[Biopython-dev] will the biopython project be willing to be test case for relocating our webserver and mailing lists?

[Chris Dagdigian]

Hi folks,

We need to retire "open-bio.org" which is our ancient 500mhz Alpha box 
running Redhat 6.2.  It's old, has just 128M of memory, small disks and 
is hard to keep secure.

Its also our most important box as it does all of our mailing lists and 
a majority of our high traffic websites.

We have a new machine up online at va1220.open-bio.org that is meant to 
replace the alphaserver. It has Redhat 8.0, lots of memory, a pair of 
80gig disks etc.

Once the machine gets renamed to "portal.open-bio.org" and I can 
generate some SSL certificates I want to start moving projects onto the 
new box. I've spent a ton of time hand-tuning sendmail and building in 
anti-spam and anti-virus scanning

This is complicated because Mailman listserve is so tightly tied to the 
web that we pretty much have to move email, mailman and the website all 
at once to avoid disrupting things.

I'd like to use biopython as the first test case because you folks have 
  a simple website (looks like static HTML plus an old wiki) and three 
low traffic email lists. Plus Brad/Andrew/JeffC all know their way 
around our servers and can quickly notice problems if any occur.

Advantages to the move:

o website will be able to be edited via webDAV which opens up 
opportunities to stuff with DreamWeaver etc. It should be far easier for 
you to work on your website after the move

o Lots of anti-spam stuff embedded within sendmail including RBL 
blackhole checks, Vipul's Razor, Spamassassin and MimeDefang

o Virus scanning on all inbound emails for the first time via McAfee 
virus scanner

o SSL access for mailing lists and admin tasks

o SSL/TLS encryption for sendmail and email

o faster machine, Linux on Intel,  lots of disk space

o possibility for IMAP mailboxes for developers

This _DOES NOT_ affect your CVS or sourcecode. Just the machine that 
hosts your mailing lists and website.


You guys up for this? Let me know.

-Chris
Open-Bio.org



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Chris Dagdigian, <dag at sonsorol.org>
BioTeam Inc. - Independent Bio-IT & Informatics consulting
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