I announced on Facebook yesterday: Christians Blog is moving. In the meantime, the domains are with netcup, and the website is now being hosted from my own server. The email service has also moved along with it.
The address remains the same: christiansblog.eu . Behind the scenes, quite a few things have changed.
Why the move at all?
One thing I want to make clear upfront: I’m not moving because I was unhappy with All-Inkl. Over the years, I’ve had good experiences there. The move has a different reason: My website is now clearly more than just a place where I occasionally publish an article.
In addition to the articles, there are maps, data sources, search functions, and various tools. Some data needs to be regularly retrieved, prepared, and updated. There are also services that run in the background and also want to be maintained.
With these requirements, the project has gradually grown out of the existing webspace. At some point, the question arises: Should we continue trying to fit everything into the existing environment—or take the next step?
For me, this moment has now arrived.
The server was already there
I didn’t start from scratch. The website was already running as an Onion Service on my server at netcup. Anyone who visited it via the Tor network has already used the version hosted there.
Now, the server also delivers the website under the familiar internet address. Access via Tor remains available.
“Own server” means, by the way, a self-managed virtual server at netcup. The hardware isn’t sitting under my desk. However, I take care of the software and operations myself.
This gives me more options. It also means that I’m responsible for things that were previously taken care of by web hosting providers: updates, security, backups, and the question of why a service isn’t doing what it’s supposed to do.
A move consists of more than copying files
The website itself is built with Hugo and delivered as a static page. That’s manageable for the actual website operation.
However, there are several things attached to it. Domains must point to the correct target. Certificates must be correct. Emailboxes and existing messages must come along. And regularly running tasks don’t automatically move along just because the related files are already on the new server.
Exactly these small details become apparent after the move. The status display of my Tor Relay suddenly showed “Unknown.” The relay was running—only the data supply for the status display wasn’t properly moved during the move.
That’s now been fixed. During the opportunity, the sidebar also received an indicator for the server’s uptime. Now, it’s possible to see how long the server has been running since the last restart.
The more extensive features, especially around the Eco-Move map, are also still being checked for dependencies from the previous hosting environment.
Email traffic reduced
I was also able to significantly reduce my incoming email traffic. Since I’m not only running the web server myself but also my email server for incoming and outgoing emails, I could already sort out the bulk spam at the point of entry.
So far, only the most important emails are getting through. If a spam or phishing email somehow ends up in my inbox, my spam filter learns from it when I mark an email as spam. Now, it’s more surprising that hardly any emails come in because most of them end up in the spam folder. 🙂
As much as possible, nothing should change for you
You don’t need to remember a new address. The articles remain reachable under christiansblog.eu, and the additional access via the Tor network remains available.
If something still seems off to you—a map that doesn’t load, a function that doesn’t work, or an error message—please let me know. The most helpful are the affected page and a short description of what you were trying to do.
The move creates the foundation for further development of the website and its tools. The follow-up work is part of that.
One point I’ve already further developed: Anyone visiting my website with the Tor Browser and using the normal URL https://www.christiansblog.eu will now see a notice that this page is also reachable as an Onion Service.
I’d like to thank All-Inkl for the past years. Now, Christians Blog is running at netcup : under the same address, with more options in the background, and probably another opportunity or two to learn something new. 🙂
