server upgrades....

[Jonesie]

Sooooooo...., I don't want to step on toes, but what is the game plan for upgrading the HTM servers?

While I may not be a HTM member, I have tried to be a righteous community member throughout the years, and consider many to be my online friends.

I do find value in playing UT online with like minded folks, and I'm willing to donate the funds I can afford to keep like minded folk to keep playing.
On the sniper server, we have a very active community of folks that have been playing for a few years.
Foo & Lethal do a great job of running the server, and I'm proud to call them online comrades.

I digress...,(because I'm drinking)

Dbl B ( Bully Bob ) has committed a cool 1K for the server upgrade. Awesome Dbl B!
I'm willing to add $100 to my additional $20 I added this year already.
If need be..., I can rally the troops "sniper server" if ok with Foo & Lethal and try to get an additional $25 per player to get the required amount to secure the New OS.

So this all comes about because "Cuz" said the server was being hammered through outdated server hardware.
So without with being pushy..., let's get this stuff resolved.
Buy the new OS, install it, and let's deal with less issues on the IT side of it.

Again, if I'm being to forward, my apologies. But let's get this done! We have the funds.
Can someone give us a final cost of the software upgrade to make sure we have the appropriate funds to purchase it?

I know IT guys.., they get a hard on installing virgin hardware that they can put their "Imprint" on.

I know this seems like a pain in the ass in the short term, but let's get this knocked out, and be done with these server attacks going forward.

I also encourage HTM team members to make their annual donations to make this possible as well.

Thanks to everyone.., I hope we can buy and implement this upgrade to benefit everyone.

Thanks,

Jonesie

[HTM|Minion]

Mark, call me please. I'm so far behind on forum post that I have no idea what's going on here or what needs to be done.

I went to my PayPal account and saw all these donations rolling in including a massive $1000.00 from BullyBob with a message about server upgrades.

While I have kept the site and servers online with the help of everyone's donations, as you guys have probably guessed my priorities in life have changed and I really have no interest in personally performing any hardware upgrades, I will however give data center access to whoever wants to coordinate this task and forward the donations for the upgrade accordingly.

[HTM~FooFoo(Ack!)]

Only thing I know is I have mentioned that from time to time, I lose complete access to the sniper server and on rarer occasion, some of the others. But when that happens, I shout out to Mark to see if he can bounce the box when he gets a chance and when he does, it's all good again.

[HTM~Bluesman]

Jonesie.........The server OS is from 2008 and likely more vulnerable to attack than a newer version. Unfortunately it's not as simple as simply going to Best Buy and picking up a copy of Windows and bringing it home for an upgrade. Our server is located in a COLO in the Dallas area and not physically accessible to do an upgrade. So either the server box gets shipped out of the COLO to one of us to do an upgrade, or we pay the COLO to do it for us. That presents issues such as who is able to do the upgrade and the fact that the servers could be down for weeks while it' gets done. The other problem is that in order to get to the latest and greatest version of Windows Server 2022, you can't just do an in-place upgrade directly from 2008. Microsoft makes you get a license for 2012, 2019, etc. and THEN you can go to 2022. It is possible to do a clean install of 2022, but the data and servers would need to be completely reinstalled which is a PITA to put it mildly. Right now Mark and I have been just tossing around options and will be talking with Minion about where to go (if we do anything at all!). At this point we are talking, not pulling the trigger on ANYTHING. There may be other firewall type options that would keep the box from getting hammered as much without having to do an upgrade. Server upgrades are expensive and not fun, which is why many companies put off doing them until they have no choice. We are exploring options at this point, nothing more.....Blues

[HTM~Cousin_Itt]

Chill bro, we got this!

[cUnNiNg_StUnTs]

Is it a physical firewall or the Windows firewall? If these attempts are RDP related I wrote an auto-shun powershell script a long time ago for one of my customers. Feel free to use it. You schedule it to run every 5 minutes in the task scheduler and it looks at the IP Adrress of any RDP logon failures and blocks that IP after 3 attempts. The variables can be modified to meet your needs.

You can review the script here and download it if you want.

https://github.com/VernAnderson/Powe...un-Address.ps1

Sorry I can not donate money right now but happy to donate time and brain power and or muscle, just ask. If I can write any custom scripts or anything to helpthe clan I would love the challenge.

[Jonesie]

Fair enough Blues.
All that stuff that you said...., I didn't have a clue.

In this conversation we are having now in this thread..., I'm the least qualified to make any assessments, because IT..., just ain't my schtick.
So I rely on the discussions of others to form an opinion, when it comes to server stuff.

Hence the push about upgrading.

I believe it was you and I that had a discussion in shoutbox about the upgrade, and you went on to tell me it could cost upward to $1500 or more to do this.

This was after Cuz, & Foo were having discussions about the sniper server crashes & outages, which I guess is one in the same as the other servers and is based in colorado.
Cuz explained that it was the multiple DOS attacks that was the major culprit, and that's how this whole conversation got started.

So I said..., let's get this done, we can easily raise the money to make it happen and get a new OS.

I have no stake in your clan, other than being someone who enjoys (destresser) playing with like minded individuals, and have some fun, and LOL's.
But apart from Foo & Lethal, I'm the only other person there on the sniper server (that I'm aware of) that donates on a semi regular bases, and i do it gladly because I enjoy the camaraderie of the other players.

I don't know Minion, but it sounds like he has his hands full at the moment.., so, maybe someone pick up the baton and run with it.

Is the server..., physically at someones house, or is it a server farm?

Would it be cheaper to buy a newer server with the new OS Installed that could run UT?

Or farming it out to server service? IDK..., just looking for some solid answers.

Anyhow..., this is the last post from me on this, because I'm just an outsider, and my opinion has been stated, that it would be nice to have less hiccups on the sniper server.
I can't speak about the other servers, because I never see anyone there.

Thanks for your ear.

Jonesie



PS: Bungie is bringing back updated online marathon series.., maybe there is some hope for UT?

[HTM~Cousin_Itt]

We are the hope for UT. There is still a strong community out there. I play on several servers these days mainly freon but the the community is still vast and I see more and more players I have not seen in years. I wish Foo would be one of them...just sayin. We have converged and did a Vulcan mind meld and came up with some options. Grab your popcorn and beer, sit back and enjoy the show. IP addy might change but HTM is not going away and neither is the Sniper Server you enjoy there Jonesie. Many options we are looking at from free to costly but we will get this done. Just relax, drink some beers, smoke it if you got it.

[HTM~Cousin_Itt]

Is it a physical firewall or the Windows firewall? If these attempts are RDP related I wrote an auto-shun powershell script a long time ago for one of my customers. Feel free to use it. You schedule it to run every 5 minutes in the task scheduler and it looks at the IP Adrress of any RDP logon failures and blocks that IP after 3 attempts. The variables can be modified to meet your needs.

You can review the script here and download it if you want.

https://github.com/VernAnderson/Powe...un-Address.ps1

Sorry I can not donate money right now but happy to donate time and brain power and or muscle, just ask. If I can write any custom scripts or anything to helpthe clan I would love the challenge.

Stunts, we need to talk and get your insight as well. PM me and we can swap digits or email addys.

[HTM~FooFoo(Ack!)]

I just wanted my colon cleansed and upgraded for free....

[HTM~Cousin_Itt]

Try Obama Care.

[cUnNiNg_StUnTs]

PM sent CUZ!

[Jonesie]

@ Cuz...., taking your advice...,

Watching the mind meld..., or some form of it....,


BBQ chips, Crown & Smoke...

I've set cruise control,

Carry on my wayward son.... and do ur thing!

Thanks!