19 left on bashful

Yikes, this isn't going well.

Okay, really 24

I got a couple of more sites done.  Still going too slowly.

26 on bashful

Okay, this isn't supposed to be a to-do list, but hey, it's my blog, and I happen to need to list stuff and I'm not near my notebook, so here goes:

• nyrelay redo vps (25% done)
• aboud win development (50% done)
• more bashful migrations
• invoices

30 left on bashful

Just a few deletions, no migrations tonight.

33 on bashful

Very slow progress this week.  One new VPS, very small, a couple of cancellations, a couple of new sites.  A lot of time spent on personal stuff.

36 left on bashful

got a few more done today

40 left on bashful

Progress, but it's time to close the Parallels ticket.  This means that if I run into another snag, I'll have to shell out another $75.

Also, it's time to start thinking about moving the DNS.  If I'm able to progress, at this speed by next week we'll be up to the really tough sites.  I keep having to skip a bunch as it is.

bashful - 46 left

Today was fairly productive, as these things go.  I worked extensively with a new VPS customer, learned some interesting things about a different aspect of the business (which I'll blog about if I pursue it) and got the customer going with setting up their domains.

Migrated a bunch of sites from bashful to grumpy.  It's going a bit faster, but that means that the problematic ones are coming along soon.

53 left on bashful

It's going slowly.

Site Studio still has some hopefully minor cosmetic issues, but things look good otherwise.  Obviously bashful won't be gone by the 15th, but I'm working daily on migrating sites.

I may try to spend some time today working on upgrading / migrating the support site, and the domains site is overdue for an upgrade too.

August expectations

Some of this will definitely slide into September.  For sure I won't finish bashful this month, but I tried and made good progress.  Since the deadline is the 15th and today is the 11th, I know it won't happen.

I lost a low end VPS, but I didn't really expect to keep it.  If I expect real business from that quarter, I have to structure something especially to grab that business.  I'm not sure this is worth pursuing, and I don't want to set down any further thoughts on that here.

I have two more VPSes I hope to bill for in August.  One had a hurdle to solve involving migrations from the main cluster.  I think I've solved that, so it'll be okay.  The other is just a matter of the client dragging his feet, so I have to make some calls.  There's a possible third one, too, but it's only an outside chance.  I had written this one off as "no go" but he's still sometimes writing to me, so all hope is not lost.

Also on the agenda for this month is a possible "new" server being shipped to the DC.  I'll be managing the server for the owner, and integrating it into my H-Sphere cluster.  I'm not sure this will happen in August, either.

bashful progress - 57 sites to go

There's no real hope for getting bashful shut down this month, but enough progress has been made that I have high hopes of getting it shut down in time for September 15th.  The trouble ticket from Parallels is still open, but they appear to have resolved the issues.  In retrospect, I think that in view of the solution they found, they should have gotten to this earlier, but that's water under the bridge.

They basically fixed an FTP configuration in Site Studio that was preventing the site owner from publishing on the new server, and reset the quota on both machines.  This resolved the two main basic issues preventing migrations.  I've had several migrations since then that were totally successful.  I know most of the gotchas, which include:

• mail not being migrated properly, requiring manual intervention
• some imports need to be run twice due to path changes in X11
• 32 bit to 64 bit issues in moving PHP sites...including copying libraries and adjusting php.ini
• sometimes some other minor stuff needs to be done
• MySQL quick fix
• will need to modify any oscommerce sites which move from mysql4 to mysql5, usually a "simple" fix, but sometimes nasty with some variants of that software
• need to double check index.html if that's the default page, because on the "double import" sites, it's not always overwriting the default ensim page

Still open is some Site Studio compatibility issues.  I hope this doesn't become a big thing. In at least one case, the publishing of the site blew away the left index.

Still to do on the migration that requires special attention:

• move a site with special FTP / user / permissions issues
• move alsonetworks.com
• move support.alsonetworks.com (and upgrade)
• since bashful is a primary DNS this information will have to go somewhere
• at least one client needs to be in on every move
• back up any data NOT in a web site to grumpy somewhere

migrating!

As amazing as it may seem, it looks like at least the quota problem has been solved, and I've been migrating sites.  There are fewer than 60 sites on the server now.

The Site Studio issue is at least partly solved as well; I can publish changes.  There are still some compatibility issues I have to try to resolve.  But for now I am happily migrating.

I'm setting up a Linux VPS integrated into H-Sphere.  I've set up many Windows VPSes, both with and without H-Sphere, and several Linux VPSes without H-Sphere.  It actually took me a while to remember how to set up this box.  Most of the installation work was done automatically last night.  Today I'll test, install the backup stuff, and create the plan for the customer, and if all goes well, set a time with the customer to teach him what he needs to know.  Oh, don't forget the firewall and stuff.

