Venerable members of the Sangha,
valued, kalyanamittā and interested,
I am currently in progress of trying to set up everything necessary for migrating sangham.net, accesstoinsight.eu, zugangzureinsicht.org to a different provider.
Some things not yet so familiar with, but certainly able to do in principle. I am going to describe the process here to make it re-tracable and as possibility for others maybe more knowledgeable to provide hints and suggestions.
The new proposed server is located in Nuremburg, in data center of hosting company Hetzner. It is a (for now) a VPS (virtual private server) with product name "CX31".
Hardware specifications:
- 2 vcpus ("virtual cpus": each vcpu should be equivalent in performance to an Intel Xeon E5 at 2.0 GHz, according to documentation , not sure how accurate)
- 8 GB RAM
- 80 GB hard disk space (used not only for the websites, but also for the operating system and all required software; can be upgraded easily and without much cost)
- 20 TB per month (TB = terabyte = 1000 gigabyte) downstream traffic (200 times as much as currently on Greensta servers), upstream unlimited
Virtual private server , meaning it is on a machine (or more likely even multiple
distributed machines) shared with other clients, but sandboxed in its own "private" environment in a "virtual" way, so that it looks and behaves like a real self-contained independent single machine, and can be treated and managed as such.
So from a practical perspective, it looks and behaves much like a
dedicated
server , i.e. a real physical single machine, dedicated for a single client's use, leaving full control over operating system, services running on the machine, etc. in the hands of the client.
Different from the current hosting on Greensta, the whole system with all software on it has to be set up and managed by oneself.
I believe this server would be resourceful enough to host the websites sangham.net, accesstoinsight.eu, zugangzureinsicht.org and more if
needed, and run the necessary stack of software behind and around everything, while still leaving much room for additions. In case more resources are needed, it can be easily upgraded at any time.
The reasons for choosing Hetzner:
- located in Germany (and Finland), easy to reach (by me) by phone for support
- good reputation (seen more convincing positive than negative reviews, negative were mostly regarding the branch in South Africa, which operates independently)
- using 100% "clean energy", similar like Greensta,
according to website - good price in comparison
The reasons for choosing a VPS, not a dedicated server, or managed webhosting (like now on Greensta):
- VPS, although having less raw power than a dedicated server, is more failsafe in case of hardware failure, having safety and redundancy
measures in place so that everything would still run smoothly on the surface, while the machinery behind might be repaired/replaced, etc. It
is easily upgradable, if needing more resources, mostly even "on the fly" without having to shut down the server for a hardware upgrade.
Both VPS and dedicated server provide full control over the (physical or virtual) machine. Managing the whole server oneself requires more work
than simple managed webhosting, but provides infinitely more possibilities to run everything on it as one needs or wants.
The current hosting on Greensta, if now soon terminated, would still run with all included packages until 2020/04/01 (April 1st, 2020). So there would be enough time to set up and migrate everything.
Technical/installation needs:
- classical LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP), based on Ubuntu 18.04 image provided by Hetzner: already installed
- E-Mail server and web interface: thinking of using
iRedMail to set up everything, including RoundCube web interface for email (same as what is used by Greensta).
- SSL certificates: used for securely encrypted traffic/communication, but mostly, for practical purposes, just to appear "trustworthy" nowadays, where use of SSL becomes more and more common and even required in certain places, possibly even by law in certain cases. So I think it would be good to have such certificates in place.
Certificates can be very expensive. I still don't understand this whole market, and why certain providers are more or less expensive than others when acting as "trusted authority". If I understand correctly there are also certain popular and well-reputed "free" SSL certificate providers/"trusted authorities". Not sure I understand correctly. The most familiar name in this area of "free" SSL certificates would be
"Let's Encrypt" . I still have to read up on this, how it all works to register and set it up, and what the possible "hooks" may be.
Possibly someone else more knowledgeable in this area could fill certain gaps of understanding here. Avuso
Vivek perhaps? Or our trusted administrative forefather
Admin , Dmytro?
Surely there are more details to think about, and also many additional possibilities like just mentioned idea by Bhante Johann about a
Dhamma "Github" alternative .
Possibly, a second server might be practical as well, for example to have the email server separate, in case there are serious problems with the web server, leaving ways of communication intact.
I think I would be able to figure out by myself everything necessary for setting up the webserver, with all services and possibilities like currently provided. But any advice from people with experience in such matters would be very welcome.
_/\_ _/\_ _/\_
* Johann : some bbc corrected