fastg Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 Still getting the Vbulletin version in MD. Graham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnCh Posted February 1, 2021 Author Share Posted February 1, 2021 That's good :-) This migration (step 1) was to move the existing vBulletin instance to the new Hoster. Step 2 is moving from vBulletin to Invision. We could have simply done both migrations at the same time, but that can introduce issues that are much harder to track down. I'll provide un update on migration #2 and update post 1 with those details later today. Thanks, John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnCh Posted February 1, 2021 Author Share Posted February 1, 2021 For those of you keeping score at home, we nearly had a successful migration on Sunday for the first hop to the new hoster. The site started to come back online after ~90 minutes, and was working well, so I attempted to install Invision (the fancy, new forum software platform) on the servers to begin the prep work for the second and final migration. It wouldn't work. Turns out Invision needs PHP 7.1 or later, and we were running PHP 5.6 in our vBulletin installation. Since our version of vBulletin is compatible with PHP 7.1, the simple fix was for our hoster to update our PHP to 7.1. That's when things went sideways and truly bizarre and random issues began to spring up. It turns out that some past customization to our forum was not compatible with PHP 7.1 and it started throwing a tantrum. The fix was to downgrade back to PHP 5.6. The bad news is that we have no idea what is causing the incompatibility, so the original plan of me spending a couple of leisurely weeks preparing the new invision forum for the migration from vBulletin, won't work since I can't install it while we are still running PHP 5.6 (I never thought I would write the letters PHP so many times in a post, but I digress). The new plan is to take down the forum at 7am PT on Sunday, February 14th. As soon as it's down, we'll upgrade PHP to 7.1, I'll install the Invision software, get things as settled as possible, then we'll migrate the data and return with all the existing content (your posts PMs, attachments, etc) on the new forum, ready for you to post at will. Realistically this process will take all day Sunday, but if there are issues, it could bleed into Monday. Although the new forum will be working correctly, some of the improvements we have planned around articles and downloads won't yet be available and will follow in the coming weeks. How does that saying go about the best laid plans of Se7ens and drivers? -John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SENC Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 Thanks for all of your efforts on our behalf - know this isn't easy, but also know it will be great on the other side! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wemtd Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 John: Sounds about right for something involving se7ens A day (or two or three) are worth it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnCh Posted February 2, 2021 Author Share Posted February 2, 2021 Given my involvement, anyone who followed my engine rebuild saga, shouldn't find any of this surprising -John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
escondidoron Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 For those of you keeping score at home, we nearly had a successful migration on Sunday for the first hop to the new hoster. The site started to come back online after ~90 minutes, and was working well, so I attempted to install Invision (the fancy, new forum software platform) on the servers to begin the prep work for the second and final migration. It wouldn't work. Turns out Invision needs PHP 7.1 or later, and we were running PHP 5.6 in our vBulletin installation. Since our version of vBulletin is compatible with PHP 7.1, the simple fix was for our hoster to update our PHP to 7.1. That's when things went sideways and truly bizarre and random issues began to spring up. It turns out that some past customization to our forum was not compatible with PHP 7.1 and it started throwing a tantrum. The fix was to downgrade back to PHP 5.6. The bad news is that we have no idea what is causing the incompatibility, so the original plan of me spending a couple of leisurely weeks preparing the new invision forum for the migration from vBulletin, won't work since I can't install it while we are still running PHP 5.6 (I never thought I would write the letters PHP so many times in a post, but I digress). The new plan is to take down the forum at 7am PT on Sunday, February 14th. As soon as it's down, we'll upgrade PHP to 7.1, I'll install the Invision software, get things as settled as possible, then we'll migrate the data and return with all the existing content (your posts PMs, attachments, etc) on the new forum, ready for you to post at will. Realistically this process will take all day Sunday, but if there are issues, it could bleed into Monday. Although the new forum will be working correctly, some of the improvements we have planned around articles and downloads won't yet be available and will follow in the coming weeks. How does that saying go about the best laid plans of Se7ens and drivers? -John Haha. This is just like pulling the engine on my Seven to repair a failed piston ring land. As long as the engine is out there will never be a better time to thoroughly clean the engine bay and trans tunnel. Wow, look what I found, a cracked chassis tube....and another....and pretty soon the skins are off and it's a full blown rivets up restoration and reconstruction! Absolutely classic requirements creep! Hang in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croc Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 In fairness we had been deferring updates on the existing vBulletin for years given it is a buggy mess in the latest iteration but we had not reached the level of pain to find a new forum software to replace vBulletin. So this was always going to be a catch up. Just be thankful that this is not going like the L7C forum/website rebuild - that was a disaster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnCh Posted February 2, 2021 Author Share Posted February 2, 2021 Just be thankful that this is not going like the L7C forum/website rebuild - that was a disaster. Don't. Jinx. It. