Computer Hope
Other => Other => Topic started by: Computer Hope Admin on March 22, 2007, 10:49:24 PM
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Computer Hope plans on attempting to migrate its forums to a new forum system after the continued errors that we've been encountering with the current forum system. I plan on attempting the conversion process late Friday (3/22/2007) @ 9:00PM (MST), which should be moving all users and messages to the new forums. Because I want this to go as smoothly as possible the forums will go into maintenance mode (wont be able to login or post) while being converted.
All discussions up to now about this change have been made on the below post.
http://www.computerhope.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?num=1174545858
As mentioned on the above post a very basic example of the forums at their current state can be found on the below URL. In addition if successful the new forums will be at this address. Because I do not know if the conversion will work or not I have not spent any time modifying the look and feel to resemble what everyone has gotten used to.
http://www.computerhope.com/forum
This forum will not be deleted in anyway and will likely remain indefinitely. However, it's likely next week if the conversion goes smoothly that these forums could be locked preventing new accounts and messages from being created to help test the new system. If that test goes smoothly then it will remain otherwise we'll revert back to how it is and try a different system.
Feel free to post comments, concerns or anything else. This doesn't have to happen tomorrow but I figure since the installation and setup process has gone smoothly so far no point in delaying this update that should of been done long ago any further.
<<Edited>> Added time this will occur.
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I'd delete the messages and save a lot of storage space. Everything noteworthy should have been in the Q&A forum thread if you ask me.. Help keep the Internet organized!
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Nathan, you could, when the time comes, disable new topics here. Then, after most or all of the current problems get fixed, move the FAQ threads over and remove the rest, saving precious bandwidth. Once the FAQ threads are moved, this FAQ section can go, too. ;D
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I'd delete the messages and save a lot of storage space.
It would definitely save on the space but I don't think I'll be deleting anything as of yet. I've found a lot of users may don't always come in through the way you'd like them through ie: the Q&A section. So having those extra few thousand entry points can help get them the answers if not answered in the original post they came in from. With Google the Internet is organized. ;)
But thanks for your suggestion and I'll keep it in mind should issues with the conversion arise.
Nathan, you could, when the time comes, disable new topics here.
Depending on how the conversion goes I'll probably just end up doing that (disabling new topics/replies on YaBB). I won't be deleting anything on YaBB for a long time if ever, even the Q&A's just as a safety measure and to make sure everyone who may still be coming in through YaBB are aware of what's going on with notices being on every post.
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This doesn't have to happen tomorrow but I figure since the installation and setup process has gone smoothly so far no point in delaying this update that should of been done long ago any further.
I think the best way for us to do this is to just plunge right in. And for us old-fashioned cranks who hate change, we'll have to accept it if we're suddenly forced into it. We might as well get the shock over with as quickly as possible. Heh.
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I couldn't log in to the new forum :-[
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I couldn't log in to the new forum :-[
Yeah it's just a demo to give users an idea of what it looks like all log in abilities have been disabled until the conversion tonight at which point you should be able to log in with your log in that you use on YaBB. Didn't want people to create new accounts before the conversion. ;)
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I'd delete the messages and save a lot of storage space. Everything noteworthy should have been in the Q&A forum thread if you ask me.. Help keep the Internet organized!
No Raptor, there've been a lot of useful and valuable discussions till the certain solution. As Edison did, we have learned thousand of ways NOT taking to the solution. ;D
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I thought it was me, it's 5.20 am here and I'm not a morning person :)
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(changed my mind there)
How long will this change take?
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All depends on the conversion, because it's taking place on the server it has to run at a slow speed to not overload the server. Apparently from the few things I've read it can take around a few hours, so I'd guesstimate that if no errors are encountered during the conversion 4-6 hours.
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All depends on the conversion, because it's taking place on the server it has to run at a slow speed to not overload the server. Apparently from the few things I've read it can take around a few hours, so I'd guesstimate that if no errors are encountered during the conversion 4-6 hours.
Awe man! I wanted to see it asap when it was up. Guess I will have to wait until tomorrow.
