upgrading servers and putting everything behind an SSL

[Drew4UTk]

howdy y'all!!!


i reckon when a person sets out to play with the big dogs, they better be ready for scrapes and bruises during the learning curve.


this may not mean anything to most of y'all, but... over the last week i've used 100% of the server we're using resources in terms of RAM and processor umpfffffff.... that's a technical term i'm assured.... uhem.. anyway, it's not anything anyone here has done- the server as it is can handle 1k times what the forum is capable of- but what it can't handle is the store and ftbobs stats machine... maybe one, but not the other.  i need something to make this place pay for itself, so the store stays- but i refuse to leave the bobs out in the cold, and i fully intend to make him some good money for his efforts and product (i'll explain that later)- so..... upgrade time.


my plan is simple and already in motion- i've purchased a massive server with 4x4 quad cores and hella processing speeds, along with a friggin' stack of RAM.  the folks who think in binary and talk like fax machines are already on it- they are duplicating every single byte of this entire site and all of ftbobs on the new server... it will be put through the paces for function over the next few days.  it will perform like this server but hella faster- and i mean a LOT faster, and will have pretty much all the resources needed to handle anything scout or 247 would need... the plan is to build it, test it, and then flip a switch pointing the same domain name to the new server at some point in the little hours when only the geeks are awake.


what this means to you:


at some point, and i will announce when, the site will go into maintenance mode- and for all of 5 minutes it will have a banner in place of where you see the forum now.. then, hit refresh and you will be transparently whisked away to the new server. transparent to you... IF there is an issue, it will be toggled back to this server- also transparent to you.  in the end, this place will move MUCH faster and you'll wonder why... well, that's why.


this thread basically stands as explanation if you arrive at some point in the middle of the night when you really should be sleeping, and see "maintenance mode- go grab a beer and cigar, or go to bed, fool" instead of the forum.  I intend on having this done between now and monday night...


thanks y'all... It makes me happy to see the group collecting here and the community living on!!!!!  this ought to be the last time i have to upgrade, and at the end of it- ftbobs and cfb-trivia.com, cfbstats.com, and cfbstatsmachine.com will be coming onliine so we can get back to validating our arguments!!!

[ELA]

I continue to be overwhelmed with gratitude by your commitment to this place.

[Drew4UTk]

thank you, Sir- but my motives have ulterior, uh... motive... I'm stepping off the job I've been doing for 16 years in the next couple of years.  it's a young man's game and i'm not that, anymore.  that, and i have a four year old and a wife now- made it well into the second sector (almost the third) of living before that happened, and the work i do isn't conducive to planning too terrible far ahead- and i intend to change that....

i want this place to be self sufficient by the time i pull the cord.. i'll be able to focus 100% of my time and energy on it then.  i get that most of y'all think i'm crazy, but i really want to push into the original content/publisher sector, with a strange twist- which is sending members to games to 'report'- yeah, i get that won't put us on a platform with the big guys, but that isn't my intent... the intent is to have a friggin blast and draw attention due to the 'regular joe' aspect of it... some of the things you guys produce in post/thread form would without doubt draw attention and regard through publishing, and i'd like to take it there.  that will draw people, people draw attention, attention draws crowds.... crowds can get involved and this place could POP in a very good way, making the 'store' actually employ my family and i full time, and the 'publisher' aspect be a project for someone else here who's involved in it's concept/evolution... i'm not doing this haphazardly, in other words... I've got big plans that may or may not work out, but it's damn fun to try.

[Drew4UTk]

they've already moved the databases... it's faster already!

at this rate, it may be tonight i have them flip the DNS switch... it may take upwards of 12 hours for the IP to propagate throughout the interwebz, but... more likely 5 minutes..

if you come here and it's blank, hold your shift key and refresh.  it should pop right up.

[847badgerfan]

I continue to be overwhelmed with gratitude by your commitment to this place.

As am I. This place, when fully operational, is going to better than anything we've ever had. Pretty damn cool.

[Drew4UTk]

servers are ready... it's up to me to test and flip the switch on.  I'll schedule once my end is completed, and post it up here or atop the forum to the right.

this place is going to haul butt and be stable as granite.  medigs.

[847badgerfan]

Thanks Drew. I saw some peeps were talking about the site being down, but I'm certain this was the result of the migration and will never happen again. Love it.

[Drew4UTk]

they're killing me... was supposed to be up by now.  they finally allowed me access last night, and it wasn't set up right (the server) so I had at it... and in doing so pegged some sort of flag for bandwidth use i didn't know existed, and they blocked MY IP... go figure.  so... i'm accessing now using my phone as a hotspot, which is an IP they are unaware of (until they read this post).  I dumped a metric ton of $$$ in the server, and it is sitting there idle right now.  the server we're still (mostly) on is carrying far more weight than it was designed to do... so.... crashes...

but... when it's on the new one that has 19 other servers just like it to catch flares in traffic, there will be ZERO issues... it's coming... please bear with me.

[847badgerfan]

Relax pal. We have faith. that's why we all came over here!

[Drew4UTk]

the server stack is ready.  it took some midnight oil and some assistance from the white coats, but... it's gonna happen Sunday at midnight. 

I'm going to put the joint in maintenance mode around 2350 Saturday, and take a few snapshots- and the switch will be thrown ten minutes later. It should be right back on with only seconds delay, but... I'm gonna drive it a little bit and make sure it's good- so the joint will remain in maintenance mode until 20 after midnight.  that gives me approx 20 minutes to make sure it's connection and configuration is solid.

this is the thing:  the server we're leaving and the server we're moving to will overlap so there won't be any break in service.  some of you will be awaiting propagation longer than others- but all of you will be coming to the new server by sometime Sunday evening.  I'll leave the old server up and operational for a month or so, just in case, but.... that may be overkill.


correction:  if you come to the site after 0100 Sunday morning, and you see a block that says "maintenance mode", your ISP hasn't recognized the IP change yet.... until they do, that is what you'll see.  once they do, you'll be back in business and we won't look back.

[ELA]

FWIW, the quote function doesn't seem to be working for me post switch

[Drew4UTk]

i'm on it....

everything that was changed yesterday was lost- i had it to where multi-quote was humming, and copy and paste retained formatting... and some jackalope comes along and overwrites those changes thinking he's doing me a favor...

i'll have it back to the way it was yesterday by the end of the day... but posts from yesterday are gone-long-gone, and thanks to that same jackalopes same action.... .

he's locked out... he won't be able to do that again.

[ELA]

Very minor in the long term.

It's a shame we lost my pearls of wisdom from yesterday, but the thoughts of pretty much everyone else are forgettable anyway.

Thanks again!

[Drew4UTk]

put the site in maintenance mode for a minute or two... trying to uneff this mess.

it'll be good soon!