Hello everybody As some of you may be aware, we have been planning for some time to migrate the Mac Access server to a new physical server system and also to a new DNS host. This involves a very great deal of work on our part and I’d like to tell you a little bit about why that is the case.
For some time now, we have been experiencing a problem with the server administration tools we used to use to help us administrate both the member listing for all of our groups, and also other vital server configurational data. The net result of these problems is that the member listing is not visible to us at all, neither is any of the other server data, or the list data itself. Therefore, the only access we have to the list configuration is that which every user has to their own specific configuration. Without going into too much technical detail, Gordon keeps having to manually rebuild the Open Directory database because there’s a problem somewhere in the system and it keeps causing corruption. The GUI-based administration tools are useless so Gordon needs to use the Terminal and command line tools to keep this airplane flying! Indeed, Apple’s own engineering staff have been unable to determine the cause of the problem and their ultimate advice was to simply trash the server instance totally and rebuild it from the ground up with a new OS install. That is fine in principle, but we are keen to retain as much information as possible in order to minimise inconvenience to our clients and group members. Please know that even those of you who are not our direct clients are important to us. Although our first duty is to those for whom we host services, we regard all of our members as part of what we do. Anyway I am babbling. e h This means that, in order to obtain the address of each user, along with any specific configuration settings they may have set, we have to effectivelyΩzsw log in as though we were that user via the web interface at <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/mac-access/options/[email protected]/>. Aside from this, we’re going to have to manually replicate all of the generic list data on the new server for every single one of the groups hosted here. This, believe me, is no easy task; as some of the groups used by our commercial clients use very highly configured virtual hosts. One of our most valued non-commercial clients has multilingual options configured which we are also very keen to replicate. We shall be in touch with that client directly shortly to discuss the way forward for them. Gordon has spent most of this weekend working behind the scenes in the room from which we run all of our servers; (I’ve almost forgotten what he looks like! ;-)); on the new system, and even as I write he estimates that several more days will elapse before we’re ready to even test the new system locally, let alone expose it to the Internet. Why am I telling you all this? It’s really quite simple. We require, and would very much appreciate, your assistance. It would make our lives far easier if you as list members would take a moment to drop us a line privately, using the support address <[email protected]> to let us know whether or not you anticipate or intend to remain a member of this group in the medium to long term, or even whether you wish us to add you to the new system at all. As well as this, we would be grateful if you would please let us have details of any specific settings you have configured on our server. For instance, if you are using digest mode to receive messages in bulk, whether you have a system password configured which overrides the default, etc.. Of course, when the new instance goes live, you will be able to modify your own configuration once you’ve been subscribed. We are simply trying to save you the work and minimise your inconvenience. :) We have not far short of 500 members in this group alone now, and it would be a horrendously laborious task for Gordon to use the web interface to inspect every single user’s individual configuration; especially since the majority of users have never changed any settings. You may say “why not just use the defaults then?” That in theory may save time. But we are anxious to have the transition be as seamless as possible for everybody and, therefore, we’d like to have this data available in a database which I shall be compiling for Gordon as and when we receive each member’s response. We plan to maintain this database in the longer term, so that we do have a permanent record of who is currently a member of our groups, and any specific configuration they may be using. Sadly, as I’ve already indicated, it simply is not practical to expect Gordon to spend the time trawling through the web interface like that. Therefore, for those users who do not respond to this request, we will assume that they no longer wish to be a part of our group and as such we will not include them. It is vital that we have your data if you wish to continue your membership. We are earmarking the end of July as our deadline for transition. So I hope that we are giving you plenty of notice should you not be able to respond within the immediate future. There is one other reason why we’re making this change now. We have long planned to migrate away from the tat-bbs.co.uk domain and we now have long-term SSL encryption for the new system which is valid until 2018 at the earliest. All we require for those of you happy to have your password automatically generated by the server is your Email address. Please don’t just reply with “Yers, I’d like to be included”. Please make sure that you insert your E-Mail address within the body of the message. I’m going to make this easy for myself, and simply copy and paste the body of each message into a database, then I can structure the database en block for Gordon’s use when he needs it. There is one other point upon which we would appreciate your feedback. When this group was first started, the predominant use of Apple’s hardware was on the Mac itself. Now, however, there are probably more people using iOS devices than just Macs. To take account of this, we are contemplating modifying the name of this group from: [email protected] to: [email protected] or something similar. Or perhaps we should put a hyphen character between the “Mac” and “ios” parts of the list name. We’re currently open to suggestions. Or should we leave it as it is at the moment? We’re keen to promote the fact that this list covers all Apple’s platforms. And very finally, may I just take this opportunity to extend a very big “THANK YOU” to all of those who have told others about this group. We would like you to know that we very much appreciate your spreading the word, so that others may benefit from the wealth of knowledge and expertise which now exists amongst our membership. The beginning of wisdom is “I Do Not Know!” and we are proud of the fact that many have used this group as a vehicle to improve their wisdom and, as a consequence, that of others. This alone makes what we do worthwhile. Thank you for your time and effort, your cooperation and, above all, your contributions to this group. We believe that we are providing a valued service to the community and we are keen to see it continue to grow. Should you have any questions or comment relating to any of the above, please do not hesitate to contact either the support address, [email protected], me personally at [email protected] or even Gordon whose address is [email protected]. We are here to stay folks, and here’s to the future of Mac Access, however it ultimately moves forward and evolves. Warmest regards Lynne <--- Mac Access At Mac Access Dot Net ---> To reply to this post, please address your message to [email protected] You can find an archive of all messages posted to the Mac-Access forum at either the list's own dedicated web archive: <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/mac-access/index.html> or at the public Mail Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/>. Subscribe to the list's RSS feed from: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.xml> As the Mac Access Dot Net administrators, we do our very best to ensure that the Mac-Access E-Mal list remains malware, spyware, Trojan, virus and worm-free. However, this should in no way replace your own security strategy. We assume neither liability nor responsibility should something unpredictable happen. Please remember to update your membership preferences periodically by visiting the list website at: <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/mac-access/options/>