Too bad there isnt a pruning tool for old users (like ones that havent been here for a few years with a post coult below 20)
(you should send an email to all the members after the change, so that they will click the link to the new forums and say "Hey, I remember ComputerHope! I will have to remember that. ")
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Yeah it's not a bad idea. However, would probably be best to get the new forums up and going before I do something like that. Sending a mail to 28,000+ e-mails could cause havoc and cause the forums even more grief. Plus if the conversion doesn't work or the forums are experiencing issues would just discourage users.
Also, not sure if I want to get on any more spam hit lists, the newsletter with its 9,000 or so e-mails causes all sorts of grief with ISP's thinking it's Spam (mostly AOL). Sending out 28,000+ would likely cause a lot more issues. :-/
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Ah. Do you get AOL TOS SCOMP notifications? What a nuisance they are.
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Ah. Do you get AOL TOS SCOMP notifications? What a nuisance they are.
Indeed. But it's even got more out of control now. My ISP is now manually sending me addresses of AOL users who wish to be removed from the list that AOL has sent them. Even when each newsletter clearly states how to get removed from the list; a simple reply with "remove". :-/
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Pah. Send 'em all a core dump bomb. ;D
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Pah. Send 'em all a core dump bomb. ;D
Woe is me, I must be legit can't be doing stuff like that. :P
By the way, what's up with http://pomeroy.dyndns.info/ been getting timeouts.
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Well unfortunately the conversion to the new forum failed after trying multiple attempts. I'm making the forums live again while I attempt to work this out with the SMF. Would be nice if I could get this resolved this weekend, but not going to give an ETA to when the new forum will be live.
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Morning Nathan,
Just remember the old saying....... "Cheer up she said, things could be worse...... So I cheered up and sure enough things got worse"
But seriously, it will happen.
dl65 ::)
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Yeah it was to be expected. Most conversions never seem to go smoothly. :-/
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http://pomeroy.dyndns.info/ been getting timeouts.
My ISP disappeared into a black hole for 10 hours...
Well unfortunately the conversion to the new forum failed after trying multiple attempts.
Told ya to take it slow, didn't I! ;)
Seriously, if I can be any help, let me know.
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Well unfortunately the conversion to the new forum failed after trying multiple attempts. I'm making the forums live again while I attempt to work this out with the SMF. Would be nice if I could get this resolved this weekend, but not going to give an ETA to when the new forum will be live.
There is more than one conversion tool, if you havent already, you might want to find another.
Try using the SMF help forums, and ask what the issue might have been, and tell them your amount of members and topics, and then see what they say is the best one to get.
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Seriously, if I can be any help, let me know.
If there was some way you could I would ask. But think it's up to SMF team or someone familiar with the conversion process to assist me further. Thanks for the offer as well. :)
There is more than one conversion tool, if you haven't already, you might want to find another.
Yep, tried multiple versions. Best luck so far has been with the latest version on the forums, but still seems to get stuck.
Try using the SMF help forums
Have a post going just waiting on replies.
http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=122338.msg1021004
I think I may be encountering a MySQL quota issue, because it appears to keep getting stuck around the same spot. So working it out with host. Converting to flat file to MySQL takes a lot more space than I was aware of and not sure of my quote is transparent on the MySQL server.
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Well it's now been 24 hours thought I'd do another update. I've made a little progress as far as being able to get the members and boards to get transfered over. But for some unknown reason I'm unable to get the posts to properly transfer. The board says they're there but not one can be displayed. So work still in progress maybe I'll have better luck tomorrow or the conversion I run before going to sleep will some how pull through.
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Forums will be going down again tonight (3/24/2007) within the hour. Going to try running a full conversion again after completely starting over and because I've already done this once today going to try it with the forums in maintenance mode again. Sorry for the inconveniences and short notice.
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Did you run the maitenence tools to see if it could correct the issue?
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Forums will be going down again tonight (3/24/2007) within the hour. Going to try running a full conversion again after completely starting over and because I've already done this once today going to try it with the forums in maintenance mode again. Sorry for the inconveniences and short notice.
No worries, it'll give me a chance to actually focus on my schoolwork. Heh. Good luck with the conversion!
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Hopefully it will work this time.
The forums certainly need to be changed if it cant handle the amount of users.
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Good luck, Nathan! ;D
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Well thanks again for the words of encouragement. Unfortunately I've put in another 12 hour day and still have not been able to get this conversion to go through and still no feedback from SMF. Because I've tried everything I could possibly think of and even some additional drastic things to get it to just go through I believe I'm at the point right now just to wait until SMF gives me a possible solution and/or another conversion file to try.
