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Switching to New Server

Posted: Wed Aug 21, 2019 8:47 pm
by JohnM
Hello Guys,

I am working on moving to a different hosting service that is a bit less expensive.

The forum and website will have to be migrated to the new provider.

This will be happening right away.

Hopefully there will not be any problems or just minimal ones.

I will let you know when we have switched so we can give it a testing out.

I recommend not posting anything too significant until you hear back from me because there will be some time lost (hopefully minimal) as they do the migration.

John

Re: Switching to New Server

Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2019 9:30 am
by JohnM
JohnM wrote:
Wed Aug 21, 2019 8:47 pm
I recommend not posting anything too significant until you hear back from me because there will be some time lost (hopefully minimal) as they do the migration.
UPDATE

The migration started at 4am EST this morning.

Any posts from Aug 22, 2019 at 4am until I announce that the migration is complete will be lost.

So save them until you hear back from me that we are all set.

John

Re: Switching to New Server

Posted: Sat Aug 24, 2019 2:50 pm
by JohnM
UPDATE

The files were moved to the new server and everything seems to work good, however we are still waiting for the domain name to be transferred to the new provider (up to 7 days) so we can point to the new site.

The new provider (HostGator) should have moved the files, pointed to the new server with the domain and THEN transfer the domain but they did it at the same time which was not a good idea.

I did save $215 on the three year plan as compared to the old providers fees (Go Daddy). Additionally the site will now have an SSL certificate included with the new plan which was an additional $195 with the old provider.

Even if you do not do commerce on a site, SSL is now being pushed as a standard on all sites. The information we send on the forum is not that sensitive, but having SSL will eliminate the "not secure" messages and give better positioning with Google searches.

As I said before Any posts from Aug 22, 2019 at 4am until I announce that the migration is complete will be lost.

If all goes well with the domain transfer and we get a lot of new messages, I MAY ask HostGator to resync the files so we will get more of the posts, but if there are more issues like the one I mentioned above I may just let it be. Either way, we will still lose some messages because pointing to the domain takes 24 to 48 hours to take effect. UGH COMPUTERS!

I am sorry for the inconvenience but we should be good by next week and hopefully for the next three years.

John

Re: Switching to New Server

Posted: Sun Aug 25, 2019 9:31 am
by ØyvindK
The issue with a transfer like this, is that as long as the site seems fine, people will post messages. And all of those messages will be lost as long as the provider doesn't re-sync the files. I hope that can be done, but if not it isn't that big a deal.

The only way to avoid this, is to shut down the forum (or make it read-only) while the transfer is happening, unfortunately.

Re: Switching to New Server

Posted: Sun Aug 25, 2019 11:10 pm
by VictorS
Thanks so much John for providing us great service and support.

Re: Switching to New Server

Posted: Tue Aug 27, 2019 7:30 pm
by JohnM
Yes ØyvindK you seem to be correct and it will all be fine no mater how it turns out. I just did not want someone to create a lengthy post about a new routine or project and something like that being lost.

You are welcome Victor.

Still waiting for the domain transfer by the way.

Re: Switching to New Server

Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2019 12:39 pm
by JohnM
UPDATE:

I think we are all done.

I did have them resync the site yesterday so we have most of the messages that were posted.

We did lose some messages from the last day or so which was unavoidable but there were not that many.

Hopefully we are all good.

Re: Switching to New Server

Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2019 4:20 pm
by Rob Rand
I’m very happy John that most of the posts are restored, and I like it that we now even get a mail after receiving a PM :)

That’s a huge improvement!

Re: Switching to New Server

Posted: Sun Sep 01, 2019 12:58 pm
by David DeTenyo
Great job you did there John, thanks!

Re: Switching to New Server

Posted: Sun Sep 01, 2019 1:01 pm
by Steve S.
Please allow me to point out that the “Not Secure” notification is still present at the top as it has been.

Re: Switching to New Server

Posted: Sun Sep 01, 2019 3:46 pm
by Richard W
Steve S. wrote:
Sun Sep 01, 2019 1:01 pm
Please allow me to point out that the “Not Secure” notification is still present at the top as it has been.
Everybody needs to log in on the secure server link below. :)

https://funstuffonly.com/tenyoforum/

Thank me very much.

Popcorn

Re: Switching to New Server

Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2019 4:41 pm
by JohnM
Richard W wrote:
Sun Sep 01, 2019 3:46 pm

Everybody needs to log in on the secure server link below. :)

https://funstuffonly.com/tenyoforum/

Thank me very much.

Popcorn
THANK YOU VERY MUCH RICHARD!!!

Re: Switching to New Server

Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 3:42 am
by ØyvindK
John, may I suggest you set up a server side forwarding/redirecting from http to https? That is how most other sites do it, and in my opinion there is no reason not to.

I don't know the exact system for this forum, but most likely you'll have to edit the .htaccess file on the server to have it rewrite http requests to https. You may also need to change the base url in the phpBB settings, but I don't run any phpBB forums, so I'm not entirely certain.

Re: Switching to New Server

Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2019 3:55 pm
by JohnM
ØyvindK wrote:
Tue Sep 10, 2019 3:42 am
John, may I suggest you set up a server side forwarding/redirecting from http to https? That is how most other sites do it, and in my opinion there is no reason not to.

I don't know the exact system for this forum, but most likely you'll have to edit the .htaccess file on the server to have it rewrite http requests to https. You may also need to change the base url in the phpBB settings, but I don't run any phpBB forums, so I'm not entirely certain.
OK thanks I will look into it

Re: Switching to New Server

Posted: Sat Sep 28, 2019 7:13 am
by Olaf S
I have noticed that now that all forum pages work with https

there are no more posted YouTube videos in the thread ❓

The videos are only visible if the page is called

as a normal unsecured http page ...

Re: Switching to New Server

Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2019 6:50 pm
by JohnM
I think/hope the problem with the youtube videos is fixed.
Thank you Olaf for the heads up.

ALSO

I had the host company properly set-up the SSL so you should always see the LOCK icon.
Thank you ØyvindK for the suggestion

Re: Switching to New Server

Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2019 6:54 pm
by ØyvindK
Great, John! Now it redirects properly to the secure version automatically! Thanks!

Re: Switching to New Server

Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2019 7:40 pm
by Rob Rand
Great JohnM! Gives me a save feeling...