Server Migration

[Dave Ambrose]

Due to some support changes, we are migrating the MCM forum and website to a new and improved server. 

I don't have an exact date and time yet, but I'll publish that info as soon as I get it. 

We're going to see disruptions in our email, and forum services while we cut over the services to the new server. We'll do our best to keep those disruptions to a minimum. I will need to take the forums offline for parts of the moving in process. When I can, I'll announce those in advance, and will keep the duration to a minimum. 

Please reply here if you have any questions, complaints, or observations. 

[Dave Ambrose]

One bit of clarification -- The forum address will not be changing.  

[Ace-Garageguy]

You gotta do what you gotta do to keep things running smoothly.

I'm sure everyone will appreciate the work you'll be putting in and forego whining about their inconvenience.  

Edited June 5, 2024 by Ace-Garageguy

[Engine 51]

Will we be required to re-register once the move is complete?

[bobthehobbyguy]

Thanks Dave. That you for all your work to.keep the site moving smoothly.

Thanks to all the mods for making this a pleasant place to visit.

[Dave Ambrose]

On 6/4/2024 at 6:12 PM, Engine 51 said:

Will we be required to re-register once the move is complete?

No. Everything will (mostly) stay the same, we're just putting a new engine into the website. 

[BDSchindler]

19 hours ago, Dave Ambrose said:

No. Everything will (mostly) stay the same, we're just putting a new engine into the website. 

Supercharged coyote, Hellcat or an LS?

Hey...someone was going to ask it eventually!

[Ace-Garageguy]

4 hours ago, BDSchindler said:

Supercharged coyote, Hellcat or an LS?

...or a compound-turbo'd direct-injected 1600cc wet-timing-belt 12,000 RPM hand-grenade...

[Dave Ambrose]

We've got an 8-cylinder, 3.2 GHz Xeon. Way more than we need, but this is what we get with enough storage. 

[Proximitas]

Server migrations are never fun, believe me I know. Best advice I can give is make frequent backups and verify the data on the new system before deleting it off the old system. Also, a backup of the new pristine server before migration can be handy if things really go south.

[Dave Ambrose]

8 hours ago, Proximitas said:

Server migrations are never fun, believe me I know. Best advice I can give is make frequent backups and verify the data on the new system before deleting it off the old system. Also, a backup of the new pristine server before migration can be handy if things really go south.

Thanks. I've been through this before. We had some glitches, but it went okay. We can test the new server before cutting over from the old one which should give us early notice of any problems. 

[PatW]

I note that although I live in the UK, your website is taking a long time to load/open. Is there any work in the background causing this please?

[echo]

I also find the website extremely slow, for me it was always slow downloading images but now at points it is almost unusable. Hopefully the issue gets resolved. Thanks.

[TarheelRick]

I switched from Chrome to Firefox and the loading issue is not as bad. It is not really great by any means, but it is not as slow to open a topic.

[Dave Ambrose]

16 hours ago, TarheelRick said:

I switched from Chrome to Firefox and the loading issue is not as bad. It is not really great by any means, but it is not as slow to open a topic.

Thanks, that's a very interesting clue. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

59 minutes ago, Dave Ambrose said:

Thanks, that's a very interesting clue. 

Here's a clue. If I use a VPN, it's usually MUCH MUCH faster.

[espo]

As others have mentioned, even getting on the forum has become a problem. Yesterday and again just now I had to make several attempts and even then, got bumped off a couple of times. Often an error message comes up after the little ball in the upper corner of the screen had been revolving for more than a few minutes. While moving around in the site and trying to read others posts it is like I'm on the old dial up systems. I understand that there is a lot that goes into running the forum and that those that work with it put a lot of effort into doing that, but I think if they are aware of the problems they will be able to fix them in the near future. 

[OldNYJim]

Weird thing, not sure it’s relevant, but a thing none the less…at 11pm every single night, I can’t access the site for a minute.  A minute later, no probs.  I’m sure it’ll happen again tonight.

It’s not hurting me any, it’s my daily reminder that I should probably go to sleep, but it’s a weird thing that I always notice, regular as clockwork…

[OldNYJim]

Yep, regular as clockwork!

[Ace-Garageguy]

I'm beginning to think the fellas who wrote the code for the CrowdStrike/Microsoft update that paralyzed half the planet a few days back built this forum software in their spare time.  

[Dave Ambrose]

Update

Thank you all for being patient. 

This problem has been an exercise in ruling out possible causes. Current hypothesis is that this is being cause by a Huawei search engine crawling our site to index it. Normally, we would tell it not to make the troublesome accesses, but it's ignoring those directives and crawling the site anyway. Many other sites are reporting that Huawei's IP addresses have been hitting sites hard and causing performance problems. That looks like it might be the case here. I'll try to confirm that, then configure the server to block their access. 

It would help me if you can note the date, time, and your time zone when it's slow and post that information here. That will help narrow down my search. 

I may be taking the server offline at short notice as part of my diagnosis process. 

I'll be posting this elsewhere, but our server migration is on hold until this is resolved. 

Again, thanks, I won't be quitting until this is solved. 

 

---

@Ace-Garageguy, this wasn't done in anyone's spare time. There's actually a fairly large staff behind this forum software and they generally do a very good job. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

54 minutes ago, Dave Ambrose said:

 

---

@Ace-Garageguy, this wasn't done in anyone's spare time. There's actually a fairly large staff behind this forum software and they generally do a very good job. 

It was a joke.

Frankly, if I step back a few paces, I'm surprised it works as well as it does what with entities like Google trying to shove their marketing down everyone's throat, dozens of different kinds of devices running who-knows-how-many different browsers to access it, and whatever esoteric stuff like Huawei I'm just not aware of stirring the pot.

Unfortunately, tech is kinda like aviation. "Generally do(ing) a very good job) really isn't good enough.

And believe it of not, even dumb-as-a-brick old hard-tech dirty-hands mouth-breathing geezer past-it me has to deal with conflicts regarding electronic wizardry, and I try to minimize any potential for them BEFORE they happen...like not piggybacking the TPS signal for the trans ECU in the computer-laden Chevelle I'm finishing up on top of the TPS signal for the EFI. Though they're "supposed to be" compatible (even though they're from different manufacturers and can't possibly have been tested in every imaginable combination and configuration), I'm not going to put myself in a nightmare situation of trying to sort out electronic gibberish and crosstalk that will make the man's $350,000 car as poor a performer as this site has been lately.

But believe me...if I did, people would be making plenty of jokes about me too. 

Good luck sorting it out. I KNOW it's not easy.

 

Edited July 30, 2024 by Ace-Garageguy

[peteski]

You know guys, this thread was about server migration. The slowness is unrelated to this, and it is currently actively discussed in

 

[bobthehobbyguy]

Not a surprise that the thread went off topic as it happens all the time.