All the software and web/mail applications on this server have been updated and the entire server rsync’d to a remote backup server. As I said in an earlier post, whilst we have automated backup procedures in place, I feel more comfortable if I personally perform a complete, manually supervised, incremental backup of the entire server on a roughly weekly basis.
This update and backup did not result in any server outage.
Well, the good news is that the DEOSS community web server is finally back on line. It was taken down at 07:00 UTC this morning so that a faulty hard disk from the server’s RAID array could be replaced. It should have come back on-line at 07:30UTC, after the data centre replaced the faulty hard disk. But the server would not boot.
Seems a technician in the data centre swapped the wrong disk – removing the good disk and leaving the bad one in the machine! Anyway, after a few frantic calls we eventually got it all sorted out. The server came back on-line today 2010-05-11 at 11:30 UTC and all services resumed shortly afterwards.
The server maintenance detailed in our last bulletin has been postponed until tomorrow 2010-05-11. It is currently scheduled to take place between 07:00-08:00 UTC (08:00-09:00 BST).
Hopefully everything will be up and running before most of our users start work. For those concerned about their data, a second full rsync backup to a remote server has been made of the entire system.
Seems one of the hard disks in our RAID has died. This means it will be necessary to take down the server for up to an hour while the disk is replaced. It is hoped this will take place this afternoon. 2010-05-10.
DEOSS community server was rebooted 2010-05-09 17:39 UTC following a series of software updates and completion of the new Postfix-based mail system. Web and mail services were unavailable for approximately 3 minutes.
All services were restored successfully. Complete rsync backup to remote server initiated.
A new form of particularly nasty spam is doing the rounds, pretending to be from service providers. The emails ask the recipient to download and/or open a zip file containing an alleged upgrade, needed to use their email service. Examples:-
SMTP and POP3 servers for someuser@garfnet.org.uk mailbox are changed. Please carefully read the attached instructions before updating settings.
http://mamapapabrat.googlegroups.com/web/setup.zip
and:-
Dear Customer,
This e-mail was send by garfnet.org.uk to notify you that we have temporanly prevented access to your account.
We have reasons to beleive that your account may have been accessed by someone else. Please run attached file and Follow instructions
(C) garfnet.org.uk
These emails are not sent by us! Worse, zip file actually contains a virus designed to infect Windows computers. Therefore, these mails should be deleted and not opened.
More information about this scam: Sophos Account notification email warning.
The new DEOSS community server weblog has gone live. Based on WordPress, this weblog is intended to keep all our users informed about changes and modifications to the server. It saves having to email everybody! Unfortunately this sort of information is of little value to casual visitors – hence why we have asked Google not to index this particular blog.
DEOSS server has also been manually rsync’d to remote server
All the software and web/mail applications on the new DEOSS server have been updated and the entire server rsync’d to a remote backup server. Whilst we have automated backup procedures in place. I feel more comfortable if I personally perform a complete, manually supervised, incremental backup of the entire server on a roughly weekly basis.
There are still a few things we need to tweak but basically, the new server is now fully operational. Old DEOSS server may be closed down later today.
The new combined DEOSS & GarfNet server has gone on-line a little sooner than expected. The old GarfNet server was decommissioned 2010-05-03 and the old DEOSS server will be switched off within a day or two.
The next few months will see a lot of activity on this server as content from the two old servers is rationalised, updated and presented in a much more logical manner. Well, that’s the plan, at least 🙂
We have just purchased from our upstream ISP, a brand new dedicated web server. If all goes to plan, the entire contents of our two old servers that used to host DEOSS & Garfnet will be amalgamated onto this new machine together with a much more flexible Postfix-based mail server. This new server will also include all our public service material, together with all our customer sites. It is due to go live 2010-05-11.
