Updates on the move

Myrthos

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Here is the first update on the move to Sorcerer's Place.
First of all we haven't moved yet :)

We, which is Arhu and me, worked on the things that needed to be done before we can even can think about moving.
Arhu has worked on the look and feel of Xenforo and it really looks and feels like it belongs to RPGWatch already. He did an amazing job there.
I have been working on the integration between the news site and the Xenforo forums and that is working as it should.
There are still a number of things that need to be done, like finalising the forums layout, adding the stuff that was not imported form Vbulletin and correcting what wasn't imported correctly. Next to that there is a lot of testing that needs to be done, to see if everything functions as it should.

Although there still is quite some work to be done, I am confident that we can make the move happen at the end of July in the way it was planned.
 
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Maybe the new RPGWatch looks so good and is so easy to maintain that you stay a little bit longer on the Watch ;)
 
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Maybe the new RPGWatch looks so good and is so easy to maintain that you stay a little bit longer on the Watch ;)
Not gonna happen, I will just be a regular member once, together with Arhu, we made sure that RPGWatch with Xenforo is functional after the actual move.
Beyond that I will help Taluntain and Arhu on some of the technical stuff when needed and when I have time.
 
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We have a parallel site for RPGWatch, with a copy of the content of RPGWatch. with that site we do all of our development and testing. Access to that development site is protected. The intention is to move that development site, next week to the Sorcerers server. This is one of the tests to find out if their are any hurdles, which we can fix before moving RPGWatch itself.
There are still other tests that need to be done as well, but I just happen to have time for this next week :)
 
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We've moved the rpgwatch domain to Sorcerers, without moving the site. This might cause some issues with not being able to get a connection during a certain amount of time, while the DNS servers are being synced.
If it happens, you might have some luck using VPN.
 
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The idea was that this transition would be smooth. It is just transferring a domain name after all :)

When using the DNS of my ISP it still doesn't load, but using VPN it works.The issue is with some name servers still pointing to the old DNS records.
In time it should all be set correctly around the globe.
 
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It seemed fine when I tried earlier today.

I only noticed that it was slow again when posting (not just searching / reading the threads), like a few months ago, but it can't be related to a change of DNS ownership.

EDIT: and for this post it wasn't slow, so it must have been temporary.
 
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Here is another status update about the move itself.
All domains have been transferred to Sorcerers. This means rpgwatch.com, rpgwatch.net and the development dpmain.
The development site has also been transferred to Sorcerers. This also happened yesterday and went without any issues.

RPGwatch is at this moment still on the server it has always been on.


This is what will happen once we start the transfer of RPGWatch:
1) RPGWatch on this server will be put in maintenance mode, to make sure no data is changed anymore
2) The database will be copied to the development site
3) The conversion from VBulletin to Xenforo will take place
4) Xenforo needs to adjusted manually as some things do not or do not convert correctly
5) Everything on the development server will move to the new location of RPGWatch
6) The DNS will be changed to let RPGWatch point to the new server
7) Once the move is done RPGWatch is given a new SSL certificate
8) Everything should work

There is some time involved with this.
Step 3, will take about 18 hours for the conversion and 2 additional hours to have all the caches work properly.
Step 4 takes a few hours as well.
Step 5 should be done within half an hour or so.
For step 7 we need to wait until the transfer has been completed. This means some people might receive a security warning while visiting RPGWatch, because it is using a self signed certificate. Once the DNS has also moved for the server an SSL certificate can be created and step 8 should happen.

This whole process will take more than one day! Longer if step 8 is different from expected :)

It will happen this month, but I'm not sure when exactly. A post on the front page will be made about this at least a day in advance, once it is known, so that you are prepared.
 
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In the meantime I would like to have some volunteers who I can invite to our development site, to test the forums to see if everything works, as it should (there will be some differences).

The development site is IP protected, so I need to know your IP to allow you having access. If you have a dynamic IP that changes once a day, you need to send me your IP address daily. There will be a delay for that obviously as I am not always online. If you have a dynamic IP address that changes more often, it makes no sense to participate.

