[Techtalk] Recommendations for Server Hosting

[Akkana Peck]

Sarah Newman writes:
> On 9/25/19 1:45 PM, Kagan MacTane wrote:
> > Hi, Folks--
> > 
> > I have a physical server that's been parked in a place with a static IP
> > for a while. It's Ubuntu 16.04, running web, email (POP, IMAP, and
> > SMTP), and DNS for a few domains and a few users. The situation is
> > changing such that I can't keep it there anymore, but I don't have a
> > housing situation that includes static IP addresses anymore.
> > 
> > It seems like I need to set up a cloud or virtual or remote server situation. Right? And migrate all users, email, etc. over to it.
> > 
> > Does anyone have any recommendations on good services for this? And/or on best practices for this migration? Thank you in advance.
> > 
> 
> If I may recommend my own service - prgmr.com - we try to keep our IP
> address space clean, which is important for email hosting. I helped SVLUG
> perform a forklift migration of their physical server to a virtual and can
> help some with the steps there if you don't have a lot of time and/or an
> easy means to start from a clean install.

I've used prgmr.com for hosting for many years, and they've been great.
I definitely recommend them.

We moved off a home server like you're planning to do, but it was so
long ago that I don't remember a lot of details. I'm fairly sure we
started with a new Debian installation provided by Sarah and her crew
(which was 64-bit, where our home server had been 32-bit); then
we copied directories and config files for the services we needed,
like apache2, postfix etc. from our old server, getting services
working one by one. If you're migrating to a virtual of the same OS
you were running before, it should all be fairly straightforward. If
it's a different OS, then you'll have all the usual "How has Apache
borked the config file structure this time?" questions you always
have with a system upgrade, but it's no harder on a virtual machine
than it would be on a physical server.

        ...Akkana