[Zope] Moving a application from digicool.com to our host...

[Paul Everitt]

Hello Darren.  Sorry for not responding yesterday, but I wanted to make 
sure we at Zope Corp got things moving appropriately on our side.

To clear up the explanation a bit, we were never in the hosting 
business.  For this newspaper application, we partnered with a Zope 
hosting provider.  Things have worked reasonably well for two years, but 
now things have changed for some involved.

A month ago we started the process of migrating the application and the 
responsibility, along with contract changes.  All would have gone 
smoothly were it not for a hard drive failure at the hosting provider. 
Compounding the matter, we learned the hosting provider wasn't making 
backups.

Fortunately we had already made copies of the application in preparation 
for the transition.  This is the copy you have.

On to answer your points...

addyd@unk.edu wrote:

> Greetings fellow earthlings,
> 
> I have just been retained as a web consultant for the local newspaper. One
> of the projects they have for me involves Zope (which I have not worked
> with beyond installing it a couple of times, but have followed it's
> development for a couple of years). Apparently they purchased this
> application from Digicool and also hosted it with them. They were told that
> Digicool is going out of the hosting business and they would have to move
> the application. They don't seem to have any of the documentation that came
> with the program when it was purchased.
> 
> My understanding is that the directory was tarred or zipped and moved to
> the new server. The hosting company knows nothing about Zope. They are
> supposed to be giving me shell access to do what needs to be done.
> 
> So... a couple of questions.
> 1) How do I find out what sort of Support Contract the newspaper has with
> Zope.com (if any... this was purchased some time ago).


You can talk to the newspaper or talk to us.  Email me directly and I'll 
refer you to the right person.  However, this must be done *through* the 
newspaper.  We don't give out that information to just anyone that asks. 
  Note that we're already in contact with the newspaper on all this, as 
we have been for weeks.


> 2)Do you feel it would be necessary to purchase a new support contract
> (assuming the old one has expired) or once things are installed and running
> is there much to support?


If you're migrating this to an ISP that knows nothing about Zope, and 
you're just learning, you're likely to need more than a support 
contract.  Depending on the activities required, you might need some 
consulting from us or another Zope consultant.


> 3) Since this application was purchased some time ago, I'm wondering if it
> will still work with a current version of Zope (or is it likely that
> something is broke).


You should stick to the Zope version that is included in the tarball 
that you have.


> 4) What steps do you recommend for moving this application successfully?
> I'm assuming I would start with getting the current version of Zope
> installed on the new host and somehow exporting the database into the new
> database. Any pointers to HOWTOs, etc?


We have been providing the newspaper assistance (on the phone) regarding 
this.


> I would think that since DigiCool (now Zope) caused this problem by going
> out of the hosting business that they would provide some sort of
> instructions/information for their customers that are placed in this
> position.


Though unconstructive, you're entitled to this opinion.  However, your 
statement is inaccurate in several ways.  But the Zope list isn't the 
place for a constructive conversation regarding this point.

--Paul