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Old 3rd Sep 2014, 11:34 am   #1
Paul Stenning
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Exclamation Forum moving to new server

I am planning to move this forum to a new web server tomorrow (Thursday) evening. This will result in it being closed (and possibly giving error messages or not loading) for a few hours.

I will announce the start time tomorrow, but I currently anticipate it being 7pm.

I have made some DNS changes today in advance of that (to hopefully allow tomorrow's DNS change to propagate quicker). This shouldn't affect anything today but you can never be 100% certain with DNS!

This is part of consolidating the hosting for my websites and those of a few clients onto a single dedicated server, rather than spread around various shared hosting accounts and cloud servers. This will give a cost saving for all, and should also improve performance. Having "root" access also allows more flexibility.

The new server is running PHP version 5.5. Compatibility with this was the reason for the forum software update a couple of weeks ago.
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Old 3rd Sep 2014, 12:14 pm   #2
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Default Re: Forum moving to new server

hi Paul,
Did you reduce the TTL for the DNS records?
not trying to tell you your job, just trying to remember what I would have done quite a few years ago when I had responsibility for a few servers.
Frank
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Old 3rd Sep 2014, 12:23 pm   #3
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Default Re: Forum moving to new server

Yes that's exactly what I did, one hour instead of one day. So by this time tomorrow every DNS cache should have the one hour TTL, so people should find the website after it's moved much quicker. I'll obviously increase it to 1 day again afterwards.

I also had to change the DNS server to the one on the new server (pointing to the old hosting IP address) because I have no option to edit the main TTL in the DNS Zone on the old hosting.
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Old 3rd Sep 2014, 12:34 pm   #4
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Default Re: Forum moving to new server

Thanks for the info. the college I worked at had the servers on site so we did the hosting and fixed the servers, software hardware and networks. still I enjoyed the job, about 40 servers and 2500 desktops, various Windows servers, Linux and a DEC Alpha running unix of some variety, cannot remember which now. All Cisco network so IOS was well used, it must be over 7years since and I have forgotten most of it.
joys of retirement now.
Frank
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Old 3rd Sep 2014, 12:42 pm   #5
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Default Re: Forum moving to new server

The new server is running CentOS 6.5 (Linux) with WHM/cPanel and all the usual web server stuff. The old hosting is also Linux based; I don't know what version but the PHP and MySQL versions are old and now unsupported.

I wouldn't touch Windows servers for web hosting.
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Old 4th Sep 2014, 8:48 am   #6
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Default Re: Forum moving to new server

I will be doing some testing this morning. If things are slow for a few minutes please be patient - it will be due to me making a backup of the site here.
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Old 4th Sep 2014, 10:24 am   #7
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Default Re: Forum moving to new server

Thank you for all your work Paul, this site keeps me sane in a worsening world.
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Old 4th Sep 2014, 11:13 am   #8
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Default Re: Forum moving to new server

I confirm that I will be closing the forum and starting the move at 7pm this evening (UK time, GMT+1). Please assume the forum will be closed all evening.

Because of restrictions with the existing hosting I will need to create and download a backup, then upload it and restore it to the new server. This is a bit more time-consuming and messy than a direct account transfer, however I have done it before and know it works.
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Old 4th Sep 2014, 11:25 am   #9
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Default Re: Forum moving to new server

another thank you from me.
Frank
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Old 4th Sep 2014, 11:58 am   #10
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Default Re: Forum moving to new server

Thank You Paul.

David
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Old 4th Sep 2014, 5:14 pm   #11
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Default Re: Forum moving to new server

From a test run this afternoon I estimate that the move will take about 75-90 minutes.

Changing the DNS is one of the last jobs, and it could take a couple of hours for the changes to propagate and for people to reach the site on the new server (I am about to shorten the time-to-live on the DNS to 10 minutes which should help speed up the propagation).

Perhaps come back at around 9pm and see if you can reach the forum, and if not retry every 15-20 minutes until you can.
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Old 4th Sep 2014, 9:03 pm   #12
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Default Re: Forum moving to new server

The website move is now complete. It took just over two hours in the end.

If you can see this post you are accessing it on the new server. Welcome back!

If you notice any problems please post here and I'll take a look.
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Old 4th Sep 2014, 9:04 pm   #13
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Default Re: Forum moving to new server

It's back! Excellent job, thanks Paul.

Gus.
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Old 4th Sep 2014, 9:13 pm   #14
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Default Re: Forum moving to new server

Thanks Gus.

It will probably take a little while for the DNS change to propagate which will bring people here rather than the old server. In theory it should only be a few more minutes but in practice it could be up to a couple of hours.
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Old 4th Sep 2014, 9:22 pm   #15
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Default Re: Forum moving to new server

Hi Paul
Just been on for 10 minutes and all seems to be working fine , job well done.

Robin
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Old 4th Sep 2014, 9:24 pm   #16
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Default Re: Forum moving to new server

Thanks for your hard work, Paul.

N.
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Old 4th Sep 2014, 9:24 pm   #17
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Default Re: Forum moving to new server

Thanks Paul, job well done.
Frank
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Old 4th Sep 2014, 9:25 pm   #18
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Default Re: Forum moving to new server

29 people here already.
https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/online.php
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Old 4th Sep 2014, 9:40 pm   #19
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Default Re: Forum moving to new server

And another one, Thanks Paul. John.
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Old 4th Sep 2014, 9:43 pm   #20
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Default Re: Forum moving to new server

No problem getting back on. Thanks to Paul and everyone who make this forum possible. It's still the best place on the web.
Terry
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