UMSF - Server Switch 10th & 11th May Options

[djellison]

After the great 'server drive' fund raising by UMSF members, we have our dual 3ghz server up and running. I have another domain hosted on it already. It has been fast, and 100% stable ( touch wood ) for 2 months.

Thus, the intention is to move UMSF to the new server this weekend.

At approx 1200UT ( 1300 my time ) UMSF will be 'turned off'. The database is rather large, and can not be moved in an instant - nor can the 4Gb of attachments.

After the forum is switched off, a full backup will begin, sending the entire forum content to the new server ( this has been tested just now - and takes 2-3 hours )

Only once the full backup is successfully completed, will the DNS settings be changed, pointing the domain to the new server.

Once the backup is completed, the database must be repopulated on the new server, the attachments moved to the right place, the settings updated and checked - and only once the forum itself is up and running will it be turned 'on' again. At that point, it will take a couple of hours ( potentially significantly less ) for the domain-name shift to propagate across the web to your own ISP.

The move is scheduled for what is the quietest days of the week, and the quietest hours of that day for UMSF - to minimize withdrawal symptoms. Things might not go perfectly, so you'll just have to hold tight.

To keep everyone up to date - I will use a new external blog ( http://umsf.blogspot.com/ ) with news of the transfer - once UMSF is down, check there for details!

[djellison]

Page process times show on the bottom of the admin section. On the old server, anything from 0.25 to 1.5s or more was common. Now it's in the 0.02s area. The performance restriction now is actually ping times to and from Europe for me If you're US, and especially west coast US - you're going to have a very fast server

Doug

[elakdawalla]

If you're US, and especially west coast US - you're going to have a very fast server

Whoah, you're not kidding, Doug! Super zippy here. Hooray! Who knew a server switch could happen without any major snafus? Our most recent hardware switch had us intermittently down for more than two weeks!

--Emily