Re: hort.net update

My sentiments exactly, DF...what Chris has done for us all is absolutely of the caliber of "pearl beyond price".  Thanks, Chris!


Melody, IA (Z 5/4)

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious."    
--Albert Einstein

 --- On Wed 06/30, David Franzman < dfranzma@pacbell.net > wrote:
From: David Franzman [mailto: dfranzma@pacbell.net]
To: gardenchat@hort.net
Date: Tue, 29 Jun 2004 22:31:39 -0700
Subject: Re: [CHAT] hort.net update

Keeping us all together? Priceless!<br><br>Thanks Chris<br><br>David
Franzman<br>A Touch of the
Tropics<br>www.atouchofthetropics.net<br>----- Original Message -----
<br>From: "Christopher P. Lindsey" <lindsey@mallorn.com><br>To:
<gardenchat@hort.net><br>Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 2004 9:49
PM<br>Subject: [CHAT] hort.net update<br><br><br>> Hi
everyone,<br>><br>> Wow, it's hard to believe that it's been six months
since I asked<br>> everyone for help with the hort.net fund drive. By
now, you're<br>> probably wondering how it went!<br>><br>> Well, the
vacation in Tahiti was great, thanks! :)<br>><br>> OK, that's probably
not funny. Seriously, we've been working hard to<br>> make things
better, and true to form it's taken longer than I expected.<br>> There
have also been some growing pains along the way, but I appreciate<br>>
your patience as we worked out the bugs.<br>><br>> Here's what we've
done so far:<br>><br>> . The main Web server was upgraded to a much
faster machine.<br>> I replaced the motherboard, processor, memory, and
hard drive.<br>> The end result is that search functions and more
complicated<br>> page displays are significantly faster than
before.<br>><br>> COST: $600<br>><br>> . Using parts from the old Web
server, I was able to upgrade the<br>> email server as well. I would
ultimately like to upgrade the<br>> mail server to the same type of
machine as the Web server, but<br>> the funds aren't there yet. Still,
email should be faster, and<br>> now all incoming and outgoing email has
the added benefit of<br>> virus scanning. The old mail server wasn't
fast enough to do<br>that,<br>> but this upgrade should prevent viruses
from going out to any of<br>> the lists.<br>><br>> COST: FREE<br>><br>>
. I purchased a new, large, rackmount case for the main file
server.<br>> Right now we have what's known as a JBOD (Just a Bunch Of
Disks)<br>> serv

ing the data with a copy of everything made nightly to<br>> another
large disk.<br>><br>> We would like to switch to a RAID5 setup -- this
writes data in<br>> a manner that allows for the loss of a hard drive
without any<br>> data loss at all. This new case is large enough and
beefy<br>> enough to handle up to ten hard drives (most of which we
already<br>> have), so data security will be better with less
downtime.<br>><br>> In essence, if a drive fails now I can fix things
manually and<br>> copy over the data to a new drive. With the new setup
a drive<br>> failure won't impact the system at all and it can keep
running<br>> without my intervention.<br>><br>> COST: $250<br>><br>> . I
also purchased a backup power supply for the Web server (the<br>> other
servers already had one). Lately the power grid around<br>> here has
been experiencing ten second blips which would knock<br>> the machine
out of commission. This fixes the problem, so short<br>> power outages
are now a non-issue.<br>><br>> COST: $150<br>><br>> . The biggest change
coming up involves our Internet connection.<br>> We're changing upstream
providers to provide a connection with<br>> twice the speed with a lower
monthly cost. I can't reveal<br>> details as per our contract, but our
monthly expenditures will<br>> be significatly lower. However, there
will be a one month<br>> overlap period when we transition from our old
provider to the<br>> new one, so we'll be paying twice for the same
month at one<br>> point. There may also be installation fees, although
this should<br>> all be recouped by the end of the year. The projected
monthly<br>> savings are what allowed us to purchase new equipment as
well.<br>><br>> COST: unknown<br>><br>> What I'd still like to
do:<br>><br>> . Put the mail server into a rackmount enclosure

  
$250<br>> . Upgrade the mail server $500<br>> . Upgrade the SQL/file
server $500<br>> . Buy rails for three rackmount systems $170<br>> . Buy
more disk so that people can upload photos, $300-$500<br>> etc. (we
currently have about 200GB of data)<br>><br>> Thanks again for all of
your help so far! We can, of course, always<br>> use more funds to do
bigger and better things, so the fund drive is<br>> still
open.<br>><br>> http://www.hort.net/funds/<br>><br>> Also, once all of
our hardware upgrades are finished, I'll be asking<br>> you questions
about what features we should work on improving first<br>> at
hort.net.<br>><br>> Chris<br>><br>>
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Support hort.net -- join the hort.net fund drive!<br>>
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hort.net -- join the hort.net fund drive!<br>

    http://www.hort.net/funds/<br><br>



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