Today we released an update to the PamFax server platform and the downloadable applications.
Since the launch on May 17th we have been closely monitoring the system. We have done a few hotfixes since then and today released a bigger update addressing some things we’ve noticed the past 9 weeks.
As the updates are server side there is no action required, you will benefit from the changes automatically. On the application side there are two issues which might affect you. If you have these issues you should download PamFax and re-install as this time we do not auto update every user.
In the local application we fixed the following issues:
- fax.exe crashes after sending a fax with PamFax printer
- Fixed issue when a temporary file is corrupt this results in mini window at start of PamFax
On the server side we have made the following changes:
- Further improved performance with fax sending
- Removed flash uploader module. New module is HTML5 or HTML based to address compatibility issues
- Clicking on “Details” in sent fax history would occasionally not show anything
- Fixed an issue where the sent fax preview is not shown in the detail view of a fax
- Added a function and made two fixes to the PamFax API
- Several minor issues and stability fixes
The current server version is 3.0.3.x and the clients all are 3.0.x.2 – so when you use PamFax you will now see 3.0.3.2 as version number.
Written by Dick on 28. July 2010 in category PamFax
One of our team members built a PamFax YouTube page and put up two small tutorials showing how easy it is to use PamFax. We will be looking at adding more stuff – let me know if there is a particular area of interest we should cover.
Hope you like the page: www.youtube.com/user/PamFax
Written by Dick on 16. June 2010 in category PamFax
We are proud to announce an upcoming addition to the PamFax family of applications and supported operating systems.
We started with PamFax for Windows in 2007, added Mac OSX and Linux last year and now will soon add PamFax for Android.
Why Android? The main reason is the fact that the OS is open and allows for access to local data. This means that PamFax for Android is able to access PDFs and other documents stored on the Android device.
Development is currently ongoing and we hope to have a beta ready in June with the target to launch PamFax for Android in July. PamFax for Android will support Android 2.2 which has just been released.
You may ask, what about iPhone or Blackberry? As iPhone does not allow access to local stored documents we are focusing on the area of application integration on the iPhone platform. An example is a document management/storage application or an application which takes a picture of a document and then can send this as a fax document.
On the Blackberry side we are starting the investigation to see if a PamFax application makes sense. The fact that Blackberry targets the same market as we do with PamFax might make offering a PamFax application an interesting option.
Written by Dick on 28. May 2010 in category PamFax
Those using PamFax with a scanner have noticed a very annoying message after upgrading to PamFax3. The scanner driver pointed you to a website to buy a driver. This was caused by an error in the driver we packaged with PamFax. We have resolved the problem and released an updated PamFax for Windows application (version 3.0.0.1).
If you are affected by this issue, please go to www.pamfax.com (yes, we now operate from a .com domain) and re-download the installer for PamFax and run it. This will then update the scanner driver to a non nagging version.
Note that the update is not automatically pushed to everyone.
Written by Dick on 26. May 2010 in category PamFax
Our hosting partner has done extensive research as to why the PamFax website and application is loading so sluggish, uploaded documents errored out and downloads/upgrades were partially incomplete.
As it turnes out one of the load balancer boxes (a hardware based lb) had a malfunction and this resulted in all these problems. Funny enough the logs of the load balancer did not show any irregularities. We’ve been switched over to another system and since then PamFax seems to work really well – as originally designed to do so!
The entire team wants to apologize for this issue as we know users were effected and could not send important documents. We worked hard to iron this one out as soon as we could.
We are now confident things are (yes, really are) back up and running. Thanks for your understanding in hanging in there with us.
Written by Dick on 25. May 2010 in category PamFax
The team is still working on ironing out left overs from the update. Although we have tested everything in an offline environment, going live with it usually uncovers new areas of improvement.
We have now fixed the last issues with our shop system. You may have noticed that purchasing was partially not possible – this was caused by changes on the cluster regarding the https used for the shop.
The other main area we are now working on is increasing the performance of the cluster system. Jointly with the hosting company we are going to improve speed. We are not satisfied with the performance, it takes too long to load certain pages. This is annoying and will be fixed with high priority.
