View Full Version : New Server Switchover Thread
Okay, so, this is a thread for all things New Server. For now, it's going to contain updates about when the site switchover will take place (probably later this week), which is important because it'll involve some (scheduled!) downtime beforehand. But probably not a ton. We're going to setup as much as possible in advance before closing the forums and starting the actual database/DNS migration.
I'm tentatively planning this for Wednesday or Thursday, but some of that depends on how well the tests I'll be doing this afternoon go. But I'm pretty optimistic.
Also, here's a picture of the server. :)
http://www.movieforums.com/upload/newserver_med.jpg
Cool. So it wasn't my internet connection or PC acting like a horse's ass! I feel better now.
honeykid
09-30-13, 03:00 PM
The future has arrived! :cool:
Mmmm Donuts
09-30-13, 03:12 PM
Strange, it reminds me of HAL 1000...
Mmmm Donuts
09-30-13, 03:28 PM
Yep lol
My brain is mush. Or, I'll say it's a prequel to the 9000. Problem solved. :D
UPDATE: the first site switchover went pretty well. I'll be doing a few smaller ones today and hopefully doing a bit of a dry run with MoFo's huge database today or tomorrow. Still an excellent chance of this happening in a couple of days, assuming all that goes smoothly.
Okay, another quick update. We're doing a dry run with the database and the files that should help ward off any unpleasant surprises, and keep the transition as quick as possible. If it goes well today, there's a better than even chance this'll happen tomorrow.
When it does, I'll be closing the forums and posting a notice about the switchover. How long it takes will vary based on how quickly the DNS changes propagate to your ISPs, but it's usually just a few hours at most, and some of you will get it a lot quicker.
I'll try to give you guys as much notice as possible with an announcement. Stay tuned.
Sexy Celebrity
10-03-13, 10:33 AM
This is the stupidest thing I've ever felt excited about.
Skepsis93
10-03-13, 10:36 AM
Exciting. Knowing next to nothing about how the internet actually works, it's funny to me that the whole of MoFo, all the personalities, the arguments and assorted discussions are all in the little grey box (or will be). I read somewhere that the new Xbox Live will run on 300,000 of those things. Gives you an idea of scale, eh?
This is the stupidest thing I've ever felt excited about.
This made me laugh. And I told someone else and they laughed, too.
Yeah, it is wild, Skepsis, to think that. To have a backup of the entire database in one file! And then to have literally tens of thousands of other files that make up the rest of the site, and all the ways it sorts and displays that information. I downloaded literally 20,000 files overnight from the old server, and that didn't include the forum itself.
Great stuff - long live MOFO!!! (yeah that was campy, but so be it)
Database Errol
10-03-13, 11:14 PM
I am packing my bags. Don't worry, MoFos. Database Errol isn't going away because of this. Heeheehee.
TheUsualSuspect
10-04-13, 01:16 AM
Who?
Okay, we're back! We are officially on the new server.
Before you say anything: yep, I'm aware of some of the things missing from the homepage and all that jazz. And notification emails may (or may not) be sketchy for a day or two. I'll be diving into all that over the rest of the day. For now, though, we should have the core functionality of reading and posting back up. :) Thanks for your patience! Shouldn't be too much longer until things are totally back to normal.
Sexy Celebrity
10-04-13, 02:25 PM
http://www.movieforums.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=11430&stc=1&d=1380907531
Sexy Celebrity
10-04-13, 02:27 PM
Seems faster, unless that's just my imagination.
rauldc14
10-04-13, 02:32 PM
I don't see anything different, am i supposed to? It is way faster though.
It's not your imagination: our server loads are positively minuscule right now. It's flying.
And no, you're not supposed to see anything different yet. I'd hoped to launch the new design (and some other stuff) along with a new server, but the problems got bad enough that I had to get the site onto a new server ASAP.
rauldc14
10-04-13, 02:36 PM
It's not your imagination: our server loads are positively minuscule right now. It's flying.
And no, you're not supposed to see anything different yet. I'd hoped to launch the new design (and some other stuff) along with a new server, but the problems got bad enough that I had to get the site onto a new server ASAP.
Ah, well I'm sure it all takes a crazy amount of time, so thanks Yoda!
"Was I meant to understand any of that?"
"No. I just wanted you to know how hard it was."
http://cdn.geeknation.com/Blogs/06_2012/lucius_fox_1.jpg
We're not quite at our usual traffic levels right now, but we're about halfway there, and the server's barely registering any load at all. Like, only slightly higher than when it's doing nothing. Wow. It's crushing with loads of room to spare.
So far its purring like a kitten.
