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Hi Guest !
Welcome to the 500Eboard forum.
Since its founding in late 2008, 500Eboard has become the leading resource on the Internet for all things related to the Mercedes-Benz 500E and E500. In recent years, we have also expanded to include the 400E and E420 models, which are directly related to the 500E/E500.
We invite you to browse and take advantage of the information and resources here on the site. If you find helpful information, please register for full membership, and you'll find even more resources available. Feel free to ask questions, and make liberal use of the "Search" function to find answers.
We hope you will become an active contributor to the community!
Sincerely,
500Eboard Management
Site update news ...
- Thread starter gerryvz
- Start date
We'll be doing a site software upgrade a bit later tonight, so I expect the board will be down for 20-30 minutes or so.
It is a software upgrade from vBulletin 4.2.1 to 4.2.2, which fixes more than 100 bugs and has some security updates.
Probably will go down around 10 PM PDT.
Cheers,
Gerry
It is a software upgrade from vBulletin 4.2.1 to 4.2.2, which fixes more than 100 bugs and has some security updates.
Probably will go down around 10 PM PDT.
Cheers,
Gerry
Whew .... sweating bullets for about 20 minutes there, after doing the upgrade.
After updating & installing the new software, the site (still turned off) started throwing out major errors in the header. You can see a screen shot attached.
Some fast thinking and judicious code editing had the site back up and running again, normally.
It was an issue with how the new vBulletin handles errors generated by the various non-vBulletin modules we have installed, such as the Wiki.
I think everything is back OK again. Let me know if there are any issues you find.
Cheers,
Gerry
After updating & installing the new software, the site (still turned off) started throwing out major errors in the header. You can see a screen shot attached.
Some fast thinking and judicious code editing had the site back up and running again, normally.
It was an issue with how the new vBulletin handles errors generated by the various non-vBulletin modules we have installed, such as the Wiki.
I think everything is back OK again. Let me know if there are any issues you find.
Cheers,
Gerry
It is the consummate site , worldwide, PERIOD!!
At least you got to look at a pretty car doing that error.
Well done
So true…hello muppet !
Early this morning I updated the Tapatalk plugin from 2.6.0 to the current 2.7.1 version. Tapatalk provides a software app that goes on iPhone/iPad, Android and Windows Mobile devices that allows you to access this and many other forums "on the go." I use it quite frequently and see that quite a number of our members do, as well. I believe the Tapatalk app is a very inexpensive download.
Cheers,
Gerry
Cheers,
Gerry
The Tapatalk folks last Monday released a new version of their plugin for the vBulletin system, version 2.8.0. It didn't seem to have any major reported bugs, so I updated it this morning on the system with the new version.
If you have an Android or iOS based mobile phone or tablet device, I recommend you download the low-cost Tapatalk app for those devices. It provides a nice way to interact with the forum while on the go. I use it quite a bit when in lines, long traffic lights, etc. and it works quite well.
If you have an Android or iOS based mobile phone or tablet device, I recommend you download the low-cost Tapatalk app for those devices. It provides a nice way to interact with the forum while on the go. I use it quite a bit when in lines, long traffic lights, etc. and it works quite well.
Later this week, I will very likely be purchasing and upgrading the Wiki software from version 3.2.0 Patch Level 1, to the newer VaultWiki Version 4.0. It has been out for a number of months, and seems to be a stable piece of software now.
Major add-ons like the Wiki software often get broken with revisions to the base vBulletin code, so it's important to ensure that all of the "showstopper" bugs and their permutations are worked out before upgrading. Otherwise you have happen what I recently had to deal with ..... a seemingly innocuous patch to the vBulletin software that creates major bugs and errors, necessitating a MAJOR, late-night GVZ "oh $hit" moment and then a frenzy of PHP coding modifications to several of the thousands of individual files that comprise the vBulletin software.
I'll give you more precise warning the night that I bring the site down for VaultWiki upgrade.
