Author Topic: 2007-10-01: I am switching hosts.  (Read 50916 times)

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Offline JonLeung

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2007-10-01: I am switching hosts.
« on: October 01, 2007, 08:31:29 pm »
I am switching hosts soon.



Be aware that if you post new messages from here on, you may lose them since I'm going to do a backup right away here, and the forums will be restored from the backup.



That doesn't mean you can be a jerk here either though.



EDIT: Never mind, it's not a huge rush.  Probably in a couple days.  bustin98 will shut down the forums and make a backup at that time.  So there won't be any lost posts if you post until then.

Offline TerraEsperZ

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RE: 2007-10-01: I am switching hosts.
« Reply #1 on: October 01, 2007, 08:58:27 pm »
Having barely survived several board wipes/accidents/failed-missing backups, I am a bit distressed by this news :(



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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Current project that are on hold because job burnout :
-Drill Dozer (GBA)
-Sonic 3D Blast (Genesis)
-Naya's Quest (PC)

Offline JonLeung

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RE: 2007-10-01: I am switching hosts.
« Reply #2 on: October 01, 2007, 09:10:45 pm »
I had the foresight of backing this up myself on my own hard drive.



Plus, bustin's handling this one, so we'll be better off than when Inty did this.

Offline TerraEsperZ

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RE: 2007-10-01: I am switching hosts.
« Reply #3 on: October 01, 2007, 10:20:38 pm »
It's not that I don't trust you, but... well, I've learned to keep an "I told you so" handy just in case ;)



---

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Current project that are on hold because job burnout :
-Drill Dozer (GBA)
-Sonic 3D Blast (Genesis)
-Naya's Quest (PC)

Offline Maxim

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RE: 2007-10-01: I am switching hosts.
« Reply #4 on: October 02, 2007, 03:00:28 am »
Backups aren't hard. Leave this board open as long as possible, flip the disable switch so people can't post, take a full backup - twice, on different computers - in a portable form (I'm hoping it's an SQL-based database underneath) and then there's no way you can lose anything, even if the end result is having to make a custom script to do the transfer.

Offline TerraEsperZ

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RE: 2007-10-01: I am switching hosts.
« Reply #5 on: October 02, 2007, 06:01:57 am »
Maxim, you just have no idea of this forum's history of failed backup/upgrade. We literally died and barely came back to life two or three times already, losing many members in the process each times too, as well as many interesting posts.



---

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Current project that are on hold because job burnout :
-Drill Dozer (GBA)
-Sonic 3D Blast (Genesis)
-Naya's Quest (PC)

Offline DarkWolf

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RE: 2007-10-01: I am switching hosts.
« Reply #6 on: October 02, 2007, 06:36:54 am »
I wish you'd just change forum software, but this one serves its purpose most of the time so just move it in the meantime.



What are you plans about updating the site to a scripted/dynamic framework?  Those Nintendo pages are getting very large and they're only going to get bigger.  And the random map set image javascript is bloated.  I have to download several Kb worth of data every time I load the main page just to get a few random images.  That can be done server side.



I'd be willing to help out in my spare time if you want to make a serious stab at it.

Offline Maxim

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RE: 2007-10-01: I am switching hosts.
« Reply #7 on: October 02, 2007, 10:27:24 am »
My point is, saying "new posts might go missing" is unnecessary. Forums have off switches for just this reason. They also usually have reasonably robust export/backup features, and failing that a database dump will always be retrievable. It's just a matter of doing it right.



At SMS Power we've not lost any forum posts in 10 years across 3 different forums/news scripts and who knows how many phpBB upgrades. And we're a bunch of cack-handed fools (seriously, like the time I deleted the root index.html).

Offline TerraEsperZ

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RE: 2007-10-01: I am switching hosts.
« Reply #8 on: October 02, 2007, 11:00:45 am »
Let's just say we haven't been that lucky. I'm reasonably sure we lost all the posts at least twice, and both times we also lost many posters who never bothered to sign back. That's why I'm so cynical every time I hear JonLeung talk about a move or an upgrade; each time means the potential loss of what little community we've managed to achieve.



---

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Current project that are on hold because job burnout :
-Drill Dozer (GBA)
-Sonic 3D Blast (Genesis)
-Naya's Quest (PC)

Offline JonLeung

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RE: 2007-10-01: I am switching hosts.
« Reply #9 on: October 02, 2007, 11:02:02 am »
Well, I don't think we'd lose posts, but I wanted to cover my butt just in case.  I've learned from my current work situation that I can never promise anything anymore.



But seriously, I really think bustin's in control and everything will be fine.  It's just a hosting plan change at the moment anyway.

Offline JonLeung

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RE: 2007-10-01: I am switching hosts.
« Reply #10 on: October 07, 2007, 09:56:34 pm »
Okay, I think bustin is in the process of moving AS WE SPEAK.  Exciting!

Offline bustin98

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RE: 2007-10-01: I am switching hosts.
« Reply #11 on: October 10, 2007, 09:45:01 pm »
As I type this, we are on the new host.

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Cool beans

Offline JonLeung

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RE: 2007-10-01: I am switching hosts.
« Reply #12 on: October 10, 2007, 10:29:04 pm »
Sweet!

Offline bustin98

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RE: 2007-10-01: I am switching hosts.
« Reply #13 on: October 11, 2007, 01:17:52 am »
OK, had some trouble in confirming the Cron job. Its now setup but the gold is off. Is anyone even using it? Its not like anyone lost any so it shouldn't be a big deal...



Also I've been watching the error log and noticing some missing maps. If anyone notices missing maps email me at bustin98 at gmail dot com and tell me specifically which map is missing.



Also, if anyone has a saved favorite to the Atlas, please update the favorite. The server is now on Linux and capital letters make a difference. www.vgmaps.com/atlas/ is different than www.vgmaps.com/Atlas/.



Also let me know if any other quirks pop up for you.

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Cool beans

Offline marioman

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RE: 2007-10-01: I am switching hosts.
« Reply #14 on: October 11, 2007, 07:03:06 am »
I think that I lost 30 gold and 2 exp.  The SSBB topic that Jon started, and my post in StarFighters76's topic are missing too.  I'm also missing a PM from Zeric that I would like to get back if possible.



Just a few things that I noticed.