Posted on

One quick break from the C64 journey

I’ll get back to the C64 restore job in a minute, but for now, one quick update.

It’s been a LONG time since I’ve had to manage this site, but tonight I ended up using MySQLdump to backup the database and tar for this site. It had been so long since I had done this I had to find the MySQL root password! Even so, it’s the first time on this PC that I used SFTP to download the backup files so I had to download and install WinSCP to do this.

I noticed MySQL needed more RAM and it was kind of lagging so I changed the buffer to a higher percentage of RAM on the system, and it has since started moving much quicker.

Posted on

So far so good!

It’s been about 2 weeks since I started this instance, and it’s been running ever since. I haven’t caught a single error yet. I’m glad this cheaper instance is running well. Stay tuned!

Posted on

Last post of 2024

So as 2024 draws to a close, it’s been a big year for me personally. It’s had its share of ups and downs, but I’m still hopeful for 2025.

Looks like my t2.micro instance is still running strong, guess that swap file did the trick!

Wishing you all a great happy new year!!

Posted on

So now the t2.micro instance has taken over

My t2.small instance is now dead – looks like the bid price went up. Of course you can’t just up the bid price, you have to start all over again.

Luckily my t2.micro service started, but I had the same problem I’ve always had – after about 1-2 days, the database shuts off and I get an error saying “Error establishing database connection” and WordPress stops. A reboot fixes this issue.

So I tried a few things; First, I set up a crontab to restart mysql 4 times a day. I know this isn’t the right solution, but remember, people – I want this to be CHEAP.  That still didn’t work, tho’.

After some searching, I figured out that this instance has NO swap space. After enabling swap space it should run for a while now. Fingers crossed!!

Posted on

Elastic IP is back on the menu

In Feb, 2024, AWS changed their policy on Elastic IPs. For those who don’t know, an Elastic IP is a static IP address that doesn’t change. You’ll get a static IP with every EC2 instance you run but it could change over time. An Elastic IP never changes so your Route 53/DNS records never change.

Starting in February, Elastic IP addresses will now incur a cost whether the instance is running or not (they used to not charge if you had the IP address but the instance was shut down).

However, if you have a running instance, you’re charged the same fee regardless. So I got an elastic IP and attached it to this instance since my plan is to run the site full time regardless.

I’m debating on whether or not I should get a verified SSL cert.

Posted on

STOP! In the name of billing, before you break my pocketbook…

Okay, maybe you don’t get that reference, I’ll explain it at the end.

Lately I’ve been stopping my instance at night and restarting it in the day to keep costs down. But I’ve decided to stop doing that and just keep the site running regardless since the billing still won’t be THAT expensive.

I will also eventually set up an elastic IP since I’m already paying $0.005 an hour for a static IP, and an elastic IP is about the same cost. Might as way get one if the cost is, you know, the same…

Okay, the reference is from “STOP! In the name of Love!”, a song by the Supremes. Those Motown songs were the best.

The Supremes, 1966