Forum Upgrade & Maintenance

amnesia

amnesia

.
Staff member
2A Bourbon Hound 2024
2A Bourbon Hound OG
Charter Life Member
Benefactor
Life Member
Supporting Member
Multi-Factor Enabled
Joined
Dec 17, 2016
Messages
10,469
Location
NC
Rating - 100%
138   0   0
Ladies and Gents,

The time has come (long overdue) for us to upgrade xenforo from 1.5 to 2.2. While doing this we also have the upgrade the underlaying AWS infrastructure that our forum is hosted on. I will do my best to keep the downtime a minimum while I make the transition.

My goal is to test everything like crazy this week. As I get closer I will make sure you all have a status update & communication to when everything will happen. There may be a few hours where the forums will be closed while I transfer the database from one server to another but I don't foresee any major issues.

We will be updating the forum Wednesday Oct 21st 2020. It should take around 2 hours or so for the update to complete.

Thanks!
 
Last edited:
28lqaq.jpg
 
I don't envy you the task, but I do appreciate all your efforts!
 
Thanks for the all the work and testing! No pressure but if we have extended down time on the forum this group might get some of their todo list done since we won’t have the forum to take up our time. :)
 
Last edited:
Jp8819 said:
Thanks for the all the work and testing! No pressure but if we have extended down time on the forum this group might get some of their todo list done since we won’t have the forum to take up our time. :)
Click to expand...
hush up with that. have you been hearing things from my wife?
 
I just wanted to give everyone an update. Testing is going really well. The only thing left to figure out is the sponsorship banners and then we are ready to roll! I have 7 more spots open for anyone who would like to help me test the new site.
 
I'll help test if needed.
 
amnesia said:
I just wanted to give everyone an update. Testing is going really well. The only thing left to figure out is the sponsorship banners and then we are ready to roll! I have 7 more spots open for anyone who would like to help me test the new site.
Click to expand...

TheWallrus said:
If you need any assistance...
Click to expand...
 
So there are a few things happening...

  1. The current version of Xenforo (the software that runs our site) was end of life May 31st 2019. What does this mean? XenForo 1.5 is now considered a legacy product and is no longer in active development. Support version 1.5 until May 31, 2019, but after this time no further maintenance releases. When software gets end of life it also means security updates are no longer being applied which we run the risk if we dont upgrade. The new site is Xenforo 2.2 which is current, able to be updated, patches for security flaws, and makes things faster.
  2. The infrastructure aka computers that CFF runs will also be end of life on 12/31/2020 so I am upgrading those as part of this
  3. Cost savings - It is extremely expensive to run the site. Thankfully, we have a pretty awesome community and sponsors that help keep the site a float. With the new set up we will be reducing the cost to run it by 80% by my estimates. Which means instead of throwing money away to run the site it can be reinvested into the community.
 
amnesia said:
So there are a few things happening...

  1. The current version of Xenforo (the software that runs our site) was end of life May 31st 2019. What does this mean? XenForo 1.5 is now considered a legacy product and is no longer in active development. Support version 1.5 until May 31, 2019, but after this time no further maintenance releases. When software gets end of life it also means security updates are no longer being applied which we run the risk if we dont upgrade. The new site is Xenforo 2.2 which is current, able to be updated, patches for security flaws, and makes things faster.
  2. The infrastructure aka computers that CFF runs will also be end of life on 12/31/2020 so I am upgrading those as part of this
  3. Cost savings - It is extremely expensive to run the site. Thankfully, we have a pretty awesome community and sponsors that help keep the site a float. With the new set up we will be reducing the cost to run it by 80% by my estimates. Which means instead of throwing money away to run the site it can be reinvested into the community.
Click to expand...

Exactly.
That's what I was going to explain to everyone else who doesn't understand technobabble, but you beat me to it.
 
Spartan01 said:
Exactly.
That's what I was going to explain to everyone else who doesn't understand technobabble, but you beat me to it.
Click to expand...
Good call....I still use mapquest and print directions out on actual paper and all...so there you go! A tech moron, that's me. :)
 
amnesia said:
So there are a few things happening...

  1. The current version of Xenforo (the software that runs our site) was end of life May 31st 2019. What does this mean? XenForo 1.5 is now considered a legacy product and is no longer in active development. Support version 1.5 until May 31, 2019, but after this time no further maintenance releases. When software gets end of life it also means security updates are no longer being applied which we run the risk if we dont upgrade. The new site is Xenforo 2.2 which is current, able to be updated, patches for security flaws, and makes things faster.
  2. The infrastructure aka computers that CFF runs will also be end of life on 12/31/2020 so I am upgrading those as part of this
  3. Cost savings - It is extremely expensive to run the site. Thankfully, we have a pretty awesome community and sponsors that help keep the site a float. With the new set up we will be reducing the cost to run it by 80% by my estimates. Which means instead of throwing money away to run the site it can be reinvested into the community.
Click to expand...
Interesting and thanks for explaining. If you don’t mind sharing, what is the correct annual cost cost to run the site before upgrades and after with expected savings.
 
Last piece I needed to figure out is complete. We have a date set for upgrade. It's posted up top.
 
If all 4627 members each gave you two rounds of 9mm, it still wouldn't be enough for what you do lol
Thanks, Chris. We really do appreciate your efforts.
 
JohnFreeman said:
With software?

Bwhahahahahahahahahah!


(thanks for the work!)
Click to expand...

Great part is there was a test run for the upgrade that worked great. There are a few things that I need to change/update but ive proven them out on the test runs. I have a lot of confidence :D that we should have any issues.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom