Major Upgrade Tonight

[wimg]

Dearest Members and Visitors of the Fountain Pen Nuthouse,

 

It is (major) upgrade time once more, from EST 20:00 / CET 02:00 onwards..

 

We mentioned a few months ago, that we need to do a few upgrades to the forum and underlying software still, and that we are also looking into solutions for the Classifieds section of the forum.

 

Step 1: Upgrade of OS and Forum Software.

We finished checking out all the required upgrades, and because of costs and other practical reasons, we will be doing these in steps. First of all we will do underlying Operating System upgrades, followed by the forum software upgrades, and a major reindexing pass. This is step 1, which will take approximately 8 to 10 hours maybe more.

 

Step 2: Upgrade of 3rd party Software.

Next is the upgrade and installation of newer versions of the different add-ons we currently use. The good news is that all we actually use, has the upgrades we need in order to run it correctly with the latest OS and other stuff. This is step 2, which we will carry out immediately after Step 1.

 

Step 3: Installation, setup, and testing of Classifieds Software.

Step 3 is the installation and testing of a new version of Classifieds, which has improved a lot over the past year, specifically over the last 3 months. We need to reinstall it, and set it up, but that can only be done once we are running the latest version of the forum soft ware (step 1), as it will not run on older versions. And intensive test wil also be required, so if there are any volunteers wanting to take this up and help us out, it would be much appreciated. Just send me a private message, and we'll sort things out. If this doesn't work out the way we'd like it to, there are a few more options available to us, and again, we'll need volunteers to help us out with testing.

 

Step 4: Upgrade of Database Software.

Step 4, for now the last step, is to upgrade the database software. We do however still have quite a bit of time available for this. As this requires a complete backup of the site, while being offline, we will wait with this until we are finished with Classifieds. This is the best scenario, we think. We will only do this sooner if it appears to be convenient. Again, we will be practical here.

 

Since we managed to go through everything a little faster than anticipated, barring Classifieds, we will upgrade the live forum tonight still, i.e., steps 1 and 2, plus the first parts of step 3. Just be prepared, we may be offline for up tp half a day.

We will be offline from around EST 20:00 / CET 02:00 for the upgrades tonight. Currently we are doing the last few preparations before we go ahead.

 

As always, during the upgrades, we will keep you all up to date through our usual offline page.

 

Warm regards,

on behalf of The FPN Moderator and Admin Team,

Wim

 

[wimg]

We're back, and went to Step 3.

 

Caveats currently: some of the 3rd party add-ons we use could not be upgraded, they returned an error message. Essentially this means we need to contact the authors. Having said that, the older versions do appear to work however. This should therefore not be an issue.

 

The first Classifieds option we are going to test has been installed as well, It still requires setting up, and volunteers to help testing would be much appreciated.

 

As it is almost 09:30 over here, time to get some shut-eye first, however, as it has been a long night.

 

See you all anon!

 

Warm regards,

on behalf of The FPN Moderator and Admin Team,

Wim

 

[A Smug Dill]

@wimg Thank you for all the effort you're putting in for the community to make FPN better! Congratulations on the strides you've made so far.

 

As always, I'll be glad to help with testing. Let me know what you need.

[Norfolk]

Thanks!

[LizEF]

Thanks, Wim!  I'd be happy to help test the classifieds as well.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Thanks, Wim!  

[USG]

Thanks.👍

[wimg]

Thank you all, and 2 more testers added to the list!

 

Warm regards, Wim

[Seney724]

36 minutes ago, wimg said:

Thank you all, and 2 more testers added to the list!

 

Warm regards, Wim

Thanks for the update and great news Wim.

I'm more than happy to serve as a tester, if you wish me to do so.

[wimg]

Thank you, Seney724!

 

I have added you to the list as well. Just give it a few days. Still reeling from last night, and it is a very complex piece of software to set up.

 

Warm regards, WIm

[Gloucesterman]

THANK YOU and All who are helping out with the testing.

[essayfaire]

Thank you, Wim!

 

FYI- I may have encountered a problem.  The site now wants 2-factor, so I chose to set up security questions.  But the box only gave me blank spaces and wouldn't actually let me set anything up.  

 

Then when I tried to waive verification I was informed that 2-factor was required.

 

Yet, I am here. 

[LizEF]

3 minutes ago, essayfaire said:

Thank you, Wim!

 

FYI- I may have encountered a problem.  The site now wants 2-factor, so I chose to set up security questions.  But the box only gave me blank spaces and wouldn't actually let me set anything up.  

 

Then when I tried to waive verification I was informed that 2-factor was required.

 

Yet, I am here. 

Go to your Account Settings, Security and Privacy section, and disable those function (such as security questions) that you don't want.

[wimg]

Actually, it is optional, that is why you could get in.

 

We enabled this a while ago, as an optional extra security layer, for those who want and can use it.

There have been a bunch of hackers around, and that was one of the simpler ways to make it much more difficult. Because we realize not everybody knows how to do this, or has a smartphone, or even wants to use one, we made it optional.

 

HTH, warm regards, Wim

[The Elevator]

22 hours ago, wimg said:

volunteers to help testing would be much appreciated.

Count me in

[whichwatch]

I'd be happy to help with the Classifieds testing

 

[wimg]

Thank you, guys, I have added you both to the list!

 

You will be notified when all is ready to start testing!

 

Warm regards, Wim

[rickap]

FYI. I keep getting logged out even though I check to remember me. Must not be very memorable ;).

 

Thank for all the hard work!

  Rick

[A Smug Dill]

27 minutes ago, rickap said:

I keep getting logged out even though I check to remember me.

 

Every time the system resets the cookies site-wide, everyone will have to sign in anew. But that shouldn't happen every time you visit FPN between system takedowns.

[Sailor Kenshin]

11 hours ago, rickap said:

FYI. I keep getting logged out even though I check to remember me. Must not be very memorable ;).

 

Thank for all the hard work!

  Rick

You and me both!