One of the drastic things I tried to do to help get the conversion through was disable and get rid of all the current file attachments. All file attachments were however saved offline and if I can get the conversion to go through I'll move whatever file anyone wants back online. But for now file attachments will remain disabled on the forums. Read lots of posts how file attachments caused issues and was up to around 75MB of attachments.
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Just out of curiosity how large is the current database ? ?
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Excluding attachments it's not much more than 100MB I believe, but there are several thousand small files. Compressed as a backup it's only around 40MB. It's not that big and I've read some posts on SMF of users with bigger databases able to complete it successfully.
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While trying to find any possible problems with the new forums that may be causing the post conversion not to work. I did notice that every single user was a FAQ Moderator. So hopefully it's just the independent groups that is causing all the grief. To test this I'm going to remove the two independent groups "FAQ Moderator" and "Forum Moderator" in attempts to fix this issue.
So any user with these privileges are going to temporarily get them removed. While I try to convert the forums again later today. I apologize ahead of time for users with these rights, just shooting in the dark trying to get the forums converted. :-?
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Thanx for all your efforts to improve the Forum....and Good Luck !
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Thanks again this time I'll make sure to also cross my toes and not just my fingers. ;)
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Nathan, can you not attempt the conversion with an offline local copy of the YaBB database?
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Okay, I don't know if this was addressed, but I have to ask: Where did the mod powah go? I have no authority on the forums anymore. (http://img117.exs.cx/img117/6721/o4fsad.gif)
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Nathan, can you not attempt the conversion with an offline local copy of the YaBB database?
Not sure I believe reading that the databases needed to be on the same machine and or linked to where you could access the offline machine from the server with SMF.
Okay, I don't know if this was addressed, but I have to ask: Where did the mod powah go?
Yeah this was addressed earlier (few posts up), the post:
While trying to find any possible problems with the new forums that may be causing the post conversion not to work. I did notice that every single user was a FAQ Moderator. So hopefully it's just the independent groups that is causing all the grief. To test this I'm going to remove the two independent groups "FAQ Moderator" and "Forum Moderator" in attempts to fix this issue.
So any user with these privileges are going to temporarily get them removed. While I try to convert the forums again later today. I apologize ahead of time for users with these rights, just shooting in the dark trying to get the forums converted.
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Okay, I don't know if this was addressed, but I have to ask: Where did the mod powah go? I have no authority on the forums anymore. (http://img117.exs.cx/img117/6721/o4fsad.gif)
See Post #32...
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Sorry. I've been sick, and on medication. Brain not fully engaged. :)
(Note to self: Kill Health teacher for thinking Bronchitis is not contagious. Now I have it, and it settled in my ear, of all places. And I'm prone to ear infection. This ****ing hurts! >:()
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Ugh that doesn't sound like fun. I guess this *fun* conversion is better than what you're going through Dilbert. :(
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Sorry. I've been sick, and on medication. Brain not fully engaged. :)
(Note to self: Kill Health teacher for thinking Bronchitis is not contagious. Now I have it, and it settled in my ear, of all places. And I'm prone to ear infection. This ****ing hurts! >:()
Dilbert, your not supposed to lick her tonsils. ;D
Ever watch MythBusters on the Discovery channel? Tested: Proven: The human mouth contains, by several orders of magnatude, more bacteria than a dogs mouth. So if you wouldn't stick your tongue in a dogs mouth........... ;D ;D ;D
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But I never kissed her *shudders*, I only got coughed on when I turned in my C++ project as homework. :(
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Exerpt from article on Mayo Clinic site:
The same viruses that cause colds often cause acute bronchitis. But you can also develop noninfectious bronchitis from exposure to your own or someone else's cigarette smoke and even from pollutants such as household cleaners and smog.
Educate your Health teacher.
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Unfortunately the forums will be going into maintenance mode again within the next hour. My last two attempts continue to get into a loop, which I believe is being caused because of the new members and posts being created. During this time the forums will be inaccessible, sorry for the constant downtimes over the last few days. Just trying to get the conversion to successfully complete.
