Slicehost

It took a while to get going thanks to some last minute bugs and an edge rails change that bit us, but the new SliceManager is live, as is the revamped backend powering it. We haven’t talked about this rewrite, namely because we’ve been working like dogs to get it out the door. Here are some highlights of the new software and how it affects you.

Slices

• The design of SliceManager has changed – we streamlined the UI for the growing number of customers working with multiple slices for different projects.
• You can add a slice quickly from the front page, previously this was buried under the Account tab.
• Clicking a slice’s name from the master list allows you to work with it.
• The web-based console now supports multiple windows, which was a bug in the previous version.
• The stats page now allows you to retrieve a snapshot of your slice’s performance and review a list of previous stats for comparison.
• Backups won’t look different, but they are under the microscope and we’ll be changing them in the future. Please note, for the next week old daily and weekly are unusable via SliceManager, as they’re being overwritten to be compatible with the new system. We still have them, you can email us if you need one restored. Ditto for snapshots.
• A big user request – you can rename a slice at anytime!
• Reboots and resizes stay the same, but now have progress metrics to show you how far along they are.
• In addition to Rescue mode, you can also reset a slice’s root password should you lock yourself out (that never happens, right?).
• Drumroll please – extra IP’s. They’re $2/month, you’ll need to email us to allocate them and please provide justification.

Adding, removing and resizing Slices

• Adding/upgrading a slice stays the same – you’re billed a prorated amount based on the number of days remaining in your billing cycle.
• Previously removing/downgrading a slice would affect the next billing cycle (you wouldn’t be billed). Now, when you remove/downgrade a Slice, a credit is applied to your account (minus one day). For example, you need a 1GB Slice for a week and you’re halfway through a billing cycle – you’d be charged $35 (half of $70). A week later you’re finished and delete the Slice – you’d receive a credit of ~$17.50. So the most you’re on the hook for at any given time with a new Slice is 1 day. Not quite hourly billing ala EC2 but a step in the right direction ;)

DNS

• We did away with the easy/advanced DNS distinction, since most users preferred the advanced interface. Now there is a dedicated DNS tab where you can handle zones, records and reverse DNS.
• We increased the length of the data field, which should help with DKIM records.
• There is no longer a delay between entering/editing a record and its propagation to our DNS server. We used to sync records between SliceManager and DNS servers, now all of the records are manipulated via a REST API on top of the DNS server.

Help and Support

• We removed the emergency pager, since our monitoring system alerts us of trouble preemptively.
• You can review previous support requests, before contacting us for a new issue.

Account and Billing

• The Email & Password display allows you to edit your login password and email address, which is now separate from the billing email address and information. This should help people who use a corporate card for billing and invoicing, but have a technical person logging in to interact with slices.
• It’s not quite ready yet, but the groundwork has been laid for allowing multiple users to login and interact with slices via SliceManager. We’re still finalizing how granular the access control will be, so keep an eye out for updates on this feature.
• The Payments, Balance and Invoices page also contains a bunch of information designed to simplify billing. At any time you can see your balance, pending charges to your account, the next billing cycle and your current monthly rate.
• Going forward, invoices are saved, so every time your card is charged you’ll receive an email and can review the invoice in SliceManager down the road.
• If you are carrying a positive balance (from a large prepayment), we’ll send you monthly invoices showing what was deducted from your balance each month.

Future

This rewrite is the culmination of a year’s worth of lessons learned, outstanding community feedback and our plans for the company. You can expect APIs, enhanced slice images and multi-user accounts in the coming months, in addition to some news we hope to share with everyone in the next week.