Today, the team at GoGrid is pleased to announce several new enhancements and features to our Cloud Infrastructure Hosting service. With us, it is all about trying to make our Cloud offering as powerful as possible. To that end, we have released our latest version of GoGrid, available now! Some highlights include (each of which I will go into further details later on in this post):

• GoGrid Dedicated Servers
• List View of GoGrid Objects
• Edit f5 Load Balancers
• New Login Page
• Self-Service Support Links
• Other Items

We hope that you share our excitement about this release! Now, let’s get into the details. Also be sure to see our video that talks about many of the items listed here (Available on GoGrid YouTube channel and the GoGrid Facebook Fan Page as well.)

GoGrid Dedicated Servers

Let’s face it, we have been doing dedicated hosting for over 8 years so we do know a little bit about it. Last year, we introduced a first-to-market service that we internally called “Hybrid Hosting” which allowed users to connect GoGrid cloud infrastructure with a separate dedicated infrastructure, all within a private network. This proved to be incredibly successful, and something that many of our customers had desired. So, we decided to take it to the next level by offering Dedicated Servers within the GoGrid infrastructure.

So why is this so revolutionary and useful to our end-users? Here are some things off the top of my head:

• Now you have the flexibility of the cloud, coupled with the control and performance of dedicated hardware!
• You can deploy GoGrid Dedicated Servers from within the GoGrid portal
• GoGrid Cloud Server and GoGrid Dedicates Servers share the same IP space which means that you can easily set up private network infrastructures
• You receive one bill for your cloud or dedicated servers
• Support for both cloud and dedicated are handled in the same account
• You can restart and even delete dedicated servers on-demand via the GoGrid portal
• GoGrid Cloud & Dedicated servers have free inbound traffic and share the same data plan

Let’s get into the details.

Add Dedicated Server

We have updated the Add menu to include Dedicated Server as an option. Similarly, we have collapsed the previous Database Server and Web/App Server into Cloud Server. To deploy a new GoGrid Dedicated server, simply click on the Dedicated Server icon.

Once you choose the Add Dedicated Server option, you will be presented with a Server Details screen that asks for a server Name, Description and IP address (one of your GoGrid contiguous, static IP addresses). After that, you need to select the server option that makes the most sense to you. Current options are (note: these may change in the future and are current as of the writing of this article):

Note: custom configuration are available but interested users must contact a GoGrid Account Manager to order.

After entering the appropriate information and selecting the configuration option and pricing plan, click the Next button, and you will be asked to choose an image:

As of this writing, the options include:

• CentOS – versions 4.5 & 5.4 (32/64 bit)
• Debian – versions 4.0 & 5.0 (32/64 bit)
• Fedora – version 11 & 12 (32/64 bit)
• RHEL – version 4.8 & 5.4 (32/64 bit)
• Ubuntu – version 8.04, 9.04 & 9.10 (32/64 bit)
• Windows Server 2008/2003 – various options: Enterprise, Web, SQL Server (note: some images may have additional licensing charges)

Once you select the Image you would like on your GoGrid Dedicated Server, you will be prompted with information regarding the Pre-Paid Plan commitment and billing process. If you agree to the terms, simply click Yes, Add it.

In the top bar, you will see a confirmation that of your Dedicated Server job request:

It is important to note that it can take up to 2 business days to deploy a GoGrid Dedicated Server.

You can also check the status of your deployment request in the Jobs tab (where Dedicated Server deployments now appear in-line with Cloud Servers, Load Balancers and Cloud Storage):

The picture above shows the Dedicated Server in a “Processing” state. Once it is approved, deployed and active, the log will change to reflect that state:

Once your server is live, you have a variety of ways to manage it. For starters, should you need to, you can actively restart it from within the new List View within the GoGrid portal (see the List View section below for details).

Similarly, you can delete the Dedicated Server from the portal. Do note that since you are on a monthly plan, you will have until the end of the active month to access that server before all connectivity and data is removed from it.

Also, as with your GoGrid Cloud Servers, you can retrieve, edit and update the passwords for your GoGrid Dedicated Servers from within the Passwords tab within the Support section.

We have also integrated all of the GoGrid Objects (Dedicated & Cloud Servers, Load Balancers and Cloud Storage) into the Add a Case menu within the Support section. This way, you can request support on any GoGrid infrastructure item in one place:

Some important things to note about GoGrid Dedicated Servers:

• Dedicated Servers do not (currently) display on the Grid View but do within the List View (see section below)
• There is currently no API support for controlling GoGrid Dedicated Servers
• Under the current Service Level Agreement, provisioning time is up to 2 business days (as noted within the ordering process)
• You are billed monthly (or yearly) for GoGrid Dedicated Servers, not hourly
• Outbound bandwidth charges for Cloud and Dedicated servers are combined (inbound is free for both)
• If you accidentally delete a Dedicated Server, please open a support case immediately and we will be happy to cancel your delete request.
• If you delete a server, the IP address assigned to that server is still “held” (not available for other servers) until the server is fully removed from your account
• Restarting a Dedicated Server does not show immediate feedback the way it does with Cloud Servers. Please “ping” the server to know its actual state.
• Windows Dedicated Servers are priced per processor so please ensure that you have chosen the proper image

List View of GoGrid Objects

So, where do you find your GoGrid Dedicated Server? Easy! Within the new List View. Many GoGrid users have asked for an easier way to view all of their GoGrid objects within a list. We now have a new tab called List which displays: Load Balancers, Cloud Servers, Dedicated Servers and Cloud Storage. There are definitely some GREAT things about the new List view like being able to see a large number of servers in one view, being able to copy and paste various fields like IP address, Object name, OS info, description, etc. Read on for some more details.

