Previously, we had a cloud service called owncloud.

     When we upgraded to PHP7, it broke the version of owncloud we had because it was not PHP7 ready.

     I upgraded to version 9 but was unable to get authentication to work.

     Then, owncloud split, the original developer and a number of others left to start nextcloud.

     Nextcloud appears to be much better documented and the documentation includes imap authentication which is what we were using.

     So I am attempting to install nextcloud as a replacement for owncloud.  At this point all of the owncloud clients will also work with next cloud.  They have agreed to keep the api the same so the same clients should continue to work.

     The ubuntu.eskimo.com shell server has been upgraded to the latest release, 16.04.1 LTS.  This brings with it an upgrade of PHP to version 7.08, the same as on our web server.

     Therefore, if you are doing any PHP development and need to test scripts, this machine would be the one to use.

     This server is also equipped with a broad range of applications and has more memory than most of the others so it is a good machine to use.

     If there are some applications you need which are not present, please contact support@eskimo.com.

     I will be moving shellx and ubuntu virtual machines to a different physical host machine in order to free up memory and allow more effective caching on the web server.

     This will require about an hour of downtime on both servers but should otherwise be transparent other than a barely noticeable improvement in responsiveness owing to additional hardware resources available.

     I have not scheduled a user meeting since April for two reasons:

1. The relative poor turn-out at the April meeting.  We only had about half a dozen people show.
2. My health has been problematic.  I have been battling diabetic neuropathy and until very recently associated pain was very poorly controlled.  I’ve recently switched medications and am doing much better.

     So hopefully we’ll see some of you there.  I am now getting back to some projects that have been placed on hold for a while.

     The next meeting will be on August 27th starting at 3PM at Spiros on 185th and Aurora in the Fred Meyer parking lot.  It will be in the banquet room.  I hope enough of you come to justify reserving the room in the future.

     For directions please see: https://www.eskimo.com/eskimo-north-user-meeting/

     Both Fedora and Opensuse broke after rebooting the host computers.  I can not find anything wrong yet.  Fedora will not initialize the network interface and opensuse is not getting authentication information properly.  I reverted to earlier copies of these machines but earlier copies also do not function.

     I am tired so I am going to leave these down for the night and if I can not figure out what is wrong tomorrow, I will do a fresh install.

     Tomorrow, assuming no emergencies, I will be installing a new physical server at the co-location facility and I will be rebooting two existing host machines in order to load the most recent kernels.

     This will result in an outage that will probably last around 15-20 minutes on Friday evening.  This will affect all services, DNS, mail, etc, but I where services are duplicated, DNS, incoming mail, etc, I will be doing one set at a time to avoid interruption of those services.

     Client services are not duplicated so there will be an unavoidable outage for this maintenance work.

     I am behind in pretty much everything including sending account expiration notices.

     In March I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.  At the time the only symptom I had was mild burning in my feet but after they started treatment it turned in to frequent body-wide from the neck down burning hell.  Also allodynia where touch becomes pain.

     This varies in intensity quite a bit.  Some days pain is minimal and I am pretty functional, others it makes sleep impossible until it’s light out again.

     If you call in the morning and I am unavailable, this is likely why.  In that case please do leave a message and I will return your call as soon as I can.

     I have made great progress in getting my blood glucose down.  I’ve gone from an A1C value of 13.5% to 8.4% in two months.  My doctor said this is quite possibly the fastest reduction he has ever seen.  So I’m making progress.  I am working towards getting it down to 6.7% or below at which point hopefully my nerves will begin to heal.  That is a very slow process as nerves grow about a millimeter per month.

     In the meantime I am working with doctors to better manage my neuropathy pain and improve my functionality and struggling to catch up with work.  So please be patient with me, I’m not ignoring you, just a bit overwhelmed with health issues.

     The old SunOS 4.1.4 server, “eskimo.com“, is back up.  There is a bug in SunOS where sometimes the kernel will continue to operate and service things like ping but will not schedule time to user tasks any longer.  It was stuck in that state.  The only way to fix that is to reboot. Unlike the virtual machines, the only way to do that if I can’t login is to drive down to the facility.  That was made fun by 3-out-of-4 lines of I-90 being closed.  Thank you Washington Department of Transportation!

     The old “eskimo.com” shell server is currently down.  It is in a state where I can ping it but can not login.  I will need to make a trip to the co-location facility to correct this so it will be several hours.  In the meantime, all of the Linux based servers are up and available for your use.

     OwnCloud is presently down and is in the process of being upgraded to version 9.0.2.

     Owing to the upgrade to PHP7 before upgrading OwnCloud, it was not possible to do this in a graceful manner so a complete re-install is necessary.  I am still getting basic things like authentication working.  Please be patient.