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BUZIX RESELLER NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
(Emailed to our Resellers on March 28, 2005)
Inside this issue:
MailScanner Tools Replacing SpamAssassin Tools - NEW!
cPanel Email Addresses
Migrate Your Sites from Windows to Linux for Better Performance
Network Tools to Check Your Websites - NEW!
Adding and Removing Sites from your Reseller Package
Tips for Managing Your Customers' Accounts
Is Your ISP Blocking Your Email?
Reseller Audits
Backups
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MailScanner Tools Replacing SpamAssassin Tools
Buzix has implemented a new spam control tool called MailScanner to replace SpamAssassin. Due to ongoing problems with SpamAssassin, the MailScanner tool is implemented on our servers, the current SpamAssassin
tool is now hidden and running in MailScanner. You will notice a new icon in cPanel called “MailScanner Configuration” located near the bottom of your icon list. Instructions for MailScanner Configuration are
posted on our Customer Support Site at http://support.buzix.com/mailscanner.htm
The new features with MailScanner will allow you to:
Manage virus scanning
Set up whitelists and blacklists
Set your own low and high score settings for spam scanning
Configure spam settings to a forwarding email addresses
cPanel Email Addresses
Please make sure that you have an email address in the cPanel for each website you own. Otherwise you will not receive these notifications.
If the email address entered is not your own email address, then your customer will receive direct notifications and announcements from us.
In cPanel, on the first page, it will say this in RED:
No contact email has been set. You will be unable to receive notifications
or reset your password if you do not set a contact email address.
Please update your contact information here.
Click on the word "here", and you can enter an email address.
Our servers send notices automatically to you when:
- A mailbox is reaching its limit
- You are approaching your disk quota or bandwidth limit
- You have requested your account password to be reset
- There is a system event that requires users to be notified
Migrate Your Sites from Windows to Linux for Better Performance
Our Windows servers are using the Windows 2003 operating system and have 2002 Frontpage extensions.
Reseller accounts that are only using Frontpage should consider moving their site to a linux server.
When requesting a Windows site to be added to your plan, you may be contacted to verify whether or not you want a Plesk site, or a Windows 2003 site without Plesk. You will need to know this also when you add
new sites using the new Reseller site add form. Windows 2003 sites do not have a control panel. Plesk sites do.
Windows accounts should only be used if the site is using Microsoft Databases (Excel, access, etc), Active Server Pages (files ending in .asp), or
needs a DSN (data source name).
If you are NOT using any of these features, we prefer that you move to a linux server. We can and will help you - no charge. Open a help desk ticket
with attention to the Resellers Department or email resellers@buzix.com, and we can get you transitioned within 24-48 hours. You will only
need to set up your email accounts, and publish your site to the new location.
Network Tools to Check Your Websites
Buzix has worked with DNSStuff to bring you new tools to check your websites. The tools page is located as a link from the Buzix Customer Support Page.
Go to http://support.buzix.com/tools.htm. There are 9 lookups and domain checks to help you with basic support of your sites.
If you find a problem with a domain that you would like to share with our technical support, email resellers@buzix.com, and paste the
results of your inquiry into the email message. Don't forget to include a brief description of the problem so we can assist you quickly.
WHOIS Lookup
Full Domain Info
Check an Email Address
Spam database lookup
Reverse DNS lookup
IP Routing Lookup
DNS lookup
Ping
Tracert
Adding and Removing Sites from Your Reseller Package
Many of you have asked, and the answer is YES! YES, You will be able to add sites to your reseller plans on your own in just a few more weeks.
We are working hard to get this feature ready for you to use, and also make sure that it is easy to use. Windows sites will not be automatic (and the $15.00 setup fee still applies), but will be quicker and
easier to add.
You will need to know your MyBuzix Login/Reseller ID in order to add new sites. If you do not know it, please go to the link below and enter your email address as the screen requests:
http://mybuzix.buzix.com/clogin.php
In the meantime, please continue to add and remove sites from your reseller package by emailing resellers@buzix.com.
Tips for Managing Your Customers' Accounts
Some resellers have asked questions about what they should be doing to manage their customer accounts.
Here is a brief list of things that need to be checked or monitored on a regular basis to ensure that the site is running as it should.
1) Check the disk usage and email account usage for all of your accounts.
Your total montly usage for all of your domains should not exceed your hosting plan allowance. You will be charged $1.00 per Mb if your total account usage exceeds your plan allowance. Go to each cPanel and
Plesk account and document the usage on a monthly basis.
2) Monitor the expiration date of the domain name.
If the domain name is expired and your customer has not paid to renew it, the site will not display.
3) Check that the domain is using the correct nameservers and that they are in the correct order.
If the nameservers are incorrect the domain will not display. Unless you are using your own nameservers, our nameservers are:
ns.domainnameservers.net and ns2.domainnameservers.net
4) Monitor the expiration of the secure certificates for your domains.
If the secure certificate is expired, the customers' users will get an alert box advising them of this.
5) Make sure you have YOUR OWN email address in the cPanel for your customers.
If there is no email address you will not receive information about problems with the domain. If the email address is not YOURS, then your customer will receive direct notifications and announcements from us.
Is Your ISP Blocking Your Email?
We announced about six months ago that some that some of the major ISPs were no longer going to allow you to use your own domain name (mail.mywebsite.com) as the outgoing server. Many resellers are still
unaware of this or have not addressed this issue with their customers.
Should you have a customer who is unable to send mail through their domain, but can receive mail through their domain, it is most likely that the ISP is blocking port 25 and not allowing the third-party SMTP
traffic. You or your customer will need to contact the ISP and set up the outgoing server part of the client email configuration (Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, Incredimail, etc...) according to how the ISP
wants this done. Generally, ISPs have already addressed this topic in the support section of their website, and the fix usually takes less than 5 minutes to do. Look for articles or a "How To" that details the
email configurations, and make the adjustments to the outgoing server email setup only.
Please note that we have discovered that many providers do not train their support staff about this email block on port 25. If you have problems, your ISP support representative can help you set up sending
email through their mail servers.
Reseller Audits
Reseller audits began on March 1, 2004. All resellers should audit their own accounts as well for total disk space usage and for total bandwidth usage. Our billing department will contact you if we find an
issue with your account, otherwise there is no cause for concern.
Resellers exceeding the bandwidth allowance for their account will be billed $0.02 per Mb (two cents per megabyte) for the overages.
Resellers exceeding the disk space allowance for their account will be billed $1.00 per Mb (one dollar per megabyte) for the overages.
Backup Your Sites
You can download a backup of each of your cPanel sites by clicking on the Backup icon. Then click, DOWNLOAD A HOME DIRECTORY BACKUP.
To open the backup on your local computer, you will need to use an "unzipping" program such as WinZip or PKZip.
To restore a backup, simply click on the Backup icon, and upload the zip file using the RESTORE A HOME BACKUP option.
We are here to help you grow your business and build exciting interactive sites.
Let us know if you have positive feedback, or a tip to share with the rest of the resellers and we'll be happy to include it in our next issue.
Thanks for your business!
Buzix Reseller Support
877-MY-BUZIX x707
Monday - Friday: 9:00 am - 5:00 pm, EST
Saturdays: 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm, EST
Email: resellers@buzix.com
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