Great news everybody! ElfHosted now has more datacenter options, making it easier to run your apps closer to where you are.

If your current datacenter is not your best fit, we encourage you to migrate to the recommended location.

The first step is simple: visit your ElfHosted datacenter page (here) and check your current recommendation:

Check your recommended datacenter

This week we added three new regions:

• elfhosted.surf - Australia / Sydney
• elfhosted.wine - France / EU (may be better for weekend latency than .com or .haus)
• elfhosted.cafe - Canada / North America East

That means more users can run their apps closer to home, with lower latency, a better regional fit, and a glow-up window that better matches their local overnight hours.

To streamline the process, we've also updated the datacenter migration process (no need to "buy" a migration subscription!), making it easier to move between regions when a better option is available.

Check first, then migrate if needed

If your current datacenter is already optimal, you do not need to change anything.

If your current datacenter is not optimal, or if you are currently on a retiring datacenter (see below), please self-migrate when convenient:

https://store.elfhosted.com/my-account/datacenter/

The datacenter page shows your current datacenter and helps identify your optimal target. Self-migration lets you choose the timing, confirm the destination, and make the move on your own schedule.

.beer and .haus are being retired

As part of this reshuffle, elfhosted.beer (a early-stage POC we're not going to proceed with) and elfhosted.haus (a redundant alternative to .com now that we have .wine) are being retired next month.

If you are currently hosted on .beer or .haus, please self-migrate ahead of time so you can choose when the move happens and where your services land.

(When those datacenters are ultimately retired, any users still remaining there will be automatically migrated to the geographically closest available datacenter)

Daily glow-up windows updated

Every ElfHosted datacenter has a daily one-hour glow-up maintenance window, during which we apply app and platform updates, meaning your services may be briefly unavailable. These are scheduled during each region's quieter periods and staggered on unique UTC hours, so no two datacenters roll at once.

We'll ping you in Discord when your region's daily glowup starts, with a summary of the expected app updates.

Note that .beer and .haus remain listed above because existing users may still be there during the retirement period. New migrations should target the current preferred datacenter for your location.

What changes during migration?

For most apps, the updated migration process handles the heavy lifting. You trigger an offsite backup (if you care about any changes in the past 24h), and you export any ENV vars you've set (usually for Stremio addons), and then you push the button. For a live example, see the video guide below.

For Stremio addons, there is one extra step: after migrating, you will need to reinstall the addon into Stremio (the manifest URL changes when your datacenter hostname changes, and Stremio needs the new URL)

Video Guide

There is a short video guide showing the migration process here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzJuQiSdzWc

What to do now

• Open your datacenter page.
• Check whether your current datacenter is optimal.
• If it is not optimal, self-migrate to the recommended datacenter.
• If you are on .beer or .haus, self-migrate before those datacenters retire.
• After migrating Stremio addons, reinstall the addon in Stremio so it uses the new manifest URL.

Need a hand?

If you need a hand with a migration, or you have questions, jump into Discord (https://discord.elfhosted.com), and create a private support ticket in the #elf-help channel!

Happy Streaming!