rpm help wanted

Actually, my last post about ruby brings up a good point.

I used to install a lot of things from source. As part of this renovation, I've moved to a completely rpm-based system. This makes it a lot easier to set up servers, but it's a barrier to entry for installing software that doesn't have rpms.

If you know anything about rpms and are interested in doing some work in the near future, please let me know.

Ruby 1.8.2 installed

Nobody complained about the idea of moving to Ruby 1.8.2... so I moved to ruby 1.8.2.

I also installed irb, ri, and rdoc...

I'm looking for some help getting ruby mode for emacs and ruby gems packaged as rpms. (The ruby mode at caliban.org seems to require a different version of emacs than what red hat supplies...)

Meanwhile, you'll have to install these yourself if you want them. :)

lifer statements sent

Ok, I sent out statements for everyone who signed up for the lifetime account so far.

If you had unused time, you should see a gift certificate number (32 digits) at the bottom of the account history, along with the associated amount. I'll send a nicer email out (plus instructions) for these tomorrow.

Sorry for the holdup. :) I had to modify the billing system to allow posting future charges for the 25 4x100 accounts.

I did this all through a script, but I think I covered all the odd cases. If your statement looks wrong, please let me know.

4x$100 sold out

Just sold the last 4x$100 plan. Thanks everyone!

There are still about 30 slots open for the 1x$400 option.

shell access for lifers

All lifer accounts now have shell access (if they didn't already)... I'm still working on the billing and gift certificates, and will send out individual emails soon...

PS: only six slots left for the 4x$100 plan.

cornerhost news: hosting for life

Hi there.

Here's what's going on at cornerhost:

• europium for overseas users
• reopening 7/1/2005
• new rates finalized
• hosting for life

Europium for overseas users

I have set up a new "dark" server for overseas customers. It is exactly like the other machines, except that any scheduled downtime (for hardware replacements, etc) will be offset by 12 hours from the other machines.

In other words, instead of working on the server after midnight my time, I'd work on it during the early afternoon, which of course is the middle of the night for many customers.

If you would like to switch your account to this new server, please email me to schedule a move.

Reopening 7/1/2005

The cornerhost renovation is almost complete. All that's left is a few additions to the control panel and an update of the old website. So: I will be opening the doors to new customers again on 7/1/2005.

New Rates Finalized

I have finalized the new plans. The base prices are the same, but the accounts now include much higher limits on bandwidth, diskspace, and the number of included mailboxes and mysql databases:

The new rates are:

	basic	script>	shell
price/m	$5	$10	$20
price/y	$50	$100	$200
space	500MB	1000MB	2500MB
bandwidth	5GB	10GB	25GB
mailboxes	5	10	25
mysql dbs	n/a	2	5
php/cgi/cron	no	yes	yes
ssh access	no	no	yes

Your account(s) will be upgraded to the new plans automatically before the end of the month. If you are currently paying for extras that are now part of the plan itself, those charges will be dropped. If you've paid in advance for those extras, I will post a prorated credit to your account.

Hosting for Life

Finally, as part of the relaunch, I am building up some venture capital with a limited-time-only, lifetime hosting offer.

The price is $400, and gets you a shell account for as long as cornerhost stays in business (and I'm not going anywhere!)

This offer is limited to 100 people. I announced it sunday night on the innercircle list, and have sold 26 accounts, so I expect to sell out within the next day or two now that it's going out to all customers. So... If you want to sign up, you'll need to act fast.

Of the 100 people, I'm accepting 25 on an installment plan: $100 a month for the next 4 months. There are currently 16 slots still open, but they're already going fast.

Here's the fine print:

• if you have a credit on your account today, you *may not* apply it to this offer. However, you will receive a cornerhost gift certificate equal to 1.5 times the credit, and this can be given or sold to someone else.
• lifetime accounts *are* transferable to a third party
• as usual, you *may not* use the account to host multiple paying clients
• you *may* order more than one.
• overage charges still apply. I haven't determined the rates yet, but as you can see from the plans above, the resource prices are cheap and the limits are pretty high anyway.
• this offer is limited to customers whose accounts are in good standing
• there will be *no refunds* on this offer.

I'll even throw in a cornerhost t-shirt. :)

Remember, this offer is limited to 100 people, and the offer is first come, first serve. To sign up, just drop me an email and I'll send you a confirmation. (The upgrades may take another day or two at the rate I'm going right now)

Since this is going to sell out fast, I'll be posting status information on this offer to the cornerblog.

Hope to hear from you soon! :)

self hosting sabren.com dns

Due to some *insane* overage bills from the "$6 a month" managed dns service, I am (finally) hosting the sabren.com domain in its own name servers.

I will continue to use the managed service for another week or so to make sure it's working.

In theory, this should be a completely transparent change, and should not affect anybody in any way.

In practice, if you notice anything weird that might relate to DNS, please let me know immediately. :)