My host finally got my new server online for us. It took them a while because the CPU I requested was out of stock. I really wish they did what they did last time
and upgrade the CPU, I ordered a Dual-Core Xeon last time and they gave me a Quad-Core Xeon for the price of the Dual-Core.
Although the CPU in the new server isn't as strong as the current server there are many additions to the new server that end up way more than making up for that....
First of all the new server has two times the RAM of the current server and is also running dual 146GB SCSI/SAS 10,000RPM drives. These two upgrades over the current
server make a huge difference on a webserver that has as many database queries as testmy.net's does. The current server is running dual 7200 RPM 250GB SATA drives by
the way... the SCSI/SAS drives on the new server are a nice upgrade.
You may ask... "So why is testmy.net getting a new server again? I thought you guys just got a new server about a month ago!"
A: testmy.net DID in fact get a new server a little over a month ago, the reason why I've ordered ANOTHER new server is because my host put the last server in a
datacenter that I HATE. My host has multipule datacenters, some in Dallas and some in Houston. The Houston datacenter was one that they bought out from an old
hosting company called "EV1". The quality of the EV1 datacenter is inferior when compared to the Dallas datacenter that testmy.net usually runs out of. So once I
noticed that I was in that datacenter I knew right away that I'd be reordering very soon, though I did try to make the best of it. But despite hard efforts on my end
I just couldn't do anything to improve the quality of the server and I tried everything to make the best of it until I could get another new server. Put it this way,
although Dallas, TX is only about 240 miles from Houston, TX my personal ping to testmy.net when it's in the crappy datacenter is about 50ms (I just now pinged that
and got an average of 52ms). I just now pinged the new server, which is now in the correct Dallas, TX datacenter and I got an average ping of 33ms. Pretty funny how
the Houston datacenter pings 20ms higher when the Houston datacenter is only 100miles further from me than the Dallas datacenter, hahaha.
If you'd like to see what I'm talking about... and actually, if you'd like to see if you've been effected over the past month from the terrible routing to this
datacenter (because not everyone out there get bad routing to this datacenter) you can ping both servers and see the difference that you get... for fun, how about you
guys post your personal pings to both servers... it will prove my point and show you all why i really needed to order ANOTHER server.
The IP for the server in Houston (the current server that's being replaced) is :: 75.125.181.200
The IP for the server in Dallas (the server that will be replacing the current one) is :: 74.54.226.170
Ping both and share with us
Here's mine
ping 75.125.181.200
Pinging testmymobile.net [75.125.181.200] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 75.125.181.200: bytes=32 time=51ms TTL=51
Reply from 75.125.181.200: bytes=32 time=51ms TTL=51
Reply from 75.125.181.200: bytes=32 time=56ms TTL=51
Reply from 75.125.181.200: bytes=32 time=53ms TTL=51
Ping statistics for 75.125.181.200:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 51ms, Maximum = 56ms, Average = 52ms
ping 74.54.226.170
Pinging 74.54.226.170 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 74.54.226.170: bytes=32 time=34ms TTL=52
Reply from 74.54.226.170: bytes=32 time=32ms TTL=52
Reply from 74.54.226.170: bytes=32 time=33ms TTL=52
Reply from 74.54.226.170: bytes=32 time=34ms TTL=52
Ping statistics for 74.54.226.170:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 32ms, Maximum = 34ms, Average = 33ms
You can also see a difference in the trace route
tracert 75.125.181.200
Tracing route to testmy.net [75.125.181.200]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 * * * Request timed out.
3 7 ms 9 ms 6 ms ip68-2-6-5.ph.ph.Cox.net [68.2.6.5]
4 8 ms 7 ms 7 ms 68.2.13.94
5 7 ms 9 ms 11 ms 68.2.13.9
6 8 ms 9 ms 8 ms 68.2.13.5
7 10 ms 11 ms 10 ms 68.2.13.1
8 9 ms 9 ms 9 ms chnddsrj01-ae2.0.rd.ph.Cox.net [68.2.14.9]
9 22 ms 22 ms 22 ms lanGBbr01-ae0.r2.la.Cox.net [68.1.0.232]
10 51 ms 52 ms 51 ms 216-54-253-2.ev1.net.demarc [216.54.253.2]
11 52 ms 51 ms 51 ms 216-54-253-2.ev1.net.demarc [216.54.253.2]
12 52 ms 53 ms 52 ms ivhou-207-218-223-126.ev1servers.net [207.218.22
3.126]
13 49 ms 49 ms 49 ms 75.125.181.200
Trace complete.
tracert 74.54.226.170
Tracing route to aa.e2.364a.static.theplanet.com [74.54.226.170]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 * * * Request timed out.
3 6 ms 6 ms 13 ms ip68-2-6-5.ph.ph.Cox.net [68.2.6.5]
4 33 ms 8 ms 9 ms 68.2.13.94
5 8 ms 9 ms 9 ms 68.2.13.9
6 9 ms 21 ms 9 ms 68.2.13.5
7 10 ms 10 ms 9 ms 68.2.13.1
8 9 ms 9 ms 9 ms chnddsrj01-ae2.0.rd.ph.Cox.net [68.2.14.9]
9 33 ms 33 ms 32 ms dalsbbrj02-ae0.r2.dl.Cox.net [68.1.0.143]
10 33 ms 32 ms 33 ms vl31.dsr01.dllstx3.theplanet.com [70.85.127.29]
11 33 ms 34 ms 34 ms 72.fd.5746.static.theplanet.com [70.87.253.114]
12 34 ms 39 ms 49 ms po1.car06.dllstx6.theplanet.com [12.96.160.8]
13 33 ms 33 ms 33 ms aa.e2.364a.static.theplanet.com [74.54.226.170]
Trace complete.
And by the way... that is the cleanest trace route to the Houston server that I've ever had... the trace to that server is usually WAY worse than that.
In conclusion, the new server is now online. I've already configured most of the custom stuff that I run on my servers and now I'll be starting the transfer of all
the data. The new server is expected to be 100% functional within the next 24 hours but most likely sooner than that. This will mean upgraded speed and reliability
for all TMN users.
The new server configuration ::
CPU :: Conroe \ Xeon 3060 (Dual Core)
Memory (RAM) :: 4GB (4096MB) DDR2 800
Memory (HDD0) :: 146GB SCSI/SAS 10,000RPM
Memory (HDD1) :: 146GB SCSI/SAS 10,000RPM
Up-link :: 100Mbps up-link to theplanet's premier Dallas, TX datacenters
this means access to over 100Gbps of tier1 bandwidth (
http://www.theplanet.com/tour/default.html )So I'll let you guys know once you're on the new server, the first clue that you're on the new server will be a message you'll see on the homepage letting you know
that you're on the new server. So give me a little bit of time to get the data transfered. Please note that during this process some posts to the forum MAY be lost,
the reason being that the database along with the site data will be transfered and any posts made from that time to the time that it will take for me to change the DNS
over to the new IP may be lost. In the past this has only resulted in a couple of posts being lost but I would like to let you all know this in advance. Please also
note that the site may be slow to respond and/or throw errors during this process. This is because the amount of information being transfered is HUGE nad can sometime
overload one or both of the servers (it's usually mySQL that overloads the server). Just keep in mind that the problems are temporary and this is why I do these
transfers during off-peak hours in the middle of the night...... just hang in there, thanks for your patience during this process.
Thanks for your patience during this process, I can't wait to see the new server in full action!
-Damon