The New And Improved Unofficial R65 Forum V2
Technical Discussion => Misc. Technical Discussion => Topic started by: suraklyn on August 25, 2008, 01:23:42 PM
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I renewed my domain for another few years, and this got me thinking. Due to the number of website and email issues that people, including myself, have run into over the duration of being hosted at ImHosted, I'm considering looking for a new host.
There is a downside to this -- there's no guarantee that wherever I choose to go will have YaBB. I don't plan on moving to a provider that does not have som etype of forum solution, but there may or may not be a means of migrating data -- no migration would be a pain in the ass.
Ultimately, this is my decision, but I don't want to do something that will bone everyone here. I'm happy to hear anyone's comments and or suggestions on the whole idea.
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I guess you seem to have it in better focus than most of us.
I didn't think about losing the past threads etc. They are somewhat "priceless".
Ditto for member names & info.
Thanks for all the great behind-the-scenes work and help in making this forum the outstanding meeting place it is.
Best,
Ed Bellair
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As I sit here with Bach's Carmina Burana blasting at Dolby reference level I'm, thinking if the new "hoster" will allow user installed packages it would be a moot point... We would also need to find sloth and get him to change the redirect at the original www.r65.org URL to point to it's new home. It would be very nice to keep YaBB as it seems tpo be fairly spammer-proof since I added some patches and registration enhancements...
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Unless his redirect points to an IP Address, there wouldn't be any need to update the redirect. As long as it is relying on DNS for resolution, the updated DNS records would take care of everything.
As far as installing our own modules... that would probably require me to pay for a much larger hosting package than my monthly allotment would allow. From what I've seen, no hosting providers allow for such activity in a shared hosting environment. It's an option, but it'd have to be something affordable.
If this happens, it won't happen until next Spring... so there is still quite a bit of time between now and when this potential move would go down.
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Go to the chat room...
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Something else would be to see how much a static IP for the house would be and run your/my/our own server. Remember, I still have this Intel dual processor server in the closet not doing anything...
I think he put it on the old web site in the default.html page, I think, I was wanting to do it through DNS but I had no control over it.
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I know how the standard HTML redirect works -- soas long as he redirects to a URL, then DNS will kick in to resolve the domain. I don't suspect there would be an issue other than the typical 2-3 days it might take for DNS updates to make their rounds.
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I'll just say that at one time I paid a lot more to belong to a "club" that had [has] quite the stone age e mail setup for members to communicate. Yabba is good, perhaps there is better. My donation is guaranteed whatever route is taken. you may now resume the technical jargon ;D
rich
Justin, Waht! No Wagner?
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Ya. Die Walküre, vielleicht?
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I'm currently looking at Bluehost.com as a possibility. They seem to rank pretty high among hosting reviews among different sites. I've talked with their sales, and they say we can pretty much get anything installed we want, so long as the server meets requirements and the package doesn't require root access.
Out of the box, they don't have YaBB, but I've been told it's something that could be installed (they've already verified server requirements and so forth). I don't know what kind of time frame that would fall under.
Again, this isn't something I am definitely going to do. If I do make a switch, it won't be for another few months. So no worries in the short term about where anything is going.
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Nope, no Wagner.
If Bluehost is willing top install YaBB that would be great. It would then just be a matter of ftping the backup to the new server and hopefully be good to go. I'll have to look into whether the data will port directly across to the new version of YaBB as the one we are running here is kinda long in the tooth...
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Suraklyn has corrected me, Carmina Burana was not by Bach - I hate it when you download something and it's misrepresented! :o But, I did find some Wagner... [smiley=beatnik.gif]
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Out of the box, they don't have YaBB, but I've been told it's something that could be installed (they've already verified server requirements and so forth). I don't know what kind of time frame that would fall under.
I'm thinking if I do this, I'm going to tell them to install YaBB prior to me signing up as proof that this is doable rather than getting suckered in by typical sales bs. [smiley=whip.gif]
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Sounds wise... If you click on the "Admin Center" button (you should have it as an admin) it lists version info. This board is running 2.1 and the latest release version is 2.2.3 so that is what they would need to install.
