Important Notice to all Host 99 Customers,
This announcement effects all Web Services Host 99 offers. Including shared, reseller, Dedicated and PCI regulated customers.
For a technology that has been in stable release since May 22, 2000, PHP 4 has finally reached the end of its official life. With the release of PHP 5.x.x, official support has ended and the final security patch for the platform issued.
On January 1, 2013, PHP 4 will no longer be supported on the Host 99 network. All servers will be update to PHP 5.3.x. Back in 2010, all development stopped on PHP 4. Since that time, no features have been added, no bugs have been fixed, and no security holes have been patched up.After supporting it for years, cPanel recently removed PHP4 as an option from EasyApache. Since Host 99 relies on cPanel to administer a good number of our servers, we too have stopped fully supporting PHP 4.
While it is in your best interest to move to the most recent version of PHP 5, it may not be possible to do so immediately. cPanel does give us an unsupported way to run PHP 4 in the interim. The goal of this unsupported module is to provide a bit of breathing room while code is migrated over to PHP 5. When all your site code is running on PHP 5, be sure to remove PHP 4 from the server. Leaving PHP 4 on your server when it is not needed could open your server up to security vulnerabilities.
What does this do for me and my website?
There are several features in PHP 5 that improve the maintainability of applications. Theseinclude the new object model mentioned above which supports features such as abstract classes, interfaces, and encapsulation (private and protected methods and properties). Thispaper will not dive into the technical details of these features since other sources provideexcellent examples of the new functionality. The important thing to note is that these featuresmake it easier to apply software architecture to a PHP application. In other words, it becomeseasier to write properly structured, high-quality code. The code base will be cleaner,easier to read, and consequently simpler to maintain. Learn more...
How does this effect you?
The effects of switching from PHP 4 to PHP 5 will halt any software used including eCommerce software if the software you are using is not PHP 5 compatible. From today October, 25, 2012 until January 1, 2013 you will have to upgrade your software to be PHP compatible.
Host 99 Development Services
If you are under any services of the Host 99 Web Development Team and Operations your software is already up to date to meet PHP 5 requirements as long as it was after May of 2012. Any development, upgrades before May of 2012 will not work or operate properly with PHP 5. All versions moving forward will be sent out to allow a deadline to meet compliance with newer versions.
<!! ------------------------- !!>
UPDATE MAY 3, 2013: On December 3, 2013 PHP 5.5+ versions of PHP will be upgraded without notice. Please make any changes or updates to your requirements such as software, scripts or cron job files to meet this compliance. References can be found here regarding PHP 5.5+. Have any questions regaridng these changes please contact the Host 99 PCI support team.
<!! ------------------------- !!>
For more information regarding PHP 4 to PHP 5 transitions, please review our knowledgebase for basic information why in more detail we are moving to PHP 5. If you have any questions regarding this announcement Support is always available to assist customers with this or any other issue. If you need our assistanceplease contact our support technicians via email and they will be happy to assist with any questions.
Best Regards,
Host 99 Operations
PCI Certified Hosting
Security and PCI Specialists
