Server upgrade, April 2019

[huggle]

It seems that the board-wide mailing system doesn't work properly, hence I better let you know via announcement about what's going on atm.

Last week my host notified me that they will switch to a higher PHP-version in April. That means our server will get a new operating system. It is similar to switching from Windows XP to Windows 10 on your computer (hopefully with less bugs...)

Now you all know what happens when you change your operating system: some programmes you had on the old system will not work anymore with the new one. It's just the same with the board software.
In the last upgrade I pushed the board to version 3.2.2 and this is the first version that works with the new PHP our server will get in April. So for the moment we are on the safe side.
Still, I don't feel comfortable with this because the last board upgrade didn't go smoothly and I had to do some changes per hand - always risky. Hence, I would like to upgrade the board to the newest software version asap.

Of all boards I run on this server (there are 7 if you count a test board) Renext is the most active one. Therefore I'd like to upgrade it last and first practice on the other 6 boards. I'll give you a warning when I start on ReNext (definitely not today).

While I work on the other boards you may find that the server reacts slower than usual or you might even get error messages. I must upload a few thousand files per board and when the server is very busy it tends to get slow or even shut down other tasks it considers less important (like displaying your posts or remembering that you already logged in).
I appologize for this inconvenience.
It'll be mostly on
Saturday 6-12 am CET / 7am-1 pm GMT / 1 am to 7 am EDT/ Friday 10pm-Saturday 4am PDT and
Sunday about 1 hour later, respectively (we Europeans switch to DST tonight).

[Lupine]

^Good luck!

[huggle]

Thanks 5 of 7 boards have been upgraded. Only TerranBBS and Renext are left.
Unexpectedly, there occurred a problem with TerranArchive's template. It runs the same as TerranBBS and after the upgrade that one doesn't work anymore. I'll have to rebuild it from scratch.
A similar problem might possibly occur at ReNext, but it's far less likely and here the template is much easier to edit. I shall try to do that before the upgrade so that the transit goes smoothly.

TerranBBS might lose their template but the board itself will be functional. As they are the more urgent patient, I'll deal with them first unless a major prob arises here.

[RJDiogenes]

Thank you very much and I'm sorry this is so much work for you. Presumably, even if there are bugs, we'll be okay in the long run as long as we have our database, which I back up pretty much every day.

[huggle]

5 mins ago we switched to the new PHP version. So far it looks rarther good.
TerranBBS had a bug immediately before the switch. As I have not the faintest idea where exactly the problem lies, it is possible that the board will be offline for several weeks. Please spread the word.

[RJDiogenes]

Terran will be offline for weeks? Yikes.

I wonder if the new PHP version will cure the timeouts. In any case, thank you again.

[RJDiogenes]

Guess not.

[huggle]

I'm afraid these errors will continue for a while.
As far as I could see yesterday, the server currently runs two different versions of PHP simultaneousely. Every customer is supposed to switch their own server segment to the new version as soon as they adapted their software (which I did yesterday). Only if they fail to do so, our host will enforce the switch. I had expected them to do that in early April but for some reason they haven't yet. I presume that they are waiting with the enforcement until all of the other 200+ domains on this server have switched (or failed to). Then they'll discontinue the old PHP version.
I strongly suspect that the connection failures and timeouts are caused by the server having to deal with two systems at the same time.
I'm tempted to contact the service technitians but I think that right now they must be extremely busy and getting tons of requests for help. Therefore, it might be best to give them another 2 weeks. If the prob persists after May 1st, I shall contact them.

[huggle]

These timeouts appear to happen always at the same time. Let's note them down - maybe we can trick the server and find a window when the board is guaranteed to work

I had timeouts between high noon and 12:40 pm EST today

[RJDiogenes]

Well, at least we know there's an end in sight. I wonder why different people experience them at different times.

[RJDiogenes]

I just got two posts to go through in a row, which was better than yesterday.

[huggle]

LOL indeed: the performance improved by 100%

[RJDiogenes]

If we can keep that up, we'll be back to normal in four days.

[RJDiogenes]

No timeouts today! Could the curse be broken?

[Orpheus]

Whoa. Just checked in after being mostly offline for over a month. Sorry I wasn't around to help.

I've done several PHP upgrades over the years, but I must confess that none have been problematic. Possible because I didn't leave anyone any choice. I switched the board software over in one swoop [i.e. I left both versions installed, but changed the PHP directory in the board's control panel as a single monolithic action]. I can't imagine any other option. You guys are way fancier than me!

There's a potential risk from other server systems (e.g. MySQL, mail, etc) pointing to the old version in some forgetten setting, but I've never had any problems arise from that.

Someday you'll have to remind me to tell you the OBGYN story of "Fancy!".