Wesley's Tool-Box

There have been some network issues in the last few days. The major culprit turned out to be the 100Mbps Ethernet hub I've been using for more than five years (NEXT-8305SH). It doesn't "switch" the network connection over the ports properly anymore.

That has now been replaced with a ipTIME H5005 Gigabit Ethernet hub. I don't think the internet connection is that fast yet, but it's better to futureproof things. However, I've been noticing that the connection to the server is lost after some idling time after the new hub has been put into place. I'm not sure what's causing this and am trying to find out now.

I've been wary of installing new OS upgrades on the server because it can easily mess up the custom configuration I set up. In fact, that was primarily the reason why my old iMac that ran my websites (including this one) until early this year ran Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6) for 3 and a half years until it broke down. I passed upgrading to Lion (10.7) or Mountain Lion (10.8 ) all that time. I ultimately moved to Mountain Lion only because the new Mac mini that replaced the iMac required it.

This time was different. I had simplified the server configuration and kept track of the modifications. Basically, it was down to a couple of configuration files for built-in Apache server, and a separate MySQL installation. Downloading Mavericks (10.9) from the Mac App Store was what took most of the time. It was released as a free upgrade from anything that ran Snow Leopard and up, so there was a huge demand. Once the download was complete, I ran the installer, and it took about half an hour to complete.

I noticed that the websites were broken after the installation, as expected. However, checking the changes revealed that I only needed to fix the main Apache server configuration file. A couple of minutes of fiddling with the file later, the websites came back working properly. This was easily the fastest and the most trouble-free transition to the new major OS X version ever.

As a bonus, Apple had decided to make iWork upgrades to the just-released latest version for free, regardless of whether it was bought on DVD or on Mac App Store. My old copy of iWork '09 installed from the disc got properly upgraded, and the apps now show up in purchases list. Free OS and office suite upgrade, and smooth server transition. Apple has spoiled me.

Wesley's Tool-Box was offline for a 53 days since February 2, 2013, when the iMac (Early 2008) that ran the website since May 2008 broke down.

Replacement system was sought, and a souped-up Mac mini (Late 2012) was chosen to pick up the task. Unfortunately, there had been a few issues - recovering the files and database from the iMac didn't go as smoothly as planned; Mac mini didn't get along with certain brand of SSD; family stuff.

All that's behind now. Enjoy the site once again - thank you for your patience.