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diff --git a/posts/2016/new-server-2016.md b/posts/2016/new-server-2016.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8f2245b --- /dev/null +++ b/posts/2016/new-server-2016.md @@ -0,0 +1,81 @@ +Title: New Web Server (2016) +Author: bnewbold +Date: 2016-05-01 +Tags: tech + +For the past 9 years or so ([February 2007][0] through April 2016), this +website has run reliably despite being a weird machine: a custom prototype web +application for archiving and sharing digital "artifacts" of all sorts. I +remember a bold and sparkling afternoon at a coffee house in Santa Cruz +agonizing over URL structure and refining categories to collect all the +material that would (aspirationally) accumulate here over my adult life. All +things considered I think this effort wasn't wasted: I have indeed collected +wiki notes, photos, images (distinct!), short links, one-off pages, and longer +form writing over the years. My enthusiasm for maintaining and interfacing with +idiosyncratic administrative and upload panels, however, declined rapidly. +Neither the source code web interface nor the git-backed wiki were ever +completed or used. I gave up on spam moderating the comment system pretty +quickly, never actually posted any blog entries, and only ever pecked in a +couple dozen web links and tweet-like microposts. Even the photo gallery system +became too much of a time sink to deal with after traveling. Over the years I +deployed [gitweb][] and [gitit][], and after RSS starting going out of favor I +even started using [tumblr][1] for random content posts. I was still using the +Django admin panel's "flatpages" plugin to update my contact info and project +pages right up through this spring though. + +[gitweb]: https://git-scm.com/docs/gitweb +[gitit]: http://gitit.net/ +[0]: https://git.bnewbold.net/bnewnet/commit/?id=5b31039d4c581048959dc51436f6918f29fbf9ea +[1]: http://journal.bnewbold.net/ + +While it's been amazing how simple and low maintenance running everything +(email, repositories, website, etc) has been, the thrill of being on an old and +unmaintained release of GNU/Linux (Ubuntu 10.04) has worn off, and I'm cleaning +house. This website (`bnewbold.net`) is now a simple statically generated +([pelican][]) site. I've kept `gitit`, but moved to `gitolite` (one of my +favorite pieces of software) and `cgit` for repository hosting. The server runs +Debian stable (`jessie` to start with), and SSL/TLS certificates come gratis +via the Let's Encrypt project, for which I'm very grateful. I've stuck with +[linode][] hosting for this server, though [digital ocean][] is comparable and +cheaper for setups with fewer photos and large files. Many of these components +are deployed in an automated fashion using the `ansible` deployment tool; you +could fork and edit my [infrastructure scripts][infra] to set up those +components in minutes if you like (though it would probably take an afternoon +or longer if you've never done something like this before). Not everything is +settled yet: I haven't moved email, and I'm not sure if I'll stick with +[mediagoblin][] for photo hosting. + +[pelican]: http://blog.getpelican.com/ +[linode]: https://www.linode.com +[digial ocean]: https://digitalocean.com +[infra]: http://git.bnewbold.net/infra/ +[mediagoblin]: http://mediagoblin.org + +<br /> +<center> +<div class="centerize" style="font-size: smaller;"> +<a href="http://bnewbold.net/photos/detail/529/"> +<img src="http://media.bnewbold.net/hosted-photos/cache/2008/02/08/IMG_7232.JPG" /> +</a> +<br /> +An adelie penguin (the tiny black spot) wandering off alone over the Ross Sea +ice shelf +</div> +</center> +<br /> + +The name of my old server is `adelie` (named after a small species of penguin +that [I saw a lot of][4] in Antarctica), and it's days are limited. Though the +[`hier`][5] (filesystem layout) of most of my systems are almost identical, I'm +particularly comfortable on this one. It's seen me through a lot, more than any +other computer system, and I'll probably miss it in a weird way. + +[4]: http://bnewbold.net/photos/detail/527/ +[5]: http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/hier.7.html + +The new server is `adze`; here's hoping it lives even longer! + +<br /> +_**Note:** As initially posted this was just a stub; I re-wrote it in June +2016_ + |