Changing Server

For discussion directly related to ConwayLife.com, such as requesting changes to how the forums or home page function.
Post Reply
User avatar
Nathaniel
Site Admin
Posts: 861
Joined: December 10th, 2008, 3:48 pm
Location: New Brunswick, Canada
Contact:

Changing Server

Post by Nathaniel » August 4th, 2021, 12:55 pm

The web host that ConwayLife.com has been using for the last 10 or so years is going out of business and closing up shop on September 15, 2021. So this site will have to change servers before then. I am tentatively planning on doing the server move on August 24, 2021, but that's not 100% set in stone.

No site content (e.g., forums posts, LifeWiki edits) from before the move date will be lost. However, on the move date itself, the site will likely be down for a while, and posts/edits made *on* that date may be lost (if they are made after I back everything up from the current server to move it to the new one).

I'll post updates (e.g., confirmation of the site move date) in this thread as I know them.

IMPORTANT EDIT: I'm going to move the server TODAY (August 23, 2021). I'll be on discord shortly and throughout most of the day. I'll lock the forums when the move starts happening.

If you see this message, you are viewing the new server! The server move is complete.

User avatar
wwei47
Posts: 1648
Joined: February 18th, 2021, 11:18 am

Re: Changing Server

Post by wwei47 » August 4th, 2021, 1:08 pm

Nathaniel wrote:
August 4th, 2021, 12:55 pm
However, on the move date itself, the site will likely be down for a while, and posts/edits made *on* that date may be lost (if they are made after I back everything up from the current server to move it to the new one).
Why not lock all the forums before backing up everything when you're ready to move it?
Help me find high-period c/2 technology!
My guide: https://bit.ly/3uJtzu9
My c/2 tech collection: https://bit.ly/3qUJg0u
Overview of periods: https://bit.ly/3LwE0I5
Most wanted periods: 76,116

ColorfulGabrielsp138
Posts: 288
Joined: March 29th, 2021, 5:45 am

Re: Changing Server

Post by ColorfulGabrielsp138 » August 6th, 2021, 12:27 am

Please make sure that the new server is accessible in China. Thank you very much.

Code: Select all

x = 21, y = 21, rule = LifeColorful
11.E$10.3E$10.E.2E$13.E4$2.2B$.2B$2B$.2B15.2D$19.2D$18.2D$17.2D4$7.C$
7.2C.C$8.3C$9.C!
I have reduced the glider cost of quadratic growth to eight and probably to seven. Looking for conduits...

ColorfulGabrielsp138
Posts: 288
Joined: March 29th, 2021, 5:45 am

Re: Changing Server

Post by ColorfulGabrielsp138 » August 23rd, 2021, 7:22 am

ColorfulGabrielsp138 wrote:
August 6th, 2021, 12:27 am
Please make sure that the new server is accessible in China. Thank you very much.
Nathaniel wrote:
Please read this

Code: Select all

x = 21, y = 21, rule = LifeColorful
11.E$10.3E$10.E.2E$13.E4$2.2B$.2B$2B$.2B15.2D$19.2D$18.2D$17.2D4$7.C$
7.2C.C$8.3C$9.C!
I have reduced the glider cost of quadratic growth to eight and probably to seven. Looking for conduits...

User avatar
Nathaniel
Site Admin
Posts: 861
Joined: December 10th, 2008, 3:48 pm
Location: New Brunswick, Canada
Contact:

Re: Changing Server

Post by Nathaniel » August 23rd, 2021, 7:28 am

ColorfulGabrielsp138 wrote:
August 23rd, 2021, 7:22 am
Please read this
I read it, and I'll do my best. It's hosted in a similar geographical location to the previous (i.e., current) web server, and no metadata/URL stuff will change, so I don't see any reason that it should be blocked in China. But I don't know how/why to *actually* be sure of something like that ahead of time.

User avatar
Nathaniel
Site Admin
Posts: 861
Joined: December 10th, 2008, 3:48 pm
Location: New Brunswick, Canada
Contact:

Re: Changing Server

Post by Nathaniel » August 23rd, 2021, 7:32 am

I'm going to move the server TODAY (August 23, 2021). I'll be on discord shortly and throughout most of the day. I'll lock the forums when the move starts happening.