Cheers,
Gerry
Major add-ons like the Wiki software often get broken with revisions to the base vBulletin code, so it's important to ensure that all of the "showstopper" bugs and their permutations are worked out before upgrading. Otherwise you have happen what I recently had to deal with ..... a seemingly innocuous patch to the vBulletin software that creates major bugs and errors, necessitating a MAJOR, late-night GVZ "oh $hit" moment and then a frenzy of PHP coding modifications to several of the thousands of individual files that comprise the vBulletin software.
I'll give you more precise warning the night that I bring the site down for VaultWiki upgrade.
Cheers,
Gerry
All been good with Tapatalk lately?
I made a slight change in the display order of the forums, so that the 400E/E420 sub-forum group is now displayed AFTER the "Full Members Only / 500E-E500 Resources" sub-forum group, and immediately BEFORE the C126 sub-forum group.
This groups and places all 500E and E500 related forums (including the "Other Discussions" forums, where the off-topic discussions are located) ABOVE the 400E/E420 and C126 forums.
Cheers,
Gerry
This groups and places all 500E and E500 related forums (including the "Other Discussions" forums, where the off-topic discussions are located) ABOVE the 400E/E420 and C126 forums.
Cheers,
Gerry
OK, the Tapatalk update is uploaded and final.
Here is a list of the changes to the current version.
If you have any problems with Tapatalk on your iOS, Android or Windows Mobile device, please delete Tapatalk and re-install it on the device.
Cheers,
Gerry
Tapatalk vBulletin 4.* plugin series 4.8.1 released
Update note:
Here is a list of the changes to the current version.
If you have any problems with Tapatalk on your iOS, Android or Windows Mobile device, please delete Tapatalk and re-install it on the device.
Cheers,
Gerry
Tapatalk vBulletin 4.* plugin series 4.8.1 released
Update note:
- Fix potential duplicate file include problem.
- Fix bug of jumping to wrong post when entering from participated/timeline/unread
- Add debug mode for quicker support
- Remove log file generation
- Remove system version for security purpose
Over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, in addition to the top-end rebuild I'll be starting on my wife's M104, I have one other task that is site-related. I should finalize my research into creating/implementing a searchable database front-end for the forum, to allow members to access the E500E database. The same thing will be implemented for the MB parts list, so that part numbers and associated prices will be searchable from this site.
From a technical standpoint, my E500E database and the parts price list have already been imported into databases, and are uploaded to this site. The challenge (and conundrum) I have had over the past year or two, has been how to create and implement a front-end to search the E500E and part number databases. The big decision that is pending, is whether to do this "front end" from WITHIN the site (as a sub-forum) or have it jump to another web page with a different look and feel. I am tending toward keeping things within the front-end of the vBulletin system, as this is fairly easy to use and people are familiar with it.
Once that decision is finalized, implementation begins, and then it will entail merging of the existing database (which has all of the VIN numbers, option codes, etc.) together with my database containing photos, notes, and other observations about cars that have come up for sale.
I believe that the 10+ years of data I have collected is around 10 GB of PDF and HTML pages (I have saved information about each car in both PDF and HTML formats), so it's a lot of information to integrate with the raw MB data card data. Each car will have around 40-50 pieces of data associated with it ... option codes, location data, mileage data, my and others' notes, links to specific "for sale" pages on this site, and so forth. So it is a lot of data to integrate, for sure. And it will probably be a thing where I work on 25-50 cars per night.
The culmination of this effort will really be the ultimate realization of my initial vision for this site (and what I had pushed Scott to do with 500Ecstasy, several times, when it was up and running). It will, at that point, be a lasting and important piece of documentation for the E500E.
A quick update for everyone:
I have doubled the maximum number of PMs you can have stored in your inbox and outbox, for all users, from the previously set 250 messages, up to 500.
This is an extremely generous number of PMs to be able to have stored.
I have also increased the number of images that can be attached to a single post.
Cheers,
Gerry
I have doubled the maximum number of PMs you can have stored in your inbox and outbox, for all users, from the previously set 250 messages, up to 500.
