Well, ain't that grand.

Below I reproduce an email from iStrata support. Read upwards for the history. Sorry about the line breaks:

Date: Fri, 02 Mar 2007 19:08:01 -0800
From: support( at )istrata.com
Subject: [ #BCM-87880-427]: Fwd: Plesk key update deferral notification
To: ita( at )thevelvetedge.com

On Fri, 2 Mar 2007, ita( at )thevelvetedge.com wrote:

> Wait--so if we don't pay you to upgrade, is this something we can do
> ourselves? And if we don't upgrade, we're going to have
> compatibility problems?

It's a bit complicated. You don't have to upgrade (we can request that your license be locked to the version you're using (7.5.4). But, like I said in the message below support for Red Hat 7.3 has been discontinued by SWSoft (makers of Plesk). So, unless you do upgrade you're stuck with what you have which is Red Hat 7.5 (which hasn't had any OS updates for several years) and Plesk 7.5.4.

There's no way to do the OS level upgrade yourself. You can save yourself some money by moving your data from one server to the other yourself. But, we're still going to have to bring up a new server for you, and moving from one server to another can get complicated. By having us do the upgrade you eliminate most of the problems (and associated down time) you might encounter if you were to try to do it for yourself.

Kevin

>
> At 06:53 PM 3/2/2007 -0800, you wrote:
>
>
>> For your benefit we keep all our licenses under "software update
>> support" contract. Because of that our licenses are always set to
>> the most current version (so you can update as required). We can
>> request that the license key used on your server be backed down to
>> 7.5 but it does complicate things in the long run because it creates
>> a special condition that has to be tracked. However, if you do
>> decide to upgrade Plesk you'll have to update to Cent OS 3.8 because
>> Plesk doesn't support installing newer versions on top of your
>> version (7.3) of Red Hat. So, unless you upgrade your OS your
>> current configuration is where you'll be stuck (Red Hat 7.3 and
>> Plesk 7.5.4). This is probably as good a time as any to upgrade
>> rather than waiting for the versions to get even further apart.
>>
>> The OS upgrade requires that we move you from your current server to
>> a new server. We can perform the upgrade for you at a rate of
>> $120/hr. The amount of time needed will depend largely on the
>> amount of data there is on your server.
>>
>> Let us know how you want to proceed.
>
> putting the "freak" into "control freak" since 1993
>

--
Regards,
Kevin

yeah, I don't really undertand all that, but it sounds like they have us over a barrel for some "complicated" work at $120/hour. Which, I must say, is a racket I'd like a part of.

That's the basis of it. It has to be done, we can't do it, they charge $120/hr, and if my suspicions are correct, they won't have an estimate for how long it will take (the tech side of me is okay with that, but not the wallet side).

Seriously, what a racket! We can have a yard sale or something.

On the one hand, there's no harm to staying where we are, and a small risk that we'll have to make some minor fixes to the board for the new versions of everything.

On the other hand, the new server is probably faster than our current one.

The implication that if we don't upgrade now it'll get harder when we do decide to...I totally believe that, based on the previous upgrades. So I want to move while it's probably easiest.

Pissy about the cost, though.

I'm sorry, but they're running a business. They should have to give us an estimate and (I think) a cap. "Racket" is kinder than the word that sprang to my mind.

They should have to give us an estimate and (I think) a cap.

Estimate sure--cap, less so. Shit so totally happens in upgrades and migrations that I'd be mightily impressed if they gave a cap, but not that prone to rely on an estimate.

That person has been me, and with all the good will and circumspect nature in the world, estimates can soon be worth nothing.

So what's the minimum this is going to cost?

Are there any more emails between you and Kevin than the ones you posted?

Edited to add, the reason I ask is that if you haven't explained to Kevin that Buffistas is community supported and the cost is a big issue, you might want to. He might have different advice for us. If Buffistas were a money-making operation, paying iStrata to do the upgrade would be a no-brainer.