Stitchboard Support message #1
Hardware and Software upgrades complete
February 24, 2016 at 5:01:54 PM
 
Update 2-29-16:

The hardware and operating software upgrades are now complete.  These upgrades were necessary to allow us to expand as traffic increases.  It also allows us to increase the security of data handling.

I'll be completing an upgrade of the email software in the next few days that will bring delivery up to around 98-99%.

Finally I can then get back to adding features to the freePatternWizard and several other areas of the website -- such as the Community, Circles, Stash, and Multimedia.

Quote:

To keep everyone informed, we'll be upgrading our hardware and software infrastructure over the next 2-3 days beginning Thursday, 2-25-16. We hope there will be minimal interruptions.

Today (2-24) we're building up the new hardware and installing upgraded versions of all the system software.  This will result in faster processing and allow future expansion as needed.  At this point I plan to get the websites transferred over Thursday, 2-25.  I expect testing to be finished on Friday 2-26 and hopefully do the official data transfer and bring the new hardware live on Friday (2-26) or Saturday (2-27). 

As we bring everything live, I will need to turn off all the websites for a brief period of time (best case scenario is about 5 minutes but hopefully less than an hour).  This will prevent duplicate member numbers and other potential problems.  During the down time, you will see a page explaining what we're doing.

Terry

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Stitchboard Support message #3
Re: Hardware and Software upgrades in progress...
February 25, 2016 at 8:19:53 PM  (in response to StitchMeKnot message #2)
 
Debbie,

Thanks!  This is primarily a major infrastructure upgrade so initially I'm really, really hoping the first day you won't see any differences.   Like I say, this opens it up for all the updates we plan to do. 

I just finished transferring 52 websites from our current to the new hardware and next need to update all kinds of configuration settings.  We're hoping to test the new configuration tomorrow and get it close to bringing it live tomorrow or Saturday.  I'll probably still need to bring down the current websites just before making it all live so I can transfer the most recent databases and files so we don't lose anybody.  I'm pretty sure that this might take as long as 15-20 minutes, during which time you'll see a simple page telling you to come back soon.

But again, I'm crossing my fingers that everything will look the same when we first bring it live. 

Terry

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Stitchboard Support message #7
Hardware and Software upgrades in progress...
February 28, 2016 at 12:07:09 AM  (in response to StitchMeKnot message #6)
 
Hope things work out on your site problems.

I still have several things to do before making everything live.  I'm spending time testing as much as possible so I have a feeling I won't do the official switch until tomorrow (Sunday 2-28).

By the way, I won't be taking down the whole site for any extended period of time.  As I switch everything to the new hardware, I'll leave the old hardware running and available since it may take up to 48 hours for everyone worldwide to be looking at the new sites.  I will need to turn off new member registrations, new Community posts, and other similar functions on the old system so there's no loss of information. 

About 50% of the users should be on the new hardware within 2-4 hours of when I turn it live.  About 80% within 12 hours.  It'll just depend on how often each user's ISP updates their database. 

At the moment I turn the new hardware live, the old sites will have a red banner at the top of each page telling the limitations and each user will know they're seeing the new hardware when the top red banner goes away.

So work continues...

Terry

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Stitchboard Support message #9
Re: Hardware and Software upgrades in progress...
February 29, 2016 at 2:49:52 AM  (in response to StitchMeKnot message #8)
 
You can actually change what you want for now.  Just before I do the final move over to the new hardware I'll turn off the ability to post to the Community and Circles and also disable new member registrations.

I've finished most of the testing that I can do before the move so Monday I'll bring the new configuration live.

I'm going to do it so everyone can keep reading Community and Circles messages and those who use the freePatternWizard can keep using it during the move.

There's going to be a delay between the time I turn on the new hardware and when people can actually see it.  Just before I do the move, I'll place a red banner at the top of the pages to let you know you're still seeing the old setup and cannot post or register.

Then when your ISP updates their database, you'll immediately see the new hardware and the red banner will be gone.  Then you can post again and new member registration will again be available.

The delay between when you see the old and new hardware is strictly up to your ISP's schedule and could be between 5 minutes and 48 hours.

Terry

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