This is an extremely generous number of PMs to be able to have stored.
I have also increased the number of images that can be attached to a single post.
Cheers,
Gerry
All:
I will be updating the Tapatalk software tonight on the 500Eboard server, very likely late in the evening (11 PM Central time). I do not think the forum will be affected, meaning it will not be taken offline, so you should see no effect.
However, if you are using Tapatalk on a mobile device, such as an Android or iOS device, you may need to get out of the app or delete it and then reload it on your device. Some folks have experienced problems in the past when I have updated the Tapatalk software on the server side. There may or may not be a problem on your mobile device, but I just wanted to let you know a bit in advance.
Cheers,
Gerry
I will be updating the Tapatalk software tonight on the 500Eboard server, very likely late in the evening (11 PM Central time). I do not think the forum will be affected, meaning it will not be taken offline, so you should see no effect.
However, if you are using Tapatalk on a mobile device, such as an Android or iOS device, you may need to get out of the app or delete it and then reload it on your device. Some folks have experienced problems in the past when I have updated the Tapatalk software on the server side. There may or may not be a problem on your mobile device, but I just wanted to let you know a bit in advance.
Cheers,
Gerry
vBulletin just issued a mandatory security patch for the site software, so I'll be taking the site offline for probably 15-20 minutes early tomorrow (Friday) morning to apply the patch.
Should be transparent to everyone, but if you see the notice that the site is offline, just come back a little while later.
Should be transparent to everyone, but if you see the notice that the site is offline, just come back a little while later.
Patch applied....all good !!!
Brief site downtime tonight
I'll be bringing the site down for about 10-15 minutes tonight to update the Tapatalk software on the server. They've release two new versions - 4.9.2 (which is a production version with a few bug-fixes) and 5.0.0 (which is a beta, that I won't install so that it doesn't break anything for the many of you who use Tapatalk on your mobile devices).
Cheers,
Gerry
I'll be bringing the site down for about 10-15 minutes tonight to update the Tapatalk software on the server. They've release two new versions - 4.9.2 (which is a production version with a few bug-fixes) and 5.0.0 (which is a beta, that I won't install so that it doesn't break anything for the many of you who use Tapatalk on your mobile devices).
Cheers,
Gerry
Re: Brief site downtime tonight
Yes, the site can be configured to use SSL and https. That is a capability that is offered through the hosting provider that I have not bothered to implement. I will be happy to oblige that.
Because this site does not currently use OpenSSL, or any type of encryption, the Heartbleed bug does not currently apply to this site. I will wait a while before implementing SSL as an optional way to access this site, until I am sure that the hosting provider has implemented a patched version of SSL that is not vulnerable.
Cheers,
Gerry
Yes, the site can be configured to use SSL and https. That is a capability that is offered through the hosting provider that I have not bothered to implement. I will be happy to oblige that.
Because this site does not currently use OpenSSL, or any type of encryption, the Heartbleed bug does not currently apply to this site. I will wait a while before implementing SSL as an optional way to access this site, until I am sure that the hosting provider has implemented a patched version of SSL that is not vulnerable.
Cheers,
Gerry
Re: Brief site downtime tonight
Basically what I will do is order an SSL certificate and implement it. From there, I will redirect the URL for the site from an unprotected "http:" prefix to a secure "https:" prefix, which should also show the little "lock" icon in the URL bar of the browser. I will let folks know when this is complete, as it will require some editing of the site's domain files in the root directory to accommodate.
As long as folks are using any modern browser (mobile or on a desktop/laptop computer) they should be fine. That would include browsers such as Firefox, Internet Exploder, Chrome, Safari, Opera and the like.
I will keep people updated on this.
Cheers,
Gerry
Implementing an SSL certificate for the site is $30 for the first year, and $50 annually thereafter. Normally, since no e-commerce is being done on this site, SSL encryption is really not necessary because no sensitive data is being passed around (such as credit card billing info, confidential personal data, and so forth). However, having SSL available is probably not a bad idea, so that folks can be reassured that their interactions with the site are encrypted.
