[Seattle-editorial] Re: [Seattletech] URGENT: Your IMC site

Micah Anderson micah at indymedia.org
Tue Nov 4 11:28:42 PST 2003 

On Tue, 04 Nov 2003, Jason Reep wrote:

> I'd like to try to solicit the help of the Portland IMC techies and 
> Kellan in the migration process and in the mean time put the call out 
> for more locals who are interested in getting involved on the long term. 
>    It seems like there is volunteer energy already waiting to be tasked 
> with website design tasks.  How do the different tasks involved with 
> code migration need to be broken down?  Can we set up the new website 
> with default templates and change the design (look) after the fact or 
> does it need to be a more integrated process?  What are the hardware 
> requirements?  Stefani or Sheri, where do we (the Seattle IMC) stand in 
> regards to our DSL service with Speakeasy?  Hasn't the bill been going up?
> 

It might be easiest for seattle to get migrated to Mir onto the new
server (which is being worked out), and then work on doing design
changes, decentralization, etc. 

If you have time in the next 3 weeks to setup a local server, migrate
to mir, and make a bunch of design/code changes and setup a local DSL
round-robin ala portland, then wow you guys are superhuman. Don't
forget how long it took for Portland to do this.

I don't want to discourage any of this, indeed with a new volunteer
available who can work on the code I am especially reticent to do
that, but time is of the essence here. Seattle can be moved to mir on
a new server, and all its past content brought over, and it will
receive a modest look 'n feel and usability upgrade, then you guys
work on the other stuff once things have settled down. The goal is to
get the site off of stallman, and onto Mir as soon as possible and to
be conscious of the number of people who are available to help with
that and their time that needs to be spent migrating others also. If
you guys have enough energy, talent and time locally to do all that
without needing Zapata (the only global tech person I know of who is
available for doing Mir migrations), then that is great, but putting
the least demands on Zapata otherwise would be prudent.

I see it like this:

1. Seattle does their own migration and finishes before Dec. 1st and
needs no help from Zapata (this can be done on your own server or the
one that is being setup for this purpose) and minimal help from
imc-tech to get on the new server

or

2. Seattle works with imc-tech to get their site moved to mir on the
new server and then works locally to do design/code changes, after
things settle down more weight can be place on imc-tech/zapata as
resources to help guide this. But until then minimizing changes that
depend on imc-tech/zapata will help a lot.


