meissen
08-21-2012, 07:13 AM
Good morning everyone,
As some of you have noticed, there's been times where the site stops working and returns a database error. A few refreshes of the browser and the site starts working again. Sometimes it only lasts a minute, sometimes it takes a few minutes, but in each case the site starts working again relatively quickly. The reason for this issue is caused by us hitting the Maximum SQL Users limit. Basically, in the last month since Larry has taken co-ownership of the site, the popularity of the site has been "too much" for our current server to handle.
We want the site to keep growing, and the renewed enthusiasm for the site has been such a positive motiviation for Larry, Sean, and I in addition to all of the staff.
To be able to ensure that the site can sustain all the energy that will be surrounding the LTx Shootout, we're going to make some changes on Thursday night. We're going to move LTxTech's website to a different server. To move the site to the new server is easy - the unfortunate part is that we will have to make a change to DNS.
There's three parts to this -- DNS itself, domain names (LTxTech.com), and IP addresses. For our purposes, domain names (LTxTech.com) are like a mailing address ( 1234 Liberty Lane ), and IP addresses are the actual postal/zip code (New York, NY 12345). There can be multiple 1234 Liberty Lanes around the country, but only one 1234 Liberty Lane per 12345 zip code. There can also be many addresses that also resolve to one zip code. A DNS server is like the post office - it matches the mailing address to the zip code, or the domain name to the IP address.
So why am I giving a tech lecture? Well, to move the server we're going to be changing the IP Address. That means we need to update the DNS servers to say "When users go to LTxTech.com, forward them to this server's IP address from now on instead of the old IP address..." Unfortunately, users' machines and DNS servers cache these DNS entries in such a way that when I make the change late Thursday / early Friday, it will take some time before users' machines will be pointed to the correct IP Address. Sometimes it can be instant, sometimes it can take a few hours, sometimes it can take 6 hours.
Friday morning, if all goes as planned, LTxTech will be on the new server. You might browse to LTxTech.com and find a message saying vBulletin has been turned off. This unfortunately means your DNS hasn't updated yet. There's a few ways you can try to force it, but I'm going to leave that for the real techy people to Google and try on their own. For most, though, by the time you get up on Friday morning to browse your favorite LTx website, the site should load on the new server and you'll never have known anything changed. :)
So that's the long winded explanation of what we're doing to keep upping the ante for LTxTech.com. This new server is quite powerful, and currently hosts a couple sites which I own. We have full control of this server, so that is going to be a major plus compared to what we're on now. Furthermore, the server costs for LTxTech will be greatly reduced, thus allowing Larry and Sean and all of us to concentrate on returning LTxTech.com to being the LTx Shootout title sponsor!
<tl;dr>tl;dr --
The site will be "turned off" late Thursday night and moved to a new server. The site will be "turned on" on the new server. It may take some time before your computer will see the site on the new server on Friday morning, so if you still see the "turned off" message, keep rechecking throughout the morning and it should eventually see the new server.
As always, thank you everyone for your patience and enthusiasm towards the site - it truly motivates Larry, Sean, myself, and all the staff to keep bringing you guys the best site around.</tl;dr>
As some of you have noticed, there's been times where the site stops working and returns a database error. A few refreshes of the browser and the site starts working again. Sometimes it only lasts a minute, sometimes it takes a few minutes, but in each case the site starts working again relatively quickly. The reason for this issue is caused by us hitting the Maximum SQL Users limit. Basically, in the last month since Larry has taken co-ownership of the site, the popularity of the site has been "too much" for our current server to handle.
We want the site to keep growing, and the renewed enthusiasm for the site has been such a positive motiviation for Larry, Sean, and I in addition to all of the staff.
To be able to ensure that the site can sustain all the energy that will be surrounding the LTx Shootout, we're going to make some changes on Thursday night. We're going to move LTxTech's website to a different server. To move the site to the new server is easy - the unfortunate part is that we will have to make a change to DNS.
There's three parts to this -- DNS itself, domain names (LTxTech.com), and IP addresses. For our purposes, domain names (LTxTech.com) are like a mailing address ( 1234 Liberty Lane ), and IP addresses are the actual postal/zip code (New York, NY 12345). There can be multiple 1234 Liberty Lanes around the country, but only one 1234 Liberty Lane per 12345 zip code. There can also be many addresses that also resolve to one zip code. A DNS server is like the post office - it matches the mailing address to the zip code, or the domain name to the IP address.
So why am I giving a tech lecture? Well, to move the server we're going to be changing the IP Address. That means we need to update the DNS servers to say "When users go to LTxTech.com, forward them to this server's IP address from now on instead of the old IP address..." Unfortunately, users' machines and DNS servers cache these DNS entries in such a way that when I make the change late Thursday / early Friday, it will take some time before users' machines will be pointed to the correct IP Address. Sometimes it can be instant, sometimes it can take a few hours, sometimes it can take 6 hours.
Friday morning, if all goes as planned, LTxTech will be on the new server. You might browse to LTxTech.com and find a message saying vBulletin has been turned off. This unfortunately means your DNS hasn't updated yet. There's a few ways you can try to force it, but I'm going to leave that for the real techy people to Google and try on their own. For most, though, by the time you get up on Friday morning to browse your favorite LTx website, the site should load on the new server and you'll never have known anything changed. :)
So that's the long winded explanation of what we're doing to keep upping the ante for LTxTech.com. This new server is quite powerful, and currently hosts a couple sites which I own. We have full control of this server, so that is going to be a major plus compared to what we're on now. Furthermore, the server costs for LTxTech will be greatly reduced, thus allowing Larry and Sean and all of us to concentrate on returning LTxTech.com to being the LTx Shootout title sponsor!
<tl;dr>tl;dr --
The site will be "turned off" late Thursday night and moved to a new server. The site will be "turned on" on the new server. It may take some time before your computer will see the site on the new server on Friday morning, so if you still see the "turned off" message, keep rechecking throughout the morning and it should eventually see the new server.
As always, thank you everyone for your patience and enthusiasm towards the site - it truly motivates Larry, Sean, myself, and all the staff to keep bringing you guys the best site around.</tl;dr>