Parallels: they've realized (as I mentioned when I first opened the ticket) that the quota problem is intermittent.  I have no idea where we're going from here.

I'm falling behind on some of the external consulting, hope to get to some of that today.

More "yes, we're still working on it" from Paralllels.  At this point I wonder whether I'll have to keep this server until September or even further.

Had some fun rebooting and troubleshooting a dedicated server tonight.  Cost a lot of time.

And bashful's NIC died.  Server was down for around 10 hours.  Fortunately it was the weekend.

This feels like a rerun.  Another Friday, and no response from Parallels on my issue.

Wasn't able to close on a VPS, but it's far from dead.  Another 2 potentials in USA, one likely, the other not so much.

I still have to catch up on billing, I'm up to mid July now, with several late payers due to be suspended.

Mid day update:
Well, I've done invoices and three migrations, but the quota bug happened again.  I've shelved the migration yet again (sigh) and reported it to Parallels.

Meanwhile I also made the phone call to the customer, and it looks like it might convert to a VPS sale.

I made a call about the footer and logo, and I'm waiting for a call back.

So I haven't done that badly.  I even did some of the personal stuff.  But more, bigger personal stuff is encroaching, and I doubt I'll get much more non-emergency stuff done today.

On the agenda for today:

• invoices
• test parallels fix
• migrate 5 sites
• SSL certificates
• call customer about vps
• footer on list
• logo for front page of list site
• click through ssl seal for domains and main site
• three or four really big personal items (doctor, pharmacy, mechanic, a/c)

This blog isn't intended to be my to-do list, but I'm feeling the need today because there are many things.

...aaand we're back.

I've gotten a response from Parallels, but I'm not entirely sure they actually did anything.  I plan to test today and get back to the tech.

Theplanet.com had a SSL sale today - I got free QuickSSL Premium for www.alsonetworks.com and for domains.alsonetworks.com, and I may go for some of the clients who are up for renewal.

Aside from that, I need to talk to Heshy about his VPS.

Confusion

What with one thing and another, it's been mostly wheel spinning today.  You know how it goes.  To make myself feel better, I'm going to spend some time charging credit cards.

Nothing exciting happened over the weekend. I'm fooling with some of the social networking stuff out there. Maybe I am some kind of Luddite; I just don't get some of this stuff.

Sigh. Deafening silence from Parallels. I'm going to ask for another progress report today.

Meanwhile some encouraging news on VPS - I may have a lead on quite a few new VPS sales. We'll see. Downside is I'll have to buy new hardware (and maybe Xen Motion), but the upside is obvious.

Today being Friday, I'll do only minimal work on Also Networks.

Posting at night to say I finally heard from Parallels. No actual news but I think I have their attention, finally.

Some weird new leads, one potentially lucrative, but I'll believe it when I see it. Another big development job, but I probably won't get it.

I collected some money from one of the outside consulting gigs, it'll help this month's draw.

It didn't turn completely into a personal day after all. But I didn't get the most pressing of the personal stuff done, so as a result I'll probably do that stuff tomorrow.

Still no response from Parallels. I got another lead on a consulting / development position and will follow up on that today. But mostly today is going to be on personal stuff that I have to catch up on, and not so much on Also Networks. Being self employed at the moment, I really do this sort of thing very reluctantly. But I will, of course, handle emergencies.

I dunno. It seemed last time as though Parallels legacy tech support was really good. Even though I am speaking to the same people, it seems as though I'm speaking to level 1 tech support people, if you know what I mean. It's frustrating.

I had a few signups this month so far, and most of the customers who had been behind schedule in payments have caught up. It is even possible I'll make my July budget. I expect August to be tough, because I won't have a cushion like I did this month, and if I'm not mistaken the Mail Foundry maintenance fee is coming up.

So I'm still stalled on migrations, and I've more or less given up hope of taking down bashful this month. It's not impossible, just very unlikely.

Today I'm working mostly on a consulting project.

Maybe today we'll see some progress on the Parallels trouble ticket. Meanwhile, working on backups for VPSes, some sales, a bit of consulting. Yes, it's a scanty update; let's see how the day goes.

No progress reports from Parallels other than "we're working on it". I don't suppose anything will happen over the July 4th holiday anyway. On the plus side, it'll probably be slow today.

One of the consulting gigs may pick up steam today. I also need to work on VPS backup issues, some billing issues, and a little PHP.

I ordered some Perl books just because a person needs to be more well rounded and I'd like to have more than just a smattering of Perl in my arsenal. I can't keep mooching!

