[H-GEN] Assistance with planning and setting up an ASDL based Linux home network.

[Greg Black]

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On 2003-12-05, Andrew Pullin wrote[2]:

>     I have not decided which ISP to hook up to yet, but what I need is some
> assistance in planning what I need to do and how, so that when I do get a
> new ISP, the change over will be transparent to the Net Community and
> relatively painless to me. The web site I host is fairly active, and I
> cannot afford to be offline for any more than a few hours, and even then I
> prefer to go live with the new setup, and cutover without an interruption to
> the service.

The basics of this are straightforward.  Setup the new ADSL
service immediately on a dedicated box[1] and get things working
there while keeping your old setup live.  Shorten the TTLs on
all your DNS stuff to about 5 minutes so that the changeover can
be done seamlessly.  Once you're happy that the new system is
working as it should, complete the switch and then close down
your old service.  One nice thing about moving from dialup to
ADSL is that both services can run simultaneously over the same
phone lines.

I've done this several times in the past year and had no dramas
at all -- apart from my home network, all the others were in
other cities or other continents.  It's mainly a matter of
thinking things through, writing down the steps you plan to
take, leaving a safety option in place, and doing it one step at
a time.

>     So, is anybody willing to help me out at the meeting to plan my new
> setup, and possibly end up spending a day helping me get my new system going
> over the next few weeks. I am willing to provide food, refreshments,
> transport if required, and friendship (these things are all negotiable) to
> anyone who can help out with the actual setup.

I really don't think you should need direct hand holding if you
have this setup going already.  Just talk to people at the
meeting and see how you go.  Of course, if you do need direct
help, you can always ask for it :-)

>     If anyone can help out, please email me and let me know before the
> meeting. Thanks in advance.

I'll be there from about 4:30 to 9:00 today and I'm happy to
discuss it.  The committee know me and can point me out, as well
as various other people who could assist.

Cheers, Greg

[1] The dedicated box can be a toy -- I'm using a Pentium-100
    that I picked up for free at a Humbug meeting at present
    while I reorganise things at home.

[2] Please, when starting a new thread, don't do it this way.
    Start a new thread with an empty message.  If it's too hard
    to type in the list address, cut and paste it.  If the
    reason for this is unclear, ask me about it at the meeting.

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