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Here we go again!
http://boss.streamos.com/wmedia/capi001/okgo/hereitgoesagain/video/hereitgoesagain_v300.asx
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New forums appeared to be working. However after I clicked the option to repair the forums I'm no longer able to load them. However, give them a shot at:
http://www.computerhope.com/forum
See if you're able to get to them. I moved YaBB forums back online while we do some additional testing.
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I am unable to view topics, and boards. I can view profiles and edit mine...
Perhaps its just the maitenence tool is still running server side?
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I am unable to view topics, and boards. I can view profiles and edit mine...
Perhaps its just the maitenence tool is still running server side?
I'm having the same problem... :(
-John
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Honestly not sure what's going on with it worked for a few minutes. But after I clicked that repair button can't get to anything can't even get to the MySQL server. Hopefully it didn't blow anything up. :-? Maybe the four users was too much. ;)
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Sometimes, a MySQL database can freeze up. This frequently happens at mbhosting.com , which is why I know about this.
Let us wait and see....
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Nevermind, its working
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I'm logged in... it's taking its sweet time... all systems... GREEN! :D
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May have just been a hiccup because I was doing the check for errors script which goes through all the posts and check for errors.
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Enabled the feature to display load time at the bottom of the page so if slow look at it see if it seems abnormal 2.0+ seconds when not busy I would think would be abnormal.
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AAAnd the new fora hit a hitch. Not loading. :(
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Can't load the new site..... it appears to be timing out . Actually it cranks away for approx 11 seconds , then Done is displayed ....but theres nothing
dl65 ::)
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Yeah :( Ran a conversion and everything is shot again. Looking into it and letting it wait. Sorry. Was fun while it lasted. :P
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Next time, let the posters stay as guests. The new posts will be OK. ;)
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Hopefully it's something simple
dl65 ::)
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Next time, let the posters stay as guests. The new posts will be OK. ;)
Hey, dl65, I did need that hardhat after all. ;D
(http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/3895/dilbertconstructionbx3.jpg)
What the heck? I hit Modify!
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Yeah hopefully. I did think about that Dilbert, about letting all previous posts just stay as guests. But figured since I've been doing this for the last four days might as well try to get it as good as possible. But if I cant recover from whatever is causing this slow down and the next conversion does the same thing I guess we'll just keep it that way. Posts wont be lost, just wont look as nice.
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Speaking of which, what's causing the lag?
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Me I think. :-[ When I did the convert it started a lot of MySQL processes, I'm trying to wait to see if they'll every stop but so far they just continue to be generated. So probably just going to remove the convert file and kill the processes.
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: Server shutdown in progress
/home/users/c/comphope/public_html/forum/Sources/Load.php
390
And... it's up! Never mind...
Database Error: Server shutdown in progress
File: /home/users/c/comphope/public_html/forum/Sources/MessageIndex.php
Line: 457
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KaBoommm.. <scratches his head> Man I obviously broke something here.
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So... are we all good? Can I touch anything yet? ;D
By the way - I preferred the separator that appeared between pinned posts and unpinned posts in the YaBB forums.
Hmm... I see my sig didn't survive the conversion...
Hmm... is there a chance of a little more grace time before posts are marked as modified?
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So... are we all good? Can I touch anything yet?
Sure hope we're done, at least with the YaBB to SMF conversion. This is definitely the best results so far and looks to be running ok.
- Completely agree with you on the separator one of the first thing I noticed as well.
- Strange that your signature did in fact not survive, not exactly sure what caused that. But at least something easy to fix.
All suggestions added to successful post of things to do.
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Thanks for persevering Nathan. I hope you feel it was worth it! So many more options now, and I think that the forums are more responsive.
Have some good karma!
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Thanks for persevering Nathan. I hope you feel it was worth it! So many more options now, and I think that the forums are more responsive.
Have some good karma!
Thanks again for the suggestion and even though it did take a good 40+ hours of work I think it will be worth it in the long run have some karma yourself. :)
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Thanx again Nathan for all your hard work...
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Yes, thanks much, Nathan! A much-needed and well-appreciated conversion. :)
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Glad to hear and you're welcome. Hopefully this helps everyone: mods, users, me, etc. :)
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Yeah, thanks a lot for all the time and effort, we do appreciate it.
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You're welcome and thanks everyone for the help on the forums. :)