All about the chaz.nyc network
Hi! Welcome to (what's left of) the Multicom-4 BBS (Bulletin Board System), formerly the world's largest gay, lesbian and bisexual
dial-in BBS and ISP. This network is known as 'chaz.nyc' and is a series of servers and network appliances. I started offering public online web (HTTP), file (FTP/SFTP), email (POP3/SMTP/WebMail)
services for friends and leather/bear clubs I am familiar with. We're currently running this network with over 125TB of RAID-5 disc storage, and we're always growing!
As a gay man and former President of Empire City MC, an associate member of the (now defunct) Rochester Rams M.C., the
(now defunct) Utica Tri's, MC, the founder of the Boston Bears and co-founder of the New York Bear Den, I've grown tired of
Internet service providers and portal services (such as Yahoo!) seeing fit to delete messages, groups, web pages and images they simply do not 'approve of' (normally deleted with neither rhyme nor reason,
nor any course for possible restoration). I have therefore set up this network up as a 'safe-haven' for individuals and clubs to host their web pages, photos, movies, pornography, programmes and just
about anything that is not strictly illegal.
You are invited to set up your web page(s) here as well! Simply contact me
for more information and you'll be up and running in no time! You can even register your own domain and have it point here! Ask me how! Need an e-mail account that supports POP3/SMTP? Ask me to set
you up an e-mail account on chaz.nyc! This is a hobby for me, but a hobby I've been doing in one form or another since 1979 when CACTUS-800 (the precursor to Multicom4) went online!
In the event of a problem with the server, please click here:
CHAZ.NYC NEWS
18-FEB-23: After about an hour of reading documnetation, we managed to get HTTPS:// (Secure Hypertext Protocol) working on chaz.nyc!
16-FEB-23: The server "CHAZHOME01" is being retired, most services have been migrated to QUBE, a solid-state 3.70 GHz, AMD Ryzen 5 3400G with Radeon Vega Graphics.
As of today, CHAZ.NYC is now out primary domain. Services which have been migrated and are currently being tested include: FTP/SFTP, HTTP, POP3, SMTP, WebMail) please
report any issues. For security purposes, services (i.e. Python, SQL, etc) and special access routes (i.e. hwarez, etc.) have been removed and will be re-added on
an as-needed basis. Our next projects will be to enable HTTPS (HTTP-SSL) encrypted HTTP access and migrating STORJ from CHAZHOME01.
07-OCT-21: 125TB of RAID-5 NAS storage on two Synology NAS servers are online and are primary storage for Plex and FTP storage.
22-JAN-20: ChazTel is a reality! For information and access, click here.
25-DEC-19: We have removed our Serviio streaming service due to directory size limitations. We have replaced it with a spiffy-new PLEX server!
Plex is a streaming media service and client–server media player platform made by Plex, Inc. The Plex Media Server organizes video, audio, and photos from a user's collections
and from online services, and streams it to the players. The official clients and unofficial third-party clients run on mobile devices, smart TVs, streaming boxes, and in web
apps. Anyone can go to plex.tv and create an account and optionally install the Plex App on their iPhone, Android, Roku Streaming device, Smart TV, PlayStation, Amazon Stick,
etc to access to this Netflix-like client/server website/application. If you would like access to my PLEX media, drop me a note and I can add you!
26-MAR-19: I'm proud to announce that we are now operating our very own Asterisk telephone network! We do not have PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) access yet, but we do have direct-dial access to both C*NET and NPSTN networks. If you would like a phone number assigned for use with any SIP phone or SIP Softphone, send me an e-mail.
07-MAR-19: We were only offline for about 8 hours and have replaced our UPS with a newer model with fresh batteries.
06-MAR-19: We will be offline ALL DAY 06-MAR-19 due to electrical works, we expect to be back online 07-MAR-2019.
30-OCT-18: We doubled the storage capacity of the Drobo and sent the previous HDDs to an off-site facility for safe storage.
14-APR-18: Detected problems with FTP server, replaced software. Now we also support FTP over TLS (encrypted FTP) x.509. One file at a time restriction has been lifted (for now).
28-MAR-18: Increased bandwidth on FiOS to 1,000Mbps (gigabit). Active domains are now: chaz.nyc, chazhome.com and mc4bbs.net
07-OCT-17: DASD from Drobo, internal RAID and two external 8TB drives. MySQL removed from build, wasn't being used.
01-JUL-17: Add additional HDD to Drobo and reformatted Drobo. Rebuilt CHAZHOME01 with new O/S. Moved all files from external 8TB HDD to Drobo.
13-JUN-17: Getting ready to rebuild Drobo unit and CHAZHOME01. Moved FTP and HTTP servers over to temporary server DELLLATI with an external 8TB HDD while testing continues on the tower. Backing up everything on AWS.
01-JUN-17: Increased bandwidth on FiOS, replaced router, IP address changed to 100.12.171.59.
20-APR-16: A drive failed in the internal RAID array last week, and just as it should, everything ran along just fine. I replaced the drive today and performed some routine server maintanance then booted and rebuilt the array all while the server was up and running! Ain't technology amazing!
06-FEB-16: ALL video files are now replicated to the cloud on AWS and are accessible via DC++. All other files (backups, photos, documents, etc.) are also replicated on the AWS cloud, but are not accessible to anyone.
