bradchoate.com

Ok, that was uncalled for. Anyhow, I'm doing the server upgrade thing.

In case you were wondering, this site is running on a dedicated server. I admin the box myself (which is good in some ways and bad in other ways). My host is CIHost. They offer dedicated servers for $99 a month. A steal if you ask me. Ok, so I pay a bit more than most for their web hosting, but I get to host an unlimited number of domains, have complete control (read "I have root") on the server, can resell hosting if I like and so forth. Did I mention that for that price I get 500 GB of transfer? I probably use about 10% of that now. There may be better hosts, but they've done a pretty good job. Other cheap dedicated hosting companies: Rackshack.net, ServePath, Hostway (I can't recommend any of these, I just found them via a web search).

So I've had this server for a while now, and over that time CIHost upgrades the level of server they offer for the rate I'm paying. When they do this, I can't just get a free upgrade to the new system. There's a one-time $150 US fee for that (which is fair, it's basically setting up a new server for them). Anyway, I've put the order in to upgrade and now I wait for the server to become available. Once it is, I will have a few days to transfer everything over to it and set up any software I need. Then they'll transfer the assigned IPs to the new box. It should be a seamless upgrade-- that is, you shouldn't even notice anything. But if this site does go 'dark' for a while, you've had fair warning.

So here's what I have to do in preparation (many of these will already be pre-installed, but I have to have the latest version):

• Find time to do the following...
• Run Bastille
• Install appropriate security updates
• Install qmail
• Install SpamAssassin
• Install Apache
• Install PHP
• Install mod_perl
• Install Movable Type
• Install Smarty
• Install OpenSSL
• Install OpenSSH
• Install MySQL
• Install SquirrelMail
• Install phpMyAdmin
• Install CVS
• Install necessary Perl modules
• Transfer accounts, user files
• Transfer existing sites
• Transfer CVS repository
• Transfer databases
• Configure cron jobs
• Be thankful that all of this software is free
• Pray I don't have to do this again for a few years

Moving is never easy. And if you're interested in CIHost, drop me a note. I can save you a few bucks off their setup fee.