Basically what I will do is order an SSL certificate and implement it. From there, I will redirect the URL for the site from an unprotected "http:" prefix to a secure "https:" prefix, which should also show the little "lock" icon in the URL bar of the browser. I will let folks know when this is complete, as it will require some editing of the site's domain files in the root directory to accommodate.
As long as folks are using any modern browser (mobile or on a desktop/laptop computer) they should be fine. That would include browsers such as Firefox, Internet Exploder, Chrome, Safari, Opera and the like.
I will keep people updated on this.
Cheers,
Gerry
Re: Brief site downtime tonight
I am going to make a slight change to the site settings - a thought prompted by TheDrivenMan's comment about his post being buried in the "For Sale" section of the site.
Specifically, I have the site set up so that all attached photos in all forums require that the reader be registered with the site, to view.
Linked photos (say to places like photobucket, Google Drive or imgur, etc.) do not require a registration to view. However, linked photos are generally discouraged here, particularly for items in the "For Sale" section, because we like to maintain all photos as part of a car's permanent record, and having them uploaded into the site's database allows this before an ad is taken down and the photos are lost forever.
Given the popularity of the For Sale section among registered and non-registered members alike, and as a service to help sellers, I am going to make some settings changes in the near future to the FOR SALE related sub-forums that will allow all comers to view attached photos, instead of requiring a membership to do so. Of course, linked photos will remain unaffected as always. Attached photos in the technical forums will continue to require a registered member to view.
Also, I am considering making a sub-forum or Wiki entry that details all of the HOW-TO articles on the site in one place, perhaps categorized by car's system. This could also be implemented as a "Sticky" Note at the top of each existing sub-forum, detailing & linking to the HOW-TO articles that are available in that specific sub-forum.
I am going to make a slight change to the site settings - a thought prompted by TheDrivenMan's comment about his post being buried in the "For Sale" section of the site.
Specifically, I have the site set up so that all attached photos in all forums require that the reader be registered with the site, to view.
Linked photos (say to places like photobucket, Google Drive or imgur, etc.) do not require a registration to view. However, linked photos are generally discouraged here, particularly for items in the "For Sale" section, because we like to maintain all photos as part of a car's permanent record, and having them uploaded into the site's database allows this before an ad is taken down and the photos are lost forever.
Given the popularity of the For Sale section among registered and non-registered members alike, and as a service to help sellers, I am going to make some settings changes in the near future to the FOR SALE related sub-forums that will allow all comers to view attached photos, instead of requiring a membership to do so. Of course, linked photos will remain unaffected as always. Attached photos in the technical forums will continue to require a registered member to view.
Also, I am considering making a sub-forum or Wiki entry that details all of the HOW-TO articles on the site in one place, perhaps categorized by car's system. This could also be implemented as a "Sticky" Note at the top of each existing sub-forum, detailing & linking to the HOW-TO articles that are available in that specific sub-forum.
Re: Brief site downtime tonight
I have set up Forum permissions so that any user (registered or non-registered) can see all photos attached to the Parts and Cars For Sale sub-forums, as well as the .034 Cars for Sale sub-forum. This will help a bit with increasing exposure for sellers.
Cheers,
Gerry
I have set up Forum permissions so that any user (registered or non-registered) can see all photos attached to the Parts and Cars For Sale sub-forums, as well as the .034 Cars for Sale sub-forum. This will help a bit with increasing exposure for sellers.
Cheers,
Gerry
Re: Brief site downtime tonight
I did a quick software upgrade of the vBadvanced CMPS module to version 4.3.0. This is the software that you see when you go to the main site home page at http://www.500Eboard.com (Not the forum URL of http://www.500eboard.com/forums/).
This was the first time in about two years that this software has been updated. Let me know if you see any problems or issues; everything with the forum itself should be just fine and no one should see any real differences.