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Been searching around the YaBB support forum and migrating from 2.1 to 2.2 is just a matter of copying files as there doesn't seem to be any file structure differences. There is also a section on "YaBB Friendly" hosting joints...
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Just let us know when and where to send money.
I PayPal Matt at Boxerworks $20 every so often for that forum. Well worth it. Same here.
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I belonged to a list that the administrator sent out a request once a year for donations to help defray the cost. No pressure, just a way for those that feel they really get something out of the forum to give back to keep it going. Seems like a reasonable thing to do. Make it a reminder and I'm sure you'll get lots of help if a new site requires extra $.
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The ideal thing to do would be to get a static IP (requires business service and you get 5 IPs) and put up our own server but that option would cost a couple hundred a year more - not counting the hardware costs (I have most of that)... We'll see what Suraklyn comes up with, the Bluehost thing sounds interesting...
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I just saw this thread. I agree with Rob and Aida and Rich and whoever else suggested we donate to the cause. I'm in. [smiley=2cents.gif] [smiley=2cents.gif] [smiley=2cents.gif] [smiley=2cents.gif]
And I'm sure the move would be much more seamless than the past ones. You guys have got it under control. [smiley=thumbsup.gif]
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Just a dumb user question but... KleineBoxer has a rather elaborate site run with what appears to be http://www.phpbb.com/
Dunno much 'bout it but maybe its worth a look. YABBA is just fine and I'm use to it but I thought I'd just toss this out there.
rich
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Just a dumb user question but... KleineBoxer has a rather elaborate site run with what appears to be http://www.phpbb.com/
Dunno much 'bout it but maybe its worth a look. YABBA is just fine and I'm use to it but I thought I'd just toss this out there.
rich
phpBB is a pretty widely used forum, but there isn't a direct migration from YaBB to phpBB. From what I've read, there's a round about sort of way to migrate from YaBB to something else that can eventually then migrate to phpBB.
Being a software developer, I know the troubles that developers face when migrating data from one system to another, and there's almost always some level data loss because things rarely map 1 to 1 -- even if it seems as though they should when looking from the outside... unfortunately, it would be pretty difficult to know what (if anything) would not migrate over without knowing the two systems pretty well (or by trying it)
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I suppose it would be possible to set up to LINUX boxes, load both BBS software packages and experiment. But, I'm too lazy to do stuff like that anymore...
Anyway, I kinda like YaBB's simplicity, plain-text data files, and maintainability. Now, if y'all wanna pay me 50k or so to be a REAL webmaster, then anything is possible! ;D
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My two shekels' worth on the topic -
It would be very nice if we do move that we could keep with YABB - it is used on quite a few other sites that I visit and it generally works quite well - most people can handle what administrivia needs to be done without investing in a bunch of training classes, etc. so it keeps overhead/maintenance levels down for people with other jobs to do.
IT has its database drawbacks too, but I think it is a good compromise. We've accumulated alot of good technical info, so if we couldn't migrate that data it would be a shame.
If you need some donations to help out with the costs of maintaining the site put a sticky up and I think that many will contribute according to their ability. I could certainly
spot you a few Jacksons...
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We'll cross that bridge when Suraklyn gets to it! ;D
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What nhmaf said.... Me too.
Ed
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It's that time of year. My hosting is up for renewal. I'll probably be making the switch sometime this month to avoid as much downtime as possible.
I'll keep you all posted.
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Know zip about hosting and most other things but if there is a need for subs - well I'm in. I'm sorta assuming that because it is an international forum PayPal is going to be acceptable?
Cheers
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Oh! Yeah, I remember this from last year. Okay. I just saw this post even though it's been up a week. I've been having problems with my home computer web browser loading up. Grrrrr. So, here I am at work (shhhhhhhhhh - don't tell anyone).
Just another post to keep this on the top so everyone can keep up with what is going on. I'll keep checking back.
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I just got a message that my browser couldn't find suraklyn.com and I thought the move had happened... I just put in www.r65.org and got the board back just fine... Whew! Thought I'd lost everyone!
(https://bmwr65.org/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi129.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fp210%2Fcabcgec%2Fwhew.gif&hash=7165cfe112c79c916acd8116d565d3ae8d35d377)
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Yes, Keep us posted.