> imc-tech at lists.indymedia.org wrote:
> 
> >Dear $IMC tech contact,
> >
> >This message contains *URGENT* time-critical information that you and
> >your IMC absolutely have to act on, or the IMC-tech group will be
> >forced to make some decisions for you. Please read this message
> >completely. We regret we have not had more time to contact you further
> >in advance.
> >
> >Topics contained in this email:
> >o Background: Stallman is going away
> >    . Whats going to be done?
> >    . Whats the impact on me and my IMC?
> >    . Why do we need to migrate the code also?
> >    . What are our options for migration?
> >    . How much time do we have to decide on a new code-base?
> >    . What do I need to do?
> >o Great! We wanted to redesign the site anyways, can you help with that?
> >o Donations needed!
> >
> >* Background: Stallman is going away
> >
> >Stallman, the primary webserver for Indymedia is losing[1] its
> >colocation on DECEMEBER 1st. You are being contacted because your IMC
> >website is on this machine. Free hosting ends DECEMBER 1st, with the
> >option of keeping the box at its current location until JANUARY 1st
> >for $250/mo, at which point, the plug gets pulled.  This does not come
> >as a complete surprise as we've long known that the centralization
> >represented in Stallman, while instrumental in some of IMC's rapid
> >growth and accessibility is also a vulnerability. 
> >
> >We have been working over the last year and a half to decentralize our
> >hosting to minimize such a problem. We have done good hard work, at
> >one high-point stallman hosted over 82 IMC sites, now there are
> >currently only about 30 sites remaining on Stallman using a sustained
> >160kB/sec of traffic, the largest being www.indymedia.org.
> >
> >In order to prevent something like this happening again, and to
> >continue to embrace our decentralized model, we strongly urge local
> >collectives to be looking into hosting options for themselves, or into
> >allying with other regional IMCs for hosting.  Similarly we feel that
> >it is important that each local collective, to the extent of its
> >available resource take over maintence, up keep, and migration of its
> >website.  IMC-Tech will try to migrate sites remaining on Stallman to
> >a new server, and a new codebase, but we can't guarentee there won't
> >be downtime, performance loss, or even, worst case, lost data.
> >
> >
> >* What is going to be done? 
> >
> >PANIC! OH NO! WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO! AGGH CRISIS!! PANIC!@ OMG!!!!
> >ITS THE FBI, WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE!!! RUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!! CALL UP
> >AUNT MAY, TELL HER TO DUST THE BOMB SHELTER, GO BUY ALL THE RAMEN,
> >SALTED BEEF, AND HARDTACK FROM THE STORE!!@!#@#!@#
> >
> >Don't panic, we'll do that for you. We've got a number of options that
> >we are pursuing to relocate the Stallman hosted sites, we've secured
> >replacement hardware, and have a number of alternative colocation
> >options available that we are working on. We are coordinating things
> >on this[2] wiki page, and also on IRC.
> >
> >* Whats the impact on me and my IMC?
> >
> >Two things impact you, as a hosted site on Stallman. One is that we
> >have to move your site, the second is that we actually have to
> >*migrate* your site to a different code-base. Your site is one of the
> >sites that is running very old legacy IMC code, called "Active". In
> >order to move your site, we need to migrate it to a different, more
> >modern code-base. 
> >
> >* Why do we need to migrate the code also?
> >
> >The reasons why you need to switch are the following:
> >
> >	. we cannot support Active code, nobody knows how to, and nobody
> >	  wants to
> >	  
> >	. the active code is not being developed any more
> >	
> >    . we consider active to be a waste of resources (human, database,
> >	  disk) in comparision with the newer alternatives
> >
> >	. the currently hosted sites on stallman all are various different
> >	  revisions of the Active code, unknown versions, half upgraded,
> >	  half patched in some places, completely hacked in others, this
> >	  makes dealing with these sites a major pain
> >	  
> >	. the more modern code is easier to manage, is nicer on our hardware
> >	  and bandwidth (it makes much more effective use of our resources)
> >	  
> >    . most people think the other more modern code options are more 
> >	  visually appealing from the outset
> >
> > 	. the more modern code options make administrative and technical 
> > 	tasks
> >	  far more easier and obvious: customizing the look and feel, dealing
> >	  with newswire spam, etc.
> >
> >	. the newer code has many more delightful features, such as 
> >	categories,
> >  	  templating, multilingual support, calendaring, searching,
> >	  syndication, most importat, they are being currently worked on
> >	  and supported!
> >	  
> >* What are our options for migration?
> >
> >There are three alternatives to Active that we will be migrating sites
> >to, Mir, SF-Active, or Dada. There are some other options available,
> >but we have chosen these because we feel they are the most supported
> >and we have the knowledge and resources at our disposal to migrate to
> >these. These are the only alternatives that we will be migrating to
> >from Stallman. 
> >
> >You are welcome to pick something else and set up your own server and
> >migrate your site, but it has to be done before our deadline. If you
> >want to do something different, please have a look at various
> >options[3] available, also you can see people's opinions and
> >experiences with the different code bases here[4].
> >
> >* How much time do we have to decide on a new code-base?  
> >
> >Unfortunately, not much time. Due to the time critical nature of this
> >issue, we have to make the deadline of two weeks from the date of this
> >email. We are in the process of setting up servers to migrate your
> >site to, and if you have not chosen a replacement code-base at the end
> >of this deadline, we will be forced to migrate your site to whichever
> >we chose among Dada, Sf-active and Mir according to the resources
> >available at our discretion.
> >
> >* What do I need to do?
> >
> >You need to talk to your IMC collective and make a decision about
> >which code-base you want to migrate to. We will work with you to
> >transfer your existing content to the new code, and help you get
> >everything up trying to limit any significant down-time in the
> >process. Once you have decided, please send an email to
> >imc-tech at lists.indymedia.org.
> >
> >We *will* move all IMCs hosted on stallman off of old Active, so if
> >nobody from your IMC ever responds, at some point we will make a
> >choice for you. 
> >
> >* Great! We wanted to redesign the site anyways, can you help with that?
> >
> >Unfortunately, we don't even have enough time to migrate sites to the
> >new servers, much less do a redesign of them all. This is a big
> >project, and we are already swamped with work. A lot of people are
> >dissatisfied with the layout of their current IMC site and want to
> >change that, we understand that. The good news is part of the
> >migration to a new code-base means your look-and-feel of your IMC site
> >will change to the default layout of the particular code-base that you
> >choose, all of these are incredible improvements over Active's default
> >design. In addition, Active was very difficult to customize, the newer
> >code-bases have the advantage that they are much simpler to make
> >design changes to them. So we ask that you hold off on any cosmetic
> >design changes until the site has been migrated.
> >
> >* DONATIONS NEEDED!
> >
> >The IMC-Tech working group needs your immediate donations in order to
> >purchase new servers and locate new hosting spaces by the 01 Dec 2003
> >deadline. Donations of hardware or hosting are also very welcome!
> >
> >We are asking anyone who can to make a donation of $5. With a positive
> >response from the large numbers of Indymedia contributors and
> >sympathizers, we hope to raise the funds necessary. If you have more
> >resources, we encourage you to donate whatever you can: $25, $50,
> >$100, $500.
> >
> >Please email imc-tech at lists.indymedia.org. Let people know that they
> >can donate via Paypal. Or if you know anyone who might have the
> >following to donate, please contact us:
> >
> >Server class hardware:
> >
> >    * Pre-built rackmount or tower servers
> >    * Server components for custom-built servers
> >    * PC Weasel's (please email imc-tech at lists.indymedia.org
> >                   for info first)
> >    * Additional hard drives
> >    * Additional memory
> >		
> >Server hosting:
> >		
> >    * Colocation or bandwidth
> >			
> >
> >1. 
> >http://lists.indymedia.org/pipermail/imc-sysadmin/2003-October/002450.html
> >2. http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Sysadmin/ServerCoordination
> >3. http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Devel/WebHome, also you can see
> >4. http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Devel/OpinonsExperiences.
> >_______________________________________________
> >Seattletech mailing list
> >Seattletech at lists.indymedia.org
> >http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/seattletech
> _______________________________________________
> Seattletech mailing list
> Seattletech at lists.indymedia.org
> http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/seattletech

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