ns1.slicehost.net
ns2.slicehost.net
ns3.slicehost.net

For those who use custom domains, when you make that name server switch that will trigger a change over of your email. In other words, once the Internet knows that ellinthorpe.com or withoutpants.com are at the new server, all your mail will go to the new server.

Right now there are a bunch of rsync jobs that are trying to keep the two servers in sync – so when you make this change I need to know it so that we can test everything and I can change the rsync job. If you just use a muppethouse email, you shouldn’t have a big problem and you will move last.

From my surveying nobody was using the roundcube webmail, so it will be going away. If you use the squirrelmail (old) webmail, I have put a version on the new server as well. Because I only have one IP on the new server I will no longer be making the old webmail available via https (I’m using that for something else).

Another pain-in-the-ass issue is that the IMAP service on the new server is running Dovecot rather than UW IMAP. In general this should be faster, but people will need to move their mail folders from their home directory to the mail folder in their home directory (~/mail). If you’ve got custom procmail config then you’ll probably need to change your .procmailrc to point to the new mbox folders after moving them. There is a folder in your home directory that lists what you have subscribed to with your IMAP client, whether webmail or another client called .mailboxlist. On Dovecot this is in ~/mail/.subscriptions. There are a few choices, I can just write a script to move people’s folders for them and create the .subscriptions file. I could do this before the move, or after on a case-by-case basis. Some people already have a ~/mail folder, some do not. I dunno, please work with me on this.

If you have ssh access you can log into the new server at new.muppethouse.com now to see if everything looks as you’d expect. You can pre-test other pieces of this migration (such as your web page) by putting entries in your hosts file pointing to 208.75.86.128. You can connect with an IMAP client to the new server as well.

The old server will be eventually shut off, so please remember to change those name servers and let me know when you do. I’m ready to migrate when you are – lets do it!

Anyway, there were a few small issues after the server came back up, but no worries – all appears to be well now. Look at it as a positive thing, now those problems won’t happen again if the server gets randomly powered off and back on again. Let me know if there are any problems you see.

I also want to take a second to remind you all that I have a couple offsite backup servers, so your data should not be lost even if that server were to explode (it would just be terribly inconvenient and take a while to recover).

UPDATE

Here is the info on the outage from my provider:

Location: DLLSTX2

Severity: Level 5

Description: At 4:09AM CST, a power failure occurred in a redundant pair of Powerware UPS units feeding power to section B of the DLLSTX2 datacenter. The power failure was caused by a faulty fuse in UPS unit B-1. As the load transferred to UPS unit B-2, the spike in the load created an overloaded breaker and UPS B2 also lost power. This resulted in a power outage to the main power distribution unit feeding section B of the datacenter floor. Emergency teams were notified and the power was restored within 20 minutes. The power continued to cycle until 6:45AM due to the faulty fuse and the inability of the redundant UPS units to remain in bypass mode. Customers may have noticed several power cycles during this time period. Powerware, JT Packard, and electricians found the problem and replaced the faulty hardware and fuses. At 6:45AM, all electrical service was restored to normal and the NOC team began to bring all servers back online. The technical staff is currently placing a console on all servers to verify server restarts. Customers with operating systems that require a file check may have experienced extended downtime during the file check. Powerware and JT Packard will continue to monitor the UPS systems for the next 24 to 48 hours. The Planet does not anticipate any further outages.

Most muppethouse users have some sort of high-speed internet connection. Usually these services provide you with a dynamic, yet rarely changing IP address. Running servers on this dynamic connection would require at least a static hostname to be useful. DynDNS and No-IP have been the solution for many, but if you are like me you have found these services rather unreliable. For those of you who are connecting to your muppethouse mail through IMAP, providing dynamic DNS based on your IMAP access will be trivial. This will be more reliable than the DynDNS.org client built into my router – you don’t have to sign up for anything and it will be secure. I’ll probably just change muppethouse.net to be the dynamic zone, then all you’d have to do is set up port forwarding on your router at home and then you can connect to a web server at your house. For example, Wesley opens Thunderbird at his house, then I access http://wesley.muppethouse.net:8080 with my web browser. Fun.

Ok, that one lacked a lot of excitement, but this one is a little better. For those of you that aren’t HTML and CSS junkies, I now have a way for you to upload your pictures to muppethouse.com for viewing by the unwashed masses – it’s called Gallery. Slide shows, random pictures, and an easy interface await your visit. I still need to do a lot of work on this one, so be kind.

I’ve saved what is, in my opinion, the best for last. Asterisk, the Linux PBX and constant source of Ryan-raving, will soon be a reality on muppethouse.com. This means free worldwide long distance for those of you that want it. You’ll be able to get a muppethouse extension; this allow you to dial 10 to reach Ryan, 11 to reach (fill in user here). Be a part of the muppethouse IVR solution, connect to FWD and IAXtel, have your voicemail sent as an attachment to an email… Asterisk may even be able to do your laundry if I get the right plug-in. I find this rather exciting, but perhaps I’m the only one… ok, I’m outa here.

Muppethouse recently met revenue expectations of leading industry analysts, earning an EBITA of $0.00 Million in the second quarter of 2004. Muppethouse Chief Officer Chief Officer Chief Officer Ryan Shea stated, “Time and again Muppethouse has met its lofty fiscal goals, and with the continuous addition of nearly valueless products to our array of goods and services we will outperform all of those busted-ass dotcom companies of yesteryear”.

Other lackluster improvements this week include an amazingly confusing and wasteful style-sheet (but at least I use the same sheet for everything now) and Squirrelmail plugin development testing (see the iCal link in the webmail). On the mild procrastination list has been the development of a proper SQL query to migrate all old LiveJournal postings.