Hosting and servers - We're getting there

Post by **caughtatwork** » 10 February 09 7:45 pm

Hi to the folks in the GCA community.

Rather than try and post in the numerous threads around, this is a new thread on the hosting and new servers for the GCA community.

I know you have all been hanging out for some months now while we have been trying to raise funds and work the logistics of getting a new webserver.

We (the developers) appreciate your endless patience, but the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned on and we are heading that way.
http://www.caughtatwork.net/demotivatio ... ?itemid=65

We now have two machines.

This will give us the preferred environment of one webserver and one database server which will hopefully get us some lightning speed rather than the occassional sluggishnes we have been experiencing for a while.

They need to go down to CraigRat in Tasmania for the installation of the operating system and necessary software for operating the GCA website.

From there they will go to our new host in Sydney for installation.

We will then have a period of downtime while we migrate the data and code from the existing site to the new site. We expect that we will provide at least a week of notice before we take the site down. I really don't know at the moment how long it will take to move the data across and set up the new machine but you can be assured that we will attempt this in the fastest possible time frame.

At the same time we move the data across to the new server we will also attempt an upgrade of the forum to a new version. This may be phpBB or may be vBulletin the decision is yet to be made.

I don't have a time frame at the moment as we are relying on the time available by our development team to undertake the necessary actions, but we hope to keep the time short (weeks rather than months).

The two servers (one guaranteed and one additional by the end of the week) will be the permanent property of GCA. They are not borrowed, they are not on loan, they are not leased, they will be owned by the community ensuring that no-one can take them off us in a fit of pique will will go towards ensuring ongoing stability in the platform. At some point in a couple of years they will need to be upgraded, but we'll worry about that then.

You won't notice an immediate decrease in the amount of funds shown on the thermometer on the front page as incremental costs and charges will be expected over the setup period so we will just advise how much we have "left over" at the end. At that time we also hope to determine what our yearly outgoings will be to assist in identifying a suitable fund raising approach for future years.

Again, thank you for your patience and we hope that the progress we can make in the short term will benefit us all.

caughtatwork.

pjamesk · Post by **pjamesk** » 10 February 09 8:22 pm

Thanks for the update

Post by **CraigRat** » 10 February 09 8:57 pm

<rubs hands>
New Toys!

Richary · Post by **Richary** » 10 February 09 10:40 pm

Excellent work guys. I am happy to assist with the physical installation in Sydney if you need a set of hands who is reasonably good as far as racks and network cabling go!

crane2 · Post by **crane2** » 10 February 09 11:40 pm

Yay!

Thanks for letting us know!

Post by **caughtatwork** » 17 February 09 10:38 pm

Both machines are ready to ship for OS build.

Each machine has the following characteristics (after adding in packing):
(H,W,D) 8 cm x 45 cm x 80 cm
Around 15Kg each.

I need some help.
Does anyone know a good, but cheap shipping company that can get these machines from Melbourne to Launceston?

Swampy · Post by **Swampy** » 17 February 09 11:26 pm

Swampys cachemobile is making a trip but that would be in May.
Quite happy to take them if they still haven't left by then.

dadegroot · Post by **dadegroot** » 17 February 09 11:31 pm

caughtatwork wrote: I need some help.
Does anyone know a good, but cheap shipping company that can get these machines from Melbourne to Launceston?

My experience with couriers is you can have good OR cheap, but not both.

Post by **caughtatwork** » 19 February 09 2:48 pm

OK, let's try cheap then.

Most of the stuff I'm getting off the net shows this will be about $300.00

Damn! I can get my car, myself and the servers to where they need to go for less than that

They then need to go to Sydney, so another $300 minimum. $600 seems ridiculous to charge to the community simply to shop the machines around.

Anyone got a cheaper alternative?

geoskid · Post by **geoskid** » 19 February 09 3:52 pm

You could always make them Swaggies!

OK - I'll get back in my box

cdmark · Post by **cdmark** » 19 February 09 5:31 pm

Gee the courier price is a bit steep! I recently sent an old SX64 from Shepparton to Melbourne via Aussie Post for $17.00 and it weighed 15kg packed. I think there limits are 20kg and dimensions of 1.5m.<p>

Anyway, using the dimensions above they will charge about $25.00. Bit more for insurance. Then the servers cost a bit more than an old portable C64 though. Not sure which will depreciate quicker.

Post by **caughtatwork** » 19 February 09 6:10 pm

Never thought about AP. Good idea. One machine will be $30.00 so for 2 it would be $60.00

Don't know about insurance though. Typically anything that breaks they blame on inadequate packaging so I need to think about that.

Any other suggestion?

Post by **caughtatwork** » 19 February 09 6:20 pm

Also had a look at busfreight which would be $150 for the two

Someone's making money in this business.
I'll keep looking, but AP look like the winner.

dadegroot · Post by **dadegroot** » 19 February 09 6:47 pm

Would it be possible to install the OS remotely ?

i.e. setup a little web-console box, with a serial connection to the servers and install over the net ? Might be a bit trickier to setup, but a lot cheaper than shipping the servers to Tassie first.

ideology · Post by **ideology** » 19 February 09 7:08 pm

that sounds like a good idea!
c@w, are the machines booting into any operating system? even if not, you could just install some plain vanilla linux onto it, open up some ports on your router to it and craigrat could ssh in and set up a the full operating system
this is basically how we did it with the current server which resides in texas