914world is showing its age Options

[davep]

I am an IT professional with over 30 years of experience.

My recommendation is that we deploy younger and faster (perhaps bred in my home state of Kentucky) hamsters to run the wheels that power the site. Most breeds of hamster are software agnostic, so compatibility should not be a problem.

Given my extensive expertise in the profession, I would be more than happy to help train the next generation.

Or I could just throw a couple hundred bucks at the problem.

That would mean sacrificing hamsters needed to to keep our 914s running. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

I think the cost of acquiring several thousand hamsters, feeding them and cleaning up after would be a bit costly.
But think about all the trillions of electrons being inconvenienced every second!

[ClayPerrine]

Any options to migrate the storage into an S3 bucket (locally hosted of course)? We've done this with good success for a huge number of files (I believe we're working about 50M currently). Doesn't seem like a huge step given everything currently is in a functional block storage format.

Cloud services like s3 charge per file access.

A single DDoS attack (we had several in the past) could easily spike the monthly cost to well over $10k.
I've heard stories of people going from $100 a month to $100k a month because of attacks.
That is not a risk i'm prepared to take.

Our current contract gives us *unlimited* bandwidth for a flat monthly fee.

It's the only way to go without me going bankrupt.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/shades.gif)

Oh yeah, totally agree on using cloud hosted storage. I'm saying run a local cloud. We run a small Kubernetes stack with on-prem S3 storage.

*Side story-literally took a year to sell my Sr. management on building a local cluster vs. using AWS/Azure/etc. Our whole argument was cost based and it only because clear the cost exposure risk when one of our performance engineers ran this crazy query [by accident] that calc'd to a $50k bill. After that the whole local cloud was an easy sell. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

Any kind of cloud solution would be a monthly fee. Unlike Pelican, we don't have a business behind this to support the cost of the webpage/forum. Rennlist is a commercial site full of Ads, which annoy the hell out of me. Because we don't have these types of revenue streams, we have to look at what we can do for the least amount of money. With the size of our database and the amount of images on the server, we are looking at a big monthly fee.

And Andy is not willing to pay that monthly fee. Are you willing to setup a monthly paypal deduction to pay for your access to 914World? Right now it is voluntary. If you find the site useful then you contribute. But we don't mandate it.

By using an on prem solution, we can keep 914World free for all.

And "local cloud" is just another name for a different server on prem. Hosting fees for the servers cost money too. We want to keep the cost down so we only want one server. We aren't commercial, so we don't have any high availability configuration. Yea, I know we all suffer from withdrawals when World is down. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Andy does a remarkable job on keeping this place online with minimal downtime. But we are CSOBs, so we don't have a redundant server.

So any discussion needs to concentrate on a single server, on prem solution. No cloud, no paid software, and limited paid anything. Think CSOB when you suggest solutions.

And thanks to all the IT pros out there thinking about this. We appreciate all the input and suggestions.

[strawman]

Great discussion; it reminded me to pay to renew my subscription. I'm a Luddite and wrongfully believed I am automatically charged thru PayPal every year...

I've been on a few other car sites over the past 20 years, and this is by far the best. I'm never stressed out after logging out from 914world like I tend to be after looking for information on TheSamba (VW Oval stuff), E46fanatics (our Lemons racecar), Corvetteforum (my wife's C5 autoxer) or Bimmerforums (my hot-rodded E28). The breadth of info on those websites pales in comparison, and the sniping can be downright awful.

I'm in to contribute more, so I'll be watching this thread.

Geoff

[jd74914]

Any kind of cloud solution would be a monthly fee. Unlike Pelican, we don't have a business behind this to support the cost of the webpage/forum. Rennlist is a commercial site full of Ads, which annoy the hell out of me. Because we don't have these types of revenue streams, we have to look at what we can do for the least amount of money. With the size of our database and the amount of images on the server, we are looking at a big monthly fee.

And Andy is not willing to pay that monthly fee. Are you willing to setup a monthly paypal deduction to pay for your access to 914World? Right now it is voluntary. If you find the site useful then you contribute. But we don't mandate it.

By using an on prem solution, we can keep 914World free for all.

And "local cloud" is just another name for a different server on prem. Hosting fees for the servers cost money too. We want to keep the cost down so we only want one server. We aren't commercial, so we don't have any high availability configuration. Yea, I know we all suffer from withdrawals when World is down. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Andy does a remarkable job on keeping this place online with minimal downtime. But we are CSOBs, so we don't have a redundant server.

So any discussion needs to concentrate on a single server, on prem solution. No cloud, no paid software, and limited paid anything. Think CSOB when you suggest solutions.

And thanks to all the IT pros out there thinking about this. We appreciate all the input and suggestions.

Clay-Apologies for the lack of clarity in my worlding. I'm agreeing with both of you. In my world, "local cloud" is on-prem and not necessarily a HA stack. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Certainly most typical is a stack of servers-I forget that sometimes because my work is typically in air-gapped IoT which bastadizes a lot of traditional terminology within the single device virtualization layers.

My only real comment was that there may be a bigger hammer approach to single file path storage that doesn't loose a ton of performance.

[ClayPerrine]

Any kind of cloud solution would be a monthly fee. Unlike Pelican, we don't have a business behind this to support the cost of the webpage/forum. Rennlist is a commercial site full of Ads, which annoy the hell out of me. Because we don't have these types of revenue streams, we have to look at what we can do for the least amount of money. With the size of our database and the amount of images on the server, we are looking at a big monthly fee.

And Andy is not willing to pay that monthly fee. Are you willing to setup a monthly paypal deduction to pay for your access to 914World? Right now it is voluntary. If you find the site useful then you contribute. But we don't mandate it.

