This is the master page documenting the 2026-05-22 maintenance, including timeline. It may be updated in realtime. Maintenance timeline will be updated when the maintenance is started and finished, at a minimum.
When the maintenance is started, it's recommended to view this page on status.slowservers.net, as it's externally hosted.
Schedule
Two hours, minus one minute. 2026-05-22 from 22:00 to 23:59 UTC.
Current Summary
Maintenance is complete! It took longer than scheduled. I'm tired and want to go home, but I'll update this more later.
(Formerly) Live Updates (Maintenance Timeline)
(Posted in UTC Time, assume date is 2026-05-22 unless stated otherwise.)
This may be updated periodically once the maintenance starts. If this downtime is impacting you, it's recommended to refresh this page to check for new updates.
17:35: Called out on a fire call. This maintenance may be delayed!
18:??: Was cancelled from the call, so this should proceed still.
Serial console only active when booted, and I don't have VGA plugged in...
22:16: Freya manually reset. Was stuck on syncing, probably due to hung mounted filesystem over some quota bug. Now booting.
22:32 or so: Things are stable.
However, more changes are coming!
23:13: PF rules improved.
23:14: Leaving to renew parking.
23:23: Parking paid. Figuring out next steps.
23:52: Having trouble with CARP + PF on WAN interface.
23:55: PF issue resolved, but may run late.
2026-05-23 00:01: Running late!
00:55: Minimizing scope. sniproxy is having some very slow requests and am investigating. Seems maybe related to carp?
01:03: Issue with CARP possibly identified. SNIProxy is fine if CARP doesn't have dual masters!
01:18: CARP issue resolved. Having some IPv4 issues.
01:56: CARP issue not resolved, but otherwise services seem stable. Thor keeps putting carp1 as master, when it's not supposed to. Trying to debug. SporeStack API still readonly. Should be online, minus SporeStack being readonly. Though may go down again in testing.
02:08: Thor's alarm went off a couple of times, then goes back off. No log messages or explanations. Not sure why. I created another carp interface on the same ethernet that carp1 is acting up on. carp0 and carp2 behave perfectly fine. Just carp1 does not. I am trying a sysupgrade to 7.9, which is a real hail mary, but shouldn't hurt anything.
Contingencies
23:15: Alarm set to leave to renew parking meter. Could not get more than two hours! Did not forsee this.
Endpoints of this page
Sorry, no Tor .onion for the status.slowservers.net, yet!
Objective
Improve long-term reliability and maintainability of Slow Servers. Allow for customers and SporeStack to have additional redundancy opportunities.
Impact
During the maintenance, there will reduced or no network connectivity to any VPS on the Slow Servers infrastructure. Expect the full time window, but it's possible it won't take as long. If it comes up before maintenance has been announced as complete, it may go back down again. Maintenance timeline will be updated when started and when completed, at a minimum.
Specifically, this will maintenance will directly impact:
VPS connectivity.
Host access.
The Slow Servers website and signup SSH service. (Both Tor and clearnet.)
SporeStack API and website.
This maintenance should NOT impact:
SporeStack servers hosted at SporeStack EU, DigitalOcean, or Vultr.
slowservers.net email.
slowservers.net + ssvr.net DNS resolution (from outside of this infrastructure.)
What's being done
Partly in-order, partly not.
Patch + reboot Freya.
Disconnect Freya (currently the only router in service) from her current upstream connection to Ardent Networks. This is just unplugging an ethernet cable.
Connect Freya directly to Ardent Networks.
Connect Thor directly to Ardent Networks. (To a different device than Freya's connection.)
Start BGP sessions with Ardent Networks, either for dual master or failover connectivity. (TBD, probably failover.)
Setup CARP between Freya and Thor to allow seamless failover of services (mirror.ssvr.net, authoritative DNS, recursive DNS resolution, SNIProxy, NTP, and SOCKs.)
Reconfigure hosts to bridge em0 and em1 ethernet ports.
Connect Freya and Thor to different switches.
Connect hosts to both switches.
It's possible that hosts and VPSs will be restarted at some point during the maintenance, as well.
It's possible that certain parts of this maintenance will not go as planned and will have to be postponed or altered.
Preparation
This will be done before the maintenance.
Patch + reboot Thor.
Configure httpd on Thor to be able to serve mirror.ssvr.net.
Write plausible BGP configurations.
Test bridge configuration conversion on Spare.
End Result
The end result should be the following:
Network configuration is fully redundant. Redundant switches, routers, and uplinks to Ardent Networks.
Freya and Thor can have upgrades to hardware and software without taking down the entire network.
Failover services can be offered so that customers can have fully redundant infrastructure. This might include relayd, for example.
Contact
The normal SporeStack and Slow Servers support emails should function, however they are unlikely to be checked until maintenance is deemed complete. This will help make the maintenance as fast and smooth as possible.
If you have questions beforehand, please ask!
Preparation Updates
I'd like to share some updates from what's been done so far.
2026-05-18
mirror.ssvr.net is now setup with CARP on both Thor and Freya. Freya is the master and handles Let's Encrypt certificate renewal on a monthly basis. Freya syncs from upstream, and then syncs to Thor.
I don't think I will try to fail over authoritative DNS with Freya. I might add Thor independently, but given the nature of DNS it's probably not that important. There's three offsite servers available for the few times Freya will be offline.
NTP, DNS resolution (Unbound,) and routing all happen on the same IP (2602:f5ef::1:0.) I can't setup CARP with those without downtime yet, so that will have to wait for now.
SOCKS and SNIProxy require IPv4, which will be best to have configured with Thor when it's connected to Ardent Networks directly and not through Freya.
Ardent Networks now has labeled ethernet cables ready for Freya and Thor, that are ready to go.
I've started drafting a BGP configuration. It's not ready yet, just a start.
Update
Since this maintenance is complete (sort of,) I posted a follow-up post with more detail for those who are curious.