[OBF-developers] Important news for all developers with open-bio.org CVS access

[Chris Dagdigian]

Hello,

** All developer accounts are being moved to a new server this  
weekend; details enclosed **

This mailing list was freshly created a few minutes ago by parsing  
out the email addresses listed in the user account data on pub.open- 
bio.org, the OBF machine that hosts the following open source CVS  
repositories:

    * /home/repository/biopython
    * /home/repository/biojava
    * /home/repository/bioperl
    * /home/repository/biodas
    * /home/repository/moby
    * /home/repository/biocorba
    * /home/repository/biosql
    * /home/repository/bioruby
    * /home/repository/emboss

If you receive this email, it means we think you are a developer.  If  
you are a developer, we have really important news for you, please  
keep reading!

The folks running the OBF servers have always had a plan in place to  
transition onto more modern server hardware, especially hardware  
purpose built with "lights out" remote management in mind. The remote  
management techniques allow any of our admin volunteers to have  
complete control of the server as if they were standing next to the  
machine. Since our machines are locked in a cage in a Boston data- 
center and our admin staff is located all over the globe, this is  
important.  Our new hardware is great - we have complete remote  
control of the console, BIOS settings and even electrical power from  
anywhere in the world.

Sorry for raving about hardware, I'm a geek. What can I say? If you  
want to see pictures of the new server cage and OBF hardware you can  
see them at this URL:
http://bioteam.net/gallery/bioteamBDC

Going back in time, our way-cool legacy hardware can be seen in this  
gallery:
http://gallery.open-bio.org/gallery2/v/obf-servers/

The new hardware has been up and running for quite some time now in  
"testing" mode. However, recent circumstances have forced us to  
actually commit to a formal transition.

This transition has already begun, it will complete this weekend.  
Moving all of the developers and the real CVS repositories is the  
final step.

The reason for the move is that the company that currently hosts  
portal.open-bio.org and pub.open-bio.org (Wyeth Research, Cambridge  
MA USA) is making changes to their internet connection that will  
remove the ability for them to host internet-facing servers in their  
Cambridge, MA facilities.  This change is going to happen on the  
evening of Monday March 27th and once it occurs our old servers  
currently sitting in Wyeth will be disconnected from the internet.

On behalf of the OBF I'd just like to thank Wyeth one more time for  
their amazing support over the years. Our servers consume non-trivial  
amounts of internet bandwidth and have been freely hosted on their  
corporate internet circuit for many years now.  Paying for such  
hosting would have cost us many thousands of dollars per year.  With  
internet hosting you only really notice the ISP when the service goes  
down and many of our servers at Wyeth exceeded 500+ days of  
continuous uptime with no disruption or loss of network connectivity.

Our new server hardware is located within a colocation cage belonging  
to BioTeam Inc (my employer). BioTeam has donated the cost of the new  
server hardware and will be donating the ongoing costs of power,  
cooling, hosting and bandwidth. It's nice to work for a company that  
understands, values and supports the OBF's various projects and efforts.

The hosting facility is solid. Infrastructure folks will enjoy these  
links:
http://www.bostondatacenters.com/specs.html
http://www.bostondatacenters.com/network.html
http://www.bostondatacenters.com/facility.html


The following transitions have already occurred:

(1) All of our mailing lists (57!) have been consolidated onto http:// 
lists.open-bio.org -- all subscribers, preferences, settings and  
mailing list archives transfered over just fine

(2) All of our websites have been consolidated on the new server  
newportal.open-bio.org

(3) Behind the scenes OBF has a helpdesk/ticketing system to help  
with support issues. Emailing "support at open-bio.org" is the proper  
way to get into the system. It's been working great and it is far  
easier to respond quickly to issues and make sure that nothing falls  
through the cracks.

(4) Our server replacement for cvs.open-bio.org (the anonymous CVS  
server) is still on order so we've built a temporary server as a  
VMWare virtual host. The new server also offers anonymous RSYNC  
access which is a new addition for us. Surf on over to http:// 
cvs.open-bio.org for the details.


With email, websites and anonymous-CVS transitioned, the final step  
is to get the developer environment migrated.

We have a new machine just for everyone on this list. It is called  
"dev.open-bio.org" and it will be the new home for developers using  
CVS as well as the people who want to switch over to using Subversion.

dev.open-bio.org is where the repositories will be moved to. This is  
the machine you'll have SSH access to and this is the machine you'll  
be CVS/SVN committing to.

Remember this hostname! dev.open-bio.org (we'll also alias  
dev.biomoby.org, dev.biojava.org etc. etc.)

Technically, its a pretty easy process to mirror over the  
repositories, user accounts and all of your user home directories and  
files. I've already actually done this.

The nasty part is user passwords. Those can't be migrated. The old  
server stores hashed passwords in a way that is not compatible with  
the methods used on the new server. This means that while we can move  
your user account and all your files over to the new machine, your  
password is going to have to be changed. You'll need to communicate  
with support at open-bio.org for a password reset before you can regain  
access to the system.

While a painful process for our admin staff, this is also a good way  
for us to weed out dormant or inactive accounts. I'm guessing a  
significant portion of the accounts we move over will never be  
reactivated.  This is good housekeeping for us to be doing anyway.


How this process is going to work:

(1) Sometime on Saturday the 25th we will disable all access to the  
existing CVS machine
(2) User accounts, home directories, files and all CVS repositories  
will be mirrored and migrated to dev.open-bio.org
(3) We will begin altering and resetting user passwords for access to  
dev.open-bio.org

It would help if you could refrain from doing any CVS commits on  
Saturday the 25th. While not required this will help make sure the  
mirror and migration process works perfectly.


=====================================================
   HOW TO GET YOUR PASSWORD FOR DEV.OPEN-BIO.ORG
=====================================================

Easy. Email "support at open-bio.org" and MAKE SURE you provide all of  
the following information:

------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
------
Full Name:
Organization/Institution/Employer:
Working email address (for notices such as this):
Existing unix username:
Project/CVS affiliation:
------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
------


We'll start taking dev.open-bio.org password reset/access requests  
right now but we'll ask that you do not login to dev.open-bio.org  
until Sunday the 26th or until you receive notice that the migration  
has been completed. This will ensure that you don't alter, delete or  
change any files that will then get lost when we do our final mirror  
and sync operations.



=====================================================
        HELP US FIND AND SQUASH PROBLEMS
=====================================================

This is a really complicated migration of a ton of different servers,  
services and users. I'm sure stuff will get flaky during the  
transition and I'm sure that I'm forgetting about some things.

If you notice anything not working or experience any sort of problem  
PLEASE email support at open-bio.org or just contact me directly. I'll  
be pretty much tethered to my computer during the upcoming days.

How to reach me:
Chris Dagdigian
dag at sonsorol.org
617-877-5498
Ichat/AOL Instant messenger: 'bioteamdag'