Sermon Server Space.. (slight problem)

Just to let everyone know at SermonIndex I would like to explain the situation of the web servers and what is required to run the site.1) the site its self and the sql server that holds all the textual and image data is hosted with www.gospelcom.net for free because if you notice at the bottom of every page this ministry has been chosen out of 1000's on the web to be part of this alliance of ministry sites.2) the sermons are hosted on another dedicated server which I run, because gospelcom cant host all the materials on their end due to bandwith costs, I could host the media files on their servers but the bandwidth would be extremely costly. Right now I have over 30gigs of sermon files on this one media server which has an bandwith allowance of 500gb per month. Which means per month all the data of the site can be downloaded aprox, 16x times over. But due to have videos on the site available and other larger files per month this has been coming pretty close to the limit. And I have been hesitant to get more sermons up for this cause. I have recently had a brother volunteer to lock down the server and also back up all the media onto DVD for me and he is going to be sending that to me soon. But there is no solid backup solution for the media server which worries me abit, I know God has His hand on these servers and this site but its reasonable sometimes to ensure everything is backed up and can be restored effiecently and quickly.3) I am praying and thinking about the possibilities to make more space for sermons and at the same time have more of a sure backup system. I know this is going to cost more per month and I havent really looked into all the possiblities yet but I would like to get some response from the users of the site, even more of the technical people who would know about backup solutions and more professional hosting.I will also call gospelcom again and get some figures, I would love to host everything with them and I am sure they would try and cut me abit of a deal, they have a very secure network and it would be great to be totally hosted with them.I am also forsure needing more partners with this ministry even at $5 USD a month (Donations) so if you can help out that would be appreciated, and God Bless all that have made this ministry what it is today.. I am still can't believe the impact this ministry has had on the world for the glory of God.

3) I am praying and thinking about the possibilities to make more space for sermons and at the same time have more of a sure backup system. I know this is going to cost more per month and I havent really looked into all the possiblities yet but I would like to get some response from the users of the site, even more of the technical people who would know about backup solutions and more professional hosting.This is an FYI for all SI users that are interested: I am still looking into different solutions for the sermon content of SI. One viable solution is to just upgrade the current file server box to newer OS and server box. I am looking at this one currently:AMD Athlon 2600 Processor1GB Memory2 x 80 GB Hard Drive2000 GB Bandwidth - No Cogent$149.00USD a monthThis is the base cost for the server per month and might be more if the bandwith is excedded per month. There would also be an additional $49.95 setup fee for the box and all of this is including taxes. If I were to get this new box I would like to offer the mirror of SermonIndex to other sites with all the sermon content so that the word of God can spread abundantly across the world. My hosting company I have been using is very reliable and has done a good job so far, so I am thinking to stay with them. If I go ahead with this I will be looking to do with during the week of August 16-21 there should be no downtime associated with this upgrade, keep all of this in prayer brothers and sisters.

We'd need nearly 4-5 times the current traffic to exceed 2000 GB a month, no? At that point, I'd hope we'd have enough additional people supporting this ministry that the extra cost would be easily handled.Actually no, I have been getting alot of leeway and the bandwidth has not been measured as it should have been. There are also lots more hidden costs with software and services for me to utilize the server for this ministry. Also as it stands there is no proper backup system in place so I really do think that is the next step to make sure that all this sermon content just doesn't disappear in one day from an hacker or computer failure.

If I go ahead with this I will be looking to do with during the week of August 16-21 there should be no downtime associated with this upgrade, keep all of this in prayer brothers and sisters.There will be alot of details I will have to take care of and time to move all the sermons, I would really appreciate your prayers and support to allow this to go smoothly. I am also looking into upgrading my system here that I work on hopefully.. and get the sermons backed up on DVD, and possibly using the new technology of a 'rev drive' by iomega.com

Give us another reminder just prior as well.Hi Brother Mike and everyone at SI, I have purchased this machine:AMD Athlon 2200 Processor1GB Memory1 x 80 GB Hard Drive2000 GB Bandwidth - No Cogentfor $119 per month.The machine is running redhat linux 9 which is going to be very secure and stable. And the 2000GB bandwith will be ample for the amount of downloads taking place on the server. I have a brother who is going to help lock it down *(he is a direct answer to prayer). And he has a backup solution that he will be downloading every sermon onto his seperate server machine.Also his recommendation is that I get another $79 server machine down the road and have all the files automatically backing up to that one also. Thank you everyone for your support of this ministry and prayers.EDIT: so over the next week I will have to transist all the sermons and also I have paid for a converstion script that will change the address of the entries in the sql database to point to the other server once I am all over, pray it works out :)Also on another note I am having to upgrade my computers badly to continue to use them for audio/video conversion and encoding. I have sold my laptop to a missionary friend who is going to india. So I will be looking for a good deal on a laptop and I will need to get a new VERY good desktop machine so I can handle audio restoration processes and burn DVD's from VHS etc.

