Incidently, the reason for the long gap between the last two entries is not laziness/busyness/apathy (for a change), but rather because we’re having our new kitchen fitted, which of course entails turning off the electrics, so I’ve been powering down my Linux server just in case the electrician chose that day to visit.
‘Course I needn’t have bothered, as workmen never worry too much about turning up when they claim they will, so in something like 2 weeks of keeping the server powered down, the sparky came once. Needless to say it’s an annoyance to have to power it down – it doesn’t perform any critical function on my network at home, but I do use it to handle DNS queries (as NTL’s are so ropey, plus I can then put fake names on all the machines on my local network), and I also tend to back-up my data onto it as well as onto DVD.
… but it is also how I manage my website – I have a local database which stores all my Letters from Leeds and reviews, etc, and I mirror my ISPs webserver, so I can test stuff works before I upload it. Of course, all my scripts are on this machine, so when it’s down I can’t fiddle with the website. I keep meaning to put a web front-end on it, but my setup works for me, and I’ve got other things to do with my time!