Site upgrade and server move

[Oli]

Dear members,

Over the course of the next few days I will be upgrading the website to the latest version of the forum software and moving the site to a new server. Unfortunately there's no way to do this without causing some disruption but it's something that needs to be done for a few reasons:

1) We'll be moving to my own server - it's a dedicated machine which isn't shared with any other organisations. This way we have full control and can respond quickly to any problems without having to rely on a third party.

2) Our site currently runs version 3.4 of the forum software, the current version is 4.2.6 - we are at least 10 versions out of date so are long overdue an upgrade from both a security and features point of view.

3) Web hosting costs PBSBAC £160 per year or thereabouts. This is a cost which the club will no longer incur as I'll host the site on a server that I have anyway. This next invoice is due on 20th December so we want to switch before then.

The new site is currently live at http://pbsbac.vanderquest.co.uk/- the next step is to change the settings of http://www.pbsbac.co.uk/ so it points at the new site. This is where the disruption will be however those who cannot hold their excitement in are welcome to use the first link while the usual web address is out of action. This could take anywhere from 24 hours to 3 days. It's a slightly different layout that we can fully customise as we go along.

The main things that we will have problems with are:

1) Catch reporting. This is a custom created application that may not take too well to being transferred - we'll see!

2) I should be able to transfer across all the most recent posts/topics but some of the images posted between 27th Nov when I began this process and now will likely be lost. Older photos will be fine. Private messages between those dates will also likely be lost.

3) Some of the committee have had problems logging in and their passwords have needed resetting - if you have this issue please email me at oliver@maingay.co.uk and I'll sort it out ASAP for you.

We'd welcome any feedback once transferred over - if there's something you don't like or something you find which doesn't work please post a reply here so I can try and get it resolved.

Fingers crossed it all goes smoothly and see you on the other side!

Oli
 

[Reel Wizzard]

Wow great work Oli, This must of taken you some time to do ? just like to say it is well appreciated and probably long over due. I look forward to using the new site. Have a great Christmas and Happy New Year.

[Jim]

Wow great work Oli, This must of taken you some time to do ? just like to say it is well appreciated and probably long over due. I look forward to using the new site. Have a great Christmas and Happy New Year.

Yep !

 

What HE said !  ;)  ;)

 

It's all mumbo jumbo to me Oli.

I wouldn't know where to start on a task like that !

Cheers.

Jim

[great white]

Well done Oli :D

 

When we lost the site for a while recently it became obvious how much we do use it to stay in touch with friends and keep an eye on recent fishing activities.

 

I am sure Brian also appreciates the cost savings too. :D

[Steve S]

Well done Oli and thank you, I really do understand how much work that is. I know dealing with the server management organisations can be painful, slow and very frustrating depending on the company.

 

I do have some questions regarding the deployment of your server, I am really not trying to annoy here just I don't know your server system and some are just a PC in the corner of a bedroom.

 

How are the backups done and how often?

What is the plan when the server fails in terms of getting the site up and running again?

What is the plan for when a server problem occurs when you are on holiday or similar, can someone else restart it?

[Oli]

Hi Steve

Not in any way annoying, all questions welcomed! It's a dedicated server through Fasthosts. On their site the model is DS761, running Linux CentOS.

It also hosts two of our company websites and is a vital part of our business so backups are done every two days. This is an automatic process whereby the entire server (35GB) is uploaded via FTP to another server I have in the data cabinet in my offices. A minimum of 10 backups (20 days') is held at any one time if if something goes wrong today and the server backs up tonight, tonights backup (containing the fault) is not the only one I have and I can go back to two days ago, or two weeks ago if necessary.

Being a dedicated server and a relatively (compared with usual shared hosting) expensive contract, there is premium tech support through Fasthosts if required. If the server fails it means the websites accounting for half of my company's turnover have also failed so I can assure you there's no rest until it's back up and running. My colleagues can restart it if necessary however there would be no such thing as a holiday where I wasn't on hand to be able to fix/assist with fixing that sort of problem!

Hope that helps,

Oli

[sparky]

Could not get in site today, locked me out !!

Luckily my daughters partner helped me out, me personally  I don't like the change and layout 

Surely the way it was laid out could of been left ? Ok , if you are PC literate fine, but a lot of us ain't !

[Jim]

I too am crap at this sort of thing Mick.

Looking at the new layout though . . . . . . I like it !

I'm struggling to find things . . . .  but I like it !

It's just becoming used to it that's needed. That's how us boys learn . . . . . go and find a stick and poke at it ! !

Maybe we can get one ( or more ) of our more poota friendly chaps to bring laptops into next month's meeting and we can bounce ideas off each other ( like wot the kids do )

Just found out you can drag & drop pictures on here. Niiiiiice !

[sparky]

Fair enough if you use computers all the time Jim, but as you know I'm bloody useless with them!

The way the old site was set out was easy to use and get round even for me, probably suited a lot of others too.

My idea is " if it ain't broke don't fix it "

Just my opinion Jim.