By using an on prem solution, we can keep 914World free for all.

And "local cloud" is just another name for a different server on prem. Hosting fees for the servers cost money too. We want to keep the cost down so we only want one server. We aren't commercial, so we don't have any high availability configuration. Yea, I know we all suffer from withdrawals when World is down. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Andy does a remarkable job on keeping this place online with minimal downtime. But we are CSOBs, so we don't have a redundant server.

So any discussion needs to concentrate on a single server, on prem solution. No cloud, no paid software, and limited paid anything. Think CSOB when you suggest solutions.

And thanks to all the IT pros out there thinking about this. We appreciate all the input and suggestions.

Clay-Apologies for the lack of clarity in my worlding. I'm agreeing with both of you. In my world, "local cloud" is on-prem and not necessarily a HA stack. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Certainly most typical is a stack of servers-I forget that sometimes because my work is typically in air-gapped IoT which bastadizes a lot of traditional terminology within the single device virtualization layers.

My only real comment was that there may be a bigger hammer approach to single file path storage that doesn't loose a ton of performance.

Not a problem. I appreciate the input. In the real world, I am a systems architect. I design operating system implementations based on the specifications given to me by the application architects (in this case that would be Andy). I don't normally know the intricacies of the app, and they don't have to know the intricacies of the OS setup. But together we get it right most of the time.

And any additional data is great. I am not the be all end all of knowledge when it comes to anything. So I always appreciate different points of view on things.

I am exploring options for a new server. There is nothing to be released yet, but I am basing it on the size of our data footprint, and the CSOB limitations.

Keep the ideas coming folks! Any data is good data.

[NARP74]

Wish list items: picture indexing for searches, easier pic handling, better native searches without going external.

[reneedicherri]

many have already said it - but keeping this forum independent(not on FB, away from other platforms) is important to me too!
if it means contributing money, I'd be glad to help.

[johnlush]

Clay, Here's a perhaps dumb question: is the "server" an actual physical server that's purchased, owned and maintained by 914World or server access/space supplied by a hosting entity? How about the rest of the system - circuit, perimeter equipment, etc.?

[ClayPerrine]

Clay, Here's a perhaps dumb question: is the "server" an actual physical server that's purchased, owned and maintained by 914World or server access/space supplied by a hosting entity? How about the rest of the system - circuit, perimeter equipment, etc.?

That would be a question for Andy.

@sirandy

[bandjoey]

Two votes here for keeping 914world a stand-alone forum.

Another forum that i had spent way too much time on (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) slowly died due to The Facebook. Definitely don't want that to happen here. The value here are all the knowledgeable members that are willing to share and help others. And the valuable historical information (if you can find it (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) !).

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif)


Just an FYI... I don't do Facebook, TickTock, or any other "social media". The only thing I use like that is LinkedIn. And that is for business.

Let's not go to Facebook.

Agree. People on the 914 Facebook seem to know little about World and often questions are answered incorrectly. Keep and Lock this one down and start a new forum. Start a kitty $$ and let SirAndy research and give us a plan forward.

[SirAndy]

Clay, Here's a perhaps dumb question: is the "server" an actual physical server that's purchased, owned and maintained by 914World or server access/space supplied by a hosting entity? How about the rest of the system - circuit, perimeter equipment, etc.?

That would be a question for Andy.
@sirandy

@johnlush
The current setup is a physical server where the hardware is fully managed by the hosting company and we manage the OS/Software. They also manage things like firewalls and load balancers etc.
It's hosted here in the US with 1&1 (now called IONOS). I used to work for them way back in the day at their headquarters in Germany.

The package also comes with unlimited bandwidth which is important because otherwise any unexpected traffic (like during a DDoS attack) could make your monthly costs skyrocket.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/type.gif)

[FlacaProductions]

I spend more time on Facebook directing people here.

[Mowog4]

What is the PayPal address for donations. I’ve used it before but cant find it

[johnlush]

@sirandy

Thanks for the overview. Sounds like a comprehensive package. I'll join the consensus in wanting to keep 914World independent and somehow retain the historic content. I honestly can't imagine anyone owning and working on a 914 without this community resource. I'd say get a plan in place that works for you and the admin team and hit us with a $ number that we can all contribute toward. Contributing money is the easy part - you guys have the heavy lifting. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sawzall-smiley.gif)

[SirAndy]

What is the PayPal address for donations. I’ve used it before but cant find it

@Mowog4


(IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[Mowog4]

What is the PayPal address for donations. I’ve used it before but cant find it

@Mowog4


(IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

Thanks Andy

[flat4guy]

I look at the old stuff here all the time - lots of good info. I would hope it could be locked in and saved some how for future reference. Either way I will stay a user.

[horizontally-opposed]

Whatever the right call is, count me in to support with $.

The problems/solutions discussed here are past my pay grade, but I've seen the sad potential ends described in other forums. That's part of why I do what I do in print, which may be old-fashioned does a good job of preserving data and photos…but print can't do what this place does.

And I love this place.

I do, however, suggest starting a new thread with a title that makes clear the need for action, and the link to donate in the first post that explains what's coming and how it will affect the community.

[Rob-O]

Well, whatever the consensus is for software, how it’s hosted and all the other intricacies it’s going to take money. Up to Andy of course but it’s probably a good time to make a formal ask for funding. I mean, at some point, probably sooner than later, things will have to change. If funding starts now by the time Andy and his group tighten up their decisions they have a good deal of money to get started. Then he can let us know estimates…and how much we’ve contributed so far and how much more we may need. This might also help those who want to contribute but spread those contributions over a few/several months.

[bkrantz]

Funds sent.