Hopefully, this is an acceptable post for this forum. Don't have a lot of funds, but I can offer $100 for the following:

I need some hand holding and directions/advice on a project. I've never really installed a Linux system, but I can follow directions well. I have several web sites (fairly large) running on a hosted dedicated Centos server. I need to offload some processing and want to set up one or more boxes at my home and try to synch mysql between them, and then divert bots to the home servers. I have millions of pages and just a few thousand human visitors, and the bots are bogging me down (sql intensive pages). My content is highly attractive to almost every scraper in the world, so if you have expertise in blocking bots, even better (separate arrangement). Can't really afford to increase the hosted server capacity yet, plus I'd like to have some more redundancy/local backup options, maybe even do most of my own hosting eventually.

I need help installing Centos on a box, configuring it to run almost exactly like the hosted one does, but running on my home network (FIOS). I can live with the IP address changing and I'll deal with Verizon on the bandwidth. I'll be asking several questions a day until the project is working, and can work with links to instructions. I just don't have time to study for weeks to become proficient at this skillset. I can use vi, know basic bash commands.

Contact me directly if you are interested. I'll post a notice here when/if I make an arrangement or otherwise stop needing this help.

Please contact the moderators, and have this post moved to the "LQ Job Marketplace".

1 members found this post helpful.

Well, I did that, but then when I went to that forum, I see that there's a fee and it's for posting jobs. This isn't a job. This is beer money for a person nice enough to help someone else.

Paying someone to do something IS a job. And honestly, $100 is FAR to little for the amount of work you're asking of someone who has the knowledge and experience to do it quickly and well...especially since you have 'millions of pages'.

(sigh) guess the claims this forum makes during registration aren't true....

For *anyone else* that may see this thread, don't make the assumption that I'm asking anyone to do the work. I just need to be pointed in the right directions. The size of my content has no impact on the project. I *could* just ask dozens of questions on this or some other forum, but it would sure be easier to have a brain to pick. I've mentored dozens of people myself in other skill sets and have enjoyed it, usually learn something useful myself or make a new friend.

Please, if you don't have something helpful to add to this thread, let's just let it die. I'll find another way.

Oh, please.

It seems you'd like someone knowledgeable about web servers and database replication to assist you with a replicated setup. While this is perhaps not quite rocket science, it's far from a trivial undertaking.

In fact, offering someone $100 to teach you about replicated setups AND show you how to actually do it in a ("large") production environment is either an insult, or an indication that you have absolutely no idea about the complexity of the task.

It doesn't really matter if you'd like that person to do the actual work, or teach/tell you how to do it. The latter is actually more demanding, and is likely to take more time. It's a bit like asking a truck driver "hey, I don't have a driver's license, but would you show me how to drive a semi for $100? You see, I have a semi and some goods to deliver, but don't worry, I'll do the actual driving myself."

If you just want the job done, hire someone to do it. Use the LQ Job Marketplace if you like; there are plenty of experts lurking here. If on the other hand you want someone to teach you, sign up for a course.

But: If you'd like some assistance with this particular problem, AND learn how to do it in the process, this is what you should do:

1. Post a brief description of your setup and what you want to accomplish, and ask for pointers and general advice
2. Read up on the subject (by following any links you've been given in the answers to thread #1), and post questions here whenever you run into something you can't quite get your head around
3. When you think you've got the basics sorted, post a rudimentary plan here on LQ and ask for feedback
4. Set up a lab environment to see if your plan works, and post questions here if it doesn't
5. Back up your production systems
6. Implement the plan
7. Rejoice, for you will have acquired much valued insight with little effort

(And once you're done and things are up and running, you can start lurking in the LQ Job Marketplace forum and offer your services for a reasonable fee.)

2 members found this post helpful.

^^^ What he said! The points made are as good as a plan!

And call it what you like, trolling a tech forum while dangling a little cash, is still just trolling.

LQ is indeed a friendly place with many top notch tech people willing to help - and mentor if need be. But trolling-for-dollars outside the Marketplace damages the neighborhood and is generally unwelcome.

All that said, welcome to LQ!

2 members found this post helpful.