[Oli]

Unfortunately Mick, in a way it was broken so did need to be fixed (remember the outages over the past few months?). As I mentioned above, we were at least 10 versions out of date and there were many security holes - guess who is at most risk from being hacked or scammed online? It's the people who aren't as computer literate. Believe me I wouldn't have just undertaken two weeks of battling with it just to change the layout, it looked fine to me too. 

 

 

Now, as I mentioned above the layout is one we can customise - the upgrade had to be done before the 20th so the club didn't incur another £160 bill so it has been done with most options left as their default setting. If there's something you would like to see changed  I would very much welcome feedback of that type. Things like "this button used to be here, the layout was like this, can we change it to match" would be very useful indeed - just saying "I don't like it" isn't. 

[Jim]

I'd be happy to bring a laptop to the meeting and try to help people find stuff between us.

I'm no expert but happy to poke around until we find things.

I think Oli will tell you that it's OK you can't break it.

You may upset some of your own settings but I should imagine the IT guys could reset all that for you.

Grab a cuppa ( or beer ) and just poke at it.

Any members wanting people to bring laptops to next meeting please say so on here.

 

Jim

 

[sparky]

9 hours ago, Oli said:

Unfortunately Mick, in a way it was broken so did need to be fixed (remember the outages over the past few months?). As I mentioned above, we were at least 10 versions out of date and there were many security holes - guess who is at most risk from being hacked or scammed online? It's the people who aren't as computer literate. Believe me I wouldn't have just undertaken two weeks of battling with it just to change the layout, it looked fine to me too. 

 

 

Now, as I mentioned above the layout is one we can customise - the upgrade had to be done before the 20th so the club didn't incur another £160 bill so it has been done with most options left as their default setting. If there's something you would like to see changed  I would very much welcome feedback of that type. Things like "this button used to be here, the layout was like this, can we change it to match" would be very useful indeed - just saying "I don't like it" isn't. 

As I said before, that is my opinion Oli, and you did ask for opinions !

[Oli]

5 minutes ago, sparky said:

As I said before, that is my opinion Oli, and you did ask for opinions !

Absolutely, but please do give me a bit more to go on like "I don't like this because it used to do this" or "could this bit be laid out like this instead". As far as I can see the site layout is pretty similar but I'm only to happy to move things about to make it easier and match the old where I can if members want (I just can't see/remember what else is now in a different position to where it was before).

I'm here to help so anything you can't find/figure out just say and I'll either explain how to do it or adjust the site to make it simpler.

[gjb]

like a lot of other old gits I'm totaly confused dot com

[Oli]

8 minutes ago, gjb said:

like a lot of other old gits I'm totaly confused dot com

Hi Graham,

Which bits are you having trouble with so we can help?

Oli

 

[great white]

Now updated my Password, thanks to Oli 

 

I can now log in 

[Rob]

smart indeed!

yes, i did a quick - reset my password and it was very swift!

 

[gjb]

Whatever I go on I can’t get on the site without a lot of messing around it keeps telling me page doesn’t exist 

[great white]

Hi Oli

 

Just had a quick look at recent items.

 

December fish of the month pictures now seems to only show Dave's latest picture of his huge Bass

[Oli]

OK that's likely your PC/browser has stored the old version and addresses of the site. You need to clear your cache.

In your browser press these 3 buttons on your keyboard together: CTRL + SHIFT + DELETE

This will pop up the Clear History window.  Then do this depending on which browser you use:

Internet Explorer - ensure only Preserve Favourites Website Data and Temporary Internet Files are selected and click Delete
Firefox - choose "Everything" in Time Range To Clear, ensure only Cache is ticked and click Clear Now
Chrome - ensure only Cached Images And Files is selected and click Clear Data
 

[Oli]

5 minutes ago, great white said:

Hi Oli

 

Just had a quick look at recent items.

 

December fish of the month pictures now seems to only show Dave's latest picture of his huge Bass

Hi Charlie

Sadly those two or three are probably gone for good unless someone can re-upload them? The photos uploaded during the crossover period (first 2 weeks of the month) couldn't be transferred without redoing a lot of the work again (and potentially messing up the test site which was by that point finally up and running)

 

Edit to add - Charlie do you/anyone remember what they were photos of and I'll see if I can track them down?

[Oli]

TAPATALK now installed and up and running for those of you who use it on mobile devices (thanks Rob). If it isn't working for you please unfollow PBSBAC and then re-add it.

[2006holmwood]

Hi Oli,

I like the new site,only problem I have is when I click on site it says I do not have permission to view this page.

But I just click on forums and its all there.

Mick.

[Oli]

Thanks Mick - this is also likely due to a cache problem because the old site actually used to sit at http://www.pbsbac.co.uk/ipb whereas the new one is just at http://www.pbsbac.co.uk

Your computer probably remembers it at the old location, Google won't have updated yet either. Clearing your cache/history should fix it.

[Rob]

Or use http://www.pbsbac.co.uk/forums


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