# Server Upgrade



## Mike Bobbitt (2 Feb 2008)

All,

Tonight I performed a fairly reaching server upgrade (Fedora Core 7 to 8 for the geeks out there). If you notice any problems with the site, please let me know.


Thanks
Mike


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## Mike Baker (2 Feb 2008)

Roger that Mike. Thanks for the heads up.


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## slowmode (2 Feb 2008)

Very nice, Thats the best one to use for websites .Ill be sure to report any problems


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## tdwebste (3 Feb 2008)

<Troll Bait>
Why not switch to debian and follow the continues upgrade approach?
<!Troll Bait>

I hope the sysadmin here can take a joke / poke. 

So far I don't see any problems. I do see a very slight improvement in responsiveness.
I am assume you are using Nagios monitoring. As a system admin myself I am always a little curious what tools you are using under the hood to keep the engine running. Perhaps I may be able to help with with tools in your toolbox. At a recent past job I worked with/lead a team of admins. We remote administrated over 400+ servers and used net boot/installs as much as possible. Ya we use redhat, but the upgrades always were a task. We did try Fedora for a while, but found it to be redhat's beta ware for redhat enterprise. I find debian upgrades a little smoother and better tested. I am not happy at all with ubuntu's testing of server upgrades and upgrade strategy. On the other hand they do a great job configuring desktop environments.

Congratulates no major failurers yet. Upgrading from Fedora 7 to 8, is not something you can fall back.


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## tdwebste (3 Feb 2008)

Ah, the improvements are the result of my isp connection  ;D


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## Mike Bobbitt (3 Feb 2008)

Hi tdwebste,

I haven't used Nagios before, but I'll sure check it out now.  The honest answer about debian is: It's already working under Fedora. I've been a RedHat user from way back (I have RH3 disks here somewhere). I'm sure debian isn't hard to use and I hear a lot of good things about it... maybe next time I rebuild the server from the ground up I'll try it.

Anyway, thanks for the input, I often feel like I'm working on this stuff in isolation which is a recipie for making the wrong sysadmin decisions.


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## Mike Baker (3 Feb 2008)

Nothing weird here on my end Mike. Are there any other things your going to play around with for the site?


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## Mike Bobbitt (3 Feb 2008)

The playing never stops Mike.


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## Mike Baker (3 Feb 2008)

Mike Bobbitt said:
			
		

> The playing never stops Mike.


 ;D Thats a good thing then.


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## George Wallace (3 Feb 2008)

I lost the site last night and then again about ten minutes ago.


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## Mike Baker (3 Feb 2008)

George Wallace said:
			
		

> I lost the site last night and then again about ten minutes ago.


Same here George.


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## Mike Baker (3 Feb 2008)

And it happened again.


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## Mike Bobbitt (3 Feb 2008)

I was working on another (different) upgrade this morning. Didn't get it finished, so I'll retry again at another time. Once this one's done it should be the last for a while.


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## Roy Harding (3 Feb 2008)

Mike - did email notifications get turned off during the upgrade?  I haven't received any since yesterday - I checked my profile and all is fine there.  (Email notifications are a valuable tool to me- they are how I keep up to date and know when to check in, however briefly, when I'm not on the site).

Roy


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## Mike Bobbitt (3 Feb 2008)

Just tested, notifications work fine for me... anyone else having problems?


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## George Wallace (3 Feb 2008)

If it was in the last few minutes, I never even noticed.


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## Roy Harding (4 Feb 2008)

Mike Bobbitt said:
			
		

> Just tested, notifications work fine for me... anyone else having problems?



I have been trying to solve this.  I had a look at my profile, which had MANY boards listed for notification, and yet - the information window at the bottom said I didn't have any boards/threads marked for notification.  When I "delisted" a thread, I was asked if I was sure I wanted to turn off notifications.

In an attempt to clear things up, I delisted ALL threads that had been marked for notification (there were over 36 pages - I have notifications turned on for threads I've posted/replied too - and have never cleaned these up before.)  Then, I marked a few boards and threads for notifications.  There have been postings on a couple of those threads since, and no emails received.  I also haven't received notification of PMs since Saturday (and I've received at least one since then) - BEFORE the server upgrade.

