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==Netiquette==

==Netiquette==

First things first. We are all here because we share a passion or an interest. And to be able to work together on a virtual basis, we have to have some guidelines on how we can and how we maintain this in a sustainable way. Now we can direct you to the formal 'rules of engagement' with and among this community (and for that matter, your on-line expressions in general) [https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1855.txt '''here'''], but let's cut to the chase. Here are some general guidelines, but we also do trust on your own sense of responsibilities and attitude:

First things first. We are all here because we share a passion or an interest. And to be able to work together on a virtual basis, we have to have some guidelines on how we can and how we can maintain this in a sustainable way. We could direct you to the formal 'rules of engagement' [https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1855.txt '''here'''], but let's cut to the chase. Here are some general guidelines, but we also do trust on your own sense of responsibility and attitude:

* No harsh/foul/profanity language or flaming

* No harsh/foul/profanity language or flaming

* No political, religious  or sexual related topics or expressions

* No political, religious  or sexual related topics or expressions

* contribs.org is a global community. Time Zones, workdays and holidays may differ from yours. Be patient.

* contribs.org is a global community. Time Zones, workdays, holidays and available time may differ from yours. Be patient.

* Be brief, but be as complete as possible with information

* Be brief, but be as complete as possible with information

* Skills and understanding of things from one person to another may differ. Be patient and helpful

* Skills and understanding of things from one person to another may differ. Be patient and helpful

==Our infrastructure and tools==

==Our infrastructure and tools==

To be able to provide all the services mentioned here, we need some stuff. First of all, we need an infrastructure of hardware and on top of that all kinds of application.

To be able to provide all the services mentioned here, we need a serious infrastructure. First of all, we need an infrastructure of hardware and connections and on top of that all kinds of systems and applications.

Our hardware is located in Paris, France, at a large and secure Tier 3/4 data center. So for all the services provided by contribs.org, the default Time Zone is Paris, France. It consists of a HA cluster of real and virtual servers (a mix of CentOS and SME Servers) and redundant internet connections. Obviously backup management is thoroughly implemented, and they do go off-site. Next to providing services that are visiable to you, there is some other interesting stuff going on behind the scenes. Most mentionable is our own build system with which we manage and build our updates and bugfixes and build updated RPM's and ISO's. A thing of beauty all by itself.

Our hardware is located in Paris, France, at a large and secure Tier 3/4 data center. So for all the services provided by contribs.org, the default Time Zone is Paris, France. It consists of a cluster of virtual servers (a mix of CentOS versions) and redundant internet connections. Obviously backup management is thoroughly implemented, and they do go off-site. Next to providing services that are visible to you, there is some other interesting stuff going on behind the scenes. Most mentionable is our own build system with which we manage and build our updates and bugfixes and build updated RPM's and ISO's. A thing of beauty all by itself.

Next to our hardware infrastructure, obviously we have our applications. As for the applications and software systems, we are solely using Open Source solutions available:

Next to our hardware infrastructure, obviously we have our applications. As for the applications and software systems, we are solely using Open Source solutions. Here is what we currently have deployed:

* [http://contribs.org SME Server] as part of our hosting platform and infrastructure

* [http://www.centos.org/ CentOS] and [http://www.redhat.com/en Redhat] as our base for Koozali SME Server itself as a server distribution, and as our infra and hosting platform for contribs.org

* [http://www.centos.org/ CentOS] and [http://www.redhat.com/en Redhat] as our base for Koozali SME Server itself as a server distribution, and as our clustering and hosting platform for contribs.org

* [http://www.zabbix.com/ Zabbix] as our infrastructure and services monitoring and alerting platform

* [http://www.zabbix.com/ Zabbix] as our infrastructure and services monitoring and alerting platform

* [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki Mediawiki] as our wiki

* [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki Mediawiki] as our wiki

* [http://rsync.samba.org/ Rsync] to update our voluntarily download and updates mirrors.

* [http://rsync.samba.org/ Rsync] to update our voluntarily download and updates mirrors.

* [http://webchat.freenode.net/ Freenode] as our IRC channel provider (#SME_Server)

* [http://webchat.freenode.net/ Freenode] as our IRC channel provider (#SME_Server)

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Unfortunately we do not have a transparent authentication back end across all services provided  yet. So we kindly ask you to register for the individual services of your choice. It's a bit annoying, we know, but it is only a one time, one minute action.

Unfortunately we do not have a transparent authentication back end across all services provided  yet. So we kindly ask you to register for the individual services of your choice. It's a bit annoying, we know, but it is only a one time, one minute action.

As mentioned above, for our documentation and logging our knowledge, we are using [http://mediawiki.org Mediawiki], one of the most widely used and professional wiki engines available.

As mentioned above, for our documentation and logging our knowledge, we are using [http://mediawiki.org Mediawiki], one of the most widely used and professional wiki engines available.

Yep, we know, our wiki does not qualify as 'fine art' or the most appealing wiki sites out there, but we _are_ getting the job done. With over 17 million hits to date (since 2007), and currently with over ten thousand hits a day, we are doing a pretty good and people tend to find their answer on our wiki. See our [[Wiki_statistics|'''wiki statistics''']] page for some more numbers on how we are doing.

Yep, we know, our wiki does not qualify as 'fine art' nor is it one of the most appealing wiki sites out there, but we ''are'' getting the job done. With over 27 million hits to date (since 2007), and currently with over ten thousand hits a day, we are doing a pretty good and people tend to find their answer on our wiki. See our [[Wiki_statistics|'''wiki statistics''']] page for some more numbers on how we are doing.

 

 

TBA, WIP

TBA, WIP