Thanks,
Ed
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The "Dark Lord of the Hex-Head" indicates he has it boiled down to probably 2 candidates...
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OK. I've found a new host after talking to some people, reading reviews, and talking to the sales people at bluehost.com. The sound quite a bit better than my current host. I'll probably make the move sometime in the next week.
Basically what I'll attempt to do is setup the new host with the new YaBB forum (2.3.1) and migrate the existing forum data over. Once I have that up and running, I'll make the official DNS switch, move the latest forum data from this host over to the new one, and that should result in the least amount of downtown for people. It should go pretty seamlessly, but there is potential for a couple of lost posts as DNS changes can take a couple of days to propagate -- that means it's possible that some people will be seeing the new host while a handful of others will be seeing the old host (other than not moving hosts, there's not a lot we can do about that).
If people are concerned about the possibility of having two forums up and running while the DNS changes propagate, we can disable the forum on the old host so that only the new host has a working forum. I'll leave that call up to you guys.
Just FYI, someone mentioned using the r65.org redirect to get to the forum earlier. That redirect should still work after the move is made.
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May I buy you and your guest dinner?
Justin - you might want to put a notice in the Announcements section if we expect some downtime.
I just now saw this thread wake back up, myself!
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I really misused the word downtime; there won't actually be downtime. The only issue is that there will be overlap when both hosts are up and running and accessible -- accessibility will be based on where you are in the world. Because notification of a host change can't be made worldwide in an instant, we will run into a situation where people in one part of the world are hitting the new host while people on the other side of the world may be hitting the old host -- this will result in posts being made in the forum on the old host not getting added to the forum on the new host. This is pretty unavoidable.
To explain it another way...
Think of moving to a new street address. You'll send a letter to everyone you know through the mail to let them know about your new address. Not everyone gets your letter at the same time, so your friends gradually get notified of your new address. Until everyone is notified, there is potential that one of your friends could send a letter to your old address.
A propagation like this takes at most 2-3 days to make it worldwide but most people will be hitting the new host within 1 day. I'll see if I can do a redirect on the old host to the new host through an IP address once I do the move, so people hitting the old host can hit the new host.
No need to worry too much. I've put a fair amount of thought into making this as seamless as possible.
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:o
<Raises hand>
Excuse me Sir.
Can I leave now? My brain is full.
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I'd recommend making a sticky in the General Announcements at least, notifying people that they may have connection issues for a bit but to please be patient.
A local BMW forum I go to is doing similar things now - they've decided to just lock out all new posts for the 2 days they're doing the move., and they've posted
the notice in the "home page" as well as a sticky/announcement. They are NOT using YABB, though.
Some people's ISPs will be much quicker on the uptake for the IP changes and DNS resolution, but it should get there eventually. My ISP used to be notoriously slow about this, but they;ve become much better. The latest fiasco in our region is that Verizon (off-shoot from the AT&T breakup) which HAD
owned and operated all the land-based lines in most of New England region just sold them all to a company called FairPoint. The transition has not gone smoothly, and many people 'round here are having numerous email/ISP/web access issues. Not me, though - I've been with the same small ISP for a number of years, now, and this is the FIRST time that I'm glad that I've stuck with them !!!
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I'm with Aussie. Ouch!
:o
Sounds good Hexhead, Let us know if we can help defer the costs.
Thanks,
Ed
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I'd recommend making a sticky in the General Announcements at least, notifying people that they may have connection issues for a bit but to please be patient.
A local BMW forum I go to is doing similar things now - they've decided to just lock out all new posts for the 2 days they're doing the move., and they've posted the notice in the "home page" as well as a sticky/announcement.
+1 on this. But it sounds like suraklyn has it under control. My brother uses bluehost as well and had recommended them to me last year. THANKS for all your effort on this!! [smiley=thumbsup.gif]
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:o
<Raises hand>
Excuse me Sir.
Can I leave now? My brain is full.
Oooo! Me too. :-?
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I'll e-mail you and we can cuss and discuss things...
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Thanks for everything, suraklyn and Justin.