914world is showing its age Options

[SirAndy]

914world is showing its age (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

The recent outage was not due to some cyber attack or malicious plotting from the darkest depths of the interwebs.

It was simply due to the forum software being overwhelmed by the amount of data stored here combined with the amount of traffic we're receiving.

Fact is, the software we're running on is more than 20 years old, written at a time when the internet was a much different place.
It was never meant to run for this long or handle the amount of data we have accumulated.


So what are our options?

- Keep going until everything crashes and burns into a pile.

- Start over fresh with a new server with new forum software. We'd be losing everything we have.

- Try to fix some of the issues by re-writing parts of the software, reworking the database and changing the way uploaded images are stored. Maybe even update the server itself while we're in there.


While the last choice seems the obvious one, the problem is that i do have a day-job that needs my attention and my time is limited.
It would also mean i'd probably have to shut down the site for a longer period of time, maybe a week or two, and maybe more than once.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

[worn]

914world is showing its age (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

The recent outage was not due to some cyber attack or malicious plotting from the darkest depths of the interwebs.

It was simply due to the forum software being overwhelmed by the amount of data stored here combined with the amount of traffic we're receiving.

Fact is, the software we're running on is more than 20 years old, written at a time when the internet was a much different place.
It was never meant to run for this long or handle the amount of data we have accumulated.


So what are our options?

- Keep going until everything crashes and burns into a pile.

- Start over fresh with a new server with new forum software. We'd be losing everything we have.

- Try to fix some of the issues by re-writing parts of the software, reworking the database and changing the way uploaded images are stored. Maybe even update the server itself while we're in there.


While the last choice seems the obvious one, the problem is that i do have a day-job that needs my attention and my time is limited.
It would also mean i'd probably have to shut down the site for a longer period of time, maybe a week or two, and maybe more than once.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

Thank you Sir Andy!!
Must it be you volunteering? Is the price tag of hiring help way too high for our ability to chip in to match? I am volunteering some cash.

[FlacaProductions]

I would venture that we could do a little fund-raising around here and come up with enough to keep this chugging along.

The obvious middle ground for me would be new software that migrates the old stuff in....

[JeffBowlsby]

Is it possible to start fresh with new software for the best function and expediency, and lock future input to but preserve the current site as an archive to make it accessible/searchable for future reference?

[NARP74]

A previous favorite car site of mine was in a similar situation. The site had crashed, the admin had moved on. I was at the meeting when new people were voted in, and they asked about the site, the vote from the new president was to trash the old and start fresh. They assigned new IDs, new passwords and moved on. I was an admin and a moderator. All of history, conversations, photos, information was gone. We lost information with people that had passed away, all just thrown aside to be bits and bytes in some scrap pile somewhere. I never used my new login to that site, never went back and moved on. Maybe that is what moved me to 914s and this community.

Please try to save and maintain access to the data and history of this great community at all costs. I will be glad to put my money where my mouth is. Get volunteers, hire people, whatever it takes. Come up with a plan and a budget and publish it and let's try to meet those goals. Use the knowledge and experience of the group and get it done the right way.

[Cairo94507]

I say do whatever you think is Best Andy so we can continue to enjoy our World and the friends we have made here. I am in for $100 to help upgrade.
Cheers,
Michael (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[VaccaRabite]

I do think that we should be starting over with new forum software. That said, there are several free (or at least open source) forum options that use SQL as their database. We would likely be able to import our past topics. We would likely loose the look and feel of our current forums, though.

Zach

[Craigers17]

I say do whatever you think is Best Andy so we can continue to enjoy our World and the friends we have made here. I am in for $100 to help upgrade.
Cheers,
Michael (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

…..what he said.

[technicalninja]

Another option might be train some of us monkeys into data "movers".

Light up a new server/software (something with a really good search engine!)

Lock the old one down only giving access to your trained simians on a different web address.

Let the monkeys go to work transferring everything over...

I'd go MONKEY!

I'd want save the good stuff first...

I'd also re-organize a bit.

Things like have a forum "induction" with sub forum of Carbs, D-Jet, L-jet, Modern and so on.
Engines could be broken down, T4, P6, Subi, others.

Lapuwali should stay in its entirety...

Ask for donations, assistance.

Warn everyone to save their own data is possible (I'm thinking messages and such).

Take a poll on how it should be built.

Just a thought

[GregAmy]

@SirAndy , I suggest "Keep going until everything crashes and burns into a pile" is not desired by anyone here.

Care to PM me some details on database size and general bandwidth usage?

I've recently ported two VBulletin forums to XENForo, primarily to ensure the historical data will not be lost. These no longer have a lot of activity (most new users are on Facebook now) but the databases were saved. It has off-shore support and all conversions, space, and bandwidth is being done in exchange for donations.

Depending on how much space and load we're talking about, maybe we can do the same thing here, to the same place.

https://improvedtouring.com/
https://prodracing.com/

Lemme know what we're dealing with here.

Edit: oh, and I'm pretty much pretired now, unless something nice and juicy gets dropped into my lap without me having to work to find it...

