The database has been unzipped and is importing now - I didn't think it would take so long (going on an hour now). I'll let it run tonight and if all goes well, I might be able to open the boards tomorrow afternoon.

There's good news and bad news. This really isn't my week...I sit here now hunting and pecking with one hand on my keyboard as my dog decided to make four large indentations in my right hand (completely my fault though). The database transferred ok today and I might be able to decompress it and maybe import it one handed, but without my "mouse hand" (I have a trackball that is completely right-handed), I'm pretty sure the boards won't be up tonight. Maybe tomorrow though...

Well, last night, for some reason, the transfer cut off half way through. So I'm starting the upload of the database again and hopefully all goes well this time and I can import it when I get home from work.

The database is ours! I just finished downloading the database from Invision and I am now uploading it to our new server. The upload will complete while I sleep tonight (I am still tired and recovering from this cold). Tomorrow morning, when I wake up, I will import the database and when I get home around 5:20pm, I will finally be able to see if this fixes our problems. Keep your fingers crossed!

Unfortunately, nothing new to report - I'm still waiting to hear back from Invision so I can get my database off their server, and even though I got a reply today, it was completely useless (e.g. "I've moved this ticket over here"). Hopefully they'll get back to me overnight or early tomorrow so I can work on the move then (as I most likely won't be heading into work unless my cold disappears miraculously overnight).

Not much to report right now. I'm really sick and not really feeling like doing anything - but I tried. Invision found my database on another server, however, I don't have access to that database right now, so I have to wait for them to grant me access before I can download it, gzip it and then upload it to the new server. That whole process takes about 8 hours, so when they get back to me I can work on it again. I will check my e-mail once more before I go to bed really early tonight to see if I can get access to the database and back it up and start the upload before I head to bed.

Interesting story - the problems we are having now have to do with structural database problems. Originally, Invision thought that I took a 1.3 database and tried to use it with 2.0.2. But I insisted our old database was 2.0.2 as we had upgraded already. They tried working on it, but had no luck, and wrote me back again today telling me that it still looks like a 1.3 database. So, the problem may be, I backed up the wrong database. However, there's only one database on the server we're on. But...when we first upgraded to 2.0.2 and we couldn't get a lot of people online, they talked about moving our database to another server...so...maybe our database is sitting there on another Invision server and it hasn't been backed up, it hasn't been gzipped, and it hasn't been moved to the new server. Oh, what fun! So right now they're going to look into where my database might be living within the Invision server farm and if that's the problem, I should just be able to move it over (should take a day) and we might be up and running. If not, they're going to do extensive work on the database and who knows how long that'll take.

Oddly enough, both Invision and my host have been getting back to me quite quickly regarding this strange situation. The /var partition, where the databases were housed was only 4.6 gigs and our databases were 2.4 and couldn't be copied/backed-up/worked on. My host is going to move them to the /home directory where we'll have the full 70 gigs to work with and then Invision should be able to fix/investigate the problem.

Invision was working on the database, but oddly enough, he said he got an error 28 - which meant that we ran out of disk space. Now...we're on a brand new server with a 73 gig hard drive, so I don't know how we could possibly be out of space. I now have a support tickt in with my webhost, so we're looking into it...just odd...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Invision replied overnight to the ticket and I replied with the information they needed, so it's a waiting game once again. Everyone enjoy lotsa turkey and GO LIONS!

I updated the my.cnf file with the settings that should work for our server so the "Too Many Connections" error is now gone, however, we're back where we started with the SQL error that I'm waiting to hear back from Invision about. La di da.

Well, sd-1.net is now resolving to the correct site, however, we're getting "Too many connection" errors and even if we weren't getting those, we'd be seeing another SQL error. I'm not quite sure what the plan of attack is now. Invision replied to my ticket with a question to which I have responded, so I'm awaiting their answer again. I don't think any tweaks were made to the SQL or PHP configurations yet (hence why I wanted the boards offline), so I'll do a bit of work on those while we are still offline. Happy turkey eve.

I guess I'll just give a quick update this morning, but nothing happened overnight. Hopefully Invision will respond while I'm at work today and maybe something will happen with the DNS settings, but I'm just as clueless as the rest of you are as to when things might get done with this site. Just so frustrating...anyways...go watch The Terminal (with Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta-Jones) - it cheered me up last night and is a great movie.

Well, you guessed it. No word from Invision on the SQL error. I also posted in the forums, but no help there either. Tomorrow I moved some things around and will be able to work on the site most of the night - however, not much can be done with the SQL errors. You've heard it before...stay tuned.

