UPDATE 09/26/08- We have updated the appropriate FAQ entires to reflect tomorrow mornings system changes. Also, please note the port addition for the SSL server, port 81 has been added to the list of available ports.

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We just wanted to post this message to let every one know of a few service related changes that are going to be affecting your BlockNews accounts.

It was decided some time ago that a new system was going to be constructed in a new datacenter. Being that it would have taken an incredible amount of work to move the existing systems from Atlanta, Georgia to Ashburn, Virginia, there really seemed to be no other choice but to construct a new system. With this new system comes better reliability, greater redundancy and in the not to distant future, increased retention. So all around, this move will put BlockNews in a better competitive position.

At any rate, we will be cutting over to the new server system on Saturday Morning September 27th at 8 AM Eastern Time via DNS change. The one and only change that customers will need to do is if you subscribe to specific groups and download headers, you will need to resubscribe and redownload your headers once again. The new system has different article numbers compared to the old system. Failure to do this will cause "Article Not Found" Errors and the like. NZB users will need to do nothing differently.

Another added feature of this new system is that article numbering will be standardized across both the US servers and the EU servers. Essentially this means you will be able to download headers from one, and download the articles from the other without issue. Something that was not possible before.

With this new system we have also decided to change the server address of the SSL server to help prevent confusion that some users had experienced. If you use the SSL server, please change the current address of secure.blocknews.net to ssl.blocknews.net in your newsreader. The old address will still work for the forseeable future, but may disappear at any given time.

Available port options also have been changed. Please review the new port options below:

news.blocknews.net and eunews.blocknews.net may connect via ports 119 or 443 ONLY.

ssl.blocknews.net and eussl.blocknews.net may connect via ports 563, 80 or 81 ONLY.

The whole migration process is expected to be seemless for all users, however with any DNS change, it could take several hours to propagate across the internet. Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact support via the helpdesk located at http://support.blocknews.net Also, we have currently posted a status message regarding this event on our status page located here: http://faq.blocknews.net If any issues or new information becomes available, we will post the updates there.

We want to take this opportunity to thank you all for your loyal patronage and all of us here at BlockNews hope you enjoy the new service enhancements that will be coming down the pipes in the near future.

Kind Regards,

The BlockNews.Net Team