1. CathInfo has been set up on the new dedicated server. Before today, CathInfo has lived on a new "VPS" or virtual server which I rented as a stop-gap measure.

1b. So as of today, there are TWO functioning copies of CathInfo living on two different computers. There is the "old" CathInfo with the Easter lilies graphic at the top, and the "new" CathInfo which uses the older blue logo with +Williamson and +Faure's coat of arms.

You can tell which site you're on by looking at the logo! Also, the new site is going to TEMPORARILY be much slower, but otherwise better. Read on...

2. The domain name "CathInfo.com" will take up to 2 days to move to the new physical location. Every website lives on a given web server, like a person lives in a house. CathInfo's new HOME is going to be its own web server.

3. There is just one problem: the site isn't down for a half a day, like before when I moved off Hostgator. This time the site is fully alive and active, with constant traffic. This traffic results in new posts, topics, users, private messages, likes, etc. We're talking changes to the database on a MINUTE-TO-MINUTE basis. So how do we maintain ONE OFFICIAL database, while half the members are visiting the old server and half are visiting the new server?

(Keep in mind, the propagation of CathInfo.com to the new server will take up to 48 hours. Which server will you get in 6 hours? In 18 hours? in 24 hours? It all depends on where you live. Some areas "get the memo" about the CathInfo move sooner than others.)

4. The solution:
Until EVERYONE gets to the New Server when they type CathInfo.com in their browser, we're going to use the OLD Server's copy of the database as the OFFICIAL DATABASE which both sites will use. That is great for keeping things synchronized, but there's one downside: The new server will be a bit slower, since for the new server, the database is "across town" rather than being an arm's length away.

5. The good news:
A) There will be just ONE CathInfo, regardless of which copy of the site you happen to be on. There will be ONE "online member list" and collection of posts.
B) on the new server, everything works! Links, images, youtubes, all that good stuff. So you'll just have to put up with a bit of speed loss for a day or so.

6. The plan:
As soon as the propagation is complete (or close to it), I'm going to take the site down for maybe 15 minutes (tops) and move the one-and-only copy of the database "home" to this new server. At that point, pages will take fractions of a second again and CathInfo should be all set on the new server.

7. The warning:
If you are one of the few who MANUALLY set your machine's HOSTS file to resolve to the current server, you're going to want to undo that, since I won't be on LiquidWeb much longer.

I think you might have to refresh your page to really know which logo you've got. I had to, anyway.

Ok, so I have the LiquidWeb logo with the Easter lillies. What's being said is that mine should automatically change over to the new host?  I don't think that I did anything that I now have to undo.  Please inform me if I did.

Yeah!  I am on the new site!

 :rahrah:

I was wondering why everything was so slow ... now I know.  

How do you know you are on the new site?

1. The new site will behave slower
2. The new site will have all the links, youtubes, images, etc. working
3. The new site has the blue logo at the top, rather than the Easter one.

Sorry for the outage --

I've been racking my brain the last few hours (the whole duration of the outage) trying to set up the SIMPLEST of firewall setups.

Unfortunately, even to "play around" with it requires taking the site down.

Sorry about that, and thank you for your continued patience as CathInfo gets settled in to its new home.

I have plenty of storage and resources now, so yes I'm going to stop trimming pretty much all the database tables (PMs, likes/dislikes, ignores, etc.)

Of course I have never trimmed the public, essential things: topics, posts, attachments.