Site up

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jslagle
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Site up

Post by jslagle »

As some of you have no doubt noticed the site is back up.

I should have moved the IP to my other server there and at least put up a maint page - I'll do that next time.

It took me a bit to arrange access to the server to replace the failed part. Both I and the people I had to engage are busy!

It's busy running a backup now, but all is well.

Jason
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T-Hunter
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Re: Site up

Post by T-Hunter »

well thnk you for getting it done. We all appreciate it.
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jslagle
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Re: Site up

Post by jslagle »

I'm tempted to say the "club" should just look at webhosting.

:shrug:
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GizmoGuy411
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Re: Site up

Post by GizmoGuy411 »

Thanks Jason! I can appreciate "busy".... it sure gets in the way of doing things you want!
jslagle wrote:I'm tempted to say the "club" should just look at webhosting.

:shrug:
Many agree Jason. This has actually been discussed with a number of people lately and I'll detail the tech part with you more in a PM. Of course everyone wants you to still be the geek master, regardless!

Personally I think it would be best for everyone.

I'm pretty sure that if we put it to a general vote that it would pass overwhelmingly.

[mod="GizmoGuy411"]For those less techy, "webhosting" in the sense Jason mentioned, would mean that we would pay a very modest fee (~$100/yr) for our site to hosted at some big server farm. We would never need or want to ever see the actual machine our site ran on. (Well ok... SOME of us might want to see it....)

They often have redundant back-up systems for both the hosting and for access to the site. So theoretically if a hurricane or power failure, or flood, or tornado, or wild fire, or locust infestation hits one place, another takes over. Right now Jason has an actual computer sitting at a location where it connects to the Internet. If that single computer fails, so does our site. Usually Jason can remotely fix things that are software related, however if hardware fails he must make the trek to the actual secret location high up in the mountains of Toledo through thick and thin and get his hands dirty.[/mod]
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GoodDog
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Re: Site up

Post by GoodDog »

jslagle wrote:I'm tempted to say the "club" should just look at webhosting.

:shrug:
Jason, you have done a great (and free) job over the years, but as life gets busier, maybe the server farm is a good alternative. We would still need the webmaster, but the advantages of a farm (unless it's Farmville :roll: ) make sense now. I got something from Costco that says as a member you can get 80% off a site at GoDaddy. Maybe even an autographed pic of Danica Patrick.
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jslagle
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Re: Site up

Post by jslagle »

We'd probably want to use 1&1 or something similar.

Make no mistake - the location of the box is a local comapnies hot site. It has redundant network, battery back up, generator, etc. Things can and do just fail. Arranging to get in is a pain.

My full time day job takes care of lots of servers. Some virtual, some physical. I just can't run my personal stuff there :)

Jason
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Re: Site up

Post by GizmoGuy411 »

While the GoDaddy deal (that Good Dog mentioned) might sound tempting, I have some issues with them for hosting NWOGEO.

I've researched webhosts a number of times in the past, and recently looked at them again specifically with the use of our phpBB software in mind. The hosting costs are around $100 per year give or take for a number of those webhosting providers offering the level of service we require.

There are however some "gotcha's" with just about every webhost in one way or another. Choosing one can be a bit tricky to avoid those gotchas for particular uses like our software. Also, some services are a bit vague about acceptable use, and running a service like our phpBB could be a violation of their terms.

The hosting service "1and1" remains one of the best choices in most respects. However for the specific use of phpbb, I think a better choice might be "FatCow". Their installation of phpBB, is a very simple process and is obviously permitted as they provide the base phpbb software and the installation process (unlike "1and1") as an included feature of their service. There is a slight issue with their registration process and a required domain name choice, however I'm confident Jason would have a creative solution for that.

I've already invested an initial first year cost of $56 at "FatCow", just to see how it works and so far it appears to be a very acceptable webhost choice for NWOGEO. While I'm not sure if we could get "FatCow" to transfer the host account I purchased, the first year with them cost $56 regardless, and then about $100 per year thereafter. Discounts are also available for up front purchases of multiple years of hosting.

Of course the above process is the easy part. Moving our site content and configuration over to a webhost is another story. Again, I'm sure Jason has the best ability to accomplish this.

So if everyone thinks this is the direction we should take, and since we currently have so few Steering Committee Members to make such choices, maybe we should have an initial straw poll show of hands here in this topic thread to see if we should proceed to put up an official system poll here on the NWOGEO site to get a general membership opinion.

gg
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GoodDog
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Re: Site up

Post by GoodDog »

I don't know how to post a poll, but chime in here if we should. Gizmo can you post one?

Draft question:

Should we authorize Jason and Gizmo to proceed with moving the site to a hosting company that they deem appropriate for our use?
(This would of course also authorize them to spend the money. We have enough money currently to cover a number of years at the rates Gizmo estimated.)
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GizmoGuy411
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Re: Site up

Post by GizmoGuy411 »

Click to here view the poll and to vote: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2896
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