Cenote terms of use and information
This is a guide, and is not a legal document
Technical Information
Cenote is a virtual server hosted – using Xen – on a machine containing a couple dozen virtual servers in Dallas, Texas, USA by Linode.
It runs Debian, currently the Stable branch.
The sysadmin for the system is Nicholas Avenell, with the login Aquarion. Charles Cooke – login ccooke – also has root access in an emergency. They can both be reached via their login name @gkhs.net. Email for that host is not handled by cenote.
Contact
Aquarion can be reached on zero seven nine oh nine, 547 990. or – preferably – at nicholas@aquarionics.com (This goes though cenote, so is not useful for “cenote is down” messages)
Services
- If you own a domain, I will host it for you until it starts doing nasty things to my bandwidth (ie, costing me money) and then I will ask you to move it. I will help you do so.
- I will do mail redirection for domains.
- Cenote runs ssh, screen, irssi.
- I will, at request, assign you a mysql database.
- You can access cenote with sftp & ssh.
- Usenet feeds are available on request.
- Any other standard linux packages that are not installed are possible, please email me for details.
Lack of services.
- Cenote is backed up in that /etc and /home/aquarion go to my local machine. I would recommend you back up your data.
- Cenote doesn’t even host _my_ mail (it gets forwarded to gmail), it’s not a good mail host. (Actually, it’s a perfectly fine mail host, but I am unwilling to take responsibility for other people’s mail access, see “Reliablity Guarentee” below).
Data Privacy
Because Cenote is on a virtual server, the data held on it is not completely private. Users with root access – aquarion & ccooke – can view any data on the server (but, unless requested to, will not do so for anything inside anyone else’s home directory). People with root access to the Xen server that cenote is running on also have access to any data on cenote. I do not believe they will access this information.
Linode is a US company, and is thus subject to abuses of the DMCA. I – aquarion – will be notified if action is taken on it, but will probably not get the opportunity to object. (Their terms of service and privacy policy are here, FYI)
May Nots
- Don’t bittorrent from cenote.
- Don’t spam anyone
- If installing any web applications, please email aquarion with what they are.
- Do not, under any circumstances, install phpbb, ajaxterm, anyterm, mindterm or any remote access software on cenote.
Reliability Guarantee
There isn’t one.
I’m not kidding. Accounts on cenote are given only to people I know, and for free. I do not take direct payment for cenote services because I am not prepared to be responsible for your data or connection. I am not reliable. I am flakey. I will help you as best I can, but I have a full time job and part time insanity to cope with, and cenote is primarily a place where I can put things and secondarily a way I can help out people I like.
If I thought I could make a living out of running cenote-like services, I’d do that. This is a free service, and is worth what you pay for it.
If this bothers you, if you feel that you need a higher level of techical support and amount of time than I am able to supply, then I would suggest you go for a system that you pay for. I do not have the mental energy to be that person, sorry.
— Nicholas ‘Aquarion’ Avenell
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