For those who did not yet know, our new server is on the way.

We have a Dell PowerEdge R710 server with 2 Xenon X5680 CPU's running at 3.33GHZ (6 cores each cpu, so 12 cores total). 128GB of Ram, 12 Terabytes of Storage running a redundant Raid 6 using H700 raid controller with 512mb cache, 2 870W Power Supplies so that if one dies the other takes over, DVD-Rom Drive, and 3 year full warranty; includes replacement part shipping both ways up to the full server, and tech support.

It's a huge upgrade from the current server! Total cost was $2,195. New, a similar server would have cost over $10,000 so going refurbished was the right choice. The three year warranty which wasn't cheap ensures that we are covered if anything dies during that time.

I want to thank Kendra, Beverly, and Sarah1972 for donating for the expense. A total of $2,850 was donated, with the full price coming from Kendra.  I then transferred the other donations for the sever into the monthly goal; and notified the other donors.  While Kendra paid for the server, all three of them stepped up when we needed them most!

Thank you!

There will likely be a little downtime when the server arrives as I migrate from the old server to the new one. I will give plenty of notice when this is scheduled to occur, I am hoping just a few hours.

Everyone please be sure to thank the people who stepped up to ensure that this site has what it needs to be successful going forward!

-- Full spec list --

R710 6 bay 3.5
   1@$423.60   Total: $423.60

3.33GHz X5680 6Core
   2@$126.00   Total: 252.00

8GB Pc3-10600R
   16@$25.90   Total: $414.40

2TB 7.2K SATA 3G
   6@$46.90   Total: $281.40

870W psu
   2@$29.49   Total: $58.98

H700 512mb cache
   1@$99.00   Total: $99.00

DVD-ROM
   1@$10.00   Total: $10.00

iDRAC enterprise
   1@$30.62   Total: $30.62

Linux distro pre-installed(Debian 9 OS)
   1@$25.00   Total: $25.00

3 Year Warranty
   1@$600.00   Total: $600.00
------------------------------------------
      Subtotal   $2,195.00
      Shipping   $0.00
            Total   $2,195.00
------------------------------------------
      Amount paid   -$2,195.00
       Amount due   $0.00 USD

Does the server run Linux or Windows?  You can save a bit of money with Linux and get a better server as well.
Most of the internet is run on Linux, with some other *nix in distant second.

I have been running Linux on the site since 1996. I have used RedHat, and Debian over the years. Currently we use the Debian Operating System, and the server will have Debian 9 installed on it.

Glad to hear it!   

Thank you Susan, and thank you Kendra, Beverly, and Sarah1972 for your generosity!

I want to thank Susan and all the volunteers and members who have dedicated time and effort to build an incredible resource for this community.  I am so glad to be able to help. 

Nice!! Love that the site is hosted "internally". Provides an additional layer of privacy in a way. Thanks Susan for all your hard work!

"I want to thank Kendra, Beverly, and Sarah1972 for donating for the expense."

Well done, ladies!   

Hugs, Devlyn

Quote from: Susan on June 30, 2017, 08:05:46 AM

I want to thank Kendra, Beverly, and Sarah1972 for donating for the expense. A total of $2,850 was donated, with the full price coming from Kendra.  I then transferred the other donations for the sever into the monthly goal; and notified the other donors.  While Kendra paid for the server, all three of them stepped up when we needed them most!

Thank you ladies for helping make Susans's that much better for all of us

Quote from: sammie-em on July 02, 2017, 06:20:06 AM
Nice!! Love that the site is hosted "internally". Provides an additional layer of privacy in a way. Thanks Susan for all your hard work!

The size of the data base and the volume of traffic is sufficient that the site almost requires it's own server to contain it. With Susan controlling the server, it's cheaper and more secure.

People may not have noticed but we run about 10 guest for every member on the site. This totals as much as 7,000 users on the system over the period of a day and peak loads of near 1000 users on for short periods of time. Susan has been working with the company that provides the internet connection to obtain far more connection speed at a low cost however the server has been around for a while and was nearing the point of a upgrade just for performance reasons alone.

Susan's may appear to be a small, friendly site but it reaches out to many people who have never joined the site. Of those who have joined the site, as I type this, say hello to user number 54763.

It's well past that Dena, it requires the dedicated server already.  The rest was right on the mark

A big thank you to Susan,  Kendra, Beverly, and Sarah1972 for keeping this wonderful and necessary resource available! 

Let me also add my thank you to those that donated to keep this site going. A big thanks to Kendra for the big contribution she made to the new server cost.

  I also feel a big thank you to Susan for all she does with providing this site and all that entails so we have a place to shere with each other. Thank you Susan.

  Hugs,
     Laurie

Beverly and Sarah1972 stepped up before I did.  Technically I was third place but we all won   

Imagine when this online world Susan created was just a twinkle in Susan's eyes before 1995.  How much we have all changed on our own, and together.

Thanks Kendra for stepping up! Greatly appreciated you helping out so much.

The new server came in on Thursday, and everything was as advertised; but the server disk partitions and the operating system was not setup to my liking, so I did a reinstall of it today. I will spend tomorrow configuring all of it. When I finish that then I will set the forum to read only for the time it takes to transition to the new server, hopefully early Sunday Morning. I will post an announcement here as soon as I know for sure! ETA for the read only mode should be less than 6 hours.

Wheeee!  Good luck with the 'transition', may it all go smoothly and painlessly.

Thanks, Michelle_P

Still working on it. Decided to change a few things for the better, so slowed things down a bit.

New server is running now - YAY!

Woo hoo! Way to go...