should work for all conditions.
• Enhance General Performance. Kind of a wishy-washy label, but it captures the idea that we expect routine functionality to improve. Think image uploading, which has been cranky at times. Or ever see those ERROR 500s? Slow loading at times? Yep. You get the picture.
• Premium Offerings. Our plan is to explore offering a premium package for those interested in additional services, such as an SSL certificate to your personal domain, or access to some SEO options*, or perhaps an alternative to Disqus as an engagement tool. Just some ideas.
• Cost Containment. With the change, we expect to reduce overall operating costs for Silvrback. While the initial setup costs will be significant, day-to-day operating costs are expected to be lower over time.

*We currently have a few Silvrbackers using an https solution extended to their personal domains through a ‘hack’ we came up with. We’re not ecstatic about it, but it is functional under the current arrangement.

Overall, we expect the change to result in a better user experience and provide us more control over the platform and the offerings we provide.

When Will the Changeover Take Place?

The changeover will be made on March 29th at 2am U.S. CST (7am GMT).

Who Will Be Affected by This Changeover?

1) Well, first, who will be least affected? If your blog is hosted on Silvrback (and thus you’re not using a personal domain), you will not need to make any changes. For the most part, Silvrback will function as usual for you.

2) For those of you using a personal domain, however, you will need to change your DNS configuration in your domain registrar in order to connect to the new Silvrback host. For example, in the case of Godaddy, you click the DNS buttons associated with your domain and screens open for each record.

Specifically, you will need to remove/change your current DNS settings related to Silvrback.

• Create an A record (type) with NAME (Host) equal to @ and VALUE (points to) pointing to the IP 68.183.104.228
• Create a CNAME record (by clicking the ADD button in Godaddy) with a NAME www and a VALUE of silvrback.com.

*Note the TTL (Time to Live) may vary and usually can be manually set via a Custom setting. For example, if you have a 1-hour TTL on a record, it would take an hour for any change you make to propagate through the system.

Your final result should look like the image below (except the TTL perhaps).

We will run both our existing Heroku service and our new Digital Ocean service in parallel so as to ease the transition of personal domains to the new service. At this time, we are anticipating two-three weeks to complete this move before we shut down Heroku.

3) For those using an SSL certificate with their personal domain, we’ll communicate with you separately, as settings will have to be made based on existing solutions being used.

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When everyone has transitioned successfully, we expect a smoother functioning platform with opportunities for us to provide additional offerings to users.

Any issues you may have in making these changes, email us at admin@silvrback.com. Using this email helps us keep track of service issues and their timely resolution.

Let'r rip! See you on the other side!

Kermit