View Full Version : We've been on the new server for one year
As of tomorrow, we'll have been on the new server for a full year (http://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?t=33415)! And I think it's fair to say that it's been everything we'd hoped. Seriously, this thing is ridiculously overpowered. Plenty of room to grow into it.
Downtime has been virtually non-existent, and what little there's been has had to do with setting changes and/or DNS problems, and not the server crashing. In fact, we're coming up on a milestone on that front in the next couple of weeks.
The cost has been significant, and I'm still trying to find ways to offset it. Hopefully I'll have some new, workable ways to do that soon which don't inconvenience you guys too much.
Here's to more years of flying along on the new server. :)
The Rodent
10-03-14, 11:19 AM
Wow... one year already? Gone quick.
Tbh though, I can't actually remember what the old forum looked like :D
Tbh though, I can't actually remember what the old forum looked like :D
http://i.imgur.com/rtQQaGj.png
Should note that the new server predates the new design by a good five months, though. The new design/features are 7 months old.
The Rodent
10-03-14, 11:24 AM
Oh yeah... I remember now.
That design is soo last year.
honeykid
10-03-14, 11:26 AM
I don't think it could've gone any better, could it? :)
Miss Vicky
10-03-14, 11:27 AM
The cost has been significant, and I'm still trying to find ways to offset it. Hopefully I'll have some new, workable ways to do that soon which don't inconvenience you guys too much.
Have you considered a PayPal link for member support? I know you want to keep the forums free to use, but I think giving the people the option to help out isn't a bad idea.
The Rodent
10-03-14, 11:29 AM
Yeah, I remember the switchover.
Before that, the problems with downtime were getting progressively worse. Was usually between 9am to 11am then it got worse and was anything between 6am and Noon.
At the height of the trouble I remember MoFo being down for almost a whole day. It was something like 6am and then went all the way to 5pm before the site unlocked itself.
I think I've had maybe two instances on the new server when it wouldn't allow me to come on but it was ages ago... think it was teething problems not long after the switch.
BlueLion
10-03-14, 11:35 AM
I can't help but feel a bit nostalgic about the old forum (even if I only spent one year with it). It had this very 90s/retro feel to it, which I loved.
I don't think it could've gone any better, could it? :)
Nope! I moved some smaller sites over first and did a dry run with the database; it went really well, and was a huge relief.
Have you considered a PayPal link for member support? I know you want to keep the forums free to use, but I think giving the people the option to help out isn't a bad idea.
Yeah, I've definitely thought about it. The reason I haven't so far is that I think it might be good to have it as In-Case-of-Emergency-Break-Glass kind of thing, where it would be taken a lot more seriously and help a lot more, if we ever really need it, if we've never asked for help before.
There might be a way to split the difference, though, PBS-style, where people get something cool for donations. But like PBS it would have to be hilariously overpriced ($80 gets you a tote bag! What a steal!) because it's half normal product sale and half donation.
I think I've had maybe two instances on the new server when it wouldn't allow me to come on but it was ages ago... think it was teething problems not long after the switch.
Yeah, I was (am) still learning about how servers work, so there were one or two instances where I tried to change something and the site was inaccessible for about ten minutes. From the perspective of a MoFo it might not be any different, but from my end it's significant that the server's never done down because it got more than it could handle. Just because I was mucking around and pushed the wrong button. :laugh:
ash_is_the_gal
10-03-14, 12:07 PM
a whole year? geez... I've stayed away longer than I realized
Too long! :)
Downtime has been virtually non-existent, and what little there's been has had to do with setting changes and/or DNS problems, and not the server crashing. In fact, we're coming up on a milestone on that front in the next couple of weeks.
Just a follow-up on this, in about a week the new server will hit a year of uninterrupted uptime!
As I've hinted, there were super-brief periods where the site seemed down, but it was always because I'd changed some setting or done something silly while getting my feet wet in the world of server administration. Always my bad, rather than the server's. Obviously, I knew I was springing for a more-than-sufficient server, but a year without a single crash is obviously beyond my expectations. :up:
Harry Lime
10-13-14, 04:14 AM
I missed this. It's been a smooth year.
Also:
http://i.imgur.com/rtQQaGj.png
You can see how many posts the user has made!
Sexy Celebrity
10-13-14, 04:17 AM
You can see how many posts the user has made!
Big Whoop. :whoopi:
As long as you know you don't have as many posts as me and Honeykid, you're fine.
Harry Lime
10-13-14, 04:22 AM
I judge users based on the number of there posts. Basically I disregard those with too many or too few.
