Server Status

[Mojomonkey]

Well, as you can see the page is *mostly* up, but the forum database has been completely hosed. I have yet another trouble ticket in to resolve this, but I have a bad feeling about this one.

Basically, it comes down to this: They continually jack up the MySQL database on my server. Because the whole page is based on SQL and php this is a major problem. I could redo the page to be straight html pages, but the forums will always require SQL. But if they are unable to restore the forums, they may be gone anyway (including the 10,000+ posts that were on there, which absolutely makes me sick).

Any thoughts, comments? Should I start thinking of a pure html based website? Try to keep the current one running with the current set-up? Something else?

Right now, I'm thinking of just waiting it out and seeing if they can get it back up and running, because the thought of starting over (losing 10,000 posts) makes me want to vomit.

[jbanes]

My thoughts:

1. Keep on them. They can be amazingly thick sometimes, but they do have a backup of your database, even if it's a few days out of date. That backup should be better than nothing.

2. Do you have an old backup of the site somewhere? If you downloaded a backup through CPanel, then it should have the raw database files inside of it.

3. Consider switching to Lunar Pages. I used to use iPowerWeb myself, and had very few complaints. I only switched to LP because they offered JSP support. However, iPowerWeb screwed up the domain transfer so badly that I can no longer recommend them.

4. There's nothing wrong with using SQL databases. If you're really concerned, set your machine up with a nightly CRON job that downloads a backup of your site. This way, you can be sure that your most recent backup is never more than 24 hours old.

[Per_T]

Losing 10,000 posts would suck!

Games published by our own members! Check 'em out!

[Mojomonkey]

1. Keep on them. They can be amazingly thick sometimes, but they do have a backup of your database, even if it's a few days out of date. That backup should be better than nothing.  

I am, unfortunately, I've been getting poorly written responses that don't always even always seem to relate to me. I'm beginning to wonder if they've outsourced and that's when the horrible support began...

2. Do you have an old backup of the site somewhere? If you downloaded a backup through CPanel, then it should have the raw database files inside of it.

No, unfortunately. I tried using their backup tool on cpanel and it just failed with something about my account home directory not being correct. I never tried again after that.

3. Consider switching to Lunar Pages. I used to use iPowerWeb myself, and had very few complaints. I only switched to LP because they offered JSP support. However, iPowerWeb screwed up the domain transfer so badly that I can no longer recommend them.  

They look promising. I couldn't find the number of databases they allow (I'm using 3 at the moment). Do you know the limit?

4. There's nothing wrong with using SQL databases. If you're really concerned, set your machine up with a nightly CRON job that downloads a backup of your site. This way, you can be sure that your most recent backup is never more than 24 hours old.

I definately plan on doing that as soon as the site is back up.

I've browsed the database through cpanel for the last few minutes. It appears that everything is there (10,184 post entries in php_posts), etc. There is just something wrong with the php_users or something that causes the phpbb error.

[jbanes]

I'm beginning to wonder if they've outsourced and that's when the horrible support began...

Now there's a scary thought...

[Lunar Pages] look promising. I couldn't find the number of databases they allow (I'm using 3 at the moment). Do you know the limit?

They allow two databases. I actually pay a very small fee for the third one I use. On the other hand, they provide me with WAY more disk than iPowerWeb, as well as oodles of bandwidth.

I've browsed the database through cpanel for the last few minutes. It appears that everything is there (10,184 post entries in php_posts), etc. There is just something wrong with the php_users or something that causes the phpbb error.

Hmm... Since I assume that there's nothing secret in that database, have you considered bugging the PHPBB forums for help? They might be able to tell you what's wrong. :-)

[Mojomonkey]

Well, I think I am going to go ahead and switch hosting services, and Lunar Pages looks very good.

Does anyone have advice on how to do this smoothly?

The current page uses:

Mambo for main page
phpbb for forums
word press for blog.

I plan on doing the same, but perhaps purchasing and setting up vBulletin in place of phpbb for the forums.

jBanes, how easy/hard is it to work with your home directory using Lunar Pages?

Has anyone transfered a domain before? How did you transfer your data from one server to the other? Just copy it down locally, then upload?

[sonicviz]

>> Any thoughts, comments? Should I start thinking of a pure html based website? Try to keep the current one running with the current set-up? Something else?


The current set-up was fine. Problem is/was your isp.
Just make sure the next one offers full service, including full site backup and restore. This should be base service functionality ,even for low cost providers, given the cost of storage nowdays.

Especially if you are considering a move to developing a professional level api...quality of support is a key evaluation factor, even if it is "just" a forum.

pc

[Mojomonkey]

UPDATE:

updating the domain contact information so that I can transfer the domain to Lunar Pages. Once this update is complete I will place the order. I suspect it will be a few days before www.mojomonkeycoding.com points to a Lunar Pages host, but it is on its way to happening.

[jbanes]

jBanes, how easy/hard is it to work with your home directory using Lunar Pages?

Lunar Pages will give you pretty much the exact same interface you've been using, plus a few goodies like sub-domains. Setup for me consisted of taring my entire old site (using the backup tool) and untarring it on the other side using a CGI script I wrote. The script looked something like this (Sorry, no time to look it up at the moment):

1   2   3   4   5   6

#/bin/sh echo "HTTP/1.1 200 OK" echo "" cd /usr/home/mydir tar -xvf whatever.tar

The big issue you have to watch out for is that your usernames will change. iPowerWeb gave me my complete domain name as my username and the prefix to all the database names and logins. Lunar Pages changed it to the first few characters plus a number. So beware! :-)

[Mojomonkey]

Thanks for the advice jbanes. Hopefully, I'll get the majority of the old site back up.

I have purchased a dedicated IP on lunarpages and it should be up within a day or two. I registered www.jmonkeyengine.com and will also transfer www.mojomonkeycoding.com as soon as I can. So both URLs will lead to the same page.

The page should be up before long and better than ever! Now, cross your fingers I'll be able to save the forum posts.

Games published by our own members! Check 'em out!

[Mojomonkey]

Update: The Forums have been restored on a local site. All the database tables had to be manually checked and inserted. It took awhile, but everything is saved.

I have my dedicated IP set up and everything, and am now waiting for www.jmonkeyengine.com dns to resolve. I'll then get the forums up there ASAP.

After that, I'll switch www.mojomonkeycoding.com to point to the new site and get the main page up and running.