Upcoming Upgrades

[Dean]

This thread will discuss how and when we plan to perform some of the major updates we will be facing in the near future.

As discussed in other threads, the H-Sphere 2.5 update includes several major changes. While it provides .NET 2.0 and MySQL4.1 support, it also requires a complete restructuring of permissions on the Windows servers. Our own tests show that the update will take around two hours to complete per Windows server and will likely involve some additional downtime while individual issues are addressed.

H-Sphere 2.5.0 adds support for .NET 2.0, but it does not provide a way for users to change to the new version. The H-Sphere 2.5.1 beta release does provide this functionality, and it also adds support for PHP5.

Because of the downtime requirements of the update, and the fact that 2.5.0 does not provide a method to actually utilize one of its major features, we have decided that the H-Sphere 2.5 update will wait until version 2.5.1 is stable. There is no point in performing two separate updates in order to achieve what one will given a little more time.

While we are waiting for the 2.5.1 update, we will be starting our second major project: upgrading all Windows 2000 servers to 2003. In order to kill two birds with one stone, we plan to upgrade all P3 Windows servers to our new Opteron platform at the same time.

We have developed an upgrade procedure that should result in minimal downtime (5 - 10 minutes) while preserving as many of the custom server settings as possible. It is our intention to make the transition as smooth as we possibly can. We will be installing the new server in parallel with the existing server and making the switch only once all migrations are complete.

The first server to be migrated will be NT11. We have chosen this server because it is a P3 with the least number of users and domains. We plan to have the new NT11 complete and ready to make the switch by Friday July 21.

After we allow some shakedown time for NT11, we will procede with the rest of the servers, again starting with the P3's. The upgrade schedule for the rest of the servers will be posted at a later date.

[dpyers]

Thanks for the roadmap.Any idea how we'll need to handle a mysql upgrade?

Regarding custom server settings for particular NT boxes...
Should we provide a list before the migration of a box to 2003 is done or would you prefer to deal with it on a trouble ticket basis afterwards?

Edit...
Also, What NT server was the first to be 2003? I'm sure there'll be questions about if a particular server is affected.

[Dean]

H-Sphere will handle the MySQL upgrade. There should not need to be any user intervention.

I have written scripts to extract Application roots and virtual directories from IIS. We install all custom DLLs to a standard directory so that can be easily moved over and re-registered. The only other common customization would be ASPNET modify permissions and those are not needed on 2003. Any other custom work setup over the years would need to be addressed via trouble tickets after the migration.

NT45 was the first to be 2003. After NT11, NT4-9 would be the next up.

[Vidvandre]

Originally Posted by Dean

(...)
In order to kill two birds with one stone, we plan to upgrade all P3 Windows servers to our new Opteron platform at the same time.
(...)

Although I do notice the words "P3 Windows" in that sentence; Does this mean that we'll see an upgrade to the PostgreSQL P3 server(s) to the new Opteron platform as well?

[Dean]

Only the Windows P3 servers are up for upgrade at this time. We do not have plans for any other P3s right now.

[Dean]

The NT11 upgrade went off without a hitch.

The only issue reported so far was that a user's ODBC DSN broke. It stopped working because the DSN was from back in the H-Sphere 2.3 days when DSNs didn't have usernames prefixed. The H-Sphere recreation scripts added the DSN in the new format. If the migration didn't break the DSN, the H-Sphere upgrade would have. Any users that are using a legacy DSN are advised to create a new DSN and update their scripts.

Other than that, we couldn't have hoped for a smoother transition. We are going to give it a few more days and then will be starting on the next two servers: NT4 and NT5.

[levseltzer]

hSphere 2.5 seems to support Microsoft Exchange. Will Vortech resellers now have an option to offer MS Exchange to our clients? I have one client that has been bugging me about this, and I wonder if I will now be able to answer in the affirmative.

Thanks.

[Dean]

We have discussed this in the office before and the general consensus is that Exchange hosting is not something we would really want to get into.

This of course does not prevent you from offering exchange to your customers. We would still be able to offer you dedicated servers and perhaps the exchange licenses as well.

[admin]

We just ordered 10 new sun servers today to replace some of the older systems, they should all be in by the end of next week.. Just an FYI..

[server-68]

Should be important to have

"The upgrade schedule for the rest of the servers"

[newmem]

Blast from the past: I don't have much experience on a Win2003 server, but what was the problem earlier when we tried on Win2003 and there were a lot of problems and we went back to Win2000? And why won't that problem come back?

[admin]

Those have all been solved now, some due to H-Sphere it's self and some were do to windows 2k3. Psoft fixed most of there issue and has been stable on win2k3 servers for some time now. We also fixed the win2k issue with IIS groups for sites and automated it. It is now more stable than windows 2000.

[newmem]

great...I have been avoiding Win2003 since those rough times. Now it seems to be safe

[Dean]

We have received some new hardware and will be continuing the upgrades next week. The servers will be upgraded in this order:

NT4
NT5
NT7
NT8
NT9
NT6
NT20
NT41
NT40
NT42
NT43
NT44
NT45

NT4 and NT5 will be upgraded next week. NT4 will be replaced on Wednesday, August 9th and NT5 will be replaced on Friday August 11th.

Dates for the remaining servers are still pending while we work out a regular hardware delivery schedule.

[DVHost]

Originally Posted by Dean

We have received some new hardware and will be continuing the upgrades next week. The servers will be upgraded in this order:
NT4
NT5
NT7
NT8
NT9
NT6
NT20
NT41
NT40
NT42
NT43
NT44
NT45
NT4 and NT5 will be upgraded next week. NT4 will be replaced on Wednesday, August 9th and NT5 will be replaced on Friday August 11th.
Dates for the remaining servers are still pending while we work out a regular hardware delivery schedule.

I was curious as to how the upgrades to Windows 2003 were going. I am on NT7 and checked my server but it still shows as being Win2k IIS5.