Thanks @jveilleux - ok, so I am trying on http://52.3.171.208/ . . which is working so the port issue is fixed. Just waiting to see if my update of DNS forwarding works.
But as far as I can see the email is still not working. and when I try to go into the config/mail method to check it I am getting this strange error . .
Iāll tell Rahul and try to get this fixed today.
Fixing the email was harder than I thought. Requires changing an IP address somewhere and Rahul canāt do it. Iām going to get Ravi to fix.
Hey Jim!
I was checking in on the website to see how my admin privileges are working and I guess the IP & URLs are down at the moment. I hope youāre well!
BTW, if youāre ever in Charlotte, please do give me a ringā¦
Cheers,
Eric
I think weāve found the root cause of the email problem.
It appears that we installed the development version (or mode?) of the OFN software, rather than the production version. I guess there are two sets of instructions on install and only one is for production mode. My network admin guy - Rahul - says heās running into issues reinstalling based on the production instructions. For one, thereās no default configuration for Ansible? (If you canāt tell, Iām not familiar with the specifics and am repeating what I heard as best I can.) While my development guy can fix this, Iāve got him working on something else at the moment.
Rahul is estimating 4-6 hours of his time to install a production version, so Iād rather turn this over to someone who knows what they are doing if they can do it faster. We can easily provide that person with access to the server, credentials, etc. (Or if thereās an existing configuration file - and anything else required - we could attempt to do the install again.)
BTW, the server was down yesterday, but itās back up now. I think we did something to keep the condition that took it offline from happening again.
Thanks.
Jim
I think @enricostn is able to enlighten you quite well on deployment and Ansible, the different configurations etc.
btw @jveilleux and all - there may also be a deeper problem with the emails that is from gmail side - does anyone have an explanation for this weirdness?
Sally is sending people back to hello@ email until theyāre fixed!
How are you guys doing with the follow up on this issue? Let me know if I can help in any way. Right now I will simply CHEER you on! Go team! Woohoo!
Hi @KatTheFarmer I am sorry about the delay on this. It is very nearly sorted thanks to the help of @enricostn supported by @jveilleux and @ravi. Big thanks to everyone involved. It will be great to have an active US instance
Everyone is welcome to join a zoom meeting on Wednesday 29th November 10am EST to celebrate the opening of the OFN USA instance - thanks @jveilleux 
The meeting will plan how we want to use it and who will host it, The agenda and joining instructions are here - please add any agenda items https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1L7ZbKXdUJI9a38KbcwQpq1zW0uvzX3kCelfyBId8xEo/edit#gid=0
Thank you for organizing. I will try to make it to the meeting!
I see the upcoming meeting for OFN usa. Sounds exciting!
Would love to make it to the meeting. I saw on the agenda that we need to ID potential hosts. I would like to brainstorm on this ahead of time. Do you think you could explain what is involved in āhostingā a site for the whole country?
A monthly payment? An association? Do expenses grow with use? Do you have to store data on servers etc? I donāt have a sense of these things but I know lots of organizations to contact once I get as sense of it.
Thanks for your help and for advising this new group! Big help!
@NickWeir
or how would regional hosting work?
Hi @KatTheFarmer - yes it would be great if you can join the call. There is some great background on hosting and funding here from @CynthiaReynolds.
There are two other very useful posts from @MyriamBoure on infrastructure
and security
Yes there are costs involved in setting up and running the servers. In the UK we pay UKĀ£2,160 per year. I guess this would be higher in the US. We ask users to contribute to these (and our support and development costs) by paying 2-4% of their OFN turnover to the pot.
Yes I understand that server costs do grow with use but I donāt know the detail. Letās ask @Kirsten
We have explored the idea of regional instances for OFN USA but my concern with this is that producers and hubs who are on the borders of 2 or 3 instances will find it difficult to trade with people over the border.
I agree with you @NickWeir, dividing the US into regions is likely to cause long term issues and potential confusion. It will also increase the amount of time, effort and cost associated with managing multiple instances.
@KatTheFarmer There are many options on how to move forward with the OFN USA.
It takes time and energy to get people to come together with the right balance of skills, interest, opportunity and vision to establish a new non-profit legal entity, not to mention administer it throughout the early stages.
Thanks to @jveilleux one massive hurdle is now behind us, in having the platform set up for everyone to use.
Given the current status, combined with the number of amazing organisations that already exist in America working to support food sovereignty; having one (or more) of them come on board to support the OFN USA as a project and help shape its future may pave the road ahead. These organisations also have a voice and a network which would surely bring together the pieces of the puzzle.
The meeting that is scheduled next week will be the first step. Allowing everyone to introduce themselves to each other, and answer questions about next steps.
I am afraid I am not the best person to talk re. hosting costs - I can tell you that we are planning to switch all our servers to Digital Ocean or Rimu as AWS is costing us way too much we think (about $400 AUD a month) . . but maybe thatās not actually that much more than UK are paying. Are you with Digital Ocean @NickWeir @lin_d_hop?
Just pinging others who have been on this thread earlier to make sure they realise that openfoodnetwork.net (OFN USA) is now up and running and that a call is planned next week to really get things moving 
@shelby @eric @MikeiLL @ecocity
Nick - I am about to send an email with call details to other contacts in the USA who might be interested. Have you checked in with Hannah and others who arenāt active on Slack and Discourse to make sure they know about it?
Thanks everyone and hurrah for @jveilleux @enricostn and Daniel Palomar
NB. I will have a strong coffee on Tuesday 29th, and if I happen to find myself awake at 2am on the 30th I will join you - you can be the first people to wish me happy birthday
@Kirsten I have added you to the calendar invite - you can see who else is already on, and add others that may have been missed 
@Kirsten apart from the calendar invite and posts on slack and discourse I havenāt contacted anyone directly so yes please send an email to anyone we might have missed. Thanks. And I hope we arenāt the first people to wish you happy birthday - I am sure Charlie will do that early enough as it is:slight_smile:
