I forgot that I have three more PowerEdge R710, like the one that failed, shrink wrapped out in the barn/shop. Doing some rearranging in my office to move in a large table so I can bring them in and go over them to check their condition.
Almost done rearranging enough to get the table from the greenhouse and set it up in here. Then the servers later today and we’ll see where that leads.
The Librarian
I’m going to delay restoring the complete site right now.
One of the first steps I decided to take was to set up a daily backup of the Website and all configuration data. I remember now why I had no backup when the old Server drives died…. IIS has no practical backup process without third party software and even then there are caveats.
Why would a Major Corporation release and continue to develop a “WebServer” that cannot be backed up???
So I’m going to bite the bullet now and move the site to a Linux Server running Apache which I’ve wanted to do for a couple years. With the old site dying as it did this is an ideal time. Full site will be down a while longer, at least a few weeks maybe a bit longer, but in the long run it will be much better.
I’ve run a lot of servers over my career and Linux server are always more reliable and secure than Windows. It will take me some time since I’ll have to buy another server, drives and then get it all delivered and installed.
Been a while since I installed a Linux and Apache system but it comes back with a little tinkering and puttering.
That’s where things stand right now. Since there’s no contact page on this stub site feel free to contact me at:
librarian@survivorlibrary.com
The Librarian
2026-06-11 SERVER BACK UP
I’ve got the Physical Site back up and running.
As some of you know the older server died with 3 of 4 drives in a Raid-5 Array all dying at once or at least the same day. In 50 years of working with computers and servers I’ve never seen that occur.
That also trashed the backup files. I ran several days of testing on the Dell R710 I’ve used for many years. I couldn’t find a problem. I still replaced the Raid Controller, the Power supplies and the drive backplane.
I started reinstalled everything but started experiencing problems. Ram slots being arbitrarily and randomly disabled on startup. Drive not being recognized, software randomly crashing, etc.
I finally pulled out an older Dell Poweredge T410 I haven’t been using, installed 6 brand new drives in a Raid-6 Array and so far it’s been going smoothly. I have all the basic software installed and this stub of a site up and running.
Still dealing with my Wife’s death a couple weeks ago and a LOT still to do here with all the Family coming in next week for her Memorial here. I’m going to work on the site at least a couple hours a day to get it rebuilt. First step will be the Books Download then we’ll go from there.
The Librarian