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IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ: As some of you know who frequent the "Pub" here, I recently purchased a dedicated server for running the British Car Forum. I have been running BCF on what is called a Virtual Private Server (VPS). A VPS is like having a dedicated server in that I have full root access and from the outside it looks like it’s my own server, with its own operating system. But what it is really is a "virtual" server that shares one physical server (computer) with many other VPSs. They basically slice up one physical computer (server) into several "virtual" servers. I have no control over what other web sites are on the server. The VPS concept can be a cost-effective way to have a “server,” but it also has drawbacks.
Namely, if there are many VPSs sharing one physical server that are resource hogs, then it can cause all the other VPSs (like mine) to slow down. That is what has been happening lately, so I decided to bite the bullet and just move to a medium-sized dedicated server, over which I will have complete control. That should (I hope) speed things up considerably.
I now have the server in place and have hired a professional server management company to help me set it up, harden it against hackers, and monitor the server status day-to-day. I did this because this is a Linux OS with Apache Web Server software and I know just enough about Linux and Apache to be dangerous. I'm learning more and more every day, but just don't feel confident (yet) in running things at the server level all by my lonesome.
As of this post, Sunday, 15 October 06, the new server is up and running and I have successfully transferred a couple of small web sites to it and it seems to be running fine. The next step will be to move all the BCF files and databases over to the new server. As this is a very large site, the physical move is going to be a rather time consuming undertaking.
I will make an announcement as to when the move will occur, but it will be in the very near future. Once I start, I will have to close the forums so as to keep the data all stable while I complete the move. Once the site is all moved over, I will re-direct my URL for britishcarforum.com to the ‘Domain Name Servers’ on the new box. It can take anywhere from 1 hour to 72 hours to propagate across the internet. Some people may be able to get on the new server right away, while it may take others a little longer. There's no way to control that. One I am able to get to the BCF on the new server, I will then open the forums again and we should be in business. There may be some tweaking I’ll have to do before I can open things due to slight differences in the database software between my current VPS and the new server, but this should be minor (I hope).
STILL A FREE FORUM. The BCF will always be a free forum, but given the increased costs, I’m doing a couple of things to help me offset the out-of-pocket expenses. 1) I will re-open the “BCF Store” where members will be able to purchase things like BCF patches, window stickers, etc. 2) In the BCF Store, I will add a Donate link for members to make donations if so inclined. The important point here is that no one is obligated to donate to BCF. While I will greatly appreciate any help that comes, I don’t want anyone to feel they must donate in order to participate here. 3) Because I will likely need a regular monthly cash-flow to offset the day-to-day costs, I am also going to offer web hosting to members who have small, non-commercial (British Car Related) web sites. The number of sites I’ll host is TBD and I don’t want to host so many that it affects the performance of the BCF, so I’ll play that by ear.
That’s about it for now. If you have any questions, you can reply to this thread.
Basil /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/computer.gif
Namely, if there are many VPSs sharing one physical server that are resource hogs, then it can cause all the other VPSs (like mine) to slow down. That is what has been happening lately, so I decided to bite the bullet and just move to a medium-sized dedicated server, over which I will have complete control. That should (I hope) speed things up considerably.
I now have the server in place and have hired a professional server management company to help me set it up, harden it against hackers, and monitor the server status day-to-day. I did this because this is a Linux OS with Apache Web Server software and I know just enough about Linux and Apache to be dangerous. I'm learning more and more every day, but just don't feel confident (yet) in running things at the server level all by my lonesome.
As of this post, Sunday, 15 October 06, the new server is up and running and I have successfully transferred a couple of small web sites to it and it seems to be running fine. The next step will be to move all the BCF files and databases over to the new server. As this is a very large site, the physical move is going to be a rather time consuming undertaking.
I will make an announcement as to when the move will occur, but it will be in the very near future. Once I start, I will have to close the forums so as to keep the data all stable while I complete the move. Once the site is all moved over, I will re-direct my URL for britishcarforum.com to the ‘Domain Name Servers’ on the new box. It can take anywhere from 1 hour to 72 hours to propagate across the internet. Some people may be able to get on the new server right away, while it may take others a little longer. There's no way to control that. One I am able to get to the BCF on the new server, I will then open the forums again and we should be in business. There may be some tweaking I’ll have to do before I can open things due to slight differences in the database software between my current VPS and the new server, but this should be minor (I hope).
STILL A FREE FORUM. The BCF will always be a free forum, but given the increased costs, I’m doing a couple of things to help me offset the out-of-pocket expenses. 1) I will re-open the “BCF Store” where members will be able to purchase things like BCF patches, window stickers, etc. 2) In the BCF Store, I will add a Donate link for members to make donations if so inclined. The important point here is that no one is obligated to donate to BCF. While I will greatly appreciate any help that comes, I don’t want anyone to feel they must donate in order to participate here. 3) Because I will likely need a regular monthly cash-flow to offset the day-to-day costs, I am also going to offer web hosting to members who have small, non-commercial (British Car Related) web sites. The number of sites I’ll host is TBD and I don’t want to host so many that it affects the performance of the BCF, so I’ll play that by ear.
That’s about it for now. If you have any questions, you can reply to this thread.
Basil /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/computer.gif
