Weblog of Wesley Fryer

Shortly after posting this entry I received the following email from POWWEB:

Dear Wesley,

We are constantly working to improve MySQL performance on our
shared hosting platform, and we wanted to let you know about
some of our latest initiatives, as well as steps you can take
to make sure your database applications are secure.

*****************************************************************
CUSTOMIZED HOST NAMES
*****************************************************************
When modifying your code in the future, please be sure to use
yourusername.powwebmysql.com as your hostname.

We are in the process of updating the code of all customers to
use this customized configuration. (Rest assured, this hostname
cannot be accessed from an outside source; it’s only routable
from inside our network — even a DNS lookup won’t find it.)

You may recall that we began customizing MySQL hostnames last
year to include your username instead of the server name:
yourusername.powwebmysql.com

Configuring hostnames in this way provides a degree of
flexibility if the resources of certain MySQL servers exceed
capacity, translating into better performance for your databases.

*****************************************************************
MySQL QUERIES: 50,000 PER HOUR
*****************************************************************
To ensure optimum MySQL performance for all our customers, we are
limiting the number of queries per login to 50,000 per hour and
the duration of individual queries to 60 seconds.

This should not be an issue for the vast majority of customers –
in fact, most customers will experience improved performance as a
result of this measure. However, if you do suspect that you’re
exceeding the query limit, log into your MySQL Management Tool,
and if you’re over the limit, you’ll see a notice with more info:
http://www.powweb.com/webControl/mysql/manage.bml

We apologize for any inconvenience; however, on a shared hosting
platform, there are practical limits to the amount of resources
we can dedicate to individual customers. If this becomes an issue
for you, you may be able to reduce the number of queries you are
running by using application-level caching, combining queries or
taking advantage of nested queries wherever you can.

*****************************************************************
CHECK YOUR APPLICATIONS: DON’T GET SPAMMED OR ABUSED
*****************************************************************
Be sure to closely monitor your applications — don’t let them
get spammed or abused! These tips will help keep you protected,
as well as keep our MySQL servers running at peak performance:

* Check your bulletin boards, forums, blogs, etc.,
for spammers. Fake posts and comments compromise the
integrity of your site and slow down database performance.

* Turn off Guest or Anonymous posting to these applications.

* Require registration, and registration confirmation. Spammers
can use programs to automatically sign up accounts on your
site and start posting bad content; requiring registration
confirmation can reduce this risk.

* Keep your code up to date. New releases of applications often
include built-in spam protection and can greatly reduce the
number of queries and amount of bandwidth you use.

* Turn off unused applications. Just because you don’t link to
an application anymore doesn’t mean it’s not getting traffic.

For more information about how to keep from getting spammed — or
if you’re not sure what we mean by, say, “Guest or Anonymous
posting,” please visit:
http://www.powweb.com/info/systemnotice.bml?id=6880

If you have additional questions or concerns, please submit a
request directly to our support ticketing system via your
Support Console:
http://www.powweb.com/member/sconsole

Sincerely,

The PowWeb Team