BitFolk Users December 2011

users@mailman.bitfolk.com

12 participants
11 discussions

IMPORTANT: You need to renumber the IP address(es) of your BitFolk VPS

by Andy Smith

Dear customer, [ Apologies if you've received duplicate copies of this email; we felt it was of sufficient importance to send direct to the contacts for each account. ] If you've been following our mailing lists you'll know that the time has come where we need you to change the IP address(es) associated with your VPS. Basically: - For each IP address on your VPS you need to enable a new address, which has already been routed to you. - You then need to reconfigure your services to use only the new IP addresses. - Finally you need to disable the old IP addresses. Full information on what you need to do can be found here: https://tools.bitfolk.com/wiki/Renumbering_for_customers The next time you need to reboot your VPS you should take care to instead shut it down and boot it again from your Xen Shell, otherwise you will lose the routes to the new IP addresses that have been added. The old IP addresses will be disabled approximately *three months* from now, so if you don't make these changes before then YOU WILL EXPERIENCE A LOSS OF SERVICE. Therefore if you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask, preferably on our users list: https://lists.bitfolk.com/mailman/listinfo/users Cheers, Andy -- http://bitfolk.com/ -- No-nonsense VPS hosting _______________________________________________ announce mailing list announce(a)lists.bitfolk.com https://lists.bitfolk.com/mailman/listinfo/announce

12 years, 2 months

Lenny-to-Squeeze Upgrade Plan - 2nd opinions sought!

by Mathew Newton

Hi everyone, I have decided to venture down what I hope is a well trodden path by now; upgrading my VPS from Debian Lenny to Squeeze. I have scoured the list archives and tried to make the most of http://www.debian.org/releases/squeeze/i386/release-notes/ch-upgrading.en.h… however I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm no expert in this regard and very much still learning so would appreciate a critique of my plan of action: - Ask Support kindly to perform a temporary disk snapshot - Login via Xen console - Verify no pending actions required for currently installed packages: aptitude (Then hit 'g' once in 'visual mode') - Verify that all packages are in an upgradable state: dpkg --audit - Show currently installed kernel(s): dpkg -l | grep linux-image Mine currently shows: ii linux-image-2.6-xen-686 2.6.26+17+lenny1 Linux 2.6 image on i686, oldstyle Xen suppor ii linux-image-2.6.26-1-xen-686 2.6.26-13lenny2 Linux 2.6.26 image on i686, oldstyle Xen sup ii linux-image-2.6.26-2-xen-686 2.6.26-26lenny2 Linux 2.6.26 image on i686, oldstyle Xen sup - Confirm non-usage of grub2: dpkg -l | grep grub Mine currently shows: ii grub 0.97-47lenny2 GRand Unified Bootloader (Legacy version) ii grub-common 1.96+20080724-16 GRand Unified Bootloader, version 2 (common - Updates apt sources lists from lenny to squeeze: sed -i s/lenny/squeeze/g /etc/apt/sources.list - Manually edit /etc/apt/source.list to confirm success of the above step and comment out any other repositories (non-Debian, backports etc) ? - Upgrade the kernel: (*** Am I aiming for the right one here? ***) aptitude install linux-image-2.6-686-bigmem - Update grub configuration: update-grub - Remove clocksource=jiffies from kopt directive in /boot/grub/menu.lst and confirm correct kernel will be loaded (i.e. default # matches new kernel position) - Upgrade udev (to minimise the risk of running the old udev with the new kernel): apt-get install udev - Reboot - Record a transcript of the upgrade session: script -t 2>~/upgrade-squeeze.time -a ~/upgrade-squeeze.script (This can be reviewed at a later date with scriptreplay ~/upgrade-squeeze.time ~/upgrade-squeeze.script) - Update the package list: apt-get update - Perform a minimal upgrade (i.e. upgrade those packages that don't require installation/removal of any other package(s)): apt-get upgrade - Complete the rest of the upgrade: apt-get dist-upgrade - Remove old/obsolete packages no longer required: apt-get autoremove - (Hopefully:) After the dust settles, advise Support that the snapshot of the old system can be removed Hope does that all look? Please don't hold back... Regards, Mathew

