April 2009 :: Cyclone server replacement

[Jason]

Our server Cyclone celebrated its 3rd birthday a few months ago.  In the life of a server -- especially considering the rapid changes in modern server technology -- the time has come to retire this box.

We have several servers well under capacity that we may distribute accounts to as well as a new server just built this week.  All of these latest servers are top-of-the-line by today's standards.

I will update this thread as we move forward with these moves.

In the meantime, if you'd like to move now, or have specific requirements, feel free to post here or open a support ticket.

Whereas many hosts will run a server into the ground, I'm more than willing to incur the cost of maintaining both servers and buying top-end.  This practice has been my mantra since day one.  (If you're curious about our server specs, please check our "lineup thread" as I'm sure you won't find many shared servers using the equipment we do.  When we buy a new server, it's *always* the highest end server the datacenter offers.) 

Thank you all for your continued business and stay tuned for further updates as we progress with our migration plans.

Best,
Jason

------------------------
Update:  April 6, 2009
An email was sent to all customers on Cyclone last night.  We will be doing moves over the next 3 weeks and this server will be turned off for good on April 30, 2009.
The new server replacing Cyclone is called Monsoon and its specs can be found on our lineup thread. 
Thanks!

--------------
edit:  This topic used to be called "Nov/Dec 2008 :: Cyclone server replacement" but I've revised it to the "April 2009" date since I was sidetracked for a few months and didn't get this move officially kicked off until March/April. 

[itsjustme]

Hi Jason,

Is there a thread on moving?  I can get ready for it, but do I have to do anything?

Thanks

Dave

[Jason]

This thread will be the one used for that, or at least status reports.

There's nothing for you to do but to work out what day/time works best for you.  I can do the rest.  Ultimately you'd need to update your nameservers but we don't need to coordinate that to happen at the same time -- you can do it a day or two later if you need to.

[itsjustme]

ok.  Let's start planning.  Either here or by email. 

1. how long will it take?
2. What prep besides backup?
3. What time of day? 

Depending on how long it takes, and if site will be down, we can do it pretty much at your convenience. 

[Jason]

If we want to get really detailed (specific for you) I'd rather do it via a ticket or email so I can track it better.

However, to answer your questions:

1.  How long depends on how big (storage) your account is.  If I know a day in advance we can take some pre-steps to make the resolution  go faster.  Otherwise, there shouldn't be *any* visible outage, however if you have sites like a forum, we'd need to set it into maintenance mode on Cyclone (live on Monsoon) so that you don't get orphaned posts there after the move is done.

2.  No prep needed on your side.

3.  Whatever time of day we can both work out.  Evenings are generally best.

(I can do your's tomorrow if you want?)

[Jason]

As you can tell, I'm a bit behind on this server transfer 

I'd like to start doing some moves now so if you're on Cyclone, please let me know what works best for you.  The best route would be via a ticket through your Client Area or a direct email to me if needed.

Thanks

[Jason]

Note:  For those of you subscribed to this thread, an email was sent out to all customers on this box last night advising that we'll be doing these moves over the next 3 weeks.  Cyclone will be powered down for good on Thursday, 4/30/2009.

Thanks!

[Jason]

A second notice was sent to all customers on Cyclone tonight:

Greetings,

This email serves as the second notice of our server Cyclone's retirement. There are approximately two weeks remaining before this server is taken offline. If you have not yet contacted me to have your site transferred, it will go offline at that time. A copy of the email sent on April 5 is below.

If you have already contacted me and had your site moved, please disregard this follow-up message.

Thanks!

Regards,

Jason Saunders

---------------

Previous Message from April 5, 2009:

Greetings from Charlottezweb!

I hope the web is treating you well --

If you've not yet seen this thread on our site, please reference it if needed:

http://www.charlottezweb.com/forums/index.php?topic=1174.0

We are transitioning all accounts on our server Cyclone to our newest server Monsoon as soon as possible.

If you are receiving this email, it's because I have you on a distribution list as having an account on this server at one point in time.

I will be looking to move all accounts off of this server and on to Monsoon within the next 3 weeks. Failure to migrate will result in your website going offline on April 30, 2009 when this server is turned off.

Please reply back to this email (or open a support ticket through your Client Area through Charlottezweb.com <https://www.charlottezweb.com/clients/clientarea.php>
) so that we can coordinate a time that best suites you. Typically a transfer takes less than 10 minutes but requires your cooperation to update your domain's nameservers.

I appreciate your business and would love to hear your feedback on the service improvement this new, top-end server will provide. Thanks!

Kindest Regards,

Jason Saunders

[Jason]

Reminder -- approx 8 days remain before Cyclone is shut down.  I have quite a number of clients I've yet to hear from.  I will be targeting a specific email to them tomorrow by going through my email to find the last known addresses from them. 

This is a good reminder to make sure I have your latest email addresses on file at all times to ensure I can reach you if needed.  Thanks!   

[Jason]

Here is a message I'm going to be sending as the final notice.  I am going to send this within the next 15 minutes to everyone on my Cyclone distribution list.  I'm also going to manually email this same message to the last known emails I have received from the clients who have not yet contacted me.  Thanks--

Greetings from Charlottezweb,

Urgent/Important:  This email is the final notice of a server shutdown happening this coming Thursday night.  For the full details, please refer to this discussion thread on our forum:

http://www.charlottezweb.com/forums/index.php?topic=1174.0

I have still not heard back from a significant number of customers on this server "Cyclone."  In an effort to reach everyone, I'm sending this email to our "Cyclone" distribution list as well as manually to the "last-known" email addresses I have on file for the remaining accounts who have not contacted me.

If I don't hear back from an account owner, I will move their files however those sites will go offline once Cyclone is shut down.  I don't have the ability to adjust nameservers that are not managed by Charlottezweb therefore I have no way to make the changes required on their behalf.

Again, the moves are typically very simple and only require you to update your nameservers afterwards.  Please contact me *immediately* if you fall in this category or are unsure.

If you've already completed your move with me, please ignore this email and I hope you are enjoying the added power of your new server!

Regards,
Jason Saunders
Charlottezweb.com, LLC

[Jason]

Thank you everyone for your responses to my emails.  As of tonight, I've moved every account although there are a handful who have not updated their nameservers.  Hopefully they'll be addressed quickly but the plan to power down Cyclone tomorrow night still is in place.

I hope everyone is enjoying Monsoon 

[Jason]

I'll be wiping Cyclone's data in the next 5-10 minutes.

Thank you Cyclone!  You've served us well   

[September 19, 2005 to April 30, 2009]


 

[Mark]

* Mark observes a moment of silence.