Planned maintenance: hpHosts/fSpamlist/vURL network

Just a note folks, the following outlines plans for maintenance of the servers within the hpHosts network, and details of the work involved.

When is this work happening?

September 2nd - September 6th

What does it affect?

Access to the following sites may be affected during the transition.

*.mysteryfcm.co.uk
*.hosts-file.net
*.fspamlist.com
helenbenoist.co.uk
bughunter.it-mate.co.uk
pbone.it-mate.co.uk
hollmen.it-mate.co.uk

Certain aspects of the following services/products, could be affected;

sGB - Mail server (i.e. new guestbook notifications, new registrations)
sURL - hpHosts access for querying blacklisted domains
Spambot Search Tool - fSpamlist queries
hpObserver - hpHosts queries

How long will it take?

Currently unknown, though I'm hoping to have the work completed by September 6th (depends on sleep, free time to do it and finances I can spare for it).

What does the work involve?

I am planning on a complete re-build of all of the servers on the network, along with a redesign of the network topology, with additional hardware replacements where required (mainly including additional RAM for the hpHosts server, new hard drives for the *.mysteryfcm.co.uk and hpHosts servers, new gateway server, and a new mail server (thanks to Alt-N Technologies))

Is it likely to cause problems?

I will be rebuilding the servers one at a time, using a temporary server to house the sites on the server being replaced, whilst the rebuild is being performed, so I do not expect there to be much downtime. A little interruption may be required whilst service is transferred to the new server.

Why is this being done?

The servers have served me fantastically for years, with very little problems. However, recently there has been a major spike in the resources and bandwidth required for each server, and some of them simply cannot cope. As such, upgrades, replacements and in one or two cases, reconfigurations to allow for higher traffic levels, is required.

Is there anything else I need to know?

Given this is to be done during my free time, the times/dates referenced should be taken as approximations only. I'll keep the downtime to an absolute minimum.