Host server maintenance (will restart VMs).

RimuHosting has received a Xen Security Advisory (XSA) that requires us to perform updates to some of our Xen host servers. To do this we need to stop the VMs running on affected hosts, update the host servers and restart the host servers and their VMs.

These security advisories impact only some customers running VMs on some of our Xen-based host servers.  They do not impact any customers with 'bare metal' dedicated servers.

Your VM will be unavailable during the update.  We expect the updates to take 45 minutes (typically) to 2 hours (less commonly) per host.

Since the update requires a VM restart, now would be a good time to check your setups to ensure that your server boots up as expected.  e.g. that expected services run.  e.g. that SSL certificates do not require manual pass phrase entries.

Scheduling

You can view the scheduled upgrade times at https://rimuhosting.com/cp/hsupgrades.jsp

If a host server is listed as "Not yet scheduled" then that host does not require an update/restart.

Customers on dedicated servers can edit the scheduled time at https://rimuhosting.com/cp/vps/hsupgrade.jsp

The XSAs will be publicly released by the Xen project team on April 4. We must complete this maintenance before then.

Where possible we attempt to schedule updates at times that are off peak at the host server's location.

Customers on dedicated hosts can schedule updates for a time that suits (provided it is prior to April 4).  Due the logistical demands of the update we are unable to accommodate customer preferences for times on shared hosts.  Customers on shared hosts can move to dedicated VM hosts should they need to control maintenance window timing.

Note that the pending software update includes support for live patching, which may help to prevent the requirement for restarts in the future.

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