APUG Major System Upgrade Status

[Sean]

*UPDATE: scheduled outage is planned for this Friday starting 3pm US eastern time. Down time could be 1-3 days.

Hi All,

I have been a bit scarce due to working on the new version of APUG. This is a big one that basically involves a total rebuild of APUG (all styling, plugins and modifications). This is to get us from the aging vBulletin 3.0 platform onto the new vBulletin 4.0 architecture. Once complete this new platform should serve us well for a couple of years at minimum. A lot of work is being done to make this a smooth transition. I will not be flipping a switch and ending up with 1,000's of confused members, it will very much follow the same basic usability as the current site. There will certainly be a lot of "about time!" chatter regarding several key areas. I can't wait to roll it out! Included in the upgrades are also an updated gallery, content management, portfolio system and more. ETA for release is 3-4 weeks if all continues to go well. I'll post updates and closer to release a few screen shots. There could be 1-2 days of downtime while it's rolled out, more details in a few weeks.

Thanks,
Sean

*UPDATE: scheduled outage is planned for this Friday starting 3pm US eastern time. Down time could be 1-3 days.

 

[Curt]

The best of luck, I've been migrating from my old machine to a new one and it's all screwed up, it put my favorites in alphabetic order, what a mess, Photoshop is having cranks due to missing .dll's and plugins that don't like their programs. If it all wasn't supposed to work together I'd have a dozen computers one for Photoshop, one for... . The bits and bytes are in the new terabyte drive fighting with each other. Where oh where did my old mail go, the saved by month for a dozen years? My spell checker is somewhere around here, I used to right click and check the spelling but now it appears to be on the top of the screen, wish one was in this window.

Do you find that day after day looking at a screen you can't watch a little tele without squinting?

Curt

 

[Christopher Walrath]

We're finaly leaving a platform. We get architecture now. Might come in handy with the new(ish) 4x5. ;p

Thanks for everything you do, Sean.

 

[TSSPro]

Havent been around long enough to appreciate this version, but thanks for working so hard to get a new version ready. I'm sure that it is no small feat.

 

[Curt]

http://www.vbulletin.com/index.php?do=features

Sean, I was looking over the upgrade but didn't see the 3D plugin!

All kidding aside, don't do what I did and spend so much time at the screen that you can't turn your head or raise your arms above your chin.

Will the new upgrade include the Hybrid site?

 

[Sean]

Just a quick update. Things are going good on the development site, not as fast as I had hoped but all core applications and major modules have all been upgraded. Remaining work on some visuals, a few interface tweaks and the portfolio system are all that remains. Once dev is completed I'll roll out the upgrades to our production site.

 

[Sim2]

Odd question, but will the new version be compatible with older browsers?
I only ask this as sites that upgrade to newer java for example won't function well with my old os, trying to spend money on paper and chems rather than a new computer!!

Cheers.

 

[Christopher Walrath]

Posted wirelessly..

True dat. I'm operating on XP sp3. Good question.

 

[Sean]

Should have no issues with older systems. IE6 is a thorn in the side of most web developers (many sites won't even allow IE6 to connect in an effort to kill it off) so it could have issues with IE6, plenty of alternatives to IE6 though.

 

[Sean]

Current status: We had a few delays with availability of my coder but he's back and finishing up the portfolio system which is one of the last main rebuilds. There was also another vBulletin release (4.0.4 PL1) so I have had to re-upgrade dev environment to that. Still hopeful this can all roll out before mid-july. Thanks!

 

[Sean]

*update: Booked in for the weekend of the 31st to roll out the upgrades. I'll supply more details as we get closer.

Thanks

 

[Sean]

Still on sched. It is likely APUG will be down for 1-3 days as this is a complete rebuild and implementing all of the work done in development will take time. There are also a few things we can't recode until we're upgraded so there will be downtime while this is done as well. It's looking like This coming Thurs or Friday APUG will be shut down. I'll have the site redirect to a status page and chatroom while we are down. For those interested the schedule will be along the lines of:

-site taken down, temporary upgrade status page & chatroom put up.
-full backups taken on server, backups downloaded to my local machine, extracted and verified
-core system upgrades (vbulletin, gallery software, search engine optimization, chatroom, portfolios, link system, video directory, blogs, article system, style templating)
-take backup of core upgraded site
-site testing, identify and correct any bugs
-add/update additional plugins
-1 to 2 days of final cleanup, coding and tweaking
-re-open the site

 

[brian d]

Still on sched. It is likely APUG will be down for 1-3 days

GASP! already feeling withdrawal symptoms coming on
Seriously THANKS for all your hard work keeping APUG going for us all

 

[Marco B]

Still on sched. It is likely APUG will be down for 1-3 days as this is a complete rebuild and implementing all of the work done in development will take time.

Sean: if the site is really going to go down for that long, I think it is wise to give a BIG pre-warning before it goes down, and not only refer to a status page while it is down.

Most people will not be aware of what is coming up, as they can not access this APUG System Announcements section or simply don't read it, and may be unpleasantly surprised. A pre-warning will help taking care of that.

Maybe you can place a clear message of the upcoming downtime on the APUG's main page, preferably in a yellow box or something to have it noticed easily.

I second brian d's remark: thank you..., you're running one of the most extensive and good community sites out there! Most sites do not advance beyond some basic forum functionality, APUG is so much more than that...

Marco

 

[Eric Rose]

Wow! I'm really looking forward to the new and improved APUG! The CMS front end looks just like the front end I use with Joomla / K2.

This is perfect timing as I will be out of town and away from my computer during the outage. Nice of you to check my schedule first Sean LOL.

 

[Christopher Walrath]

One more thing to bear in mind for those who will require a fix. There is a facebook page for APUG. Do a search for www .apug. org (no spaces, just prevent a looping url) and it should pop right up. I beleive there might even be an old flickr page. Not sure. But there are a lot of likes on the facebook page. Might not hurt to start each post with your handle here if different from your FB name. See ya there.

 

[Marco B]

One more thing to bear in mind for those who will require a fix.

What fix :confused:, or do you mean the APUG equivalent of a methadone treatment for drug addicts?

 

[Christopher Walrath]

Methadone treatment indicates coming off. We aim to keep you hooked on APUG.

 

[Sirius Glass]

There could be 1-2 days of downtime while it's rolled out, more details in a few weeks.

Just post a notice on APUG that APUG is back up as soon as you get it running and tested. That way all we have to do is read the posting and we will know that it is back up!

 

[Sirius Glass]

:munch::munch::munch::munch::munch::munch::munch::munch::munch::munch:

 

[lxdude]

Snacking, so close to dinnertime? Hey, somebody snitched one of your snacks and left a note in its place.

 

[lxdude]

Just post a notice on APUG that APUG is back up as soon as you get it running and tested. That way all we have to do is read the posting and we will know that it is back up!

Good to know somebody's thinking about these things.:rolleyes:

 

[Sean]

I plan to run a site wide notice soon. I'll be doing the backups and upgrades starting this Friday (US time). My freelance coder will come online Saturday (French time) and then we'll both be working on migrating some of the modifications, tweaks, fixes and cleanup. That will last 1-2days depending on how much sleep I need

 

[lxdude]

Been wanting to get out of town for a few days and drive to different places I haven't been in a while to burn some of my Kodachrome. This weekend's obviously the time to do it.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Been wanting to get out of town for a few days and drive to different places I haven't been in a while to burn some of my Kodachrome. This weekend's obviously the time to do it.

I am going into withdrawal!