The server isn’t dead. You would think this is good news.
I have arranged for everything here to move to a new server, as soon as they configure it, with TextDrive. That should be quite a bit more reliable than what I’ve got here. This is the fourth time in three months that the server has simply died for no reason. I never had this kind of trouble at EV1, even when I was on Windows 2003.
With this transfer comes a new hosting philosophy: I’m parcelling out my web services.
Instead of going for one of their monthly hosting plans, I’ve signed up for one of TextDrive’s lifetime accounts. It’s supposed to last for as long as TextDrive is around, and I’m sure that’ll be at least as long as I am (or they’re bought by some giant company, likely Yahoo if anyone). So I won’t be paying monthly hosting fees ever again.
At the same time, I don’t have all the freedom I had with the server before. My current server (this one here before transferring to TextDrive) has a whole harddrive for me to use, so I would likely not run out of space for storing images and whatnot. But on the TextDrive server, I will have only 1GB of space, and will have to use my storage more carefully.
What this means is that the money that I would usually spend directly on hosting will now go to other services related to hosting. For example, I will now be a dedicated Flickr user, injecting myself with that heroine every year when my Pro account comes up for renewal.
I think I may also need an email hosting location, since I don’t want huge emails (I host email for some family members who don’t know how to log in every so often and delete some things - I would say “you know who you are” but it’s all of you doing it!) cluttering my limited space, I’ll have to find a home for them elsewhere. There are quite a few services out there offering email on mail.yourdomain.com for a reasonable yearly fee. My registrar (registerfly.com) actually offers a few interesting-looking plans. I’m still looking for something that definitely has IMAP, though.
And I’m loving Stongspace. I recall specifically thinking, “Why would anyone want to do that?” And now it’s my lifeline. Flawless backup and instant availability. If you’re running a website and you have access to cron and rsync, you need to sign up for Strongspace right now for your backup needs. Seriously, it’s internet service perfection.
Ok, well, I think I’ve satisfied myself that this is the last thing I’ll be posting on this server. If you see all kinds of oddities in the transfer (Currently I’m inclined to run only WP 1.6 SVN with no custom themes and minimal plugins, for example) then please bear with me. Of course, I welcome any specific “X isn’t working, and it looks like it should be by now” comments you might have. If there are features here that you absolutely can’t live without, then please let me know.
Of course, my other sites, including redalt.com will be affected by the move, too. Patience, please.
See you on the other side.