Cheers,
Gerry
I did a quick software upgrade of the vBadvanced CMPS module to version 4.3.0. This is the software that you see when you go to the main site home page at http://www.500Eboard.com (Not the forum URL of http://www.500eboard.com/forums/).
This was the first time in about two years that this software has been updated. Let me know if you see any problems or issues; everything with the forum itself should be just fine and no one should see any real differences.
Cheers,
Gerry
One small change ... I have brought back the "Quick Reply" form at the bottom when a thread is displayed, so that you don't have to click on "Reply" to bring it up. This is the way it used to be for quite some time, but I had disabled this function a couple of months ago. It was cumbersome so I switched it back -- makes things a bit more convenient.
Looks like we're going to hit the 3,500 member mark tomorrow. That's 1,000 new members in the past 11 months. I'll give my comprehensive annual report on the status of the site with comparo to previous periods, and to 500Ecstasy at its peak, next month per usual.
Mid-July will be the third anniversary of this site going over to the vBulletin platform from the free phpBB forum software, by the way. Really glad I did that.
Mid-July will be the third anniversary of this site going over to the vBulletin platform from the free phpBB forum software, by the way. Really glad I did that.
Wow Gerry, its looks like our small group is growing, whats driving all of the new members to join ?
Thanks for all of your hard work on this site !
Several new things in the works, when I can find the time.
A lot of the new members are coming from other forums I think. As 500Eboard has continued to elevate in the search engine rankings (I think we're now the second-ranked site on Google, behind the Wikipedia 500E page, when you type "Mercedes 500E" into Google) I think it continues to attract new members. Our threads are also appearing very high in search engine rankings that pertain to key topics for all W124 and W126 owners like CAN buses, wiring harnesses, and so forth.
I look at the weekly site stats and the vast majority of incoming referrals are from Google sites worldwide. We're up to around 4,400-4,500 "hits" daily from unique IP addresses, which is also substantially higher than we have had in the past.
I calculated it out, and the site is getting a unique hit about every 20 seconds, or around three per minute.
Cheers,
Gerry
A lot of the new members are coming from other forums I think. As 500Eboard has continued to elevate in the search engine rankings (I think we're now the second-ranked site on Google, behind the Wikipedia 500E page, when you type "Mercedes 500E" into Google) I think it continues to attract new members. Our threads are also appearing very high in search engine rankings that pertain to key topics for all W124 and W126 owners like CAN buses, wiring harnesses, and so forth.
I look at the weekly site stats and the vast majority of incoming referrals are from Google sites worldwide. We're up to around 4,400-4,500 "hits" daily from unique IP addresses, which is also substantially higher than we have had in the past.
I calculated it out, and the site is getting a unique hit about every 20 seconds, or around three per minute.
Cheers,
Gerry
Folks,
This is an important message, so please listen closely.
Thanks for your patience in dealing with the issues with the site. I too have noticed a steady decrease in site performance over the past couple of weeks. Over the past few days, I've been getting 8-10 error messages PER HOUR whereas I used to get 1-2 per week over the past few years.
After some (about 4) hours of investigation, it appears that there are a couple of potential issues at play here. The first one is that there is some software on the 500Eboard site that is running out of control -- possibly a plugin or even the vBulletin software itself. I do not believe this is the problem because all of this code has been well tested and has been in production for some time, so any major bugs and flaws would have been identified and patched in the past.
The second potential issue is that, because 500Eboard is running on a shared server with dozens if not hundreds of other, unrelated web site, that the server is simply overwhelmed with the load, and/or that there are software on OTHER web sites that is causing the server to run slowly. Basically another site or sites are hogging the bandwidth the is supposed to be shared by all. Unfortunately we don't have control over the system's resources or other sites because I don't have "root" access to the server to control it.