12 years, 3 months

Debian Linux 3.

by Neil Perry

Hi all, I have just flatenered my VPS install and installed debian wheezy. Upon first boot I found out that my / partion was only mounting as read-only. Found this in the logs; > Starting NFS common utilities: statd[ 17.998558] blkfront: barrier: >> empty write xvda op failed > > [ 17.998573] blkfront: xvda: barrier or flush: disabled > > [ 18.079912] end_request: I/O error, dev xvda, sector 9968016 > > [ 18.079933] end_request: I/O error, dev xvda, sector 9968016 > > [ 18.079946] Buffer I/O error on device xvda1, logical block 1245746 > > [ 18.079954] lost page write due to I/O error on xvda1 > > [ 18.080006] Aborting journal on device xvda1. > > [ 18.084929] journal commit I/O error > > [ 18.085021] EXT3-fs (xvda1): error: ext3_journal_start_sb: Detected >> aborted journal > > [ 18.085033] EXT3-fs (xvda1): error: remounting filesystem read-only > > After a quick google search [1]. For it to mount as rw you need to disable barrier by setting "barrier=0" in fstab options. Just for a reference incase anyone finds this to be a problem. Happy New Year, Thanks, Neil [1] - http://xen.1045712.n5.nabble.com/xvda-I-O-errors-in-linux-3-1-under-XCP-1-0…

12 years, 3 months

(no subject)

by Nick Williams

http://rojatek.com/modules/mod_wdbanners/blog.php?isabella193.jpg

12 years, 4 months

Christmas drinks in London

by Andy Smith

Hello, It would be nice to meet up for some drinks in London before Christmas. If you'd be up for that, please help pick a date: http://doodle.com/adpr6eznzam43cfv I'll close it probably in the next day or two and then we'll pick a venue. Cheers, Andy

12 years, 4 months

Missing squeeze-updates entry from Debian squeeze /etc/apt/sources.list

by Andy Smith

Hi, I've recently noticed that the following line which is usually present in /etc/apt/sources.list on Debian squeeze installs is missing from BitFolk VPSes: deb http://apt-cacher.lon.bitfolk.com/debian/ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/ squeeze-updates main Our template OS image has now been corrected, but if your Debian squeeze VPS is missing this line then you may wish to add it. These are important package updates which are not security-related (those are still provided by squeeze/updates on security.debian.org). This will not apply if you have used the installer to get squeeze yourself. Cheers, Andy -- http://bitfolk.com/ -- No-nonsense VPS hosting _______________________________________________ announce mailing list announce(a)lists.bitfolk.com https://lists.bitfolk.com/mailman/listinfo/announce

12 years, 4 months

Minecraft Server

by Daniel Case

Hey guys, Does anyone have a Minecraft server running on there VPS? I am thinking about running one on a Bitfolk VPS but I am not sure how successful it will be, also let me know how much memory you have if you can :) Thank you, Daniel

12 years, 4 months

Re: [bitfolk] Time just moved backwards by 11 seconds so I'll just kill myself now.