Of course, just as I get 2.0.2 installed, the database moved over, and the database imported, I get an e-mail today from Invision - they've released 2.0.3! So what I'm going to do is get this SQL error fixed and then upgrade the boards to 2.0.3 (especially since one of the features of 2.0.3 is SQL optimizations which speed up large boards). So...I might open up the old boards for chatting though NO POSTS will be transferred over - or I might just leave everything closed until I can get this upgrade complete. I don't have much time tomorrow after work to work on it (though I do have some time) but I do have plenty of time on Thursday to work on it.

Unfortunately, SD-1.net is still not resolving for me on this end and I'm getting an SQL error on the new server (the error is familiar though, so I know there's a fix). Everything seems to have been imported properly as there's tons of data in the SQL table. I have a support request in with IPB (who knows how long that'll take) and I also put one in with our new host regarding the DNS settings.

Not much new news this morning. The gzip'ed database uploaded overnight and I was able to decompress it without a problem this morning. I am currently working to import the database now, but it takes a loooooooong time to import all that information. Also, right now, it appears that we're having a problem with DNS settings. Of course, it could take up to 48 hours for the domain to transfer over to the new server. If sd-1.net doesn't resolve tonight (I can't get anywhere right now with that URL), I'll put in a support ticket to make sure I have all the settings right (I had to change a couple this morning). Hopefully we can be back online tonight, but you just never know.

SD-1.net is now offline for everyone as we work to move the database over to the new server. I think I'll also transfer over the sd-1.net domain name now rather than waiting for all to import - I'm still wavering a bit on that idea, but the import should work - we'll just see how the server stands up under the load when/if we open tomorrow. By the way - gzip rules. Compressed our 2.4 gig database down to 510 megs.

Everything has now been transferred - all uploads, all avatars, all personal photos (removed non-personal photos - bad users!) and all emoticons. All that's left to move is the database. Unfortunately, due to time constraints tomorrow, it can't be done tonight. Right now my plan is to close SD-1.net on Monday night and backup the database. Zip it up and start the upload to the new server - the upload will take at least the whole night and most of the day. Tuesday night is free (a rarity for me) and I can work on importing the database at that time. After the import is made and everything seems to be working, it'll be opened up again (and monitored closely) for the night. Sorry for the delay, but we're moving along.

The server seems to be ready to go. It has been securely set up and Turck mmCache has been installed (they didn't do it initially, but happily obliged for no charge when I asked later). I have installed Invision Power Board and I have already uploaded the avatars and emoticons. It'll take a few minutes now as I restore the avatars and the user photos. Uploads ARE working which is a good sign and everything else seems to be in order - though I'm not sure if PHP/mySQL have been fully tweaked yet.

The next step after the avatar & photo uploads is to close sd-1.net, backup the database, move it over to the new server, import the database, and then see if everything is working. Unfortunately, that'll take a long time. Backing up the database takes about 1.5-2 hours, then I have to upload it to the new server, which, is not an easy task with the size of our database. Hopefully I can upload a zipped version which will save a lot of time, but this last step will be the hardest and most time-consuming.

Our new server setup company seems to be infinitely better than the old one. They confirmed my purchase within an hour, directed me to open a support ticket and responded to that ticket within another hour (no work has been done yet, but at least they acknowledged my ticket). Work should begin soon and we'll see how fast they can get things done. I'll work to install Invision Power Board later tonight or tomorrow morning and then start the arduous task of moving everything over server to server (smilies, skins, avatars, photos, etc.).

But things are finally moving again.

Unfortunately, the person we were going to work with has been completely unresponsive and apparently doesn't want my money. I had worked with him before and he came recommended from Gertie, but enough is enough, so we've gone elsewhere for the initial server setup. Hopefully it will all be completed tonight whil I am away and couldn't be doing anything anyways. I will keep you posted.

Not much to report right now (unfortunately). I put my order through with the person that was going to set up the server, however, they need voice verification for credit card orders. They called a few times while I was at work (can't pick up the phone there) and got a hold of me yesterday morning. However, I didn't know they'd need me to verify the last four digits of my CC#. So I asked them to call back last night. They didn't. I put in a support ticket for them to call me in the morning. They didn't. I now have another ticket in and hopefully they will call me tonight and the server can be ready for me tomorrow morning (though my Saturday is pretty much all taken away with family matters). We'll see what happens tomorrow night and Sunday, but right now, I'm unfortunately not that optimistic. I'm working on it though.

Since the last time we were on a dedicated server (at ev1servers) our server was hacked and we lost a lot of data, I'm not taking any chances this time. I have re-hired the person who restored our backup after the devastating crash a while ago and he is going to secure our server, install mmCache for me (I'm not all that skilled with linux) and tweak everything to make sure our forums run as well as they possibly can (of course, tweaking will be done once we go live as there is no test audience to go by yet for tweaks). He's going to uninstall the crap on the server we don't need and make sure we have everything we do - firewall, mmCache, and anything else necessary to run our boards. Peace of mind is priceless - luckily the price was low for this peace of mind ;) So...with mmCache installed and the server ready to receive our boards (I will need to install the software), hopefully the timeline will speed up a little (though I still have no set open date yet).

