info Server migration - April 16-17

Good morning all,

Tuesday, April 16th, we plan to start resyncing the DNForum files over and getting everything prepped for migrating DNForum to a new and even better server.

Wednesday, April 17th, we will do the final resync, and database export / import, and switch the sites.

There will be a large header banner published on the forum that the DNForum is 'read only' till we finalize the migration (we prefer not closing it down to maintain our growing presence at search engines).

After that we will plug in our SMTP servers and other good stuff.

Great day all!!
Helmuts

 

[Helmuts]

Entering the Stage = nameserver change.

H

 

[MattW]

Site is now live on the new server.

 

[Helmuts]

Next stage = setting up our own SMTP server.

Expected time for completion: 12-24 hours

>> this means, the system emails will not be going out till this is done.

H

 

[MapleDots]

I went through all this a little while back

Good luck

 

[Helmuts]

I went through all this a little while back

Good luck

Thank you. We are still working on finding the best possible self-hosted SMTP server solution. I have a full (max) licence of emaildelivery.com (purchased for this purpose), and realized (after it was set up, also with Velocity MTA) that we are unable to get SMTP credentials to configure outbound SMTP on DNForum.

.. and, while waiting for their support getting back to us > we are testing various solutions.. now, working on Postal (previously MailCow).

do you have your own SMTP server or do you use a 3rd party service like postmarkapp, ses or other?

Best! H

 

[MapleDots]

I use Google workspace to host dn.ca mail, it was quite complex to set up to communicate between my cloud servers and Google. It took me days to get the proper DMARK, DKIM, & SPF settings and such.

Really glad that is behind me.

PS. I tried hosting my own and the hurtles just kept coming so a paid solution was the best option.

 

[Helmuts]

The SMTP server setup process is complete.

We have managed to get 10/10 score, as well (report: https://www.mail-tester.com/test-f4hjpfijj). Though, as this is a fresh IP and fresh email address > most emails will get delivered to spam.



The migration process is complete!

Thank you @MattW (UK), @DNF Admin (Ireland) and Prashanna (Nepal) for amazing job completed!

---

Next tasks:
1) Improving the authority of emails
2) Making sure the backup system works

Helmuts

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I use Google workspace to host dn.ca mail, it was quite complex to set up to communicate between my cloud servers and Google. It took me days to get the proper DMARK, DKIM, & SPF settings and such.

Really glad that is behind me.

PS. I tried hosting my own and the hurtles just kept coming so a paid solution was the best option.

Yes, we also use Google Workspace for receiving emails and replying to these.

Though, when you have at least 200'000 dead emails of users who might return after some time (we keep seeing this every month - an occasional OG domain pro contacts us to check their old account and update the email) > my 3rd party will host such a high bounce-rate client

For Acorn Domains (also, on Xenforo) > we use PostMarkApp to send out transactional (system) emails > fantastic solution + easy to get implemented!! And, cheap

Best! H

 

[Helmuts]

.. 7 days in and no issues whatsoever with our new dedicated Postal SMTP ServerZilla

Yes, seems to be a total overkill 🫢

A week of warming up the system addresses and IPs is over. Next, planing to inform all users of what has happened to the forum since it was aquired in April 2023.

Have a great Thursday all!

Your full-time team: Helmuts , Felix (@DNF Admin), Prashanna and a superb team of companies & professionals who help us looking after various aspects of the oldest domain name investing forum in the world > DNForum.com

 

[Helmuts]

@MattW thank yoy for pointing out the SPF and IPV6 issue > should be all sorted!



Thank you Matt!!!! Awesome!!

.. we definetelly did miss it

Good night

 

[MapleDots]

@MattW thank yoy for pointing out the SPF and IPV6 issue > should be all sorted!

View attachment 9088

Thank you Matt!!!! Awesome!!

.. we definetelly did miss it

Good night

Yup, nothing like getting the 3 happy happy joy joy PASSes from the forum email.


Make sure you run some tests on Gmail recipients, Gmail had some extra settings we had to implement to get the coveted 3 PASSes.

 

[Helmuts]

Yup, nothing like getting the 3 happy happy joy joy PASSes from the forum email.


Make sure you run some tests on Gmail recipients, Gmail had some extra settings we had to implement to get the coveted 3 PASSes.





View attachment 9091

Thank you Frank!!