I'm at a loss - it's not my email program or ISP - all emails from OTHER sources are arriving correctly.  Related to the issue, the last "Report to Moderator" email I received was date/time stamped 02 Feb, 18:56 (PST), about the C9 rail mount thread - have there been no "Report to Mods" since then?

Roy


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## Mike Bobbitt (4 Feb 2008)

Roy,

You're right, there's a problem, but it's neuther you nor me. Our server is sending the messages, but your ISP is rejecting them on your behalf with a "Service unavailable" message.

I suspect your ISP believes it to be spam. I couldn't find an e-mail address on their website, but if you know of one I can ask if they have our IPs blocked. Maybe they recently installed new filtering software and are still adjusting it.


Cheers
Mike


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## Roy Harding (4 Feb 2008)

Mike Bobbitt said:
			
		

> Roy,
> 
> You're right, there's a problem, but it's neuther you nor me. Our server is sending the messages, but your ISP is rejecting them on your behalf with a "Service unavailable" message.
> 
> ...



Thanks, Mike.

I'll handle it from this end.


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## Mike Bobbitt (4 Feb 2008)

Ok, let me know if you want me to talk to their tech folks. My guess is they have black/greylisted our IPs:

216.58.85.243
216.58.41.151

They should know what to do that that info.


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## Roy Harding (4 Feb 2008)

Just a followup:

I just got off the phone with them - they have been having problems with email (specific domains - which explains why OTHER email was still getting through) since Saturday night, and should have it fixed shortly.

Actually - as an unrelated aside, my PREVIOUS ISP (when I was located in Edmonton) was Golden when problems of any sort arose - an email to all their customers stating what it was, expected time for repair, etcetera.

THESE guys though, don't even notify when there are planned maintenance outages.  Unfortunately for me/fortunately for them - we're isolated enough here that they are the only game in town (unless you want to go dial-up).

Lesson learned - next time there's an issue similar to this, I'll check with THEM first.

Thanks for your help.


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## Mike Bobbitt (4 Feb 2008)

Roy,

Quite honestly, it's more likely *I* would be at fault, so check with me first... it's quick and easy for me to rule our server in/out as the problem, so I don't mind.


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## Mike Bobbitt (4 Feb 2008)

Roy,

Believe it or not, our server looks like the cause. Long story, but we've been placed on a spam watch list. I'll work to get us off.


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## old medic (4 Feb 2008)

Running an open relay with the SMTP ?


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## geo (4 Feb 2008)

Mike... guess you should put THEM on Recorded Warning


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## armyvern (4 Feb 2008)

geo said:
			
		

> Mike... guess you should put THEM on Recorded Warning



But then they'd allow no posts!!

People on RWs can't post!!

Noooooooo.


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## Mike Bobbitt (4 Feb 2008)

old medic said:
			
		

> Running an open relay with the SMTP ?



No, thankfully! We ended up on the Composite Blocking List, seemingly because of a temporary mail server misconfig with the mail server name. We should be back in business now, though it may take a few hours to propagate.


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## aesop081 (4 Feb 2008)

_*uses futureshop comercial robot voice*_

Technodorks.....Megageeks.....

 ;D


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## Roy Harding (4 Feb 2008)

Man -you sure know how to deflate a good angry customer bubble.

I'll lay off my ISP.


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## Mike Bobbitt (4 Feb 2008)

Mike Bobbitt said:
			
		

> Quite honestly, it's more likely *I* would be at fault, so check with me first... it's quick and easy for me to rule our server in/out as the problem, so I don't mind.



How right I was! 

CDN A, when you talk airframes etc. it sounds just like this to me!


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## Roy Harding (4 Feb 2008)

Yup - I'm receiving the notifications again.

On the UP side of the whole exercise - I DID clean up my "notification" list.  Some of those threads were a couple of years old!


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## Mike Bobbitt (4 Feb 2008)

Thanks for bringing it to my attention. Guaranteed you weren't the only one affected.


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