Hosting and servers - We're getting there

Post by **CraigRat** » 17 May 09 9:26 pm

mtrax wrote:just a hint do you run ssh on the non-standard port, this avoids some of the obvious port scans etc..

Not telling.
We won't be discussing anything re: server security in public areas.

Mr Router · Post by **Mr Router** » 18 May 09 10:57 am

CraigRat wrote:
mtrax wrote:just a hint do you run ssh on the non-standard port, this avoids some of the obvious port scans etc..
Not telling.
We won't be discussing anything re: server security in public areas.

i shall find out

for no naughty reason

Post by **CraigRat** » 18 May 09 6:32 pm

We will not be talking about it, and I'd advise against doing anything that may jeopardise your account.

Let's please end this particular tangent please.

Let me just say, I'm VERY excited about the new box, and we will be doing a few dry-runs of the cutover in the very near future.

I'm very much indebted to c@w and his hard work (and the work of others too!)

I can't wait!

pjamesk · Post by **pjamesk** » 18 May 09 7:13 pm

CraigRat wrote: Let me just say, I'm VERY excited about the new box,

I am more excited about what is in the box

not just the box

Post by **caughtatwork** » 26 May 09 9:16 pm

You know, I should have gone with my first instinct about Burst and ignored the stoner who answered the phone and told them then and there to go get lost.

But no, the cheapness attracted me like a moth to one of those blue light zappy thingies, getting ever so closer and closer with the allure of the moonlight until ZAP! dead as a dodo.

Burst have not responded to my requests for I addresses or nearly two weeks since we signed up. Emails get "tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow" I called the stoner again last night (I think he was busy watching pr0n rather than playing Halo though) and he promised that they would be with me today along with the courier details.

Guess what? Yep. Nothing. Nada. Bugger all. Zip. Zilch. Not a sausage.

I've tonight cancelled our account and demanded a refund. If that is their level of service, then god knows what would happen if something bad happened to the server.

I have done some additional research and we're going with:
http://www.redrack.com.au/

Melbourne colo and reasonable pricing. We'll do month by month and if they're no good, we'll just say frick it, pull the server our find somewhere else and pay $300 / month then come back cap in hand in 12 months.

redrack have had a recent outage which seems to be with their main backbone provider as a few issues with DC power, not their fault by the look of it. They seem responsive and the outages have been minor.

Unless someone out there can give me a reason to not go with redrack (read about their recent outage at whirlpool), then I'll go with them. CraigRat agrees with the decision so you can blame both of us when the machine goes offline for picking a cheap provider

Sorry for the delay guys. This is frustrating us all no-end.

We are getting closer, trust me. We have the data migration strategy all worked out and the upgrade to phpbb V3 as well as a backup strategy. It's really a case of getting the machine racked configured and cutover. Hopefully before, oh let's say Christmas

Post by **caughtatwork** » 16 June 09 6:24 pm

Apparently 3rd time lucky

http://www.redrack.com.au has had a bung DNS entry for two weeks. They answer when I call and say they'll get back to me. Nada. They don't respond to tickets. Fuck 'em (harsh language necessary, I want my life back damn it).

http://www.ultimahosts.com.au
12 month contract
100GB (combined)
1RU
1IP
$130 per month plus $99 set up.
Data centre is in Melbourne CBD at the Primus DC at 55 King Street, Melbourne in the VCAT building.

Done, signed up on the weekend, they responded very quickly. Paid on Monday, they responded quickly. On Tuesday they asked when we wanted to install, I said Friday. Today we have an IP address. Need them to contact me to confirm a time on Friday.

All things being equal (which with my luck they probably aren't), we might be testing over the weekend.

We need to test the install, convert / migrate the data, do some other things but we'll do these as quick as we can and in a few short weeks we should be on the new machine with loads of CPU and RAM.

Thanks for your patience. I know, it's been a long road, but the light is now on at the end of the tunnel.

rhinogeo · Post by **rhinogeo** » 16 June 09 6:42 pm

pjamesk wrote:
CraigRat wrote: Let me just say, I'm VERY excited about the new box,
I am more excited about what is in the box not just the box

<p>What's in the box

</p>

<p>That question brings back somewhat OT memories

</p>

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/XVMLivHTXac&hl ... ram><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/XVMLivHTXac&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Richary · Post by **Richary** » 16 June 09 11:54 pm

Excellent news and I know what it is like dealing with ISPs. I am currently in Adelaide doing an install for a University student village. Has to be live by Friday.

First ISP having trouble getting the connection in and won't happen for a few weeks. OK, backup through our relationship with Optus, but we need a static IP. After initial promises of a couple of weeks it blew out to 6.

Finally found someone who could loan us a short term 3G SIM to get us on the air (it only services a few access points at the moment so that will work and the students are still on the old AArnet service in their rooms). That will carry us through until they want the fiber connection and everyone on it in a month. When I will be back in Adelaide.

Got the SIM working today in the adaptor upstairs, and the cabinet fitted. And the bloody freight with alln the gear didn't arrive until 2:30.

Tomorrow get the APs up and hopefully live. Then testing and a few other things Thursday before flying home. And then thank God on holidays for a week Saturday and going and cleaning up Port Macquarie cache-wise! After having a day trip to Goulburn yesterday.

Not quite sure why I rent a house sometimes.

Post by **caughtatwork** » 18 June 09 9:45 pm

Damo. · Post by **Damo.** » 19 June 09 12:33 pm

Excellent! *Taps fingertips together Mr Burns style*

Post by **caughtatwork** » 09 July 09 11:39 am

We cutover on Monday 13-July-2008
We expect the cutover will take between 4-6 hours*.
We will update the GCA website to indicate it is no longer in operation to avoid data coming into the system after we take the data cut. This means your access to the site and the forums will be cut off.
We will ETL** massive amounts of data between the machines.
We will then run some diagnostic tests and some functionality tests.
We will then cutover the DNS to point to the new server.
When the DNS resolves to the new IP address and you can see the site again, you should be good to go wild.

Updates on progress will be posted at http://twitter.com/GCA_updates

* 4-6 hours is an estimate. It could be faster it could be slower. If it's not up by the time you go to bed, assume it will be there in the morning.
** Extract, Transform and Load

Lucy · Post by **Lucy** » 09 July 09 12:31 pm

Good Luck and Thank You for all your hard work, we will have our fingers crossed that it all goes smoothly.