by Keith Williams

It's only happened once on this machine, happened on urquell before move. I have a cron job checking for updates regularly so am confident that I have the latest dovecot installed. Mind you I am still running Lenny (plucking up courage to upgrade to Squeeze after Xmas) Thanks for the tip Jamie, I do have a script monitoring key services on the vps, it emails me at my gmail address when apache or bind etc go down, of course, if postfix goes down... I will modify the script now to do a restart on going down. Thanks for the replies folks Keith On 10 December 2011 10:34, Matt Molyneaux <moggers87(a)googlemail.com> wrote: > On Sat, 2011-12-10 at 08:40 +0000, Keith Williams wrote: > > A bit drastic, I must say! Personally, I'd just assume my watch was > > wrong. Full report from logwatch as follows:- > > > > Dovecot disconnects: > > Logged out: 2 Time(s) > > no reason: 6730 Time(s) > > > > **Unmatched Entries** > > dovecot: Time just moved backwards by 11 seconds. This might cause a > lot of problems, so I'll just kill myself now. > > I remember that there was this problem before, but during the big > > memory upgrade, we moved to a new box, I think. The 6730 disconnects > > are unrelated to this, I had a couple of unsuccessful dictionary > > attacks ondovecot (using same sets of usernames etc) > > > > The suicidal nature of Dovecot is not a concern for me in the least as > > I am the only user (well sort of) actually retrieving mail from > > here,but thought I ought to mention it. > > > > Server dunkel > > vps kwilliams (keynesweb.com) > > > > Keith > > -- > > > > Keith Williams > > > > If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem > > as a nail. > > - Abraham Maslow > > > > > > ทำดีได้ดี ทำชั่วไดชั่ว > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > users mailing list > > users(a)lists.bitfolk.com > > https://lists.bitfolk.com/mailman/listinfo/users > > You're using an older version of dovecot that doesn't know how to handle > a leap back in time, so kills itself for safety. I only ever had this > happen on urquell after a reboot. How often is this happening? > > M > > -- Keith Williams If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail. - Abraham Maslow ทำดีได้ดี ทำชั่วไดชั่ว

12 years, 4 months

Time just moved backwards by 11 seconds so I'll just kill myself now.

by Keith Williams

A bit drastic, I must say! Personally, I'd just assume my watch was wrong. Full report from logwatch as follows:- Dovecot disconnects: Logged out: 2 Time(s) no reason: 6730 Time(s) **Unmatched Entries** dovecot: Time just moved backwards by 11 seconds. This might cause a lot of problems, so I'll just kill myself now. I remember that there was this problem before, but during the big memory upgrade, we moved to a new box, I think. The 6730 disconnects are unrelated to this, I had a couple of unsuccessful dictionary attacks on dovecot (using same sets of usernames etc) The suicidal nature of Dovecot is not a concern for me in the least as I am the only user (well sort of) actually retrieving mail from here, but thought I ought to mention it. Server dunkel vps kwilliams (keynesweb.com) Keith -- Keith Williams If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail. - Abraham Maslow ทำดีได้ดี ทำชั่วไดชั่ว

12 years, 4 months

Bitfolk's spamassassin service configuration

by Richard King

Hi all I've moved my mailserver over to my Bitfolk VPS and I've configured it to use several spam-reducing tools. I'm also using Bitfolk's shared spamassassin instance as described here: http://bitfolk.com/customer_information.html#toc_3_SpamAssassin___London__UK (many thanks for providing this, by the way!) It occurred to me that this service might be doing some of the same things as I've configured locally and that this might be unnecessary duplication. I've looked for an explanation of the configuration on the wiki but I couldn't find one. I can see from the headers on incoming spam that Bitfolk's spamds check messages against at least bl.spamcop.net, dnsbl.sorbs.net and psbl.surriel.com: X-Spam-Report: ... * 1.2 RCVD_IN_BL_SPAMCOP_NET RBL: Received via a relay in bl.spamcop.net * 0.6 RCVD_IN_SORBS_WEB RBL: SORBS: sender is an abusable web server * 2.7 RCVD_IN_PSBL RBL: Received via a relay in PSBL ... (IP addresses redacted to protect the guilty!) Andy / Bitfolk people: Would it be possible to list the external services against which your Spamassassin service is configured to check so that we can avoid double-checking them? For the record I'm adding zen.spamhaus.org to the mix as well as doing SPF and DKIM/ADSP checking (which might be duplicating DNS queries if Bitfolk's spamds are doing the same). Regards Richard. -- http://richardskingdom.net/ Twitter: @graphiclunarkid

12 years, 4 months

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BitFolk Users December 2011