lectroid.net

So for a long time now (over 5 years at least), I’ve been running a home server for both internal “geekwerks” (netbooting a Vax anyone?) and the external presence (web, email etc.) of lectroid.net. I’m proud to say that in that time I’ve never had an unscheduled outage of any kind.

While running your own server can be a lot of fun, it can also be a pain in the ass. It’s fun to get a wild hair and setup ALTQ queues when the mood strikes, but it’s less fun to update the os when a new release renders your current version unsupported or you login to your blog software to find you’re a week past a security update (what?!? me?!?).

Plus, I’m walking a tightrope. My “server” hardware, Via C3 based with a Fic FR33E mainboard, while more than adequate for my needs is damn old and I run the same backup strategy as everyone else, that is: I don’t have any. I know that one screwup on my part kills my website, my internet connectivity, my email (more importantly my wife’s email) and kills my internal network as well.

So I’m looking at doing two things: 1) outsourcing my internet stuff to a hosting outfit and 2) simplifying my internal network structure. I have an Apple Airport Extreme that can do the main part of the internal network management that my home server now does (i.e.: NAT and DHCP) and as a bonus, with the internet stuff gone I can reconfigure my current server to provide 90% of what’s left (”geekwerks”) but without being potentially destructive to my network in the event I hose it.

The first step, which is already proving a challenge, is to find a decent hosting service that can handle web hosting (with at least support for WordPress), email (with IMAP support) and ideally Jabber hosting as well.

Stay tuned.