[scripts-announce] scripts.mit.edu server transition

[Jeff Arnold]

In about a week, scripts.mit.edu will be moving to a new server 
configuration in order to improve the system's hardware and software 
infrastructure [1].  This transition should not cause any existing scripts 
to break, but you may want to take a moment now to confirm that your web 
scripts will indeed work on the new server configuration.

You can currently confirm that your web scripts will work with the new 
server configuration by going to a URL starting with 
http://scripts-test.mit.edu (instead of http://scripts.mit.edu). If you 
notice any problems, please e-mail scripts at mit.edu and we will take care 
of investigating and correcting the situation. This transition will occur 
no sooner than Monday, July 17; if you would like us to delay the 
transition for some reason, please let us know.

The procedure for SSH-ing to the new server from Athena has changed a bit 
because the default Athena SSH is too old to authenticate to the new 
server. Instead of running "ssh -k scripts-test" to connect to the new 
server, you should run "add scripts" then "sshmic scripts-test" (or, after 
the transition occurs, "add scripts" then "sshmic scripts").

Mail scripts can also be tested with the new server (you can send mail to 
YOUR_USERNAME at scripts-test.mit.edu in order to test your mail scripts). 
Crontabs, virtual hosts, https://scripts, and https://scripts-cert will be 
transferred to the new server when we perform the transition -- they 
should continue working without difficulty.

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact us.

[1] Specifically, we are switching to a more up-to-date linux 
distribution, moving to a new 64-bit machine, and enabling security 
enhanced linux.

Jeff Arnold
jbarnold at mit.edu