New software versions available

The following are now available on the silk hosting service:

Additionally, PHP 8.5 will be available upon its release in late November.

Removing EOL software

NodeJS 18, Python 3.8, and Ruby 3.1 have been removed from the silk hosting service after reaching their maintenance end of life.

The lifecycle of software available on silk is available from the Support Lifecycle page and from each language’s page in the Silk User Manual.

Python migration

With Silk’s migration to a new major OS version, it may be necessary to re-install some Python packages.  Files that were copied to the new Silk hosts may have been compiled with previous OS version dependencies in mind that will not keep working as-is.  The most reliable way to ensure that your Python environment will keep working is to remove and re-install all required packages.

Creating a new Virtual Environment

The best way to isolate installed dependencies for a Python project is with a “Virtual Environment”.  This is a local copy of your installed modules that can be kept separate from other projects and from the rest of the operating system.  Please see Python’s documentation site for more information on Virtual Environments and the built-in venv module.   If you’re already using a virtual environment in your project, you may want to re-create it from scratch.  You can do that like this:  

Silkv3 migrations underway

Many silk accounts, including most students, were migrated to silkv3 servers over the summer. ETS aims to move the remaining accounts during the fall semester. For information about what to expect when your account is migrated, see What’s New in Silkv3.

If you would like to be migrated now, you can request this at any time by contacting Systems Architecture & Administration. Note that all sites belonging to an account will be migrated at the same time.

Account migrations

Large-scale migration of accounts from silkv2 servers to silkv3 servers has begun, and will continue throughout the summer. A login message such as This is a third generation UVM silk hosting server displays where your account is currently located.

  • Most accounts belonging to recent alumni were migrated at the end of June.
  • Accounts belonging to current students will be moved the first week of July.
  • Employee, departmental, and complex-usage accounts will follow through July and August.

See What’s New in Silkv3 for a full list of changes. Note that a handful of features have not yet been implemented; these are noted on that page. Accounts using these features will not yet be migrated.

Seeking early adopters for Silkv3

ETS is seeking early adopters for the third generation of the silk hosting service who would like to experience the new systems and provide feedback. Good candidates include personal accounts and non-production or development departmental accounts. See What’s New in Silkv3 for a full list of changes.

Note that all sites belonging to an account will be migrated at the same time.

If you are interested in becoming an early adopter, please contact Systems Architecture & Administration.

Silkv3 coming soon

ETS is building a new generation of silk hosting servers, with new and updated tools and an improved experience for command-line users. If you are interested in becoming an early adopter, please contact Systems Architecture & Administration.

Since the spring of 2018, UVM’s silk hosting service has been built on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 7, for which vendor support ends soon. ETS is creating new systems built on RHEL9, offering a number of new features and updated versions of most existing tools. In addition, we are making a number of improvements that we hope will make it an even better place to host your content.