[clo-devel] cl-net upgrading update [2011-04-02]

[Erik Huelsmann]

Hi Hans,

Thanks for reviewing the setup so far.

> You write that you installed otrs2 - We are running rt for request
> tracking and while it is not particularily convenient, I have gotten
> used to it and as I am the person handling the majority of the user
> requests, I would not want to change to another request tracker unless
> there is a reason that convinces me or someone else steps up to handle
> user requests.

The reason I set up OTRS is that Drew and I started using OTRS for the
Tech Coop recently. He was surprised how easy and self-explanatory the
tool is. Another reason was that we'd need to support only a single
tool instead of building up experience for management of multiple
tools. Talking about myself, I don't have any RT experience and won't
be able to maintain that; however if cl.net is running it, someone
must have experience at it. Any idea who?

Additionally, OTRS features a FAQ module which helps creating and
publishing FAQ items while you support customers [I've installed that
module too.], which seemed like a good idea - the more FAQ items, the
less real support calls, was my thought.

Based on Drew's positive reaction to OTRS, would you mind having a
look at OTRS? It's up and running (except for the incoming mail
interface); you can look around and see if you like it.

> I am absolutely not saying that I insist on being the
> first level supporter forever.

Right. Although not related to the technical migration, I do think you
have an important issue there: cl.net maintenance - imo - is taken too
much for granted by the community. I'd love to see fresh blood
stepping in to help out with the maintenance and expansion of the
site.

> On Sat, Apr 2, 2011 at 10:48 PM, Erik Huelsmann <ehuels at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Services that I know we're running [without looking at the box]:
>>>
>>>  * Mail [MTA]
>> - postfix, postfix-gld
> [...]
>>>  * Mailing lists
>> - mailman
>
> We are running exim and greylistd.  I can continue to support that
> configuration, but I can't support postfix.  If someone else
> volunteers to do that, I'll gladly pass the task.

Ah. Same thing as with OTRS: I've installed it because we use it on
other Tech Coop run sites.

> The one particular thing to note here is that the exim configuration
> has an automatic integration with mailman, i.e. there are no explicit
> aliases for mailman lists.  This must be taken care of if the mail
> configuration is changed.

There's an integration between postfix and mailman like that too. Can
you elaborate on the maintenance you had to do for exim? I mean, was
there other maintenance than creating and deleting mailing lists
(technical issues)? I'm trying to understand the type of maintenance
you had to perform, just so I know what I'm getting myself into (see
below).

It'd be too bad if you were to hand in part of your maintenance tasks
only because of a technical migration. It does seem healthy for
c-l.net though if there were more people to share the load with. Maybe
we should take the opportunity to put the maintainers of cl.net more
into the spotlight. Having more people to share the load with, would
also allow the website to be updated and maybe it would even allow
development of an easier maintenance interface. Although not related
to the technical migration itself, I do think some of these things
could be subject of discussion after we complete the migration.

I'll take over support of the mail subsystem. That addresses part of
my concern of being with too few people in the maintenance team and at
the same time allows us to run the same MTA in as many sites as
possible.


Thanks again for your review of the list of installed software!



Bye,

Erik.