Omnimaga
General Discussion => Technology and Development => Web Programming and Design => Topic started by: alberthrocks on March 14, 2016, 02:15:51 am
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EDIT: Important Survey! (http://goo.gl/forms/Riq4ytEqx7)
We are moving very soon - please fill out this IMPORTANT USAGE SURVEY (http://goo.gl/forms/Riq4ytEqx7) by this Friday, 11:59 PM EDT!
Introduction
It has been a year since the last withgusto update.
About a year or so ago, a massive DDoS attack took withgusto down. This caused a "strike" to occur with the VPS hosting provider, and I temporarily closed withgusto's doors - specifically, hid it behind Cloudflare. This allowed Cloudflare to temporarily take the hit and reduce the load on the VPS. However, this had the effect of also blocking SSH, which was a lifeline into withgusto. Without a doubt, this is probably what drained significant use of withgusto.
Unfortunately, due to many commitments, I never got a chance to move withgusto. A year has passed, and withgusto is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain, both in terms of time and money. As such, regretfully, I must make the decision to wind down withgusto.
Note that this is NOT a shutdown - but we are planning on significantly reducing resources.
withgusto Downsizing
The proposed plan:
- Reduce memory availability from 1 GB RAM to 128 MB - 256 MB
- Significant memory usage is from clamd/amavisd/maild/spamd - around ~34.6%, or 354.3 MBs. mail@withg has been inactive for quite a while, mainly due to significant configuration issues. We are planning on removing this from withgusto, since mail services are difficult to maintain, and there is very little use of this service.
- Deluge (web torrent client) takes around ~2.5%, or 25.6 MBs. We are planning on removing this from withgusto, since it's tough to maintain a client and not get into trouble for bandwidth/DMCA.
- Current memory usage is 523 MBs. Subtracting all of these, 523 MBs - ~380 MBs = 143 MBs.
- Depending on services people still want, and depending on how we shuffle things around, we may bring this down even further to <100 MBs. User programs and websites will fill the rest.
- Reduce CPU cores from 2 to 1
- We have rarely seen anyone use more than one CPU. Two CPUs is useful for compiling, but compiling doesn't happen too often - and VPS providers don't like constant CPU usage! Actual CPU speed will remain the same, just the number of cores will be reduced.
- Use OpenVZ instead of KVM (less kernel control)
- We have rarely used any features that would require a different kernel. All IPTables and advanced networking features are enabled in OpenVZ. Resources are allocated somewhat differently, but they should not have an impact on us.
- OpenVZ is drastically cheaper than KVM (less VM). As such, this makes OpenVZ an appealing option going forward.
- Disable backups for user data
- At the moment, we pay for a backup service that we've (fortunately) never had to use. However, it incurs significant monthly cost, and as such, we will be phasing out automatic backups.
- In the future, we may opt to use a free cloud storage service for backups to save money and achieve the same effect. However, we can NOT guarantee that this feature will arrive anytime soon - as such, you will now be responsible for your own data!
- That said, before we move, user data folders (including /var/www/USER) will be backed up and offered to those who no longer wish to use withgusto.
- Migration of user data ONLY - system will be cleanly installed
- The current OS is very, very old - we're still using Debian 6, and the latest is Debian 8!
- As such, we will be using Debian 8 in the future.
- User data is easy to copy, but system data... not so much. If you have any system data that you want us to keep, let us know!
Future of withgusto Services
Service plan (some already mentioned above):
- Mail service will be terminated. We don't see many (if any at all) using this, and this has been difficult to maintain. Moving forward, we will no longer host mail here.
- Deluge (web torrents) will be terminated. Tough to maintain, and there are some other free/cheap options out there for your torrenting needs.
- ZNC will be moved to a separate server/service from withgusto. We plan on running ZNC on a much lighter server - we've done some experiments, and it looks like it will work perfectly. It also allows us to improve stability, since withgusto is separate.
- Omnimaga IRCd will be preserved - may either move to ZNC's location or withgusto - still deciding.
- Depending on movability, user-installed services will be moved to the new server as well.
- Other services will either be terminated or moved - we need to comb through them in the next few days!
withgusto Finances
Without a doubt, these are very tough cuts in service. The decision to cut these services was not taken lightly - however, in order for withgusto to continue (and not completely drop dead), we need to reduce these services and move to a lighter server.
Currently, I pay $15/mo for the main withgusto server, $15 for the backup service, $25/year for the backup.withg server, and around $16/year for the domain. Total yearly = ~$400/year!
With the new plan, I'm hoping to reduce this cost to something like this: $32/year for the main withgusto server, $15/year for the backup.withg/IRC/ZNC server, and around $16/year for the domain. Total yearly = ~$63/year... much more affordable!
Conclusion
All of this said, we still want your feedback! We don't want to move forward without hearing from you guys - if you don't like the things above, let us know and we'll try to accommodate! Since it has been a long time since we've had service, we want to hear from you in terms of how you will be using it.
Migration is NOT happening yet! Once we have some feedback, we'll announce dates for migration.
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If you want, you can probably drop irp.irc.omnimaga.org. Not all too many people use it (If you still have ZNC running then it would save you bandwidth for whoever is accessing omninet, just get them to use irp instead of another server).
Sad to see withgusto having to downsize due to budget, but it's understandable. Hopefully some more people will be willing to throw some money your way to help support the service.
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If you want, you can probably drop irp.irc.omnimaga.org. Not all too many people use it (If you still have ZNC running then it would save you bandwidth for whoever is accessing omninet, just get them to use irp instead of another server).
Sad to see withgusto having to downsize due to budget, but it's understandable. Hopefully some more people will be willing to throw some money your way to help support the service.
Nah, I don't mind. Memory usage for an IRCd isn't too bad, and yup ZNC is a big factor for that.
And yeah, budget is really sucking these days. I know I've been pestering you about donations, but no worries - this is more or less caused by something that is completely unrelated and out of my control. I'll probably be able to recover from the "issue" in a few months, but for this one and next... I really can't afford the monthly bill anymore... :(
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Bump! We are moving very soon - please fill out this IMPORTANT USAGE SURVEY (http://goo.gl/forms/Riq4ytEqx7) by this Friday, 11:59 PM EDT! We'd like to gather feedback to plan ahead for the downsizing + migration! (If you need more time to fill this form out, let me know here or via PM.)
IMPORTANT USAGE SURVEY (http://goo.gl/forms/Riq4ytEqx7)
EDIT: This form is NOT for those who are just using ZNC. If you do not have a shell account, do NOT fill out this form!
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Updates
With April 1st coming and going, I think it's time for an update!
Rather than make a bad (and pretty prophetical) April Fools Joke, I decided to initiate and start the migration process!
The migration process is still ongoing. However, the backups have been made, and the old server is now open for user backup - including SSH/SFTP/SCP! Log into old.withg.org with your withgusto username and password, and your files should be there if you want to make any of your own backups!
Note that since the backup has already been created, any new or modified data on the server will be deleted! If you would like to work on anything within your account, please wait until the migration completes to do so!
The old server will stay online until the end of April. After April 30th, the old server will be terminated. Hopefully by then the new server will be up!
Thanks for your patience - we're getting there soon!
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I've noticed the IRC node is down. What's the timeline on that?
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I've noticed the IRC node is down. What's the timeline on that?
Sometime next week, when I start restoring the accounts on the new server!