Sunday, June 20, 2004

Brain Fry

Otherwise known, as "where the heck did last week go?". Things currently on the griddle:

1) The hosting provider that we use for our web server array says they're going to be closing out the hosting facility that we're in by the end of the year. Which means that we have to go through the hassle of migrating everything to new servers (with the usual reconfiguration headaches). OTOH, since they're forcing us to move, it's going to give us leverage on the price. After all, if I'm going to move my servers anyway, why not explore pricing at some of their competitors as well?

That's on the back part of the griddle, we estimate that if we're paying $X/month for hosting, that it will cost us $X times 3 to do the migration. So I think we're going to let that decision sit until July.

2) Which leads to project #2, getting all of our various domains and DNS entries rounded up. Through a process of accretion, we have domains registered with more then one registrar and we need to get all of that centralized for once. Moving domains between registrars is fraught with peril, as they tend to wipe out your DNS settings during the move (which puts you off-line for a few days until the records sort out and ticks off the users).

3) Which leads, naturally enough, to project #3. Finding a DNS hosting service or setting up our own public DNS server. Frankly, setting up our own DNS server is not something I feel like adding to my plate due to the numerous security exploits in some DNS implementations (BIND is notoriously bad). Instead, we're going to go with a service like DNSMadeEasy.com as our primary DNS servers. (Down the road, we might add secondary DNS servers or contract a 2nd company.) Also, AOL is rumored to be requiring that all commercial mailers who send e-mail to their users publish SPF records, which is another reason to use a DNS hosting company.

4) I also spent the entire week trying to setup (or re-setup) a new Linux box. Numerous glitches abounded, almost all were self-inflicted due to not following directions to the letter or doing things out of order. Hours and hours spent poring over documentation, searching Google or old USENET archives and trying out plan A, B and C. On the plus side, I now know a lot more about linux and how to troubleshoot boot problems then before. If all goes well, we'll put our first linux server up at work sometime this summer to start the migration away from Novell and Windows.

On the miscellaneous side, my co-worker is on vacation next week, so I'll be getting all of his work as well. Plus the usual technical support issues (we're fighting with a balky tape drive), and it's probably going to be another busy week.

posted by Wuphon's at 10:44 AM