[930cabman]

914world is showing its age (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

The recent outage was not due to some cyber attack or malicious plotting from the darkest depths of the interwebs.

It was simply due to the forum software being overwhelmed by the amount of data stored here combined with the amount of traffic we're receiving.

Fact is, the software we're running on is more than 20 years old, written at a time when the internet was a much different place.
It was never meant to run for this long or handle the amount of data we have accumulated.


So what are our options?

- Keep going until everything crashes and burns into a pile.

- Start over fresh with a new server with new forum software. We'd be losing everything we have.

- Try to fix some of the issues by re-writing parts of the software, reworking the database and changing the way uploaded images are stored. Maybe even update the server itself while we're in there.


While the last choice seems the obvious one, the problem is that i do have a day-job that needs my attention and my time is limited.
It would also mean i'd probably have to shut down the site for a longer period of time, maybe a week or two, and maybe more than once.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

Thank you Sir Andy!!
Must it be you volunteering? Is the price tag of hiring help way too high for our ability to chip in to match? I am volunteering some cash.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif)

count me in 100%

What great group, hands down

[friethmiller]

I develop software for a living. I'm sure there are many others here, too. I don't pretend to specialize in Forums but would be happy to help, if needed. I personally think we should start fresh and leave this stuff in-place as a reference (i.e. no new posts).

[SKL1]

Can't lose the site or the info that is here now. I am totally computer illiterate (probably why I like the old AC cars) but would chip in more $$ to keep something going!
We can't lose all the info that is here now!

[chmillman]

If you are looking for new forum software, I can recommend Discourse...

https://www.discourse.org/

The 3D CAD forum where I hang out (rhino3d.com) has dozens of new posts per day, 24/7 worldwide. It's a little different format than the old PHP-style forums like this one - way better IMHO - but YMMV.

Migrating from the old format to any new format is probably impossible, so the idea of keeping the old forum running as an archive is good. However, that will also require some effort and expense I expect.

[Jamie]

914world is showing its age (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

The recent outage was not due to some cyber attack or malicious plotting from the darkest depths of the interwebs.

It was simply due to the forum software being overwhelmed by the amount of data stored here combined with the amount of traffic we're receiving.

Fact is, the software we're running on is more than 20 years old, written at a time when the internet was a much different place.
It was never meant to run for this long or handle the amount of data we have accumulated.


So what are our options?

- Keep going until everything crashes and burns into a pile.

- Start over fresh with a new server with new forum software. We'd be losing everything we have.

- Try to fix some of the issues by re-writing parts of the software, reworking the database and changing the way uploaded images are stored. Maybe even update the server itself while we're in there.


While the last choice seems the obvious one, the problem is that i do have a day-job that needs my attention and my time is limited.
It would also mean i'd probably have to shut down the site for a longer period of time, maybe a week or two, and maybe more than once.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

Saving the data base is the top priority as I see it, it is a treasure trove of information most valuable for the maintenance of our old cars. I would certainly be willing to make a substantial money donation to rebuilding the site and continue our love affairs with these old driving machines. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/aktion035.gif)

[burton73]

@ SirAndy
Number 1, thank you for all that you do for us!


I am here to kick in some cash to help. We have a great database on 914s from our members, I would hate to lose that.

If I was to ad up the time, I have spent over the last 18 years I figure it would be around 10,000 hours. I have kicked in $25. A year so I have paid up so far $450. I think that is $.05 an hour
That my brothers is a screaming deal.


Best Bob B

[mb911]

I vote for whatever seems easiest and least intrusive to those (Sir Andy) that volunteer. I would be more than happy to willing to chip in however it’s needed

[JOEPROPER]

I have no idea what it cost to develop or operate a forum, but I would also be willing to contribute. 914WORLD has been a resource for so many out here and should be preserved if at all possible. Thank you @sirandy for all your efforts.

[rjames]

Also voting for not letting it 'burn to the ground'.
I'm envisioning a new hosted site with new software, but also a link to the the old site, also hosted.

Is it an option to migrate the current server and historical data is it currently operates to a cloud-based VM(s) to preserve the historical data, and allow it to be accessed as we're doing so now, but in a 'read only' mode so that it's locked down and doesn't grow further in size? A VM would allow an easy button to 'restore from backup' should the site crash. I expect that if it was in read-only mode, it would be less likely to go down.

The above would require a way to cover ongoing costs, but I can imagine lots of ways of funding that (dues, events, sponsors, etc.).

[GregAmy]

Is it an option to migrate the current server and historical data is it currently operates to a cloud-based VM(s) to preserve the historical data, and allow it to be accessed as we're doing so now...

Yes, hard stop. Invision Power Board (this forum) uses a MySQL back end which can be migrated to any current forum software (we use XENForo). No loss of data, and no need to create an "archive" location.

The forum will look and feel differently, but all the data will be there. You just keep using it as-is (after we stop waving our canes at the sky about how things are in a different place).

It all depends on what Andy wants/needs to do. - GA