Monday, Oct 1, 2024, 6pm ET: Server upgrade

In one week, Monday, Oct 1, 2024, at 6pm ET, I will be releasing the database update that a few members have been helping me test on staging for a while. For anyone interested in specifics, the site currently uses MySQL and MongoDB, both many versions old. I've been working on bringing all the data into one database, MySQL, along with updating the PHP and MySQL servers to the latest version I can without having to put a ton of work into updates. The combination of these seems to have increased the load speeds, so the site should hopefully run smoother as well.

First, a GIANT thanks to vagueGM, Chalrytharendir, FlyingSucculent, Antiproduct, and Avraham, in no particular order, for helping out on this project at one point or another. If I missed a name, I'm sorry, please let me know and I'll add you. I could not have gotten this done without everyone who helped me test staging, including those of you who took a look when I asked on Discord.

Second, why a week? I'm going on vacation this Friday, and will be back Sunday night. I could do it tomorrow night, but if something big happens while I'm out, there's no real way to fix it.

Lastly, how long will this upgrade take? The total process will take about an hour. We'll first shut down access to the site, do a backup of the latest data, download and upgrade a bunch of software, upgrade the database, and then finally run a bunch of scripts to bring everything together. This process usually took about 30 minutes on staging, but I want to be cautious, so expect 6pm to 7pm ET as downtime, and in all hopes, it's up sooner!

I'm happy to answer any questions about this.

It took a lot longer than expected, but the site is back up with the new configuration. We've already had a number of small bugs reported and fixed. If you find any, drop them in the Bugs forum or report them on Discord. I'll try to figure out why the update took so long compared to expectation.

Thank you, Keleth!

One bug GMs will need to address its that games public/private flags seem to have flipped for some people. Double check your games and update accordingly. If you find an old game the wrong way around, let me know and I'll fix it.

Amazing speed!

Thanks Keleth! I switched my games back to private (it had switched them to public even in the Retired Games)

Concerning with the privacy flip. All my games had changed to the opposite setting, but I have set them right again.

Speed is much better. And now that the database is updated and amalgamated, we can also start looking into optimising the queries for the front page and probably speed that up a lot too.

@ Keleth,

I have a game that I can't switch back to private. Could you please fix that for me?

Can you provide a link to the game (or DM it to Keleth) to make sure he knows which one to check? Thanks!

Sure. Thanks

Email notifications don't appear to be working since this change.

Except that I just got an email about my own post, but none for the three above mine.

I'll have the bugs patched soon. As for the public/private issue, the only other thought I have is to make all game forums private, and GMs can re-public them as wanted. The other thought is I'll spool up staging with the backup data and create a script to update prod with the data from back then.

@vagueGM I've got that issue too.

And now I'm getting them again! Today's update solved that problem!