Forum Software Upgrade -- Failed

[Dave Ambrose]

I will be taking the forum offline for a software upgrade on Saturday, May 25th, and starting about 9 AM Pacific Daylight Time. That's high noon for you east coasters, and other denizens of the eastern time zone. 

I anticipate the upgrade will take about 6 hours, but it could take longer, or if I'm really lucky, it will all go smoothly, and we're back on the air sooner. 

Contributions to the sysadmin coffee fund are gratefully accepted. 

When I am done, you can expect the appearance, and some of the functionality to change. I'll try to document the changes best I can, but it probably won't be complete. I'll start a couple of threads here for problems, hints, and hacks. 

I know you can all find something to do while the board is down. Take pictures of what you're doing, and we can all post them afterward. 

I'd like to think this will fix our 404 problem, but it may well not. It will let us work on the solution as the current software is so out of date that the vendor doesn't want to try diagnosing any problems with it. 

Let me know if you have any questions.

-- Dave Ambrose

 

[Ramfins59]

Thank you for your continued attention and efforts to keep this Forum running as smoothly as possible Dave.  

[bobthehobbyguy]

Dave thank you for your continued work keeping our plastic playground running smooth.

May the upgrade gods be merciful and hopefully the computer gremlins will all sleep in.

[1930fordpickup]

Thank you for all the hard work along with all of the hours you spend on this. 

[bobthehobbyguy]

Got my fingers crossed for a smooth upgrade. Been there , done that. Got the t shirt and can appreciate how much work it is.

[Rusty92]

Thank you, Dave. 

[Can-Con]

Actually Dave, that will be 1: 00 PM my time. 

Atlantic Time Zone. 

I'll be at our local show at the time so good choice of the day. 

[RichCostello]

How can I find out what my log-in password is, in case I have to sign back in? I've had it saved for years, and don't remember what it is.

[Xingu]

1 hour ago, RichCostello said:

How can I find out what my log-in password is, in case I have to sign back in? I've had it saved for years, and don't remember what it is.

You will probably have to setup a new one. Click on forgot password, at log in, and follow the instructions.

[Rob Hall]

Good luck.  Having been through many software upgrades professionally over the years, I’ve had ones that went very smoothly and some that have been disasters.  At least it’s not at night like they usually are, but having to do it on a Holiday Weekend kind of sucks. 

[RichCostello]

5 hours ago, Xingu said:

You will probably have to setup a new one. Click on forgot password, at log in, and follow the instructions.

OK, thanks.

[Dave Ambrose]

On 5/19/2019 at 8:44 PM, Rob Hall said:

Good luck.  Having been through many software upgrades professionally over the years, I’ve had ones that went very smoothly and some that have been disasters.  At least it’s not at night like they usually are, but having to do it on a Holiday Weekend kind of sucks. 

Thanks. It's not my favorite time slot, but I need to do this when I'm fresh, rested, and aware of my surroundings.    There will be a stop at Starbucks prior to the start of the upgrade. 

[Dave Ambrose]

Well, that didn't go as planned. Ran into a couple of problems that caused the update to fail, and I had to restore the site from the backup made at the beginning of this process. I know what went wrong, but it will take some time to fix. 

I'll let you know when our next attempt will happen. 

I do apologize for it taking so long. The backups are 170 GB. They take a long time to make, and a long time to restore. 

Please let me know if you encounter any problems. Thank you all for being patient. 

[Kit Basher]

Thanks for your efforts, Dave.

[KWT]

Regardless, thanks for the work!

[bobthehobbyguy]

Sorry to hear there were problems Dave. Hoping the next attempt is successful.  Thank you for your time.

[1930fordpickup]

It is to bad this did not workout this time Dave. Do you need a bigger Hammer? LOL

 

[89AKurt]

I feel your pain!  I'm a techno grouch to begin with, so good thing I'm not involved.  Thank you for your dedication.

Be glad you aren't running Flickr.  So happens they needed to upgrade too!

[Twokidsnosleep]

I cannot even imagine how frustrating and difficult a full upgrade must be....I am impatient just waiting  for my computer to start up in the morning 

Then having re-load the entire forum from a back up....oh yeah fun times

You probably need a drink!

[Modelbuilder Mark]

16 hours ago, Dave Ambrose said:

Well, that didn't go as planned. Ran into a couple of problems that caused the update to fail, and I had to restore the site from the backup made at the beginning of this process. I know what went wrong, but it will take some time to fix. 

I'll let you know when our next attempt will happen. 

I do apologize for it taking so long. The backups are 170 GB. They take a long time to make, and a long time to restore. 

Please let me know if you encounter any problems. Thank you all for being patient. 

Thanks for the efforts to maintain the site, it is much appreciated that it is kept up. I know it is not a source of revenue, but is a source of information, fellowship, and inspiration for many.