SaaS Archives | Page 4 of 4 | Store Locator Plus®

Store Locator Server Upgrade

Posted by lcleveland in MySLP SaaS, Store Locator Plus, WPSLP

All of the Store Locator Plus® web properties are now living on an updated server cluster. The new configuration, a load-balanced cluster, will provide zero-downtime maintenance window and faster performance under peak load; These upgrades will be most noticeable for our SaaS users.

What Changed?

Our prior server configuration used a failover configuration. In that type of configuration a web server handles 100% of the load and if it fails a second duplicate server that is in standby takes over. This provides limited downtime with reduced costs; However, it also means there are routine service outages when the underlying software (Operating System, web services, web apps) are updated.

The current configuration, put into place over the weekend with zero downtime, uses a load balanced configuration. In this configuration two-or-more servers mirror each other and are all online and answering web requests at the same time. Requests are split between the servers with a goal of maintaining an average load of just under 50%. This ensures that if one server fails the service stays up-and-running while a replacement server is automatically brought online to assist in web services.

The load balanced cluster also provides an added benefit of horizontal scalability. Failover style server could only be pushed up to a bigger server with more CPUs and RAM and faster network interfaces; a process that meant building ever-bigger servers with higher costs and longer maintenance window downtime. The load balanced cluster configuration monitors server loads across the cluster and adds a new server automatically at set performance limits. This ensures that there is a less-than-5-minute response time to adding capacity whenever there is a spike in usage.

Store Locator Plus and WordPress 4.9.1 Updates

Posted by lcleveland in Map Software, MySLP SaaS, Store Locator, Store Locator Plus, Web Presence, WordPress

It has been a busy week for WordPress and all the updates and patches going around. For those on our MySLP managed service, sit back and relax. You’re good. While you may wait a little longer for some new features and a couple of minor patches you are not going to be affected by software updates. You’re good.

For WordPress users we’ve been busy chasing down some notable functionality issues with Store Locator Plus and the Add Ons for WordPress since WordPress 4.9 and 4.9.1 hit the update queue on your sites.

Interactive Map

Posted by lcleveland in MySLP SaaS, Store Locator Plus, Travel, Web Marketing, Web Presence

Attending a conference almost always means travel. Love it or hate it, the travel experience goes with the territory. As a conference director, one of the best ways to increase the satisfaction level of conference attendees is to provide not only killer content but to also make them feel as though they are a welcomed guest in the host city. An interactive map is a great way to make them feel at home.

Providing resources that help get people acquainted with the host city as quickly as possible is one way to make travel more of a perk than a pain for the attendee. Do a good job playing host in your city and people will want to return year-after-year.

A great way to do this is by providing a resource directory that includes more than a map showing people where the venue is and how to get there. In our “Hosting Conferences and Events” series we are going to walk through various ways you can build a great online resource that shows people around your city without making it a full time job for you or your online content authors. The primary tool we are going to use is the Store Locator Plus® SaaS service. By using the service effectively you can keep costs down while providing easy-to-use interactive maps for your attendees.