I dunno about you guys, but I haven't had to wait even a full second for, like, a single page. It's completely cruising.
rauldc14
10-04-13, 03:52 PM
I'm the same way. This IPAD is cruising.
Same here. How much do I contribute for the server? :)
Miss Vicky
10-04-13, 03:54 PM
Nice and fast. :up:
Mmmm Donuts
10-04-13, 03:57 PM
Nice and fast. :up:
That's what she said.
earlsmoviepicks
10-04-13, 04:11 PM
Yoda, for your server room
http://i853.photobucket.com/albums/ab94/earlsmoviepicks/blinkenlights_poster_1_centered_zpse91f4894.jpg (http://s853.photobucket.com/user/earlsmoviepicks/media/blinkenlights_poster_1_centered_zpse91f4894.jpg.html)
Skepsis93
10-04-13, 05:23 PM
The new server is tight, yo.
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxjib4VLcA1qzsbdto1_400.gif
jiraffejustin
10-04-13, 05:33 PM
Thanks for all the hard work, Yoda. It's appreciated, buddy.
Rob deserves a huge thanks, too; he helped me set things up and I'm sure he'll be helping me as I learn how to manage one of these things.
Still plenty of work to do, but this is a big step forward and it ensures that, when the new design goes up, it won't get bogged down by server issues.
Cobpyth
10-04-13, 06:24 PM
It's going fast as a rocket right now. Nice work!
Daniel M
10-04-13, 06:38 PM
I return and the next day we get a new server. Nice :p
The Rodent
10-04-13, 09:22 PM
Working faster for me too :up:
The only way I'll tell for sure though is between 8am and 1pm... it's only 1:20am at the moment but will keep posted.
Definitely working faster at the moment though. One click, boom, page up... lovely.
Austruck
10-04-13, 09:56 PM
Wow... lightning fast! It's like having the Autobahn on the Intrawebs! :D
honeykid
10-04-13, 10:40 PM
Indeed it is. I'm loving this.
Good work, Yoda and Rob. :up:
Powdered Water
10-05-13, 12:29 AM
This is lame. Change it back. Change is bad!
Austruck
10-05-13, 12:33 AM
This is lame. Change it back. Change is bad!
Except if it means changing a diaper. Then it's definitely a good thing.
Miss Vicky
10-05-13, 04:21 AM
Had an "Internal Server Error" at a little after 12:15 a.m. pacific time. Lasted only a minute or two.
The Rodent
10-05-13, 04:25 AM
This is close to the time of day it starts happening.
Yet to have one though.
Currently 8:25am... so within the next 30-45 mins is when I'd normally get an error.
The Rodent
10-05-13, 05:55 AM
Well, it's near 10am and usually I'm well into an error by now and would be looking at another two maybe 3 hours to go before the site becomes accessible again.
Looking good so far :D
Had an "Internal Server Error" at a little after 12:15 a.m. pacific time. Lasted only a minute or two.
Do you remember what pages you were trying to access at the time? I wanna stamp this stuff out as much as possible.
Miss Vicky
10-05-13, 12:24 PM
Do you remember what pages you were trying to access at the time? I wanna stamp this stuff out as much as possible.
It was in Sexy's commentary thread.
It was actually right after the commentary had finished. I was going backand giving some plus rep.
Ah. Did you happen to give a lot of it? And did it go away after you refreshed the page, by chance?
Miss Vicky
10-05-13, 12:53 PM
I gave quite a bit. Refreshing the page didn't help. Even closing the browser and reopening it did nothing.
Ah, okay. That probably rules out my first theory then.
Okay, I looked into it, and it looks like that minute or two where you got the errors is when our database backup was running. But it should be relegated to a minute or two, and in all likelihood it'll end up running more like once a week. That should be about as bad as it gets; a couple of minutes a week, late at night. Keep me posted if it happens again, though.
Sexy Celebrity
10-05-13, 02:55 PM
Yeah, I was up late last night and after 4:10 in the morning EST, this site usually is dead for many hours. NOT LAST NIGHT. It never went offline.
Powdered Water
10-05-13, 02:57 PM
It really is VERY fast now. Good job, buddy.
Harry Lime
10-06-13, 05:09 AM
Just now I raced around the forums a bit...very nice!
Harry Lime
10-06-13, 05:10 AM
Wow. That post was posted too fast, not sure if this is real.
The Rodent
10-06-13, 08:40 AM
Well, I have to say, that's two mornings now and I haven't had a single problem with the site.
Occasionally I'd have waiting times when clicking the Rep Tracker or, well, any Notification really... but now with the new server it's almost an immediate reaction from the site when I click anything.
Good job guys... :up:
Austruck
10-06-13, 12:50 PM
I could always tell it was Monday morning because MoFo would be routinely down for a long time. We'll see tomorrow, but I suspect it'll be fine.