Finally have a trouble ticket open with Parallels. They're investigating the quota error and the Site Studio error. I can't really do any migrations until this is under control.

All the bank stuff is done, but I don't have confirmation on this side of the ocean yet. Things look good, however. Now the big question is, can I do this every month?

I don't see how I can do it without at least some consulting. I have one very low paying gig, but because of the low pay I'm reluctant to put in hours. I have a second gig but it's being held up a bit. And I've applied for another as well.

Meanwhile, until the migration thing is done, I can think about things like upgrading my support system, my domain registration system, and the two biggies, a VPS and a big site.

Interruption level was about 2.5 hours yesterday. I took care of the bank stuff, and there were some new signups and phone consultations and support. I didn't progress on the Parallels trouble ticket; I'm going to try to make it a priority today.
Six bashful->grumpy migrations were completed, there are now 84 sites left on bashful. Several attempts failed because of a disk quota error, and I'm planning to make that the primary subject of the Parallels trouble ticket, if I can ever get past regnow.
I need to try to close some sales today, talk to the daf site, and start on the VPS for the big client. That plus migrations should keep me busy. It's also possible I'll do a little consulting.

Yesterday turned out to be a big, frustrating waste of time on the business side. On the personal side, it was great; but since this is a business blog, I won't go into it except to say that I lost about half a day. The rest of it was spent on:

• getting a couple of customers signed up
• doing some small migrations
  
• doing a small bit of low pay consulting
• contacting the bank about transferring funds from business accounts to my personal account
• contacting the local funds transfer place about setting up monthly transfers to the payroll company

Today I may do :

• more of the consulting for two different clients
• get the trouble ticket at Parallels
• do more funds transfer stuff both at the bank and the local place
• maybe another migration or two

I also need to:

• get backups working on some VPS machines
• think about migrating business sites
• upgrade the domains system
• upgrade / migrate the support system
• look into integrating the support system into the control panel

But the above will almost certainly not happen today. At least I have recent snapshots of the VPS boxes, so that's okay.

I managed to do ONE migration yesterday. Sundays are hard to do some of this kind of work; I can't call or email anyone for tech support. I did get a signup and a few new prospects; let's see if I can convert them to sales.

Today's goals include finishing up some paperwork relating to bank transfers, opening a new ticket with Parallels legacy support (I hate regnow), maybe more migrations. Between the Site Studio problem and the quota problem on grumpy, I'm really delayed on those migrations.

Also, the personal life is going to insert mondo interruptions today because there's a lot going on.

Migrations

I'm trying to phase out bashful in favor of grumpy and the cluster. Hurdles are:
* Site Studio
* my own sites
* stuff I haven't realized yet

The most difficulties are with the Site Studio sites. Parallels was kind enough to let me install a second license on grumpy, and I must say in general their legacy support has been mostly good. They never really did get to the bottom of the issues on grumpy related to the last control panel upgrade, but I have enough workarounds in place that it doesn't affect the customers, which is all I really care about.

But Site Studio is going to have to be on a separate ticket. The logs are showing that even though the import looks smooth, the files can't be overwritten by the Site Studio publish process due to some kind of a permission problem. I've been thinking of strace, but this is very time consuming at the moment, and if I'm going to meet my goals of clearing out bashful, I think I'll need their help. I've wasted too much time on this issue already.

Meanwhile, even regular imports have their challenges:
* backup
* restore twice (thanks, Ensim)
* check spam filter settings
* change DNS
* make sure I've covered any domain aliases

If I can do 5 - 10 per day I'll consider it a success. Of course this goal is hampered by the small fact that these sites are live and I've got to be very timezone sensitive. And I happen to like spending time with my family Saturday nights. And not everyone on the server is on the East Coast.

First post

This blog is intended to be a log / diary of all things Also Networks related, starting June 25th, 2010. Also Networks has been in business as a web hosting company for about 10 years now. Most of our servers at this point are in a rack in Dallas, Texas at colo4dallas.com.

The reason I'm working on this blog is that as of fairly recently I'm working full time on Also Networks, with very little time devoted to other projects, though I don't mind taking on little consulting gigs now and then to fill in some blank time.

Not that I don't have plenty to do; in fact, the main reason I'm writing this blog, at least at this point, is so that I can record, on a hopefully daily basis, the things I hope to do over the course of the day, and compare it to what I've managed to accomplish. Along the way I'll probably recall some of the pitfalls I run into, and maybe even good stuff like how-tos.

Of course my intentions may evolve over time; blogspot is free, and my fingers aren't tired at the moment.

Today is Friday. I don't do a whole lot of Also Networks work on Fridays other than the mandatory running of a few invoices, answering emails, and monitoring the servers. Saturday is off, and I'll resume work on Sunday.