04-DEC-15: A drive failed in the DROBO RAID array, which hums along without downtime as replaced it with a HDD twice its size, then after a day and a half or auto-repairing, I swapped ahealthy HDD for another HDD twice its size so we could add a new virtual volume (P:), which will hold non-vital, unmirrored material (videos, software and such). I have a number of televisioin shows and movies that aren't quite "five star", you'll find them in the "P:>" drive on the videos ftp account (thanks to this added space!)
13-NOV-15: //CHAZHOME02/, //CHAZWORK01/ and the new //SILVERDELL/ are all running Windows 10 -- there is no safety net for //CHAZHOME01/ at this time.
18-MAY-12: Everything has been successfully migrated to CHAZHOME01: HTTP, FTP, POP3, etc. CHAZHOME02 and CHAZHOME03 hum in the background as a live redundant bckup.
05-APR-12: FiOS has been installed. We're showing a vastly improved upload and download speed and are fibre optical directly into the Multicom/Chazhome network. A new Quad-Core CHAZHOME01 server with RAID5 and a Drobo backup has been stable since setup 18-DEC-11, once I have some free time, I will migrate FTP/SFTP and HTTP/SHTTP services over, then SQL, POP3, etc.
18-JUN-11: Growing tired of not being able to repair CHAZHOME01, I set up the new CHAZHOME03 -- a quad-core system, with firewire connections to an 8TB Drobo array. I am slowly restoring all CHAZHOME01 functionality.
10-NOV-10: While adding more DASD to the array, something went seriously wrong and our main server (CHAZHOME01) won't boot. I will be taking it in for servicing. All basic functionality (HTTP/FTP) is running from CHAZHOME02. Some functions like our MP3 library and POP3 services are disabled, as CHAZHOME02 is an older, slower server.
28-SEP-10: Wow -- some major additions! I upgraded to PHP 5.2.0, installed MySQL 5.1.51 and added sendmail features to the server!
31-MAY-10: I completely re-installed the FTP server (due to several crashes without logfiles. While doing this, I did some other maintenance -- please let me know if you notice anything 'weird'. Later this week, I will be upgrading the bandwidth for CHAZHOME back to high speed!
16-JUN-09: A brand-new CHAZHOME01 (replacing the failed 10 year-old CHAZHOME01 system) is officially online! All libraries are online. We now have over 5TB of RAID5 storage now! Website redundancy has returned!
27-MAY-09: CHAZHOME01 main-board died. CHAZHOME02 is doing ALL the work right now. MP3 library taken offline to lighten the load.
23-DEC-08: All servers are online following relocation!
21-DEC-08: All servers have been relocated to New York City. Chazhome01 (SMTP/POP3 server) remains offline until new desk arrives.
22-OCT-08: I have added additional DASD, doubling our storage capacity! Please make a note now, CHAZHOME01/CHAZHOME02 will be OFFLINE for parts of Q1/2009 whilst we move those servers to their new home. We have updated our FTP/SFTP/SCP server software. If you are having issues, please contact me. CHAZHOME01 mirror is now running on it's auxiliary port!!
29-SEP-08: I have rebuilt our file system (the FTP side of the house) so that everything is on one virtual encapsulated disc, allowing the music and videos system to appear as one huge platter. Additional anti-cracker counter measures have been activated. If you find yourself locked out, please contact me.
15-JUL-08: We've rebuilt a lot of the site, added a heck of a lot more content, are by-passing Comcast's "port 25" block with a special alternative port service, allowing our mail server to operate normally again; plus we physically cleaned out the servers today! Phew -- it's been busy around here!
15-MAR-07: All services seem to be working properly now. Due to serious problems with our software provider, we have migrated all web services over to Apache Web server 2.2, but are still using Gorkem's FTP Server software. Please report any issues to me.
14-MAR-07: SOME SERVICES AT CHAZHOME ARE OFFLINE, AS WE'VE CHANGED OUR WEB HOSTING SOFTWARE DUE TO TEMPORARY TECHNICAL PROBLEMS -- WE ARE WORKING ON THIS AND EXPECT A FIX ON OR ABOUT TUESDAY, 20-MAR-07
05-DEC-06: Chazhome is now running on a clustered server, ensuring better uptime, speed and reliability! Please let me know if you experience anything strange (missing web pages, dead links, etc.) as it took a LOT of configuration changes to make this possible.
30-NOV-06: Upload and download bandwidth has been doubled! A new industrial-strength UPS (uninterruptible power supply) has replaced the one that almost exploded earlier this month! Web-mail is still available, if you want it! You CAN NOT sign up for a "new account" from the website, you MUST go through me (I'm working on this, but it does not have a high priority.)
28-SEP-06: we have added POP3/SMTP and WEBMAIL to our server! Want an account? E-mail me! It's currently working for Chazhome.com in test mode. We've been running on a faster cable modem, plus a premium business account for broadband access, but we're now in need of a faster server! Oh yeah, Python is now supported too!
12-JUL-06: I have juggled files around on several of the drives to even the load out, I have upgraded the software to a completely new version of FTP/HTTP server, which offers a lot of new options, including SSH/SFTP and more! I have ordered a faster cable modem to help with upload/download speeds (which will be installed on 19-JUL-6 16:00-17:00), I also flashed the router with new software to handle buffering better, resulting in better throughput!
27-APR-06: The domain "Chazhome.com" has been registered. HTTP/FTP server software has also been improved! Note: Passive FTP mode is no longer required for file transmissions, access via a web browser has been restored as well!
04-JAN-06: I have rebuilt the web/http engine (software changes), and have ordered additional RAM and a faster CPU for the system!
21-DEC-05: CGI, Perl and PHP scripts are supported on Chazhome.com!
