IMPORTANT: Server Move
Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2014 11:15 am
As you may have noticed, the site has been inaccessible for the past 24 hours (yet again). The continued down-time and slow server is clearly unacceptable (it has been slow for at least the past 12 - 18 months now). Our host, Dreamhost, has been really unhelpful on the occasions I have reported the issue. Thus I'm going to find a new host and transfer the site across.
I have identified a suitable host and I'm in the process of comparing them with alternatives to check that I've made a suitable choice. The prospective new host is based in the UK which I think is a good compromise given that the community is predominantly based in North America and Europe. I've been looking ideally for servers located in Western Europe or the east coast of the US/Canada as it is as close to a mid-point as possible. Currently our servers are based on the west coast of the US. Getting the server as central as possible will help ensure as many users as possible get a fast connection.
I have a few days booked off work from the middle of next week and so it will provide a good opportunity to make the server move. The process should be reasonably straightforward but it will be time-consuming. First off, I will need to download our ~2gb site from our current server to my laptop and then upload it to the new server (unfortunately I don't have the fastest of broadband connections so this will take some time). I hope to be able to do this as soon as possible early next week (I can transfer the site across without interrupting access to the site). Once this is done, I will then move the site's database (~1gb) from the current server to our new server (again, I'll need to download it via my laptop). The database contains all of the forum posts, user accounts, challenge data, wiki data, etc from the site. Thus in order to transfer it, I'll need to disable the site. Hopefully I'll do this on Wednesday 16th April (if not, it'll be at some point between 17-21th April). Transferring the database is a bit of an involved/complex process and is the hardest part of the move.
Once the site is fully set up on the new server, I will update our domain name (i.e. http://www.ehmtheblueline.com) so that it points to the new server. It can take some time for the domain name to update (up to 72 hours IIRC), but I'll do my best to speed up the process. Hopefully it won't take more than 12 hours.
Fingers crossed that the server move goes well and we have a more reliable server henceforth.
By the way, I will be posting updates on our Facebook page during the server move. I think this is the best way of keeping people up to date on the progress in the absence of these forums. I don't think you have to sign up to Facebook in order to see our page. You can view our Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/ehmtheblueline
I have identified a suitable host and I'm in the process of comparing them with alternatives to check that I've made a suitable choice. The prospective new host is based in the UK which I think is a good compromise given that the community is predominantly based in North America and Europe. I've been looking ideally for servers located in Western Europe or the east coast of the US/Canada as it is as close to a mid-point as possible. Currently our servers are based on the west coast of the US. Getting the server as central as possible will help ensure as many users as possible get a fast connection.
I have a few days booked off work from the middle of next week and so it will provide a good opportunity to make the server move. The process should be reasonably straightforward but it will be time-consuming. First off, I will need to download our ~2gb site from our current server to my laptop and then upload it to the new server (unfortunately I don't have the fastest of broadband connections so this will take some time). I hope to be able to do this as soon as possible early next week (I can transfer the site across without interrupting access to the site). Once this is done, I will then move the site's database (~1gb) from the current server to our new server (again, I'll need to download it via my laptop). The database contains all of the forum posts, user accounts, challenge data, wiki data, etc from the site. Thus in order to transfer it, I'll need to disable the site. Hopefully I'll do this on Wednesday 16th April (if not, it'll be at some point between 17-21th April). Transferring the database is a bit of an involved/complex process and is the hardest part of the move.
Once the site is fully set up on the new server, I will update our domain name (i.e. http://www.ehmtheblueline.com) so that it points to the new server. It can take some time for the domain name to update (up to 72 hours IIRC), but I'll do my best to speed up the process. Hopefully it won't take more than 12 hours.
Fingers crossed that the server move goes well and we have a more reliable server henceforth.
By the way, I will be posting updates on our Facebook page during the server move. I think this is the best way of keeping people up to date on the progress in the absence of these forums. I don't think you have to sign up to Facebook in order to see our page. You can view our Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/ehmtheblueline