No news is good news: yesterday we were bombarded by requests (probably from bots), and had over 2,000 guests listed on the Who's Online page as a result. Server didn't blink: the load still only got up to around half of the server's capacity (and going over that would've just meant some moderate slowdowns, I think) and my guess is most people online at the time had no idea.
The server isn't cheap, but it's been pretty much perfect. :up:
Ðèstîñy
06-09-15, 12:35 PM
If I were to brag about something like that, the server would crash right after. Should I hush!?! :p
I judge users based on the number of there posts. Basically I disregard those with too many or too few.
Ouch!
Hello, Hairy Lime!
While we're at it, a little uptime update:
http://i.imgur.com/VCX8PgA.png
Citizen Rules
06-09-15, 06:58 PM
The site runs smooth for me:), fast page loads, I like it!
IMDB on the other hand never loads correctly for me and I have to refresh the page like 3 times there. So you're doing it right Yoda!
Fabulous
06-09-15, 07:28 PM
The site has been working great ever since I joined. Good work.
Just hit a big uptime milestone:
http://i.imgur.com/CBxpgxo.png
Per usual, there've been little specks here and there due to our DNS or me fiddling with the wrong thing, but in terms of simply handling traffic (or even the occasional DDoS or spam attack), it hasn't succumbed in 1,000 days. Woohoo. Money well spent.
Bump: three years uptime!
http://i.imgur.com/VgXI6bA.png
Same caveats as the previous post: the site hasn't always been accessible, but it's always been because of our DNS intermediary or me restarting it or something. It's never just crashed from traffic or activity.
Not sure where to post this, but a inquiry/suggestion. How expensive or possible would it be to be able to link a post or thread to Facebook or Twitter. Figure if we could do that then it would increase exposure there for the site.
Not sure what you mean by "link a post or thread to Facebook or Twitter"?
Not sure what you mean by "link a post or thread to Facebook or Twitter"?
Like if youre reading an article somewhere, you can link it to Facebook or Twitter. I figured if we could do that with posts or threads the sites exposure would increase.
Think there's already a Twitter Feed that does that. I've never been on it since i don't use twitter but Yoda has mentioned it screwing the site up a few times.
Citizen Rules
10-25-16, 09:25 PM
Please don't link this site to those social media places. If for no other reason, sites that are linked, often have a floating Icon box for 'liking' etc... and it won't go away. It moves up or down as you scroll the page. That's the most annoying thing:mad: I've seen on web sites.
Please don't link this site to those social media places. If for no other reason, sites that are linked have a floating Icon box for 'liking' and it won't go away. That's the most annoying thing I've seen on web sites.
Well I thought it would promote interest in the site. ok. :bashful:
Daniel M
10-25-16, 09:31 PM
I think what Tongo is thinking of would be less intrusive than one of those floating box things that you have to manually close. More like non-instrusive social media icons at the top/bottom of pages that once clicked generate a new post on Facebook, or new Tweet, with a set template to share said thread.
Something like (I did this quickly in paint):
https://i.gyazo.com/66b677a4054779337608af33ea5d7b7e.png
Of course if you share Survivor VII on social media don't expect your friend list to stay robust.
I think what Tongo is thinking of would be less intrusive than one of those floating box things that you have to manually close. More like non-instrusive social media icons at the top/bottom of pages that once clicked generate a new post on Facebook, or new Tweet, with a set template to share said thread.
Something like (I did this quickly in paint):
https://i.gyazo.com/66b677a4054779337608af33ea5d7b7e.png
Thank you Dan, yes thats exactly what I meant.
Citizen Rules
10-25-16, 09:45 PM
https://i.gyazo.com/66b677a4054779337608af33ea5d7b7e.png
No matter where the icons are placed, there will still be referral information sent to those social sites with every click we do here at Mofo. Why would anyone need that? If I wanted to be at Twitter or Facebook I would be there and not here. I prefer an Indie Mofo, that's why I am here.
It's been considered several times, but I've held off because I don't think they help much. They're on lots of sites and are almost never used. My impression (which could be wrong, of course) is that they only see significant use on sites that are already large, and/or sites that create a specific kind of viral content.
Also worth noting that those buttons just streamline the process, but otherwise just copying any URL has roughly the same effect. The idea is to make it easier if people get the impulse to share something, but I don't think we have that kind of stuff. Anyone who wants to share a discussion probably isn't doing so impulsively.
