The great 2023 EBO Forum Crash

[Cuda Cody]

The great forum crash of 2023 was not planned.  It started off as an attempt to speed up the site.  As many know we've had issues with the site being beyond slow in the past.  Sometimes it would work fine and other times it was unusable.  So the plan was to upgrade to our own dedicated server.  It's not cheap, but we were assured that it would solve the speed issue and the transition would be "seamless".  We checked and it looked like everything was compatible  But once we took the training wheels off the site crashed immediately.  The plan was to go back to the original server, but they said that was not an option now.  I was pissed!      So the fix was supposed to be easy.  We just had a PHP issue and only needed to upgrade to a newer version of PHP.  But after hours of trying that and paying more money for tech help, it was clear that was not the fix.  They were having an issue with our new server and the PHP that the forum required.  So we bought a 3rd party service (imunify360) that would allow us to install a licensed C-Panel so we can run an older version of PHP (5.6).  That solution looked like it was going to work, but we had to update the forum to a newer version.  So we did it and it looked like the forum was up and kept the original look and feel.... but as soon as we tried to make a post and do anything, it would crash.  Now at this point it had been days and days with many 3 to 4 hour long phone tech sessions.  It was looking like the only way to move forward was to harvest the database from an old backup and upload the newest forum software.  That got us back up and where we are today. 

From here going forward I can create backups and add the mods back on, but we lost the look and feel of the forum.  I'm reaching out to our designer to see the cost to built the forum back to the original look and feel.  But either way going forward I will be modifying the forum to change the look and function so it's more like what we had.  We should be able to fix of a lot of things with this new version of the forum and it's actually much faster and has more features!

[blown motor]

@Cuda Cody How do we contribute to the cost of all this?

[Spikedog08]

I assume it will be amazing! 

[larry4406]

Was any content lost when you had to use an "older" backup?

[RJChallenger]

@Cuda Cody How do we contribute to the cost of all this?

like blown motor sez. How do we contribute to the cost of all this.

[Cuda Cody]

@larry4406  Yes, we lost about 2 days.  But that's not to bad considering the huge step forward we will be making in terms of speed and options.  Look for some changes to the overall look and feel of the site to hopefully be in place in the next couple weeks.  Or maybe I screw it up again and drive the forum in to the ditch like I did last week.     I sure am going to keep trying to make it better for everyone. 

Was any content lost when you had to use an "older" backup?

[Racer57]

I have no idea wtf your saying, but fubar is what I assume you meant.   

The great forum crash of 2023 was not planned.  It started off as an attempt to speed up the site.  As many know we've had issues with the site being beyond slow in the past.  Sometimes it would work fine and other times it was unusable.  So the plan was to upgrade to our own dedicated server.  It's not cheap, but we were assured that it would solve the speed issue and the transition would be "seamless".  We checked and it looked like everything was compatible  But once we took the training wheels off the site crashed immediately.  The plan was to go back to the original server, but they said that was not an option now.  I was pissed!      So the fix was supposed to be easy.  We just had a PHP issue and only needed to upgrade to a newer version of PHP.  But after hours of trying that and paying more money for tech help, it was clear that was not the fix.  They were having an issue with our new server and the PHP that the forum required.  So we bought a 3rd party service (imunify360) that would allow us to install a licensed C-Panel so we can run an older version of PHP (5.6).  That solution looked like it was going to work, but we had to update the forum to a newer version.  So we did it and it looked like the forum was up and kept the original look and feel.... but as soon as we tried to make a post and do anything, it would crash.  Now at this point it had been days and days with many 3 to 4 hour long phone tech sessions.  It was looking like the only way to move forward was to harvest the database from an old backup and upload the newest forum software.  That got us back up and where we are today. 

From here going forward I can create backups and add the mods back on, but we lost the look and feel of the forum.  I'm reaching out to our designer to see the cost to built the forum back to the original look and feel.  But either way going forward I will be modifying the forum to change the look and function so it's more like what we had.  We should be able to fix of a lot of things with this new version of the forum and it's actually much faster and has more features!

[71GranCoupe]

Park that pos gm product and get back in your favorite mopar and cross the finish line. 

Keep up the progress of getting the site back up and running.

@larry4406  Yes, we lost about 2 days.  But that's not to bad considering the huge step forward we will be making in terms of speed and options.  Look for some changes to the overall look and feel of the site to hopefully be in place in the next couple weeks.  Or maybe I screw it up again and drive the forum in to the ditch like I did last week.     I sure am going to keep trying to make it better for everyone. 

Was any content lost when you had to use an "older" backup?

[ebodyproducts]

This site is amazing!!  The people and cars make it all worth while.

[Racer57]

Thank you Cody for your work improving the site !

[YellowThumper]

Thank you......
This site is so valuable on many levels.
Sorry it was not seamless.
Patience from all is necessary.