The Planet Blog

When it comes time for a small business to take the plunge into the world of dedicated servers, one of the key deciding factors is price — especially given the current economic climate. Budgetary concerns often dictate which platforms and resources can be incorporated into a project, despite a developer’s comfort zone or personal preference. If you come from a background of doing .Net programming on a Windows 2008 server with SQL Server databases, having a CentOS budget could make the starting part of your startup pretty difficult. But now, there’s a solution.

To cut the cost factor out of the initial decision-making process for new software development companies, Microsoft started a program called BizSpark. BizSpark lowers the barrier to entry for many of Microsoft’s enterprise platforms and solutions like Visual Studio, BizTalk, SharePoint and Systems Center by providing eligible companies with free access to the software for up to three years.

Eligibility requirements, as outlined by Microsoft, are simple and direct. A company must be actively engaged in the development of a software-based product or service; the company must be privately held and in business for less than three years; and it must generate less than U.S. $1 million in annual revenue.

As we announced yesterday, The Planet joined Microsoft in the BizSpark program as a Hosting Partner, so we want to get the word out to everyone about this great opportunity. If you’ve got a qualifying company looking to control your costs while taking advantage of the Microsoft family of products, visit http://www.theplanet.com/bizspark to get details on how we can help you obtain an enterprise-level development platform in no time at all.

For additional information about the BizSpark program, check out Microsoft’s startup program guide. If you have questions about how the program can benefit your company, leave a comment here or get in touch with The Planet sales team, and we’ll get you an answer.

-Mark

Over the past few months, several thousand customers have already started using The Planet’s new customer portal – Orbit 2.0. Orbit 2.0 consolidates and improves upon our legacy ServerCommand and Orbit 1.0 portals by providing a functional superset of features and controls, along with an improved user interface. Thanks to the continued testing and valuable feedback from our Orbit 2.0 beta customers, we are ready to release the new customer portal to our entire user base.

Today, ALL CUSTOMERS have full access to Orbit 2.0.

Because we want to ensure you have plenty of time to get acclimated to the new portal, the transition to Orbit 2.0 will span two months. During this time, you can access both Orbit 2.0 and the legacy portals.

On August 17, 2009, we will terminate access to Orbit 1.0 and ServerCommand.

We are committed to making this transition as painless as possible and to ensuring that it will not impact your servers hosted at The Planet. If you’re interested in learning a little more about the transition to Orbit 2.0, here are the answers to the common questions we expect.

What is Orbit 2.0?

Orbit 2.0 is a new version of our customer portal. Orbit 2.0 features an improved navigation structure and layout, allowing easier access to commonly used features:

• Home Tab: By default, this page contains your current account balance, a view of recently opened tickets and any announcements from The Planet.
• Account Management Tab: Provides detailed views of statements, current billable services and payment methods, along with a full interface for managing users and sub-users within Orbit.
• Hardware Tab: Accesses all of the critical management features for your hosted servers, as well as products and services like load balancers, backup and Storage Cloud.
• Domains Tab: Manages your domains, SSL certificates and DNS.
• Network Tab: Allows you to view the health of our overall network, along with bandwidth utilization graphs for your individual servers.
• Tickets Tab: Provides an interface to manage all of your sales and support tickets.
• Orders Tab: Serves as the launch point for you to order additional products and services

How do I log into Orbit 2.0?

You can access Orbit 2.0 at https://orbit2.theplanet.com with your current username and password.

How long will I be able to access my current portal (Orbit 1 and ServerCommand)?

You will be able to access Orbit 1 and ServerCommand through August 17, 2009. On that date, we will terminate access to the legacy portals.

How do I get support for Orbit 2.0?

Orbit 2.0 is our production portal. Support is available through all standard support channels (phone, ticket and chat).

What do I do if I find an issue or have a suggestion for Orbit 2.0?

If you find a bug or have a suggestion, you can contact support or simply press the “Report Portal Issue” link at the top of every page of Orbit 2.

I am an Orbit 1 user, how will I migrate?

No migration is required. Simply log into Orbit 2.0 and use it. You can use both portals interchangeably through August 17, 2009.

I am a ServerCommand user, how will I migrate?

All features, except DNS management, are available in both portals simultaneously. No migration is required for those features, and you can use both portals interchangeably through August 17, 2009. DNS administration is available either through ServerCommand or Orbit 2.0, but not both. Our support team will help you migrate your DNS zones to Orbit 2.0 to allow for the exclusive use of Orbit 2.0. Migrations are not expected to have any DNS downtime, and access to the portal should not be interrupted.

If you have any more questions about the transition to Orbit 2.0, please visit our Orbit 2 Launch Announcement.

Welcome to Orbit 2.0!

-Urvish

After a long summer break, your favorite television shows are finally starting new seasons, and you are prepared: You have a 15-gallon bucket full of Kettle Corn ready for your prime time couch-potato enjoyment; you’ve made space on your Tivo by deleting old episodes since you’ve got them neatly stored on the last season’s DVDs you just bought; and you’ve set recurring calendar appointments to remind you of your “commitments” (Yes, we know that “Go to the gym” means “Call in an order at Domino’s and watch the pizza tracker like a hawk.”).

As your incessant withdrawal symptoms are approaching unbearable levels, I’ve got a treat for you that will temporarily satiate your desire for entertaining content: The Return of This Week* in Vending.

It’s been almost six months since you joined Christian and I on our taste-test of the vending machine chili cheese dogs, so your mouth is either watering for more or your stomach has finally settled … either way, you’ll enjoy this installment.

This week’s victim participant is Planet Northstar’s Development Manager Clayton Spivey, and he is forced gets to try a vending machine cheeseburger. Making a cameo in the episode: our first vending survivor, Todd Mitchell. (Editor’s Note: Make sure you watch Todd’s reaction when Clayton takes the burger out of the wrapper.)

When we finally get down to the meat of the interview (very punny, I know), you’ll have a chance to learn about Planet Northstar — The Planet’s Managed Hosting division — and the development work required to create systems to accommodate the division’s ambitious goals.