Selecting that tab presents you with all of your GoGrid structure within a list format where you can sort, group and rearrange various fields within each object set. To rearrange fields, simply drag them to the column you want them in. Clicking on a column will give you the ability to group and sort on those fields. Below is the Cloud Servers list:

Load Balancers appear as well:

As does Cloud Storage:

And, of course, Dedicated Servers!

Some important things to note about the new List View:

• If you have 30 or more Cloud Servers deployed within GoGrid, the new List View will quickly become your best friend.
• Just like within the Grid View, you can Restart, Delete and Retrieve passwords via menu actions at the top of the list panel.
• If you have a MyGSI deployed within your Cloud Server environment, it will show as “true” within the Sandbox field
• You can select values within the list and copy them to your clipboard. This is useful for copying IP addresses, for example.
• The Grid View will remain the default for the time being.

Edit F5 Load Balancers

You can now edit F5 Load Balancer details using the GoGrid API. We realized that many of our users wanted this functionality a long time ago. With this release, we have taken the first steps to make this fully functional. However, while you can edit via the API, as of this writing, you cannot edit via the portal (something we will change in the future). You can actively change the Load Balancer pool information without taking the Load Balancer offline. This is helpful if you want to add or remove servers from your Load Balancer.

We have added “grid.loadbalancer.edit” to the supported methods within the GoGrid API. There is Role Based access to use this method (Super User & System User are the role types that can invoke this method).

More information on this new API method can be found on the GoGrid Wiki. Do note that this feature is currently listed as a “beta.”

However, below is a way to edit your load balancers by simply using an call using a pre-defined URL. First, you will need to have an API key and Share Secret. You can create an API key under the My Account section and API Keys tab. Then you will need to create an MD5 Signature (documentation is on the Wiki on how to do this).

Here is the info:

• Craft the base URL with the following format:

  http://api.gogrid.com/api/grid/loadbalancer/edit?v=1.4

• Then you need to chain on (append) the following items:
  • &sig=your sig
  • &api_key=your key
  • &format=“xml” or “json” or “csv”
  • &name=name of LB to edit
  • &realiplist.0.ip=real IP 0 – first real IP to add to the LB
  • &realiplist.0.port=port for real IP 0
  • &realiplist.1.ip=real IP 1 – second real IP to add to the LB
  • &realiplist.1.port=port for real IP 1
• Then, take that full URL and paste into a browser and hit Enter. That should edit the Load Balancer based on the variables you entered.

Below is a sample (with dummy data) of what the URL should look like.

http://api.gogrid.com/api/grid/loadbalancer/edit?v=1.4&sig=md5hashsignature&api_key=abcd1234apikeyhere1234&format=xml&name=My+Load+Balancer&realiplist.0.ip=192.168.10.5&realiplist.0.port=80&realiplist.1.ip=192.168.10.6&realiplist.1.port=80

(Note: the line above is a single text string, it only has been broken into separate lines for readability.) The URL above has the following variables:

• Sig = md5hashsignature (see the documentation here)
• API Key = abcd1234apikeyhere1234
• Format = XML
• Name = My Load Balancer (Note: if your load balancer has spaces in the name, you should URL-escape them with either a “+” or “%20″) so that would look like “My+Load+Balancer” or “My%20Load%20Balancer”
• IP address of 1st server = 192.168.10.5
• Port of the 1st server = 80
• IP address of the 2nd server = 192.168.10.6
• Port of the 2nd server = 80

New Login Page

The GoGrid Web Portal login page also now has a new look & feel. We wanted to provide relevant information and links within that page so that you don’t have to go searching around for information. In the new login page, you can now find:

• New to GoGrid section – Getting Started Guide and GoGrid Wiki/Forum/Blog links
• Featured Content – important content related to GoGrid’s Features or Services will be displayed here
• GoGrid Exchange – looking for a particular partner image? This link takes you to the GoGrid Exchange.
• Featured Exchange Partner – look for highlighted Partners here

Self-Service Support Links

Making our user experience better on GoGrid is paramount. To that end, we have added a variety of links to make things a bit easier on the end user. For example, you can now quickly visit the GoGrid Wiki page that describes how to request that SMTP be unblocked for your GoGrid infrastructure:

Similarly, we have added some other helpful links within the portal to the GoGrid Wiki and User Forums:

And, as mentioned previously, we will provide full support within the GoGrid portal for all objects within GoGrid’s infrastructure. You can also use the Live Support Chat link to instantly chat with a GoGrid Support Specialist.

Other Items

As mentioned in this blog post, we are also end-of-life-ing a few older Red Hat Enterprise and CentOS servers.

Also, we have added a link to the GoGrid CDN within the portal. From this link, you can access the login page for the GoGrid CDN.

There was some pretty exciting stuff in this release and we would love to get your feedback. Drop us a note or leave a comment on this post if you have suggestions, comments or questions.

• Bio
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Michael Sheehan

Technology Evangelist at GoGrid

Michael Sheehan is the Technology Evangelist for GoGrid & "Social Media Strategist" as well. He handles digital media marketing, online audience development, PR, media relations, content creation and editing as well as a variety of other tasks. He is also an avid social media pundit and technology blogger.

Latest posts by Michael Sheehan (see all)

• Get Your Game On in the Cloud - June 11, 2013
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Tags: API, cloud, Cloud Computing, cloud hosting, Dedicated Server, feature, Features, GoGrid, GoGrid CDN, GoGrid Cloud Server, GoGrid Dedicated Server, Grid View, List View, Load Balancer, Login, Release, Update
This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 at 7:01 am and is filed under API, Cloud Computing, FAQs, Features, General, GoGrid, GoGrid Exchange, Hosting, Images, News, Operating System, Release. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.