Hi all,

Sorry about the downtime over the last day or so. We have substantially outgrown our existing server and I'm in the process of finding ways for us to migrate to a new OS and server hardware.

I spent the last day attempting to upgrade our OS with new components only to find out that it is not supported. With the increasing level of users on the site on a given day, the constant probing of our services by hackers, the spam, firewall processes, general HTTP / database use, and nightly backups.... we have outgrown and will need to move very soon.

The server we are using is a Celeron PC with about 512MB memory and a couple hard disks. I chose this system back when our membership was around 5,000 people. Now that we are over 12,000 users it's starting to get busy around here. Our site isn't that busy on a daily basis with regards to general membership use, it's also busy with other background tasks.

None-the-less, my biggest reason for an upgrade is to fix some important security issues. The upgrades, however, need a new OS. A new OS needs a bigger CPU and more memory... on and on....

Thanks for your patience. The site is back online and I'll let you know when we decide to make the 'move' to our new server in the near future.

-- Mike

Thanks for all your hard work and effort to keep this terrifc site up for us!

Mike, how much disk space do we need? Can you use a 2U rack-mount box? I use Dell PowerEdge 2550s extensively at work. They typically have dual PIII processors, redundant power supplies, dual NICs and 4 drive bays. If you're careful, you can get decent boxes on eBay for less than $400, maybe a bit more if you need more than four 18GB drives.

One with free shipping

One in Portland

The server we are using is a Celeron PC with about 512MB memory and a couple hard disks.

Ouch. My personal workstation has dual Xeons and 2GB of memory and mirrored drives. It sounds like an upgrade is definitely in order. Thanks for all of the hard work and expenses.

Ouch. My personal workstation has dual Xeons and 2GB of memory and mirrored drives. It sounds like an upgrade is definitely in order. Thanks for all of the hard work and expenses.

Yeah, my work laptop has a dual-core processor and 1.5 GB RAM. But Linux will run happily (sans GUI) on much less.

Mike - check my PM re: OS source...

Mike, I still can not load the site store. Wanted to buy a couple of items to help pay for the upgrade.

Jerry

Oh? The store is down. I'll have to look at that next week. Getting ready for family this weekend... big Thanksgiving plans.

You can always simply donate money. I hate to ask for it, but we really could use more monthly subscribers to help pay for higher server dues. I could host the server at my house because I have a very nice spare dual Xeon with 2GB RAM, but, the power out here is off-on at times. A large UPS could be installed however I need to run some additional power to the server room.

Anyway, I'm trying to come up with a good solution. The PITA factor is a lot lower if the server is hosted at a professional server hosting site -- cost is higher though..

Thats a good idea. I know how much I missed the site.... So how many takers on a say $10.00 or $20.00 donation to upgrade the site. I'm in how about you. Let's see how many we can get to commit. If most of the members participate Mike will have more than enough to make the needed updates. I should probably start a thread for this. What do you think???

Jerry

I hate to ask for it, but we really could use more monthly subscribers to help pay for higher server dues.

You got it Mike! I've been meaning to get around to subscribing for a while. No time like the present. Thanks for all that you do.

BTW, I have a crap load of PC-133 DIMM 128MB modules if you end up going with an older server that could make use of them.

Hi Jerry, sure if you want to start a campaign it would be ok. There are links on the main page (check under the main menu) to donate to the club. I'll see about putting together a page with more information about our stuff.

Enigma, thanks I appreciate the help on this. The server expense will be increasing in a few weeks when I can move the site to a faster computer. I don't have direct access to the hardware because the server is hosted at an external provider. If I do end up moving it into my own server room it will be easier to use donated hardware.

It appears that the problems are getting worse. I've been having troubles getting to the site almost every day. A few days back, I was unable to resolve the host name to an IP from any DNS server. Other times the site's just not responding. I hope we can get this under control sometime soon. Either that or I just need to get a life and spend more time with friends and family.

Mike,

I will be willing to donate money but I am in the middle of a divorce and money is extreamly tight. I could how ever give computer parts if you need to upgrade your system. I do repair work localy and have an extra P4 478 socket 2.4Ghz 533FSB with an extra stick of PC2100 DDR just sitting collecting dust. You if want them they are yours. I know you can still get 478 boards. I wish I had an extra. Just let me know and I can mail this stuff out to you.