Moving to a new server

[skb]

Hello all,

It's time to make a move to a new server with a new hosting plan. The move is proposed either this weekend or the next. Potential problems are listed below;

1. The forum will be put in Maintenance mode as we require a synced set of forum files and database.

2.  When the move is complete the DNS (Domain Name Servers) has to be changed pointing to the new server address. This has to be updated at the Registrar site and can take from a few minutes to a whole day to be updated. The site may be unavailable during this time.

3.  The forum software has a new version which is due for release any day now. It is much more user friendly and secure, but we plan to upgrade to that once the server move has been accomplished. That might entail some of our known features and alternate themes to be shelved.

Just keeping you all updated. Please bear with us during this time.

[skb]

The time consuming part of physically downloading everything from one server and uploading it again to the second server is complete. I had a few bumps along the way but those have been sorted.

Now comes the part of pointing the DNS to the new server. I can do that anytime. I plan to do it once all members have been made aware that;

1. It could take between 24-72 hours for the site to become activated at the new address.

2. Transferring the SSL Certificates to the new site may not happen smoothly, so you could face browser warnings about the site content. These should be ignored and site can be browsed in 'unsafe' mode, by clicking on Advanced & then Continue to proceed with site (unsafe) or some such warning.

I will try and keep the old site alive till the transition and hopefully the changeover will be smooth. Just keeping you informed of possible issues.

[skb]

FYI

I had moved the site to the new server yesterday. The problem with the SSL Certificate I could easily sort out, so I can repeat that again.
Another problem that I faced was with the URLs. Since this is a multi site plan and the primary site is another one, the forum URLs (apart from the index page) were showing as www.primarydomain.com/diabetic.pub/etc which I didn't like. I have learnt of some tricks to beat that. If I am able to do that, we'll make the move as planned otherwise, we will renew the current plan and continue to work on our own server space.

Will be trying again this weekend.

[Grammabear]

Sounds very challenging.

[skb]

Guys,

Planning another test move on Saturday.
If things don't work well, you'll know.
If they do, you'll still know, because I'll inform you. 

[skb]

After many attempts to inject code to remove the primary domain from the browser URLs, I gave up and renewed our hosting plan. So we stay in our own independent space. 

[walkerwally1]

Sorry you are having problems.  I wish I could help but this is way over my head.

[skb]

Well, I actually did complete the migration twice but faced a couple of small problems that I could not resolve because both the sites were concurrently running and I couldn't fully test the install because of that.

The issue was that the browser URL was showing www.primarydomain.com/diabetic.pub/etc which would hide our DP from Search Engines as it would be indexed as a part of the primary domain. None of us wants that.

To get rid of this I needed 2 rules in the server configuration htaccess file. These rules are conditional rules Redirect and/or Rewrite. The Redirect always redirected to the site at the original server because DP was functional there, and the Rewrite couldn't be tested until the site at the Original server was completely shut off. This meant that the site would be unreachable for most of us for a duration of time until the Registrar sites were updated and each Users browser cache was cleared. Until such time I would need to be glued to my computer.

Besides, our Amazon link is doing a good job and keeping us funded enough to take care of our hosting and domain name costs. So I thought it best to renew the plan and not inconvenience our members.

[Grammabear]

I appreciate all the efforts you put into this project.  It is way beyond my understanding, but I do understand the possible frustration you might feel.

[bigskygal]

I really appreciate all the effort you put into this. Like Grammabear, this is way beyond my understanding/skills. After I do my posting, I'll be doing some shopping on Amazon.

[skb]

After I do my posting, I'll be doing some shopping on Amazon.

Thanks. That will help. Now that the server issue is settled, let's get DP on higher ground. 

[skb]

3.  The forum software has a new version which is due for release any day now. It is much more user friendly and secure, but we plan to upgrade to that once the server move has been accomplished. That might entail some of our known features and alternate themes to be shelved.

The new version has been released. Do we want to upgrade? Keep in mind the highlighted portion above.

[walkerwally1]

I think that it is usually a good idea. 

[bigskygal]

Agree with Wally, we should stay current with upgrades.

[skb]

I agree and we will upgrade. But this is not just an upgrade, it's a new version. The forum layout will also change and the comfort of knowing what is where, will be lost for a few days.

The new version has many features built-in for which we need to use plug-ins on this one. One example is the "Likes" feature. Having it inbuilt could mean that all the external data from the current Likes system will be lost. These are the kind of things that I'm concerned about.