After the test is done, all IP addresses are removed.

You need to have at least a track record on this site to be allowed to participate. Something like a minimum of 50 posts. Maybe there are other reasons why you cannot participate, but I will let you know.

There is no NDA for participating, but what we did with Xenforo is a work in progress. It is not finished, but we think it is good enough to make the transfer. What we want to learn from you is:
1) What are the things that do not work, or should be improved
2) Is it indeed good enough to start the transfer, keeping in mind that updates will come.

This might be an iterative process, where we will modify blocking issues and ask you to test things again.

Send me a PM if you are interested.
 
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Thanks again for all the work to move the website!

I have frequent disconnections at the moment, so unfortunately my IP is sometimes changing several times a day. :-/ Good luck with the testing!
 
Joined
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Here is another status update about the move itself.
All domains have been transferred to Sorcerers. This means rpgwatch.com, rpgwatch.net and the development dpmain.
The development site has also been transferred to Sorcerers. This also happened yesterday and went without any issues.

RPGwatch is at this moment still on the server it has always been on.


This is what will happen once we start the transfer of RPGWatch:
1) RPGWatch on this server will be put in maintenance mode, to make sure no data is changed anymore
2) The database will be copied to the development site
3) The conversion from VBulletin to Xenforo will take place
4) Xenforo needs to adjusted manually as some things do not or do not convert correctly
5) Everything on the development server will move to the new location of RPGWatch
6) The DNS will be changed to let RPGWatch point to the new server
7) Once the move is done RPGWatch is given a new SSL certificate
8) Everything should work

There is some time involved with this.
Step 3, will take about 18 hours for the conversion and 2 additional hours to have all the caches work properly.
Step 4 takes a few hours as well.
Step 5 should be done within half an hour or so.
For step 7 we need to wait until the transfer has been completed. This means some people might receive a security warning while visiting RPGWatch, because it is using a self signed certificate. Once the DNS has also moved for the server an SSL certificate can be created and step 8 should happen.

This whole process will take more than one day! Longer if step 8 is different from expected :)

It will happen this month, but I'm not sure when exactly. A post on the front page will be made about this at least a day in advance, once it is known, so that you are prepared.

I'd just like to say that the fact that Myrthos and Arhu have managed to prepare all this in such a short span of time since we started talks about it is literally mind-blowing. There is a HUGE amount of work and planning that needs to be invested before you can get to the point list that Myrthos posted above in an organized fashion.

I know that this is hard for an average site user to appreciate as you can't even imagine how many steps and how much time each stage of such a project demands. But having done it myself before, I honestly didn't think that it was feasible for Myrthos to pull this off in less than double the amount of time he estimated. So the fact that he's still right on schedule is nothing short of amazing to me, honestly.
 
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I have a dynamic IP, so I'll have to take a pass on helping. Sorry!!
 
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A dynamic IP is only an issue if it changes more than once a day :)
 
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After the move everyone is a tester :D
 
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Well, what can I say. . . it is a mess. Threads don't show, posts don't get posted, posts from our most active members can not be found anywhere (that obviously excludes me).
While I was there I could see Myrthos, and some unknown, most unfriendly guest, s/he did not even bother to see hi, no idea who that was. Maybe that person was busy looking for the hand wave icon - there is a hand, but it ain't waving.
Gosh and all this on @Gorath; s birthday. Yep, overthere I found out congratulations are in order, :party2: - one could imagine there are more important things to learn when visiting the place, but hey, not complaining about that, the thing that I find disappointing: no balloons, flags, garlands, or whatsover on that page. But I ask thee, what is the point of getting into a joyous mood seeing the barren landscape and perceiving just two companions, silent Myrthos and that grumpy guest. :mad:

If they can pull this off before Monday, before everybody jumps on this new territory like a pack of hungry hyenas. . . I'll eat my hat.

Edit.
Ok, I found out some take the above seriously. Of course I am not serious.
I was joking. So that some of you would be surprised on Monday about how good and smooth every looks like. :)
Sorry.
 
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