LET US ALL SPEND MORE TIME PROVIDING PRAYER COVER.LET US SPEND SOME MORE MONEY TO KEEP THE MACHINERY RUNNING AT PERFECT PACE.Thank you dear brother, yes your prayers are needed to make this transition, already there are a few snags and I am praying we can get on this new server with all the sermons without too many problems. It will be a more secure and good setup, the process is starting today and wisdom and safty is needed for me and the brother Craig that is doing the technical work on the server.

The current status of the server migration is thus: The Linux server is up and going well, brother Craig is getting some software ready so I can upload sermons to the server. All the functions of the server are locked down except for people accessing the files. So it should be very secure. On the older server I am organizing files and updating files on SI so it will be clean to move them over, if you notice any broken links to the media content during the move please let me know. If all goes well all the sermons should be over on the new server in about 2-3 days. And I can run a script to update the sql database so everythung syncs to the new server.Please continue to pray during the next 2-3 days for me as I do this work, also brother craig and the security of the sermons on the servers. Thank you dear saints.

Starting tonight we are copying the files over to the linux server, hopefully going to let it run overnight please pray that it will not crash or stop so all the files can be over on the linux server sometime tommorow. 26 files done 4460 to go.Once the files are on the linux server it will be a much more safe enviroment and will be much more easier to maintain the sermons in that enviroment. Also pray for brother Craig he has put alot of work into this move and has been helping tremoundsly what a dear brother in the Lord.

In hindsight it has been quite remarkable how well SermonIndex has functioned since it's inception. The reach of this ministry may never be truely known, but the encouargements that come in and Greg has posted provide a glimspe and cause this poor fool to rejoice. It's what it's all about. Its truly something divine brother Mike that there have been so few problems with SI and the servers. I think brother Lars raises a great point that there is much spiritual confict in these type of ministry and technical problems usually arise alot. Please keep praying for the copying of the 40 gigs of sermons to the new server it ran fine overnight and is nearing completion. Once that is done there will be a few more files I will have to work on to get over, and then run a script to change the ip address for the database and the new server should be up and going. Also brother Craig will hopefully be doing another backup of the content to his own server pray that goes well. And there is a few small details with the new linux server brother Craig still needs to figure out, please pray for that to work out. Thank you all.

It appears that the files were moved in an improper format ACSII, and there are alot of glitches with the audio files. I think I will have to try and copy them again to the next server. Your continued prayers are greatly needed so that these sermons can continue to be offered on the web. Thank you.

Ah, sorry brother. Will keep this before Him.yes abit disappointing considering the amount of time it takes aprox. 15-20 hours. I know the Lord has His hand on this and things will work out. I also was able to get my new computer today! I have to install it and get it going.AMD Anthlon 2800 processorABIT NF7 Series motherboardASUS aprox $100 graphics AGP card512 DDR Ram80gig SATA Hard DriveAntec caseAll of this for around $780CAN Plus I have my existing $300 soundcard, DVD-RW.I put the machine together today and am going to install windows either today or tommorow. Its very exciting to have a computer that can actually do the things I need to do for this ministry now! ;-) I am really praying about getting more into audio restoration, a brother in florida has been working on this and is willing to help teach me some of the skills I would need to restore many of the audio recordings at SermonIndex.

That's great Brother, know you have been wanting to do this for awhile. Sounds like a decent rig. Funny, thought my 40 gig would be more than enough and now ....Yes I am very excited about this.. there are 46gigs of sermons so I can actually get them all onto my 60gig paritation as a backup here on my computer and in turn copy it to my removable hard drive that has 120mb space. Please continue to pray its going to take awhile to get all these sermons down and I was doing a good speed of .12-.2mbs for the sermons overnight but now its down to an average of 45KB/s. It will take a few more days to get them all down and I want to have the wisdom to check and ensure they are all intact and its a good backup.Well brother Mike at least all of this I have a half-decent monitor also. 19" flat screen benQ. It's great on the eyes considering I am watching the screen alot of the day. Praise God for allowing me to upgrade all these things so that this ministry can continue and not be hindered technology wise.