Daniel M
10-25-16, 09:49 PM
CR: I'm not quite sure what you're trying to say, but I think your misunderstanding the intention here. Users are free to share links to the Movie Forums already, all you have to do is copy the address of whatever you want to share and paste it in your social media update. There's no connectivity between the sites or dependency or one another, the buttons merely act as a tool for shortening the time taken to share links. The people who don't care about Facebook or Twitter will be unaffected, those who use them as tools for referring outside people to use Movie Forums would be able to do so more easily.
Daniel M
10-25-16, 09:52 PM
As for personal preference I think I side with Yoda in that the overall benefit of them is minimal, and that the occurrence of a MoFo user wanting to share a thread on social media is so limited that manually copying and pasting a URL is hardly going to be a time consuming task.
I checked the reviews page (not the forum part) to see if we already had buttons like this there, which I thought we did. Turns out there on the essays page, I guess that makes more sense. The items most likely to be shared I think are probably readable items that make sense without the context of the forum, rather than discussions.
I checked the reviews page (not the forum part) to see if we already had buttons like this there, which I thought we did. Turns out there on the essays page, I guess that makes more sense. The items most likely to be shared I think are probably readable items that make sense without the context of the forum, rather than discussions.
That's pretty much exactly the thinking, yeah. They're more standalone, and at least have some tiny chance of going viral. That said, they haven't been used much there, either.
Ok, just a thought.
Yeah, it's a totally reasonable thought. Just one of those things that seems not to work in practice the way it sounds like it would in theory. :shrug:
NextScorsese
10-26-16, 08:21 AM
With the kind of people that mostly populate twitter, is that really a good idea. The forum would be filled with a bunch of monrons who think Dennis Dugan has the same amount of talent as Stanley Kubrick.
Re: the original thread topic. We're getting a little closer to our server capacity (space, not bandwidth), and our hosting provider is having a sale, so we're going to be upgrading to a larger drive (4x as large).
Mentioning it here because we're going to be cloning the existing drive and moving to the new one. I'm going to try to schedule the process for some time late at night, Eastern time (early morning in the UK, late evening on the west coast), to minimize disruption. Not yet sure how long any related downtime might be, but I'll let you guys know as soon as I find out when/how long it'll be.
Tacitus
10-26-16, 12:24 PM
I'm ready. Send in the clones. :up:
Hoping it's not more like
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/32/Star_Wars_-_Episode_II_Attack_of_the_Clones_(movie_poster).jpg
Chypmunk
10-26-16, 01:57 PM
I'm ready. Send in the clones. :up:
http://www.atangledweb.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/l_mott-campus-clowns_600x400.jpg
As requested....
Okay, update: this is scheduled for this Friday at 11:00 PM ET. That's October 29th.
Originally I was going to schedule it in the middle of the night, but I decided I'd rather it happen early enough that I'll still be around to fix anything that might go wrong. I'm told it can take between 20-40 minutes, so steel yourselfs to be MoFoless for about an hour this Friday.
Chypmunk
10-26-16, 03:53 PM
Perfect timing for me as I shall be in Nod at that time ... but I shall still endeavour to remember to pop me red nose on prior to drifting into said slumber just in case more assistance is required :)
I love that your link in the shoutbox redirects to Chyps clown post :D
Ha. My bad. I'll leave it.
Austruck
10-26-16, 05:49 PM
I'm told it can take between 20-40 minutes, so steel yourselfs to be MoFoless for about an hour this Friday.
Might want to use that 20-40 minutes to brush up on your spelling. :D
Might want to use that 20-40 minutes to brush up on your spelling. :D
In all honesty Yoda you should make Austruck a mod, just on general principle. Its not like you could ever ban her :laugh:
Jk ;)
gbgoodies
10-29-16, 03:30 AM
Does anyone else see the "Now Playing" box flipping the "Movie You're Watching Tonight" thread over and over again?
I don't, but it looks like you might've posted that right after the server came back up, so let me know if you still do.
Anyway, as you can see based on the fact that you're reading this, the server upgrade went fine. Most of the setup is the same, we just have a lot more space now. The whole thing ended up taking close to three hours (I was quoted two different time estimates, and it ended up being more like the longer of the two), but everything appears to be in order. Big load off my mind.
Chypmunk
10-29-16, 01:03 PM
Is it safe to say I can take my red nose off now?
It's just beginning to pinch a little :(
I think we're good. Thanks! :) :up:
Chypmunk
10-29-16, 01:15 PM
Ahhhhhhhh bliss :)
Glad it went acceptably well - I shall now get back to baking a few more custard pies!
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