TRF/TRFA Migration

[AKPilot]

Here's the immediate and future plan folks with TRF/TRFA . . .

Our webhost is jerking us around, as mentioned elsewhere. Up until recently, they served is alright. However recent actions have shown us their true colors. If you have any interest into the problems you can do a search on "problems IXWebhosting" and come up with your own opinions.

I apologize for what transpired Thursday and how dog slow things are at the moment. I was literally returning from Seattle, on an airplane, when things started going south.

Over the next week we'll be migrating to a new host, with a dedicated server. Am starting the process today and am going to go at the quickest pace possible. Keep in mind that there needs to be coordination, transfer, etc. As a comfort to all, we performed another complete backup as of a few hours ago.

So if you can bear with us, we'll get the ball rolling.


Also, I'd personally like to thank Troj for all of his help with this. While he's in IT by profession, the amount of dedication and help he's given to this site is extraordinary. It'd be difficult, at best, without him being onboard. So thanks Troj!

Also, I'd like to thank WiK as well. He's actually out on vacation, but continuously checks in to help where he can. To the extent that he called home and asked his mother to assist in backing up the web site. I'm not sure what I'm more impressed with, the fact that he's checking in frequently to ensure we're okay, or that his mother can do a backup?! :y:

 

[sunward]

.... If you have any interest into the problems you can do a search on "problems IXWebhosting" and come up with your own opinions.....

Wow. :bang:

...Over the next week we'll be migrating to a new host, with a dedicated server....

Won't this leave the site down for a few days until you transfer over?

...Also, I'd personally like to thank Troj for all of his help with this. While he's in IT by profession, the amount of dedication and help he's given to this site is extraordinary. ..

Nothing like free expert help. Nicely done Troj :clap:

 

[troj]

Won't this leave the site down for a few days until you transfer over?

We'll pre-stage everything, to get it ready, and do a test run, during which time the original site is still up and running.

Then, we lock the forums (hopefully leaving it readable; I need to check to see what options vBulletin provides) and take a current database dump. That gets moved over to the new server, everything restored, tested, then the DNS entries pointed over. This is probably about a 4 hour job (estimate) based on current database size.

At that point, we then turn on everything on the new site, and wait for everyone to get the DNS updates. Some will see it almost immediately, some will see it in 24 to 48 hours; most will see it within a couple hours.

So, for most folks, the outage will last 4 to 6 hours. Timed properly, the impact to the users is minimal.

-Kevin

 

[jadebox]

I have a friend who has had his web site hosted by IX Web Hosting for some time and he hasn't had any problems. But, his site is a simple site with static web pages. While successful, it probably doesn't get a fraction of the traffic of TRF.

That's the typical kind of site people host at a low-cost provider like IX Web Hosting. When you host at one of these places, you're sharing your server, and, often, even your IP address, with dozens or hundreds of other web sites. In spite of the claims of "unlimited" disk space and bandwidth, these hosts can't really support a busy, dynamic site like TRF.

-- Roger

 

[jadebox]

At that point, we then turn on everything on the new site, and wait for everyone to get the DNS updates. Some will see it almost immediately, some will see it in 24 to 48 hours; most will see it within a couple hours.

If you have access to the DNS settings, go ahead and set the "Time To Live" (TTL) setting to a low value now. Once the new server is up, change the DNS and set the TTL to a more reasonable value. Leave the old server up for a little while after the new server is up.

This should avoid the 24 to 48 hour wait for other DNS servers to update.

You guys probably know as much as I do, but I've run my own Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP (LAMP) server for many years. If I can be of any help, please let me know.

-- Roger

 

[dave carver]

Ok, is it the vBulletin or the IXHosting or are they the same?

 

[Chrisn]

make a post on Rocketry Planet with the new IP address

 

[n5wd]

Ok, is it the vBulletin or the IXHosting or are they the same?

vBulletin is the forum software run by literally thousands of forums around the world. It's about as stable as you could ask for.

But, even stable software can enounter problems when the computer it's running on is not given enough resources (RAM, disk space, CPU cycles, I/O throughput, etc.). And even stable software needs regular tender loving care (hardware maintenance, database backups, etc.).

IXHosting is the company that's being paid to provide the computing environment so that vBulletin can perform it's job of letting us talk about rocketry. IX is the problem.

 

[dave carver]

vBulletin is the forum software run by literally thousands of forums around the world. It's about as stable as you could ask for.

But, even stable software can enounter problems when the computer it's running on is not given enough resources (RAM, disk space, CPU cycles, I/O throughput, etc.). And even stable software needs regular tender loving care (hardware maintenance, database backups, etc.).

IXHosting is the company that's being paid to provide the computing environment so that vBulletin can perform it's job of letting us talk about rocketry. IX is the problem.

tyvm

 

[n5wd]

tyvm

dmi.

 

[UhClem]

But, even stable software can enounter problems when the computer it's running on is not given enough resources (RAM, disk space, CPU cycles, I/O throughput, etc.).

I just read an article on this very subject. I had heard that the 1201 and 1202 alarms during the Apollo 11 landing were because the guidance computer had too much to do but had never heard why.

Plenty of geeky details at: https://klabs.org/history/apollo_11_alarms/eyles_2004/eyles_2004.htm

 

[n5wd]

I just read an article on this very subject. I had heard that the 1201 and 1202 alarms during the Apollo 11 landing were because the guidance computer had too much to do but had never heard why.

Plenty of geeky details at: https://klabs.org/history/apollo_11_alarms/eyles_2004/eyles_2004.htm

Very interesting bit of spaceflight computer history! Wonder if the next generation of moon-landers needs to have a software geek along with them?

See you Saturday?

 

[AKPilot]

Quick update, even if it's repetitive . . . we've started the migration.

We've made the initial request to move our domain registrations elsewhere. I've also put a call into a new webhost, with a dedicated server. Now we're simply part of a process.

As soon as confirmation and pricing of a plan comes back we'll start the migration over.

Thanks for your continued patience during these times - it's all a process.