We do have a server now, however, like I said previously, it'll take me a while to prep the server for the forums before I can even start the transfer of the database. Like I said earlier, I'm aiming at a weekend opening, however, depending on the time it takes to upload the database (luckily, I can gzip it rather than uploading it uncompressed - cuts about 75% off the file size), it most likely won't be until Sunday as I just found out I will be busy Saturday from 3pm onwards (hopefully that's when I can upload the database). I will try my darndest to get the server ready by then (though I can upload the database before the server is ready), so we'll see what happens. Stay tuned.

The server was just ordered, and within 5 minutes of me placing the order, I got a call to confirm the order. Sounded very nice, and, best of all, there's actually people working there (not quite sure about Invision)...

But the server should be set up tomorrow afternoon he said and then I have to make some customizations to speed up the server (Turck's mmCache, SQL tweaks, etc.) and then I need to install Invision Power Board. After the board is installed, I can upload the database and then import it on the new server and we should be good to go. I'm really looking forward to getting everything up and running again. Hopefully I can get it done by the weekend, but it probably will be completed over the weekend.

The money has just been transferred from Paypal and I will get the order for the new server in later today. It should take less than 24 hours to get set-up and then I can begin the installation of Invision's software from scratch and then I can get to work on moving the database over. I hope to have this all done in 3-4 days, but I'll be really busy these next few days so it may have to wait until I have free time over the weekend. My continued apologies for the delay and I hope to see you all again very soon on the boards.

Today, we got a brand new database error. What fun! This one I haven't seen before and probably is a result of the MySQL server going down completely, but whatever the cause, it's just reinforced my decision to move elsewhere. After researching the two companies, I am most likely going to go with LiquidWeb as our new host as I've heard good things about their managed dedicated servers. Unfortunately, the prices are a bit higher than I would like (though cheaper than Invision's new server idea), so I have to wait for the funds to be transferred from Paypal (thank you subscribers for your support) and then I can order the server. Hopefully I can do that tomorrow and get it set up then as well - if not, then I'm not sure when I can get to it as next week is quite busy.

Unfortunately, whatever Invision did, it didn't work. With just 34 users online everything slowed to a halt. Therefore, the boards are back offline again. I'm looking into two other dedicated server solutions (The Planet or LiquidWeb) and if we can get one of those servers ordered and running quickly, I can move everything over quite easily (or so I hope) - now that our database has been converted, I'd just have to reinstall the software over there and start uploading the database and such.

Sorry all. I thought we'd be fine once we got up and running - I don't know why everything is so slow since we haven't moved servers and the old forum worked (some of the time).

I have opened the forum up again as I was told that the database has been moved to its own server. We'll see if the database can hold up now. I am currently exploring other avenues and seeing if we can move to our own server elsewhere.

So I opened it to subscribers only and with only 6 people online, it ground to a halt - so there's obviously a huge problem with the database, however, no one at Invision is responding to my multiple tickets so there's really nothing I can do. I have put in hosting requests with two other companies to see what they can do for us. If anyone has a hosting company or knows of a good hosting company, please let me know. We need at least a dual processor computer with 2 gigs of RAM. Alternatively, we could also go with two computers - one for the database, one for the web page serving. I'm not sure what the pricing on something like that would be, but it also needs to be managed so we can avoid the problems we experienced a year ago (or was it 2?). My e-mail is blakek (at) gmail.com. I guess I'll leave the board open to subscribers only, but be warned, it's slow as molasses (probably slower)...

Well, I'll be away for about 4 hours, but to test the server, I have opened up the board to subscribers - and subscribers ONLY. In the title of the board, you will see it says (OFFLINE). Subscribers should now be able to post and view topics. I'm just going to see if we can withstand a couple users and see how it works out while I'm gone.

I have two support tickets in with Invision, but no word over the past few hours...grrr.

Unfortunately, we're back offline as we work to figure out what the problem is.

I'll probably have to close the boards again as I can't seem to get anywhere. I can load the board index, but can't bring up any topics. Can anyone else get into topics? I would think no one else can...but will leave the boards open for 10 more minutes or so to see if the problem resolves itself.

SD-1.net is open again.

Though it probably will be moving slowly as we reopen.

Things are going well as we work to get the forums back up and running again. Aliasfix and I have run into some problems already, however, they are quite minor in the grand scheme of things. Problems thus far:

Attachments do not work. When we reopen - DO NOT UPLOAD IMAGES.

Avatars are sketchy. You cannot UPLOAD avatars. The one you had during the last backup will still be there so you can keep that one. Also, you can use "off-site" images - upload them at photobucket or imageshack and link them that way. DO NOT UPLOAD AVATARS.

