Server Move

[support]

As some may know, I have been monitoring these sites for at least an hour a day, since the end of last month.

 

I've been unhappy with performance but have been limited by the options available to me. I have been in regular (albeit slow) correspondence with the host. I have continued to tweak and even run backups manually.

 

We have been unable to find what was behind the excessive slowness and it was suggested that a server move might just resolve things. Wind back around 4 weeks and I actually suggested a change of data center and not just server/s to them. As it happens, I arrived here a couple of hours ago and found an email, saying that a full migration to another data center was what they chose to do. Quick look in and it was underway!

 

I had to do a fair bit and very swiftly in the background but you are here!

 

Where is here? You are now in Virginia, whereas before you were in Southern California. The data center you were at commonly has issues - although I am told it doesn't - and this was my reasoning some 4 weeks ago. I think we got lucky.

 

It will take a little while for the dust to settle. If you notice anything odd, just try a full refresh (Ctrl+F5 or Command+Shift+R) and it should come to rights. If you are unable to do this, you may need to clear your cache.

 

I won't be far away and still monitoring.

 

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2pm EDT: The final stages are complete and operational. To ensure you see the new location as early as possible, please perform a full refresh (Ctrl+F5 or Command+Shift+R).

 

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6pm EDT: It would appear that I am the only one currently on the new server. This must be a bit slow for you guys, while things are in two places. Hopefully, DNS will take for you soon and remove the lag.

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ETA: I take that back... I just flipped back to the old server. S L O W !

 

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8:20pm EDT: I suspect we have a DNS issue (with the way this was originally set up). This could take a while to resolve and unfortunately, until it is, this site will be slow.

 

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9:30pm EDT: There is indeed a DNS issue and I have now confirmed where it lies. Unfortunately, this is not within my control and I have done what I can to try and get this changed. I'm afraid we must wait this out.

 

I do have a couple of contingency plans on the back burner, just in case. Please make sure your email addresses in your profile is up to date, just in case we should need to contact you.

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ETA: Lambeauleap is actually up and fine on the new server. By all means visit and post. If you lose this site at any time, you can visit there for news.

 

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[1992casey]

Thanks again for all of your help with this.

[hawing]

You are now in Virginia, whereas before you were in Southern California.

[sarcasm]We just can't avoid that coastal bias![/sarcasm] Seriously, thanks for all you do.

[support]

[sarcasm]Well, we cannot have you all at sea, can we?[/sarcasm]

 

The ride is over for some and not others yet. I will continue to monitor both sites for the time being, until I am certain everyone is off the old server. Try pressing Ctrl+F5 on your keyboard (Cmd+Shift+R for a Mac). Anyone with extreme difficulties, please reboot your computer (or flush your DNS if you know how) and if that still does not work, reboot your router. If that still does not work, you can either wait it out until your DNS servers update or switch your DNS servers to either OpenDNS or Google Public DNS. (of course, I am posting to those on the old server here that may lose access at some point and hoping they read this before they do)

 

For anyone in doubt, if the announcement on the index page is in RED, you are on the old server still.

 

That was quite a paper-chase. Thankfully Casey was able to save the day once we found exactly where the DNS had been set for this place. I have no desire to know just how close things were! We got here and that is the main thing.

 

So, initial measurements are much faster. I do want to monitor this over the next 10-20 days to make sure it retains its speed.

 

OK guys ... pretend I wasn't here and carry on!

[1992casey]

Thanks again.

 

I haven't run into any trouble throughout all of this, so hopefully, that's the case for the great majority.

[support]

It would have been better if I had been prepared in advance but all things considered, we escaped quite well.

 

Hardly anyone is hitting the old server now. There may be the odd hit every hour or two.

 

The worst for people would have been when the database was moved. Unfortunately, I was only aware of this as it was underway. There may have been an hour of downtime and if memory serves me correctly, this would have been late morning EDT and it is quieter then.

 

For the last two days, the data has been traveling around 10,000 miles round-trip to get to you (and did not too badly either) and now the trip is around 1,000 miles and approx half of what it was originally. This will not make any sort of noticeable difference but I do think you are in a better place and the servers are performing much better than the old ones.

 

I couldn't wait to start tweaking. Got the speed up a little too!

 

If anyone may have suffered more, it will likely be the IE users and you really do not have many of them. IE has a tendency to store stuff that it should not and not store stuff that it should.

 

I'll re-automate the backups in a day or two and just monitor them instead for the next 20 days. It's difficult to gauge running them manually but they do seem to run quite well.

[adamb100]

wow, this feels like a whole new site with how fast it is.

[support]

Nice to hear some feedback!

 

What I would like to see is that it remains like this rather than slowly deteriorating. Only time will tell on that.

[1992casey]

We're flying right now. Whatever DreamHost did and whatever you've done to tweak has certainly helped.