On Sun, Jul 20, 2008 at 8:43 AM, Sam Drinkard sam@wa4phy.net wrote:
Hi Lanny, Well, for the most part, I have all the security issues taken care of w/r/t logins, ssh, no root logins, etc.
Excellent!
My main problem is as I stated is the fact that the co-lo site is somewhat difficult to get access to, however if I call the office, someone will meet me at the place and let me in, and give me all the time I need to do whatever is needed. For $25/mo, I doubt seriously I could find another ISP that would let me have access to a DS-3 line for said amount. It started out years ago, and I think the co-lo fee now for a DS-3 service runs in excess of $250./mo,
Colos are expensive. $25 is dirt cheap for a colo. If you ever get tired of the setup you have now, you can get a Refurbished box from olm.net (and probably a lot of other reputable companies) for $30+ a month, but it won't have Remote Reboot at that price. That's $5 a month extra.
so I put up with a bit of inconvenience to retain a low fee for the location. As for the reboot problem, I think it's related to the ACPI on the box, and at times, it will remote reboot, but I don't usually risk it, and yes, while the kernel is updated I don't immediately reboot after an update because of the chances the box won't come back up. It's odd that it will work sometimes, but most times I does not, and that dictates a trip downtown, or having one of the ISP's staff yank power and repower the box. I'd considered replacing the machine, but it's less than a year old, or perhaps maybe a tad older.. don't have the install notes handy, but since the machine is my only mail server and the only way I have to send/receive mail, that makes it a very critical operation. I do have some weather related web pages that are served by it, but for the most part, it's a low volume server. Believe me, if I had the $$ to install a more reliable box there, I'd do it it a heartbeat. I'd also considered moving the server here at home downtown, but then that move would create a whole set of new problems I just don't want to deal with. If I can keep things running regardless of what version of kernel is currently running, and there are no problems w/r/t the actual serving of web pages or mail, that is the ultimate goal. Current uptime is something over 150 days, and I have no clue what /when the last reboot took place. It just works... which I'm very happy to state.
Sounds like the box is extremely reliable. Are you sure it is not their Remote Reboot that is not working properly on your box?
Given all the various aspects of the server, the physical site situations, and the factors of money, I detest change as long as stuff works as advertised! My favorite motto is "if it ain't broke, don't try to fix it"... lol. I know I need to get myself up to speed w/r/t yum and the various repos. I do have the priorities plugins installed, but I"m not 100% sure that it is configured right, just as the protect base stuff.
You are not using both Priorities and Protect Base are you? Use one or the other, preferably Priorities.
http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos/2008-June/101142.html
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I'll definitely check out the links you provided and see what I can glean from them. I'm not the young buck I used to be, and it takes me some time for new ideas and such to finally take hold. The inner workings of an OS is not for the faint of mind like me, and yeah, there are some 60 year olds that still are making inroads to technology, I am, unfortunately not one of them, but I just try to stay semi-current with whatever the issue happens to be. It's just not fun getting old... and it creates a big problem at times..
Also 60+ here. I got my Novice license in 1955.
73,
Lanny, HK5MDT