User avatar
Nathaniel
Site Admin
Posts: 861
Joined: December 10th, 2008, 3:48 pm
Location: New Brunswick, Canada
Contact:

Re: Changing Server

Post by Nathaniel » August 23rd, 2021, 9:33 am

The server move is now complete. Welcome to the new server! Please let me know if/when you encounter anything weird.

bprentice
Posts: 920
Joined: September 10th, 2009, 6:20 pm
Location: Coos Bay, Oregon

Re: Changing Server

Post by bprentice » August 23rd, 2021, 1:16 pm

Nathaniel,

Well done!

There are some issues with login.

I am using Firefox and get this popup when attempting to login:

login.png
login.png (252.87 KiB) Viewed 3417 times

After clicking my name and setting "Remember me" I get this:

login 2.png
login 2.png (185.57 KiB) Viewed 3417 times

and can log in successfully. I can then see the names of all registered users who are logged in. In my Board preferences I have "Hide my online status" set. Also, the "Remember me" setting in the login dialog does not seem to work.

Brian Prentice

User avatar
ihatecorderships
Posts: 309
Joined: April 11th, 2021, 12:54 pm
Location: Falls Church, VA

Re: Changing Server

Post by ihatecorderships » August 23rd, 2021, 6:57 pm

Thanks, Nathaniel! I have had no problems yet, but during the move (around 8:00 AM), I got access to two new forums, entitled Moderator Discussion and The Book of Life. I assume these were moderator-only forums before, but one can never be so sure.
Also, I'm a little confused as to what the server move meant. Are we not using phpBB anymore, or what?
-- Kalan Warusa
Don't drink and drive, think and derive.

User avatar
Nathaniel
Site Admin
Posts: 861
Joined: December 10th, 2008, 3:48 pm
Location: New Brunswick, Canada
Contact:

Re: Changing Server

Post by Nathaniel » August 23rd, 2021, 7:54 pm

bprentice wrote:
August 23rd, 2021, 1:16 pm
There are some issues with login.
Thanks for reporting these. I know what causing these problems, but I'll need a bit of time to fix it. Will hopefully happen tomorrow.

Edit: Should be fixed now.
ihatecorderships wrote:
August 23rd, 2021, 6:57 pm
Thanks, Nathaniel! I have had no problems yet, but during the move (around 8:00 AM), I got access to two new forums, entitled Moderator Discussion and The Book of Life. I assume these were moderator-only forums before, but one can never be so sure.
Also, I'm a little confused as to what the server move meant. Are we not using phpBB anymore, or what?
Yeah, other users being able to read the moderator-only forums was a temporary glitch that resulted from me setting all forums to read-only. Whoops.

As for what the server move meant: for all of you, hopefully it means absolutely nothing (i.e., it shouldn't change how the site functions at all -- it still uses the same phpBB and MediaWiki software). All it means is that the code that runs the website was moved to a different computer somewhere else, since the company that used to run it will soon not exist anymore.

ColorfulGabrielsp138
Posts: 288
Joined: March 29th, 2021, 5:45 am

Re: Changing Server

Post by ColorfulGabrielsp138 » August 25th, 2021, 7:54 am

I kept getting "shuttling" between the two servers, just like the queen bee shuttle.
The second server is a little slow. (Sorry, I didn't mean to say that I prefer the first)

Code: Select all

x = 21, y = 21, rule = LifeColorful
11.E$10.3E$10.E.2E$13.E4$2.2B$.2B$2B$.2B15.2D$19.2D$18.2D$17.2D4$7.C$
7.2C.C$8.3C$9.C!
I have reduced the glider cost of quadratic growth to eight and probably to seven. Looking for conduits...

Sokwe
Moderator
Posts: 2644
Joined: July 9th, 2009, 2:44 pm

Re: Changing Server

Post by Sokwe » August 26th, 2021, 3:06 am

This may or may not be related to the server change. I now get a 403 error when I try to access a user subpage that includes quotation marks in the title. As recently as two weeks ago I was able to access such pages. For example, I cannot access this page the normal way, although I can access it this way. I don't need it fixed, since I copied the page contents elsewhere, but I thought it should be pointed out.
-Matthias Merzenich

hotdogPi
Posts: 1587
Joined: August 12th, 2020, 8:22 pm

Re: Changing Server

Post by hotdogPi » August 26th, 2021, 5:25 pm

Sokwe wrote:
August 26th, 2021, 3:06 am
This may or may not be related to the server change. I now get a 403 error when I try to access a user subpage that includes quotation marks in the title. As recently as two weeks ago I was able to access such pages. For example, I cannot access this page the normal way, although I can access it this way. I don't need it fixed, since I copied the page contents elsewhere, but I thought it should be pointed out.
Same here. I even got a brief (1/2 second) CAPTCHA message when trying to reload one of the forum pages immediately afterwards, but it resolved itself automatically.
User:HotdogPi/My discoveries

