FreeLists / openbeos / [openbeos] FreeLists to get an upgrade this weekend

[Michael Phipps <mphipps1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

We have been using freelists.org for this list for our entire 3 1/2 year 
existance. Their uptime has been absolutely incredible - other than when a 
tornado hit their colocation facility, of course. 

They are upgrading their servers this weekend (the 22nd) and this list will be 
down for most of the day. 

More details below, if you care...

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> 
> It's been just over four years since our last hardware upgrade 
> (http://www.freelists.org/archives/freelists-news/11-2001/msg00000.html) and 
> our need for it has never been greater.
> 
> Since 11/2001, we've been running on a custom-built server with 512MB RAM, 
> two PIII/800 cpu's, and some fairly slow storage.  The fact that we've been 
> able to continue running on such ancient hardware is, in my opinion, a 
> testament to the quality of the Open Source software we so heavily depend on. 
> Nonetheless, as we've grown, demand for resources has gradually outstripped 
> the capabilities of our hardware.
> 
> For several months now, I've been researching and shopping for a server that 
> will carry FreeLists for the next few years.  While there are several servers 
> that make up the backend here, there's just one that does 90% of the work, so 
> it's got to be a performant, reliable box.  I nearly went with Dell for their 
> simplicity, my experience with them (we've already got an 1850 here), and the 
> fact that they're so cheap.  Their lack of support for the AMD Opteron CPU 
> (far better than Intel's 64-bit offering) dropped them from the running.  
> 
> Matrix to the rescue: I was put in touch with a nearby VAR called Matrix 
> Integration (http://www.matrixintegration.com), a big HP reseller.  While I 
> can't go into detail on the specifics, let's just say this upgrade wouldn't 
> have been possible without them.  Their sales people really went to bat for 
> us and put us into a server I never thought we'd be able to afford.  </plug>
> 
> We'll be moving to a roomy HP DL585 with 2 Opteron 850's and 2GB RAM.  The 
> server also provides for upgradeability -- I can drop in two more CPU's and 
> another 62GB of memory if we ever need it.  
> 
> So here's the plan: We'll be doing the migration on Saturday the 22nd, 
> starting at about 9am.  It's a complicated migration and I do expect there to 
> be bumps along the way, but I plan to have everything operational by 
> mid-afternoon.  During that time, of course, FreeLists' services will be 
> unavailable.  The rest of the weekend will be available to finding and 
> ironing out any remaining problems that crop up.
> 
> Any questions or concerns?  Please don't hesitate to ask.
> 
> John