Uploads are not working. Rest assured, we do have them all, but they have not been uploaded yet. We are going to try and bring them back as soon as possible, but until then, off-site image hosting sites must be used. And with the rapid rise of such sites, we might close uploads and attachments all together. Imageshack, PaintedOver, Photobucket, etc.

I have to run some errands really quick (food, etc.), but should be able to reopen when I get back (I want to be there when we open to work out problems).

When we reopen, please use this thread to report problems or errors.

Still working on downloading the uploads and uploading the avatars. Should be finished in about 25 minutes...not sure when we can open though...

The boards seem to be working now, however, they are not open to the public yet. I am still working to get things up and running again. I've successfully restored all the emoticons, but right now, avatars and uploads are still missing. They're on the server somewhere, so I'm trying to figure out the easiest way to move them over. Thanks for your continued patience.

About 15 minutes ago, I got an e-mail stating that the boards were back up and running, however, when I went to them, I got an SQL error that most of you are probably seeing as well. However, I can log into the administrative control panel, so we are getting somewhere and I do have someone working on the problem at this very moment. It should be back soon.

I've now been told that it most definitely should be back up some time tomorrow. Of course, that's all subject to change. I'm off to bed now and they could be ready to reopen when I wake up, but who knows...if they are ready tomorrow, Invision will keep the board offline so I can test everything out before reopening them to the public. Again, thanks for all the kind words via comments, e-mail and whatnot and my apologies for the delay (I never would have thought it would take almost 2 weeks to get back up).

Not quite sure why nothing has happened. I've updated my tickets multiple times over the past couple days without a response, so I just opened a new one looking for answers which ended:

If the time taken to resolve the problem was excessive 2 days ago...it's getting to the point of absurd now.

Oops. Accidentally posted to the wrong blog earlier. Nothing new to report...hopefully we're back tomorrow.

Paraphrased (took out some inconsequential information):

I'm terribly sorry for the delay, we're going to get the board upgraded tomorrow morning. The big issue has been a server related issue with the partitions which has been preventing the upgrade while we juggle the database around, we'll take the board offline before we start the upgrade.

I just got a couple more updates, but I'm not quite sure what's going to be done right now. They said that our database is too large for the server so they are moving us over to a dedicated server (even though we were on a dedicated server already). Maybe they're moving us to the dedicated server we were going to upgrade to (which I talked to Invision about in August). Either way, it looks like people are actually working on our problem which is promising. However, I still have no idea when we'll be up and running again.

They are once again going to be working on the server today (it has morphed from a MySQL problem to a server problem with the partitions) and they hope to have it up and running later tonight. Of course...they've said that before, so we'll just have to wait and see.

Well obviously, a couple hours doesn't quite mean a couple hours. I have updated the ticket asking for a new time frame and if I don't get an answer by early tomorrow, I'll once again ask to go back to the old version.

Sounds like the problem was worse than expected. At least something's being done:

Hello,

We are working on upgrading you to IPB2. There is an issue with mySQL on your server, which is why this is not yet completed.

Our server techs are working on this as we speak, and the upgrade should be complete in the next few hours.

Again, not much seems to be happening. It looks like they went to upgrade our boards and then left it halfway done. I have now entered yet ANOTHER ticket seeing if we can just go back to the old version and then we can get the boards open again...such frustration...

The people at Invision went to work on my board this morning after I submitted yet another trouble ticket and they said they got the database imported and they were working on upgrading the boards, however, as you can probably see, there's still problems, so nothing is going on right now. I have opened yet another ticket and hopefully we can get something done...

You know the saying, "No news is good news?" Well, unfortunately, that's not entirely true. The trouble ticket I have in with Invision hasn't been touched since I last asked for shell access to do the work myself and I'm just left hanging here. I'm going to request access again so when I get home from work tomorrow night I can start to work on getting the boards back online. I never imagined it would take a week, but sometimes, as a frequent customer says at work, "that's the way the mop flops."

Many thanks for all the nice comments left on my last post - it's much appreciated and I look forward to getting things up and running again as soon as humanly possible.

Well...here we are. SD-3 is now back up and functioning to follow the status of the sites of SD-1.net and SD-6.com. As you probably know, SD-1.net has been down since last Saturday and, unfortunately, right now, there is no quick fix in sight. Invision has been dragging their feet and with my job and classes, I have no time to devote to fixing SD-1.net fully.

So basically, I have support tickets in with Invision and they are "working" on it, but nothing's been done since last Saturday really. Lots of talk and no action. The only time I have a chance to get everything fixed on my own is Friday night after I get off work. I will get the database imported and I will try and upgrade the boards to the latest version which should produce some speed enhancements.

I am terribly sorry for the week we've been offline. Hopefully we'll be back soon. Comments here are turned on - feel free to leave whatever comments you like.