Server Issues: Update

[Batleth]

Believe everyone knows we had some server issues back a couple of months ago during one of our monthly maintenance cycle. This issue has caused us to suspend using our server to host any new files for the time being. Nick has been working on repairing any damage and looking for a long term fix.

Nick has decided that it's just time for us to obtain a newer server. Something larger and faster to carry us into the future before our older server gives out. It's been having some problems for years. Nick has had to do more and more tweaking for it to hold up to the higher volume of traffic that we've been getting. He's looking at new servers and deciding which one would be the best for us as well as cost effective. Once he has bought a new server, he'll begin transferring our sites to the new server. There will be an interruption of service of our sites during this process. I'll do my best to try to inform everyone before sites are taken down during this process but I'll know more later as Nick gets closer to doing this.

We survive online mainly by donations from our members. We do obtain a small amount from advertising but it doesn't amount to a lot per month. While Nick pays out of pocket anything that our donations can't cover. Donations have taken a real hit lately due to the downward trend of the world's economy. Frankly, donations have been down for the past 2-3 years. We recently had a 2 for 1 deal to get double the subscription time for any donations we got. I'm happy to say that many of you decided to partake in this bonus offer.

Since it's going to be quite expensive to buy a new server, initial setup fees, and transferring of our site's data; we'll be doing the 2 for 1 deal again for the month of May. If you are leaning towards obtaining a subscription by donating then this is the time to go ahead and do so. Please, do not donate if you can't afford it. But if you can, we ask that you take this time to do so. Kids, be sure to get your parents permissions before donating.

You can make a donation and obtain a subscription to our various bonus features by going to Paid Subscriptions found in the userCP.

Thanks ahead to all of you taking the time to donate to keeping us online!

[Platinum Pirate]

Originally Posted by Batleth

Nick has decided that it's just time for us to obtain a newer server. Something larger and faster to carry us into the future before our older server gives out. It's been having some problems for years. Nick has had to do more and more tweaking for it to hold up to the higher volume of traffic that we've been getting. He's looking at new servers and deciding which one would be the best for us as well as cost effective. Once he has bought a new server, he'll begin transferring our sites to the new server. There will be an interruption of service of our sites during this process. I'll do my best to try to inform everyone before sites are taken down during this process but I'll know more later as Nick gets closer to doing this.

When speaking of a newer server, are you referring to something other than vBulletin's? If you are, then there is one that is better.

[Cannonfury]

Why not use a free website??

[Batleth]

Originally Posted by Platinum Pirate

When speaking of a newer server, are you referring to something other than vBulletin's? If you are, then there is one that is better.

vB is just the software that we use. A server is the actual computer that runs the software.

Originally Posted by Cannonfury

Why not use a free website??

Where to begin....

• Can't handle our traffic load
• None that were of any good at the time of the site's creation
• Lack of features
• Too many ads!

And the list goes on and on. We're much better off with just hosting our own server. Which Nick has informed me will be 5x faster than our present one.

[Cannonfury]

Originally Posted by Batleth

vB is just the software that we use. A server is the actual computer that runs the software.


Where to begin....

• Can't handle our traffic load
• None that were of any good at the time of the site's creation
• Lack of features
• Too many ads!

And the list goes on and on. We're much better off with just hosting our own server. Which Nick has informed me will be 5x faster than our present one.

What new features will there be? or that depends on which "server" you get.

[Chalupa]

Thanks for the heads up guys, hope Nick finds a goody!

[Batleth]

Originally Posted by Cannonfury

What new features will there be? or that depends on which "server" you get.

Yet again, the user end of features is controlled by the software we're using. Not the computer behind it. You should notice a lot less lag while loading pages on the forums and we'll be able to start hosting images again on the server. So we'll be re-opening the gallery, allowing profile albums, as well as attachments once more.

[Platinum Pirate]

Originally Posted by Batleth

Since it's going to be quite expensive to buy a new server, initial setup fees, and transferring of our site's data; we'll be doing the 2 for 1 deal again for the month of May. If you are leaning towards obtaining a subscription by donating then this is the time to go ahead and do so. Please, do not donate if you can't afford it. But if you can, we ask that you take this time to do so. Kids, be sure to get your parents permissions before donating.

You can make a donation and obtain a subscription to our various bonus features by going to Paid Subscriptions found in the userCP.

Thanks ahead to all of you taking the time to donate to keeping us online!

To whom are these fees paid to?

[Batleth]

Originally Posted by Platinum Pirate

To whom are these fees paid to?

The server farm we're getting the server from.

[Batleth]

Nick has bought the new server and says it's roughly 5 times faster than our old server.

He has moved VMKForums.com over to it. Once everyone's ISP updates their DNS, you should be able to view it again. Attachments and gallery are down till later next week.

DOW will be our next site moved.

[Platinum Pirate]

Thanks for your answers, Batleth.

I noticed an error code whenever I double-click the Skull icon to mark all threads as 'Read'. This happened before the switch and it has happened after the switch. Below is a temp shot of what I'm talking about.
http://awesomescreenshot.com/0135cbt96

[Lilys]

Originally Posted by Platinum Pirate

Thanks for your answers, Batleth.

I noticed an error code whenever I double-click the Skull icon to mark all threads as 'Read'. This happened before the switch and it has happened after the switch. Below is a temp shot of what I'm talking about.
http://awesomescreenshot.com/0135cbt96

The error code you are seeing is a new issue which we are working to resolve. POF has not been moved to the new server yet, as it will need to be offline while that happens. Batleth and Nick are working to resolve the error code issue prior to the move.

[Platinum Pirate]

My bad. I thought it was moved when it was offline. I also noticed when I posted that and sought to edit a minor grammatical error, it took a while to load or execute the Change command. Again, I thought it was the new system kicking in or something. Oh well, it happens. Interesting stuff that needs to be done in order to fix it if what I read is what Nick needs to do,

https://www.vbulletin.com/forum/show...+blank+command

[Batleth]

Originally Posted by Platinum Pirate

My bad. I thought it was moved when it was offline. I also noticed when I posted that and sought to edit a minor grammatical error, it took a while to load or execute the Change command. Again, I thought it was the new system kicking in or something. Oh well, it happens. Interesting stuff that needs to be done in order to fix it if what I read is what Nick needs to do,

https://www.vbulletin.com/forum/show...+blank+command

When POF was offline, Nick was adding a service patch update to vB.

Yeah, I went thru the plugins last night to figure out which one was causing the error code. We're getting closer to figuring out the problem.

[Lavender Snowflame]

Is Club Penguin Forums and Pixie Hollow Forums being currently moved? Because I can't seem to enter the sites and it shows the same message.

Invalid forum path specified! Please edit this file and be sure to include the correct path for your $forumpath variable.

But, DOW and TTC are still working for me.