IMPORTANT - Server down time over w/end ** DONE **
- Thread starter sp3ctre
- Start date
Just a reminder that this will be happening tonight, around 9-10pm GMT+1
The site is being migrated to a new server (we have outgrown this one!). The migration is actually a fairly quick process but as with all website migrations the DNS takes a while to get itself in check.
I have made some changes to try and speed up this process, but it is reliant on other DNS servers obeying the rules (which they often don't). This means that it could be anything from a few minutes to several hours before you can view the site on the new server. In the mean time you will see a "server offline" message on the site.
There are a couple of things you can do to attempt to see the site sooner. Firstly you can clear the DNS cache on your computer:
Windows users open a command prompt (cmd) and type : ipconfig /flushdns
Mac users open a terminal window and type : dscacheutil -flushcache
This will clear the DNS cache on your computer, but you are still reliant on your ISP not holding onto the old DNS records for too long.
Unfortunately there is not a lot we can do to prevent the down time... as always, some users will find they get almost immediately onto the new site, others will take longer.
I will begin the migration around 9-10pm tonight, so consider this permission to go out and drink beer, hopefully the forum will be moved before the hangover kicks in :icb:
PS apologies if this post was too geeky for some :roll:
The site is being migrated to a new server (we have outgrown this one!). The migration is actually a fairly quick process but as with all website migrations the DNS takes a while to get itself in check.
I have made some changes to try and speed up this process, but it is reliant on other DNS servers obeying the rules (which they often don't). This means that it could be anything from a few minutes to several hours before you can view the site on the new server. In the mean time you will see a "server offline" message on the site.
There are a couple of things you can do to attempt to see the site sooner. Firstly you can clear the DNS cache on your computer:
Windows users open a command prompt (cmd) and type : ipconfig /flushdns
Mac users open a terminal window and type : dscacheutil -flushcache
This will clear the DNS cache on your computer, but you are still reliant on your ISP not holding onto the old DNS records for too long.
Unfortunately there is not a lot we can do to prevent the down time... as always, some users will find they get almost immediately onto the new site, others will take longer.
I will begin the migration around 9-10pm tonight, so consider this permission to go out and drink beer, hopefully the forum will be moved before the hangover kicks in :icb:
PS apologies if this post was too geeky for some :roll:
Z4 Beemer said:Good luck!
Can you not just give us the new IP of the server (or does it run several virtual hosts?) - just in case anyone gets withdrawal symptoms?
DNS can be a right PITA at times.
Spot on with the virtual hosts, so that won't work. I was tempted proxy forward with IPtables but that's a bit over engineered for just a small amount of downtime.
Know what you mean about DNS being a PITA though.... you give a TTL of 15 mins and yet hours later you still have people being pointed at the wrong IP... sometimes wonder what the use of TTL is when so many DNS servers cache far too long!
sp3ctre, In a similar situation I previously suggested we try something like that... forwarding on all port 80 traffic to the new box, (at the network level though), but things somehow ended up in a right mess! 
As you say for small amount of downtime not worth trying to be too clever!
As you say for small amount of downtime not worth trying to be too clever!
lacroupade
Lifer
Good job, well done you and thank you.