Just now, I was having issues with another site that is usually VERY fast to load, and out of curiosity I clicked here and it loaded instantly. Boo-yah!
Hit Girl
10-06-13, 06:33 PM
Great job all concerned. This site is really flying. I haven't had a database error since the change over, and therefore no need for me to scream abuse in the general direction of my computer.
Thanks guys! :D
The Gunslinger45
10-06-13, 07:16 PM
Yeah this site is wicked fast now!
Still flying. Very cool. We've got tons of room to grow, and growing should be a lot easier now that the site works as it should.
At this point we're down to about 4-5 minutes of downtime at around 3:15 AM ET, which is entirely due to the nightly MySQL backups. I'll see if there's a way to avoid that, but if not, I think that's a small price to pay for that peace of mind.
I'm also setting up off-site backups in case the server's hard drive dies, so we should be covered no matter what happens.
Austruck
10-10-13, 01:31 PM
Yoda, have you thought of letting some of us make PayPal donations or something to you to cover some of the costs I know you incur to keep this place running?
If a bunch of us regulars popped you five bucks each every so often, I'd feel a lot better about what I know must be a labor of love for you. (And I'm not just saying that because I'm your mom.)
Just a thought! Oh, and yes, the site is still flying here too! Faster than sites I used to consider fast! :)
Yeah, possibly. I know a couple of MoFos have volunteered to donate a little money, and that's really heartwarming. :) That would certainly help defray some of the setup costs, as well as some of the costs being incurred for the new design. But either way, just the fact that people have expressed willingness is awfully nice.
Austruck
10-10-13, 02:39 PM
I hope you didn't pay that much for the new logo. It looks suspiciously like the old logo. ;)
Skepsis93
10-10-13, 03:02 PM
Yeah, I promise it won't be much, unfortunately, but if you were to give us the option I'd be happy to chip in what I can.
Believe it or not, things are even better now: it looks like a small tweak has fixed even the 4-5 minutes of expected downtime during the database backup in the middle of the night.
Sexy Celebrity
10-24-13, 12:56 AM
Not sure if this is the right place to put this, but, I haven't been able to upload a picture with Manage Attachments for the past five or so minutes. Keep getting an Internal Server Error when I try to upload.
Works okay over here; can you try it again and let me know if the problem is persisting?
So, just a general follow-up: anyone had any issues? Server uptime just passed 21 days and it looks like it's been basically perfect for awhile now.
StickyShoes
11-08-13, 01:54 PM
The site loads very quickly for me. I'd say it's doing well.
Skepsis93
11-08-13, 02:36 PM
Haven't had any issues whatsoever since the new server went up. :up:
The Rodent
11-08-13, 02:43 PM
Apart from a couple minutes, that one day a few weeks back, the site has been perfect.
Hit Girl
11-08-13, 03:30 PM
All good. Haven't had a problem since the changeover to the new server. :up::up::up:
37 days without any downtime. And, frankly, with basically no lag time either.
I should get one of those signs you see at industrial workplaces to keep tabs on how long it's been.
honeykid
11-23-13, 10:30 PM
You really should. There should be a ticker on the front page. :yup:
In the next few days we're likely to hit a full 2 months without any downtime.
Take that, suckas!
I dunno who I'm supposed to be calling suckas here, exactly, but it felt right.
Hit Girl
12-14-13, 07:42 PM
Take that, suckas!
I dunno who I'm supposed to be calling suckas here, exactly, but it felt right.
Just go with it, Yoda.
http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSdZzxvK49199PfREztnu-6aOgn3AiUcAasor0VPNarI4zMnQ6q
...and hooray for no downtime!
Some of you may have had trouble accessing the site just now, for about 10 minutes. If so, my apologies--I was fiddling with the server settings to try to block some spammers (we have tools for that on the forums but that still causes them to show up as Guests, so I wanted to block them in a way that stopped this, too). Technically our uptime is still perfect, because it was just a setting problems, but I thought you guys might be curious if you were one of the few who couldn't get to the site for a bit.
The Rodent
01-05-14, 01:50 PM
Yeah I just noticed. Lasted about 10 minutes.
I got a blank white page when trying to access.
I was doing something I thought was super innocuous, but maybe not. :D
The Rodent
01-05-14, 01:58 PM
The Force has failed you... your ability to act within the shadows is beginning to dwindle.
Just a quick note that, unless something happens between now and tomorrow afternoon, the new server will hit 6 months without going down. There was a tiny ten minute period (http://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?p=1011889#post1011889) a few months ago where the site was hanging because I was changing some settings, but the server hasn't actually crashed even once in the last half-year.
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