Periods discovered: 5-16,⑱,⑳G,㉑G,㉒㉔㉕,㉗-㉛,㉜SG,㉞㉟㊱㊳㊵㊷㊹㊺㊽㊿,54G,55G,56,57G,60,62-66,68,70,73,74S,75,76S,80,84,88,90,96
100,02S,06,08,10,12,14G,16,17G,20,26G,28,38,47,48,54,56,72,74,80,92,96S
217,486,576

S: SKOP
G: gun

User avatar
Nathaniel
Site Admin
Posts: 861
Joined: December 10th, 2008, 3:48 pm
Location: New Brunswick, Canada
Contact:

Re: Changing Server

Post by Nathaniel » August 27th, 2021, 6:43 am

Sokwe wrote:
August 26th, 2021, 3:06 am
This may or may not be related to the server change. I now get a 403 error when I try to access a user subpage that includes quotation marks in the title.
I'm not 100% sure what's happening here, but I think it's a MediaWiki bug that was introduced in version 1.26 that only affects certain types of servers. Since it's not critical, I'm going to leave it as-is for now (unless someone finds an easily-implemented fix via better Googling than my own) with the recommended "fix" being "don't make page names with quotes in them anymore".

Edit (much later, on Feb. 8, 2022): Fixed now.

ColorfulGabrielsp138
Posts: 288
Joined: March 29th, 2021, 5:45 am

Re: Changing Server

Post by ColorfulGabrielsp138 » August 27th, 2021, 8:57 am

Nathaniel wrote:
August 27th, 2021, 6:43 am
Sokwe wrote:
August 26th, 2021, 3:06 am
It seems like some pages only load partially. Could there be a preference setting to change the number of posts on each page?

Code: Select all

x = 21, y = 21, rule = LifeColorful
11.E$10.3E$10.E.2E$13.E4$2.2B$.2B$2B$.2B15.2D$19.2D$18.2D$17.2D4$7.C$
7.2C.C$8.3C$9.C!
I have reduced the glider cost of quadratic growth to eight and probably to seven. Looking for conduits...

hotdogPi
Posts: 1587
Joined: August 12th, 2020, 8:22 pm

Re: Changing Server

Post by hotdogPi » August 27th, 2021, 1:32 pm

ColorfulGabrielsp138 wrote:
August 27th, 2021, 8:57 am
Nathaniel wrote:
August 27th, 2021, 6:43 am
Sokwe wrote:
August 26th, 2021, 3:06 am
It seems like some pages only load partially. Could there be a preference setting to change the number of posts on each page?
This was caused by the character limit being increased from 250K to 1M. Maybe those above 100K could need a "show" button or else remain hidden?
User:HotdogPi/My discoveries

Periods discovered: 5-16,⑱,⑳G,㉑G,㉒㉔㉕,㉗-㉛,㉜SG,㉞㉟㊱㊳㊵㊷㊹㊺㊽㊿,54G,55G,56,57G,60,62-66,68,70,73,74S,75,76S,80,84,88,90,96
100,02S,06,08,10,12,14G,16,17G,20,26G,28,38,47,48,54,56,72,74,80,92,96S
217,486,576

S: SKOP
G: gun

ColorfulGabrielsp138
Posts: 288
Joined: March 29th, 2021, 5:45 am

Re: Changing Server

Post by ColorfulGabrielsp138 » August 29th, 2021, 9:16 am

Now the pages are loading sometimes really fast and sometimes really slow.
LifeViewer basically works normally.

Code: Select all

x = 21, y = 21, rule = LifeColorful
11.E$10.3E$10.E.2E$13.E4$2.2B$.2B$2B$.2B15.2D$19.2D$18.2D$17.2D4$7.C$
7.2C.C$8.3C$9.C!
I have reduced the glider cost of quadratic growth to eight and probably to seven. Looking for conduits...

User avatar
Nathaniel
Site Admin
Posts: 861
Joined: December 10th, 2008, 3:48 pm
Location: New Brunswick, Canada
Contact:

Re: Changing Server

Post by Nathaniel » August 30th, 2021, 8:34 pm

...and we're back. Sorry about the massive downtime today. Really unfortunate timing on our server move -- this was apparently the longest downtime ever in the 14-year history of the new webhost.

Post Reply