Jyosua Posted February 19, 2013 Share Posted February 19, 2013 I've mentioned this before, but I've been looking into potential server upgrades. I looked at some of the options, and I think I've settled on our new hardware. We'll be upgrading to the following: Xeon 5506 4x2.13GHz 4MB Cache Quad Core Processor 16 GB DDR3 800MHZ ECC/RG RAM 4x 500GB HDDs in a Raid 10 array and otherwise similar settings to what we have now. For comparison's sake, this is what we're running on now: 2.8GHz E7400 Core 2 Duo Processor 4 GB DDR2 RAM 320GB HDD No Raid. This upgrade is likely going to cost somewhere around $100 a month more on average, putting our costs around $300/month; however, I think we'll be able to afford it with the increase in ad revenue we're seeing from the FE:Awakening traffic. Of important note is the Raid array. Between the faster (effective) disk access speed striping provides, and the parity provided by the config, this should not only improve our performance, but also in the case of a hard drive failure should speed up the recovery process quite a bit. Regarding the downtime: This is going to happen today, February 20th, between the hours of 5PM and 11PM PST. In reality it shouldn't take more than an hour, but because of the nameserver IP change, it could be a little while before you can access the site again. I'll post updates and useful information for getting back on the site once the upgrade is complete on my twitter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ema Skye Posted February 19, 2013 Share Posted February 19, 2013 Thanks for the heads up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elieson Posted February 19, 2013 Share Posted February 19, 2013 Is this why it's been popping out (Population Overload)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eclipse Posted February 19, 2013 Share Posted February 19, 2013 Thanks~! I hope this helps alleviate the traffic problems~! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jyosua Posted February 19, 2013 Author Share Posted February 19, 2013 Pretty much. We're overloading the current hardware at infrequent intervals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klokinator Posted February 19, 2013 Share Posted February 19, 2013 All these upgrades and still running an old, shitty version of IPB. The irony lol. Not only a shitty version, but literally one of the worst versions ever released, a downgrade from both the previous and the next version. Gods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jyosua Posted February 19, 2013 Author Share Posted February 19, 2013 I'm actually looking into upgrading the version of IPB soon, but we have modifications that either need to be carried over our replaced. It would likely break our skins too. I've updated the thread to indicate the downtime is today. Those times are PST, btw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klokinator Posted February 19, 2013 Share Posted February 19, 2013 Thank god, because I have serious issues. I was thinking you guys were going to keep this basically forever xB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NekoRex Posted February 19, 2013 Share Posted February 19, 2013 SF has ads? I've never seen them, even with Adblock off.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freohr Datia Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 SF has ads? I've never seen them, even with Adblock off.... Oh dear, meanwhile I saw this place with adblock turned off and there were more ads than there used to be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loki Laufeyson Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Pretty much. We're overloading the current hardware at infrequent intervals. I see. This explains the huge amount of slow down thats been going on. (this place usually doesnt have it.) But given the new amount of traffic going on, it makes sense. Thanks Jyo! :) I'm actually looking into upgrading the version of IPB soon, but we have modifications that either need to be carried over our replaced. It would likely break our skins too. But i like the older IPboard more than the newer one! D: But notifications are better in the newer one. But my Rajaion Red! I love it so much. :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jyosua Posted February 20, 2013 Author Share Posted February 20, 2013 I like the old IPBoard better too, but for the sake of performance, security, and supportability, we had to and still have to upgrade. Just as an FYI: I'm working on the server migration now, but I'm keeping the old server up as long as possible while I do this. Eventually I'll have to close the forums temporarily while I move the database data, but by that point I'll be close to being done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Booton Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 I'm actually looking into upgrading the version of IPB soon, but we have modifications that either need to be carried over our replaced. It would likely break our skins too. If you upgrade, you'll definitely have to rebuild your skins. I was frustrated by this when I upgraded from 3.1 to 3.3. But it's worth it since 3.0 and 3.1 are pretty bad (especially the profiles) compared to the improvements of 3.2+. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jyosua Posted February 20, 2013 Author Share Posted February 20, 2013 I'm not too worried about the skins breaking... I can probably make new ones pretty fast nowadays. The modifications are the biggest issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klokinator Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Considering the skins are almost 100% default IPB, yeah it shouldn't be too hard xP I just hope that in the new version you guys have auto-warn level reduction. Seriously my warn hasn't gone down at all in about 7 months, and that's a bit ridiculous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loki Laufeyson Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Considering the skins are almost 100% default IPB, yeah it shouldn't be too hard xP I just hope that in the new version you guys have auto-warn level reduction. Seriously my warn hasn't gone down at all in about 7 months, and that's a bit ridiculous. As far as i know, it doesnt. Another forum i go to (westeros.org) uses the newer IPboard software and the warns do not degrade automatically. Ive had one since like the first month or so i joined and it hasnt gone away yet. Either it doesnt degrade at all or the mods ended up locking warns that way. lol Hey Jyo, did the server thing happen? Cuz i noticed the forums/site moving quicker than it has been. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jyosua Posted February 20, 2013 Author Share Posted February 20, 2013 There were some issues with the backup software we were using interfering with aptitude. Because of this setback, I haven't finished configuring everything yet. I no longer have a good time estimate as to when the downtime will be, but it will be sometime in the next 24 hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narga_Rocks Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Seriously my warn hasn't gone down at all in about 7 months, and that's a bit ridiculous. I thought you were one of the people on permawarn due to being rez'd. If not, PM Tang about removing some of your warns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jyosua Posted February 20, 2013 Author Share Posted February 20, 2013 I'm pretty sure he came back after being permabanned, so yeah, that's correct. That's all off-topic though. Regarding the upgrade: I've finished migration everything but the database. When I do that, I'll need to shut down the forums for a bit, and immediately after the change in nameserver IPs will also take effect, meaning the site might be inaccessible for up to an hour or more depending on your DNS servers. Unfortunately, it's pretty late now and I have work in the morning. This means that I won't be able to finish this until tomorrow evening. Sorry about that. You'll have to deal with the lag for one more day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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