Server and System Status

The migration stalled on Sunday due to complications caused by differences in the way the new control panel hosts websites. The control panel on the new server is the same control panel we have been using on the old server, but there are significant differences between the new and the old versions.

The result is that we have to check every single website manually to ensure that they’re all working before we can proceed with the email migration. We have been working on this this week, but it’s going to take a considerable amount of time.

Thank-you again for your patience.

We will shortly send an email to all email users advising that we will be migrating all email accounts this weekend. Unfortunately, circumstances do not permit a longer lead time advising of the down time that is necessary. We have explored all avenues for doing the email migration in stages, but it must be done all in one go.

Just so you can be assured that the email you received was legitimate, it was sent from info1305@niner.net with the subject, “[NinerNet] Your email account to be migrated this weekend”. If you have any questions, please contact the person referenced in the email.

We do not have a precise time for the start of the migration yet, but based on the initial migration test, we estimate that it will take about 16 hours. Once we have a time, we will post it here. However, it will be on Sunday, of course, given the time this is being posted

During the migration all incoming email will be held on a secondary server until all email from the old server has been migrated to the new primary server. At that point, the new primary server (NC026) will go live, and the email backlog will be delivered to it. You will not be able to log into your email account during the migration. You will, however, be able to send email during the migration using your existing email settings, as long as they are the recommended settings on our website. Webmail will be unavailable during the migration.

During the migration, email on the niner.net domain will be unavailable as well. To that end we have set up a temporary email address at which you can contact us during the migration. That email address is:

migration-may-2013@ninernet.com

Our apologies for this drawn-out migration, but we’re working hard to ensure that there will be minimal complications during and after the move.

The next update will provide a time at which the email migration will start. Thank-you for your patience.

There is light at the end of the tunnel for this migration.

While we have migrated all of the data from the old server to the new, a significant amount of manual processing on the new server has been necessary due to incompatibilities between the old version of the control panel and the new. This processing is ongoing, but should result in websites being live on the new server within the next 24 hours.

Additionally, the migration of email data from the old server was responsible for about 75% of the 20 hours that the initial migration took. However, it was not our intention to transfer email data during the first run, as email data obviously changes every second, which means that email on the old server (both servers, actually) needs to be shut down during the email migration.

We’re working to complete the processing of the websites on the new server, and will post details of the timing of the email migration here as soon as we have a time line for you.