[OPLINTECH] OPLIN e-mail failure

[Chad Neeper]

Whaaaat?  You mean you *can't* turn water into wine? You *don't* have
unlimited resources? You *can't* turn base metals into gold? My world has
just been shattered.

I think probably we all totally understand where you're coming from.
Personally, I greatly appreciate all of the hard work you AND the rest of
the team have done over the years. You all deserve an extra vacation and
pay raise. Or at least a nap.

>From a library point of view, I'm hoping that you set up another mail
server. Big picture, I'd strongly suspect the amount of time and money
saved is worth it vs. each individual library having to deal with it. It
stinks for OPLIN Support, but it's hugely useful, especially for smaller
libraries.

You'll hate this idea too (don't shoot the messenger), but someone
suggested to me just now that perhaps you could set up another mail server
in the short term and re-create the accounts with the understanding that
all mail is gone and this may only be a temporary interim solution. It
would be a huge pia for Support to recreate accounts, but it would go a
long way towards keeping business running at individual libraries. You
could still decide not to continue the service going forward, but it would
help reduce the emergency thrust upon the libraries and allow them to more
gracefully switch to another system.

Chad
______________________________
*Chad Neeper*
Senior Systems Engineer

*Level 9 Networks*
740-548-8070 (voice)
866-214-6607 (fax)

*Full IT/Computer consulting services -- Specialized in libraries and
schools*

On Mon, Mar 9, 2015 at 10:41 AM, Karl Jendretzky <karljendretzky at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Well, frankly trying to host mail with limited staff is what got us in
> this spot in the first place. OPLIN is 5 people, and I'm the only
> sysadmin we have. I've been mostly awake since 2:45am on Friday, and
> though I may be overruled at some point I hope that we don't offer
> mail any more. Even when working properly it strains the staff an
> unnecessary amount.
>
> Currently I'm in talks with the mail group with the State of Ohio.
> They work with Microsoft to provide email to state agencies. I'd like
> to have a info sheet we can give to libraries outlining how they can
> move onto the state's mail system, but initial response from the state
> indicates their team might not be able to handle the load. I've got a
> conference call tomorrow morning with the state mail team, and should
> know more after.
>
> -Karl
>
> On Mon, Mar 9, 2015 at 10:30 AM, Chad Neeper <cneeper at level9networks.com>
> wrote:
> > Ouch.  Thanks for the info.
> >
> > That's a sinking feeling when you're in the middle of it and watching the
> > server not do what it's supposed to. I don't wish that feeling on anyone!
> >
> > This is probably early and you may not be ready to announce, but any
> > thoughts to set up another mail server and web front-end available to all
> > libraries, or are you getting out of that game entirely? Knowing that
> will
> > help to decide what to do.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Chad
> >
> > ______________________________
> > Chad Neeper
> > Senior Systems Engineer
> >
> > Level 9 Networks
> > 740-548-8070 (voice)
> > 866-214-6607 (fax)
> >
> > Full IT/Computer consulting services -- Specialized in libraries and
> schools
> >
> > On Mon, Mar 9, 2015 at 10:09 AM, Karl Jendretzky <
> karljendretzky at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >>
> >> Everything besides the Zimbra server is running properly.
> >>
> >> The Zimbra server was running Ubuntu 10, which is reaching end of life
> and
> >> needed updated. The server was pushed to Ubuntu 14, and a patch was run
> on
> >> Zimbra to bring it up to date, but after the patching finished the 80GB
> LDAP
> >> database was corrupted. Attempts to fix the corrupted database failed.
> >> Backups were restored, and a small patch was attempted to bring it up to
> >> U14, but once again there were LDAP issues. A new Ubuntu 10 mail server
> was
> >> built, and the exact version of Zimbra for the backups was installed,
> and
> >> the backup data was put in place, but failed. Each step was slightly
> >> different errors.
> >>
> >> My thought is that the Zimbra server went through many updates through
> >> it's life, and at some point some of the data went out of spec just
> enough
> >> that it could only ever run on the exact U10 environment that it had.
> That
> >> U10 environment no longer exists.
> >>
> >> Zimbra is a nasty beast. It uses many packages, but none are the
> >> repository default packages. All are bundled with Zimbra, and all work
> just
> >> the way Zimbra wants them to, meaning that support resources are sparse.
> >>
> >> The only thing that the Zimbra server was doing was personal email
> >> accounts.
> >>
> >> -Karl Jendretzky
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> OPLINTECH mailing list
> >> OPLINTECH at lists.oplin.org
> >> http://lists.oplin.org/mailman/listinfo/oplintech
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > OPLINTECH at lists.oplin.org
> > http://lists.oplin.org/mailman/listinfo/oplintech
> >
> >
>
>
>
> --
> -Karl
> _______________________________________________
> OPLINTECH mailing list
> OPLINTECH at lists.oplin.org
> http://lists.oplin.org/mailman/listinfo/oplintech
>
>
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