Other then that we have resolved the issues present right after we went live with PamFax3 and are seeing that the platform is performing really well with processing fax jobs. As I wrote in an earlier post, the fax delivery performance was one of the main goals that led to the new architecture of PamFax3 – and it is clear that our team has done their homework correctly!
Written by Dick on 20. May 2010 in category PamFax
We’ve made it, PamFax3 is alive and kicking!
This time it was much longer than we had even dreamt of, but this was caused by a few server settings which our hosting partner fixed.
Thanks for hanging in during the upgrade process. I know some of you had a hard time when PamFax was offline.
Let me explain a bit why this update was so important and complex.
It all started last week when our hoster updated our server park to a full load balanced cluster. This was needed to cope with the increase in traffic we have had the past year. PamFax3 is much more efficient when it comes to scaling up so we decided now is a good time to put new hardware in as we need to do the upgrade anyway.
Then after the upgrade there were settings to be checked, etc. This took time. Then on Monday late afternoon (European time), we took PamFax offline. The team started to convert the databases and migrate users data to the new system. This is a huge amount of data so it took time. We unfortunately had to take PamFax offline to do this.
We did the databse conversion with the help of Amazon EC2 cloud servers, we had up to 15 running at a time!
After this we upgraded the core systems. These being the various modules PamFax consists of. PamFax3 is a complete new development and not a mere upgrade as the version number might imply.
Based on our experience and close monitoring of the PamFax2 system, we started designing PamFax3 back in summer last year. We wanted to have a very modular and scalable system which is able to process a lot of data and grow with us. We designed the system from scratch with these and other requirements in mind.
So, after the usual birth pains we’re now up and running. Thank you for hanging in during the upgrade process, I know it was not easy for some of you. I still hope you will forgive us this time as we do not do updates regularly (last one was PamFax2 in April 2009). We designed PamFax3 in such a way that we do not anticipate having to take the system down anymore!
You may now ask, what does PamFax3 offer? Well, first of all blazing fast fax delivery. In addition we redid the PamFax Portal design to be easier to use. There is also a new login/sign up screen. You can now login with your OpenID, Facebook, Twitter, Gmail and a bunch of other accounts. In addition many small improvements and features were added. The PamFax BCP was renamed to “My Company” to make the company group faxing capability a bit clearer.
Last but not least, in June/July we will also be adding a new client application of PamFax for Android.
For partners we now have the PamFax API, this allows you to fully embed the PamFax functionality easily and quickly into your application or device. We already have a few project going and plan to announce them soon. If you are interested to join, let us know. The same faxing cost model applies to the API as when using PamFax – however no additional charges are made when using the API.
We are very excited to have PamFax3 and hope you will enjoy our efforts. We’re back now with a very powerful platform and based on it we have many plans and ideas for new stuff. Stay tuned!
Written by Dick on 18. May 2010 in category PamFax
As you have noticed we have done the update. Well, it is actually more than an update, its more a complete new version. The servers are new and also the software is completely new.
And as usual with such updates there is a lot of cleanup to do after the actual update has been completed. We are now in the process of doing this so please accept my appologies for any issues that are still there.
The team is working on improving the performance of the servers, there is an issue that needs to be addressed.
Another issue we are aware of is that the PamFax Windows application may show only a small window when starting PamFax. The team have identified the cause and are working on getting this fixed asap. As a workaround please login to the PamFax Portal and send your faxes from there.
Thank you everyone for your patience as we finish the cleanup of this new version.
Written by Dick on 18. May 2010 in category PamFax
We have just started our update to PamFax3. You will have noticed this by the update messages you see when you start PamFax or when you click on some web pages.
PamFax3 is our next major release mainly targeted at increased performance. More on the details once the update has been completed.
The updated is expected to take about two hours in total as we need to convert databases, update a lot of files and check the system before we open it back to the public.
Note that incoming faxes are processed on a different system and are not effected. You will see them in your portal once PamFax3 is back online.
Thank you for your understanding, we are working fast to keep the offline duration as short as possible.
Written by Dick on 17. May 2010 in category PamFax
One person has answered to this post so far.
After we had some serious trouble with the new servers, PamFax is now online and running again. We tried to have only a short downtime, but it was unfortunately 16 hours.
But now PamFax is faster then ever before. Happy Faxing!
Written by Christoph on 13. May 2010 in category PamFax