I believe the cause of the issue is the second scenario above, because the vBulletin software has been running fine for years, as have the plugins (with the exception of the Tapatalk plugin, which is updated every couple or three months). I got deep into the system and looked at the resource utilization, and could not find anything on the 500Eboard site that was causing high processor utilization or high memory usage. But my view is only into our software, not other sites and not into the system as a whole, so I can't see overall what is happening on the server.
Lastly, I had the hosting company do a "reset" of the back end of the 500Eboard site, basically to free up resources and kill anything on our site that would have been potentially running unchecked, out of control. Doing this does not seem to have solved the problem over the past couple of hours. This has led me to consider alternatives to make the site both more reliable, and to perform better once it is back up and running as it should be.
I have made a major decision to upgrade the site's infrastructure to a DEDICATED server. What this means is that the site will have its own dedicated system that will give me 100% control over all its operational aspects - the same as if I was running the site off of a computer in my house.
This is in direct contrast to the "shared" hosting that we have now. Shared hosting means that many many web sites & customers use the same server for their web site, including processing, memory and disk storage space. You are effectively competing with other sites for the available resources.
The new DEDICATED server will provide specific, permanent compute/memory/storage resources to 500Eboard. It's a considerably more expensive option, but it will alleviate the currently constrained resources that we currently have (even with the expanded memory resources that I purchased yesterday) and will give me excellent ability to not only maintain the software and the site (as I have been) but also to manage and maintain the underlying hardware and infrastructure BELOW the site.
What this means for all of us ......
Nothing is going to change. At some point I am going to "freeze" this site for a few hours, so I can download all of the data, site files and database that back-ends the site. Then I will simply upload all of it to the new "dedicated" server, and then point the 500Eboard domain record over to the new server. I will give everyone a warning when things are about to be "frozen" so that no important posts are lost. I will also put a "sticky" note up to warn people what is coming. During the actual "freeze" period I will LIKELY put up the "500Eboard will be back soon ... doing a software upgrade" message so that people will be locked out while the upgrade to the new dedicated server is happening.
I will likely do this overnight so that folks in the US are unaware that anything is happening at all. Folks in Europe and Asia will probably be more likely to encounter the upgrade window.
The database behind the site will be backed up TWO times during the "freeze" period (and saved both to an off-site location in the cloud as well as to my hard drive), and there is NO chance that any data will be lost. Also just so you know, I personally back up the database every Friday at 5PM to my hard drive, so I have 5 years' worth of site backups.
Literally the "freeze" operation will be to just copy all data from the current 500Eboard on-line folders to my hard drive, and then upload everything identically to the new server, and ensure that the 500Eboard.com domain pointer goes to the new server instead of the old one (which takes a few minutes).
I expect to have the new dedicated server set up within the next 48 hours. I am hoping to get the data transfer and "freeze" period done before I leave for Europe on Thursday. If not then I will likely do it FROM Munich over the weekend after I arrive there.
I do not want folks to suffer with these error messages and slow site longer than they have to. It's an important impetus to adjust the site's infrastructure in recognition that the site has grown beyond it's initial phase and is entering an exciting new phase where it's larger and more significant.
Again, please don't worry as the site isn't going anywhere, no data will be lost. For most of you it should be seamless and the site shouldn't miss a beat.
Thanks for your continuing patience & support. Know that things will be better than before once we make the transition.
Cheers,
Gerry
This is an important message, so please listen closely.
Thanks for your patience in dealing with the issues with the site. I too have noticed a steady decrease in site performance over the past couple of weeks. Over the past few days, I've been getting 8-10 error messages PER HOUR whereas I used to get 1-2 per week over the past few years.
After some (about 4) hours of investigation, it appears that there are a couple of potential issues at play here. The first one is that there is some software on the 500Eboard site that is running out of control -- possibly a plugin or even the vBulletin software itself. I do not believe this is the problem because all of this code has been well tested and has been in production for some time, so any major bugs and flaws would have been identified and patched in the past.
