HoopScoop going down over Xmas

[HoopScoop]

I've officially "had it" with my webhosting company Ipowerweb. They have been trying to switch accounts over to new servers for quite a while now and it has been adversely affecting HoopScoop for way too long. This has been the reason for database errors that you have undoubtedly seen over the past few weeks.

In looking for a best time to make the switch, looks like some time between December 22nd - 27th would be best due to lack of games and most likely few people will be on HoopScoop during that time. Thus, I will get everything set up to make the move during that time span.

This will mean HoopScoop will be going down and forums will be locked up during the move. I will have to copy over the database that runs the forum to the new webhost. Considering we are approaching 94,000 posts - that is a very large database. So, that will take time.

Please be patient during the move. Hopefully the change will proceed without a hitch.

If you have any questions, please ask.

[brolewis]

I've officially "had it" with my webhosting company Ipowerweb. They have been trying to switch accounts over to new servers for quite a while now and it has been adversely affecting HoopScoop for way too long. This has been the reason for database errors that you have undoubtedly seen over the past few weeks.

In looking for a best time to make the switch, looks like some time between December 22nd - 27th would be best due to lack of games and most likely few people will be on HoopScoop during that time. Thus, I will get everything set up to make the move during that time span.

This will mean HoopScoop will be going down and forums will be locked up during the move. I will have to copy over the database that runs the forum to the new webhost. Considering we are approaching 94,000 posts - that is a very large database. So, that will take time.

Please be patient during the move. Hopefully the change will proceed without a hitch.

If you have any questions, please ask.Having to handle such moves in the past, my biggest recommendation is to tweak the old adage "Measure twice, cut once" to "Backup twice, move once" because I would hate for all these years of posts to vanish! Just out of curiosity, to which host are you going to move?

[BeBe]

a question and a comment ........

first the comment actually ... Thanks much for the heads up. Not everyone is so considerate

The question ... will private messages be preserved or lost?

[HoopScoop]

Everything will be maintained. Vbulletin uses MySQL database for storage of all content. I will make a backup of the database and transfer it to the new location. So all messages, all PMs, all user information will be retained. If all goes well, the move should be absolutely transparent to everyone - except of course the down time.

Technically there doesn't even have to be down time. I just have to have a cut-off point else - messages posted after the cut-off point will not be backed up and moved to the new server.

I've purchased space on the current webhost up through the middle of March - so I won't have to immediately delete the database there. This should give me ample opportunities to copy the database to the new host if something were to go wrong.

After doing some investigation, several sources are giving top honors to a company called HostMonster.com. I've noticed they have some features that I don't currently have such as secure shell access (I really want that again), 100 databases (not 5), 600 GB of space :eek:, etc. Can you believe when I first started HoopScoop, it was with only 10 MB of space? Unbelievable how far we've come with available storage space.

[HoopScoop]

Having to handle such moves in the past, my biggest recommendation is to tweak the old adage "Measure twice, cut once" to "Backup twice, move once" because I would hate for all these years of posts to vanish! Just out of curiosity, to which host are you going to move?

If you have a recommendation of a place you think would be better than HostMonster.com, please let me know. I am also considering LunarPages - that is a name I recognize from over the years - and it's still considered one of the best. Another that keeps popping up is HostGator.

Something I'm considering this time is finding a webhost that can host and support multiple domains (subdomains and parked domains) for no additional cost. Currently I'm looking at running at least 4 different sites all combined in the same storage space. My other sites are minor compared to HoopScoop. It's still the king :)

[brolewis]

If you have a recommendation of a place you think would be better than HostMonster.com, please let me know. I am also considering LunarPages - that is a name I recognize from over the years - and it's still considered one of the best. Another that keeps popping up is HostGator.

Something I'm considering this time is finding a webhost that can host and support multiple domains (subdomains and parked domains) for no additional cost. Currently I'm looking at running at least 4 different sites all combined in the same storage space. My other sites are minor compared to HoopScoop. It's still the king :)I think any of those would be good choices. I personally use DreamHost and have been quite pleased, but I think that once you get in the same tier of hosts, its like picking a Chevy vs. a Ford.

[Noah121]

Will the URL remain the same?

[HoopScoop]

Yes. Still HoopScoop.net.

I hope I'm not scaring everyone out there. Nothing will change - really. It should all be transparent to everyone. I just have to warn people because there will be some down time involved in which you will not be able to post new messages to the forum. That's it.

Everything else will stay the same, except I hope that HoopScoop.net will always be up and available and not have those annoying database error messages that occur from time to time.

[LadyBuff]

This morning I got a notice that says this site contains malware and to enter at my own risk. I visit the site every day, so I don't know why today I got that notice.