Server Migration Soon - Expect Downtime

[ThePowersThatBe]

I just spent over an hour going back and forth with our hosting provider after they charged more than double what we have previously paid for our yearly renewal, without any warning of a price increase. The plan we have is already overkill for the current level of forum activity, and there is no way I am paying what they charged. They finally refunded the renewal and I have about a week to get us moved before our current plan expires.

The site is old and only runs on an older version of php, which makes it a challenge to set up on standard cheap web hosting. Updating the site is a challenge because custom modifications (like the feedback system) do not transfer over to newer versions of the forum software.

I will have to carve out a significant amount of time in the coming days to get us moved. The site may be in "maintenance mode" or completely unreachable at times while things are moving, updating, and propagating. Thank you in advance for your patience.

[68Camaro]

Thanks for the heads-up and the attention to detail. Is there a new version of a forum that existing data could be migrated to?

I presume the hard IP address will change? If so, I would appreciate knowing the updated IP address for my records, should name servers ever go down for "some reason".

Thanks

[ThePowersThatBe]

Thanks for the heads-up and the attention to detail. Is there a new version of a forum that existing data could be migrated to?

Updating to the latest version of the forum software itself with just users and posts isn't a big deal. There are tools to migrate all of the basic data into the new database configuration. But all of the modifications and customizations made to templates, themes, buttons, etc. over the last 10+ years will be lost. phpBB went to an (arguably much better) extension system in the newer versions, but none of the old work transfers over. That's not the end of the world in terms of themes, templates, layouts, etc. as I can make things look better later. The biggest challenge is the feedback system. There is a version of the feedback extension that will work with a newer (but perhaps not the newest) version of the forum software, if I can get a copy from the author (it's not available for public download), but there is no simple migration path to get all of our existing feedback data (over 20,000 lines in the largest table) onto a newer version of the forum software. Updating from the current version to any of the newer versions of the forum software requires rebuilding the database and dropping all of the tables that aren't native to the basic forum installation, which includes everything for the feedback system. I can then add the newer feedback extension to the newer version of the software after migration (assuming I can get a copy). But none of the old feedback data will be there. It would likely require rearranging and importing data at the database level. I sent a message to the feedback author to see if he would be willing to take this on as a paid project (perhaps even the whole migration and updating). The last time I emailed him was 2016 and the last time he posted anything about the feedback extension was 2018. So I'm hoping he's still around...

I presume the hard IP address will change?

Yes.

[68Camaro]

Perhaps we should plan for another future migration independent of this move; even if we have to pay for either some mods or some data translation and transfer to a new feedback system. Aging software is a persistent problem; eventually there will be a server issue running the version we have.

[Tourney64]

I seem to remember there was a way to use a link to our Amazon purchases that benefited RealCent, which could be used for the site.

[Corsair]

Thank you for all that you do to keep Realcent going.

[Saabman]

Thank you for all that you do to keep Realcent going.

Here, here!

it truly is appreciated!

[Recyclersteve]

I wish I had won the lottery. If so, I’d just ask you to send me the bill…

[cwgii]

From an old Vermont yankee. I can’t believe I’m saying it.

out with the old in with the new.
To hell with transferring.

[highroller4321]

What a pain! Thank you for all you do for us here!

[ThePowersThatBe]

I was able to get in touch with the User Feedback mod author. He is no longer maintaining it and does not want to take on the project, but I did get the last version which works with a newer (but not the newest) version of the forum software.

I am planning to migrate the site to a new host Monday 11/21/22. If I can get the current version of the forum working over there, I will just do that for now, and then make a copy and work on updating it as time allows. If I cannot get the current version working over there, I will have to do it all at once.

Either way, once I begin the migration, I will update the notice at the top of this site and I will lock all of the forums except for a special "transition" forum, as anything posted here after that point will not be transferred over to the new host.

Please note, it may take 24 hours (even up to 48 hours in rare cases) for the DNS changes to propagate across the internet and for you to reach the site on the new host. You'll know if you are on the new site or the old site by the announcement at the top. A different internet connection (or even browser) may take you to one site or the other during the transition.

See you on the other side!

[68Camaro]

Can you tell us in advance the hard IP address?

[ThePowersThatBe]

Can you tell us in advance the hard IP address?

No, as we don't have one yet. Most modern consumer hosting environments do not use dedicated IPs by default. Server Name Indication made it so dedicated IPs are no longer needed for SSL certificates, so a host can share an IP across numerous websites. Navigating to that IP will not get you to a specific website, rather just a landing page from the host indicating that they don't know where you are trying to go (or just an error page), since it could be any of many sites at that IP address. A dedicated IP address is an additional feature I can and will purchase, but it's something they have to set up manually once the account is established. Had I planned on this transition earlier, I probably could have had that in place ahead of time. But with the short notice of this move, it's not in place yet.

[ThePowersThatBe]

The new host is going to see if they can transfer everything over for me before I resort to doing it manually myself.

I just made another database backup, so drawing a line in the sand here. We can continue to chat in this thread, but new posts (and edits and private messages) made here on the old site from now on will NOT transfer over to the new host.

[ThePowersThatBe]

Woohoo! We have moved over to the new host. Let me know if you discover any issues. I did not have to make any drastic changes to get up and running.

Next steps are changing the name servers, waiting for the DNS changes to propagate, and setting up a dedicated IP address. Once all that has settled (in a few days), I'll clone the site over into a test environment and see if I can update the forum software and reimport all the user feedback data.

[TXSTARFIRE]

Good Job! I had to log in but everything appears to be working so far. Thanks for all your effort!

[Robarons]

Thank you for the effort on this. I have a green banner.

Started thinking if this was the second time we did this. I think there was one more Realcent before the current one we are using but I cant recall.

[coindood]

Seamless from my perspective. Well done gentlemen!

[Silver4face]

I also have a green banner and I also say thanks for your time and effort on this

[chris6084]

Thank you for your time and effort!

[68Camaro]

Yea! Thanks for your effort! Greatly appreciated.

[Recyclersteve]

I too have the green banner of freedom! Whew!

[cwgii]

Green is go. I am too far in the cave man days to understand any of what just took lace. All I know is that it works.

[Treetop]

I somehow never realized it cost money to keep this place going. If money is ever needed to keep it open let us all know. Ive got a couple dollars to donate as I am sure a few others would as well.

[coindood]

Just an FYI.

There was a glitch staying logged in today. This has happened before but it's an easy fix. I deleted all board cookies and resaved the site URL to my favorites and I'm back in without being repeatedly kicked out after login.