[sf-lug] linuxmafia.com scheduled outage Sunday 2023-09-03 10am-6pm* US/Pacific

[Michael Paoli]

Well ... I shouldn't have to do everything!  :-)

If y'all want to (temporarily) change that web page ...
In addition to myself, there are four folks that have all the needed
access to directly be able to do so:

# (cd /etc/sudoers.d && grep -F -h sflugwww al grantbow jstockford kdavalos)
al ALL=(root) NOPASSWD: /bin/su - sflugwww
grantbow        ALL=(root) /bin/su - sflugwww
jstockford      ALL=(root) /bin/su - sflugwww
kdavalos        ALL=(root) /bin/su - sflugwww
#
$ hostname
balug-sf-lug-v2.balug.org
$ < /etc/passwd awk -F: '{if($1 ~
/^(al|grantbow|jstockford|kdavalos)$/) print $5;}' | sed -e 's/,.*$//'
| sort -f
Al Whaley
Grant Bowman
Jim Stockford
Kim Davalos
$

If there are additional (at least reasonably qualified*) folks that
likewise want such access, I can certainly add accounts and access.
*as are improbable to make a total mess of things in way beyond their
ability to fix, and that folks are at least approximately okay with them
generally having the access, and that can reasonably manage keeping
their password and/or private ssh key quite secure (ssh server is open
to The Internet).

I'd even be inclined to think and offer, time being relatively short 'n
all, that if someone wanted to create the (temporary) replacement HTML
page, I could drop that in place, and then revert ... but ... that might
not work quite as desired.  Notably the page is index.php and contains
PHP code, so simply "show source" or the like, from HTTP/HTTPS interface
to web server, won't give one the actual source code to the page, but
rather what it looks like after PHP processes it.  But hey, I could even
drop in HTML temporarily, rather than PHP (index.php) if that's desired.
And I know among those volunteers, at least one quite wished/intended to
change it from PHP to instead use a crontab and program/script driven
page, so it would be (relatively) static HTML, that would get updated
automagically by program - notably to show current/updated meeting
information ... rather than running PHP code for every single display of
the page (ugh!).  But, among the volunteers, one that very much wished
for and wanted that change (and I think even did that original PHP
authorship) ... they never changed that bit of it.  And another
volunteer that quite volunteered to take on doing that task ... they
also never did it (I even mentored 'em lots on how to approach/do it ...
but it still remains not done).

So ... y'all might talk to those two volunteers (Jim and Kim,
respectively) about doing that - but I doubt they would - and almost
certainly not in time.  Or talk to any or all of the four volunteers
that have the access, about making even the desired temporary change(s).

Or ... maybe drum up some new volunteer(s) that might be sufficiently
capable to make any of the relevant changes.  I mean y'all are a Linux
User Group.  243 members strong[1].  I shouldn't have to do everything.
I can certainly enable folks to have the access to do what's
needed/desired.

Speaking of which, there are always additional volunteer opportunities.
E.g. how 'bout providing (more) backups ... "just in case" or whatever.
As far as SF-LUG goes:
I host the web and DNS primary and do some backups of those.
Rick hosts the list (and associated web) and does some backups of those.
I also have automagic daily backups of the relevant list data.
Al and Rick also provide DNS secondaries
Myself and one or two other persons (I forget precisely who)
have ownership and/or other full access to the sf-lug.org domain (and at
least Al has ownership likewise of the non-canonical SF-LUG gTLD
domains).
I think thus far we've gotten exactly zero volunteers to do any
additional backups (oh - like maybe daily rsync backups or the like
might be quite good).

Oh, and in the near future that list infrastructure
that Rick hosts will be on much newer much more supportable hardware.
You're welcome.  You can thank Rick and myself for that.

Hey Rick - maybe right around that migration time you could take some
digital photos ... notably to have at least one of ye olde hardware ...
and one of the new.  Maybe even with a ruler or tape measure for scale.
Folks might find that quite interesting/informative.  Then perhaps put
that (and maybe even some descriptions or whatever) in some suitable
place - e.g. like somewhere on linuxmafia.com.

1. http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/sf-lug/2023q3/015866.html

On Fri, Sep 1, 2023 at 1:38 PM aaronco36 <aaronco36 at sdf.org> wrote:
>
> Quoting Michael Paoli <michael.paoli at cal.berkeley.edu> from
> http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/sf-lug/2023q3/015889.html :
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> linuxmafia.com scheduled outage Sunday 2023-09-03 10am-6pm* US/Pacific
> *guestimated the outage will be approximately 4 hours +-, but have
> scheduled 8 hour window "just in case".
>
> Anyway, earlier this evening, Rick and I arranged and have planned for
> that scheduled window.
> So, e.g. sf-lug at linuxmafia.com will be offline**,
> as will be everything using 96.95.217.99**
> **It may be pingable during much of that time, but server processes will
> be down for quiescent data consistent migration.
>
> Other hosts/servers (e.g. [www.]sf-lug.org) are independent and generally
> anticipated to continue to be online.
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> Michael P and/or other webmaster(s)-that-may-be might also wish to
> consider editing [www.]sf-lug.org between now and 10am US/Pacific this
> Sunday to better reflect linuxmafia.com's (and SF-LUG mailing-list's)
> scheduled outage for those visiting [www.]sf-lug.org first before
> subsequently attempting to access the mailing-list 10am+ this Sunday.
>
>
> Selected snippets from the current [www.]sf-lug.org) :
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> San Francisco Linux Users' Group
>
> The next meeting is on Sunday September 3rd, from 11:00 AM till 1:00 PM, at:
> virtual+physical:
>
>     virtual remains:
>     https://meet.jit.si/sf-lug.org
>     Browser: one will need sufficiently recent version of, e.g. Chromium,
> Chrome, or possibly Firefox - in any case one that well supports
> WebRTC.
>     Dial-in (audio alternative or audio only): +1.512.647.1431 PIN: 524
> 338 639#
>     physical:
>     at the Cafe Enchante, on Geary at 26th Ave in San Francisco.
>
>
> SF-LUG meetings are the first Sunday of the month, 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM.
>
> ...
> ...
>
> Members are anyone belonging to the sf-lug mailing list. Anyone interested
> in Linux may join the sf-lug mailing list: sf-lug mail list
> http://linuxmafia.com/mailman/listinfo/sf-lug
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> One suggestion among other perhaps-better ones is to perhaps append
> something like the following to the end of the "Members... " snippet
> immediately above...
> " *** Please note that the sf-lug mailing list will be unavailable from
> 10am to 6pm on Sunday 2023-09-03 due to a scheduled outage during this
> timerange *** "
>
> -A