skarnet.org DOWN for 3 days on 2004-05-04

skarnet.org DOWN for 3 days on 2004-05-04

[Laurent Bercot]

 Dear skarnet.org users,

 The skarnet.org server is switching ISPs.

 The current ISP is: Serveur Express (http://www.serveur-express.com/).
It has been pretty reliable for the past three years, and working with
them was a pleasure.

 The future ISP will be: Lost Oasis (http://www.lost-oasis.fr/).
They are basically offering me the exact services that I need -
hosting the machine and providing IP connectivity, and nothing more -
which is much cheaper than the Serveur Express standard pack.
I know the Lost Oasis guys, they love their work, they know I'm a total
PITA whenever something's not right - I trust them to provide at least
the same level of reliability as you have been used to.


 Schedule:

  * 2004-05-04, 09:00 GMT+2 (Paris time with DST)
    The skarnet.org server gets unplugged from the Serveur Express
storage bay. I'm bringing it home. My registrar's DNS database gets
updated.

  * 2004-05-04 to 2004-05-06
    Hardware cleaning, hardware fixing. (The main disk has had DMA
problems from the start; it didn't seem to impact reliability or
performance, so I didn't bother. This will be a good time to get it
solved.) Kernel upgrade, and so on.

  * 2004-05-06, 18:00 GMT+2
    The DNS changes have propagated to the UltraDNS database.
    The skarnet.org server is up and running in the Lost Oasis storage bay.


 Consequences for you:

 Every service provided by skarnet.org (Web and FTP server, mailing-lists,
individual POP3 mail storage, secondary DNS service, ...) will be
completely unavailable for three days.

 Also, skarnet.org's IP addresses will change. The DNS database will be
updated to fit the schedule as tightly as possible. Nevertheless, due to
broken DNS caches all over the world, stale DNS data may still be lying
around the world for 2 or 3 days after skarnet.org is up again. So you
may experience some trouble during the first days. Everything should be
back to normal after 2004-05-08.

 Of course, I will be unable to receive mail, too. Do not expect to be
able to contact me in any way, or to hear from me, during those days.

 I apologize for the inconvenience, and hope that the change will allow
me to keep skarnet.org running and meeting your needs for as long a time
as you could wish. :)

 Your faithful sysadmin,

-- 
 Laurent