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.