The second potential issue is that, because 500Eboard is running on a shared server with dozens if not hundreds of other, unrelated web site, that the server is simply overwhelmed with the load, and/or that there are software on OTHER web sites that is causing the server to run slowly. Basically another site or sites are hogging the bandwidth the is supposed to be shared by all. Unfortunately we don't have control over the system's resources or other sites because I don't have "root" access to the server to control it.
I believe the cause of the issue is the second scenario above, because the vBulletin software has been running fine for years, as have the plugins (with the exception of the Tapatalk plugin, which is updated every couple or three months). I got deep into the system and looked at the resource utilization, and could not find anything on the 500Eboard site that was causing high processor utilization or high memory usage. But my view is only into our software, not other sites and not into the system as a whole, so I can't see overall what is happening on the server.
Lastly, I had the hosting company do a "reset" of the back end of the 500Eboard site, basically to free up resources and kill anything on our site that would have been potentially running unchecked, out of control. Doing this does not seem to have solved the problem over the past couple of hours. This has led me to consider alternatives to make the site both more reliable, and to perform better once it is back up and running as it should be.
I have made a major decision to upgrade the site's infrastructure to a DEDICATED server. What this means is that the site will have its own dedicated system that will give me 100% control over all its operational aspects - the same as if I was running the site off of a computer in my house.
This is in direct contrast to the "shared" hosting that we have now. Shared hosting means that many many web sites & customers use the same server for their web site, including processing, memory and disk storage space. You are effectively competing with other sites for the available resources.
The new DEDICATED server will provide specific, permanent compute/memory/storage resources to 500Eboard. It's a considerably more expensive option, but it will alleviate the currently constrained resources that we currently have (even with the expanded memory resources that I purchased yesterday) and will give me excellent ability to not only maintain the software and the site (as I have been) but also to manage and maintain the underlying hardware and infrastructure BELOW the site.
What this means for all of us ......
Nothing is going to change. At some point I am going to "freeze" this site for a few hours, so I can download all of the data, site files and database that back-ends the site. Then I will simply upload all of it to the new "dedicated" server, and then point the 500Eboard domain record over to the new server. I will give everyone a warning when things are about to be "frozen" so that no important posts are lost. I will also put a "sticky" note up to warn people what is coming. During the actual "freeze" period I will LIKELY put up the "500Eboard will be back soon ... doing a software upgrade" message so that people will be locked out while the upgrade to the new dedicated server is happening.
I will likely do this overnight so that folks in the US are unaware that anything is happening at all. Folks in Europe and Asia will probably be more likely to encounter the upgrade window.
The database behind the site will be backed up TWO times during the "freeze" period (and saved both to an off-site location in the cloud as well as to my hard drive), and there is NO chance that any data will be lost. Also just so you know, I personally back up the database every Friday at 5PM to my hard drive, so I have 5 years' worth of site backups.
Literally the "freeze" operation will be to just copy all data from the current 500Eboard on-line folders to my hard drive, and then upload everything identically to the new server, and ensure that the 500Eboard.com domain pointer goes to the new server instead of the old one (which takes a few minutes).
I expect to have the new dedicated server set up within the next 48 hours. I am hoping to get the data transfer and "freeze" period done before I leave for Europe on Thursday. If not then I will likely do it FROM Munich over the weekend after I arrive there.
I do not want folks to suffer with these error messages and slow site longer than they have to. It's an important impetus to adjust the site's infrastructure in recognition that the site has grown beyond it's initial phase and is entering an exciting new phase where it's larger and more significant.
Again, please don't worry as the site isn't going anywhere, no data will be lost. For most of you it should be seamless and the site shouldn't miss a beat.
Thanks for your continuing patience & support. Know that things will be better than before once we make the transition.
Cheers,
Gerry
Hey Gerry, I know you will not accept cash donations, but next time you are in Washington DC, there is a nice meal and some beer or wine waiting at your convenience! Thanks for giving us such a nice forum!!!
Ditto in Boise!!
+1...count me in. I'd like to contribute when/if Gerry stops by the DC area. Thank you Gerry!