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anker Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 It's a common tale with software platforms that support plugins. Nobody is responsible for maintaining the whole and rarely does the platform owner test the plugins against new version, or vice versa. In my Porsche club we are dealing with similar issues with WordPress. By mid-summer we will be migrating to a different platform and clean up the mess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmustang Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 In my Porsche club we are dealing with similar issues with WordPress. By mid-summer we will be migrating to a different platform and clean up the mess. Simple Machines Less, is more, just saying :seeya: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croc Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 Simple Machines Less, is more, just saying :seeya: Seems appropriate for a Porsche Club. :rofl: I am still trying to work out if Bill's irony was deliberate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmustang Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 Seems appropriate for a Porsche Club. :rofl: I am still trying to work out if Bill's irony was deliberate? New, computer controlled, Porsches, perhaps Vintage Porsches, there is simply nothing simple about an old Porsche and it's upkeep and/or restoration Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnCh Posted February 3, 2021 Author Share Posted February 3, 2021 Based on the other thread about daily drivers, I didn't think any modern car could be called simple. A se7en on the other hand... And Croc, knowing your feelings about Porsches, I think you misread Bill's comment and mentally appended "tons" to the word simple. -John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croc Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 I think you misread Bill's comment and mentally appended "tons" to the word simple. Maybe I was thinking of the owners... :leaving: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnCh Posted February 3, 2021 Author Share Posted February 3, 2021 That's what I meant, hence the term simpletons' machines So to summarize, se7ens are simple, but their owner are complex, and modern Porsches are complex, but their owners are simpletons. Owners of older Porsches, however, are somewhere in between. -John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnCh Posted February 9, 2021 Author Share Posted February 9, 2021 I just added an update to the initial post and repeating it here for awareness. The avatar dimensions (called Profile Photo in Invision) are different than on vbulletin and may look strange depending on the shape and resolution of your current avatar. The good news is that you may use a larger image than on the current forum, with max dimensions of 170x170px and up to 490kb. The downside is that the image must be square. If you use a rectangular photo, it will make you crop it by lopping off the long end. Below is a screen of the actual tool so you can more easily see what I mean. If you have time, you might want to play with a new avatar in preparation for Sunday/Monday. Thanks, John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnCh Posted February 10, 2021 Author Share Posted February 10, 2021 As some of you noticed, the site was offline for about 4 hours yesterday. This was not planned and was due to an issue within our vBulletin code. Our new hosting company identified and corrected it, but it confirmed what we have long suspected; there are underlying code issues that have contributed to the interesting "features" we've randomly experienced over the past few years. The good news is the code base is not something moving over on Sunday and we will be starting fresh. The bad news is that because this randomly cropped up, Murphy's Law dictates there is no guarantee a related issue won't arise before Sunday and cause a repeat. Should that occur, and depending on the severity and effort to fix it, we may make the decision to rip off the band-aid and do the upgrade to Invision at that time. If the site does go down for a few hours before Sunday, please check the Twitter feed provided in Post #1 for an update. Thanks, John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vovchandr Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 John, thanks for the update. I don't miss those transfer/issues/stressful days. It's very stressful and hectic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnCh Posted February 10, 2021 Author Share Posted February 10, 2021 Compared to my real job, this has been kind of relaxing and slow paced -John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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