The site will undergo a hardware upgrade later tonight

[Ian]

This is an update to the thread that is in the Members Only section, here:

https://www.e-group.uk.net/forum/forum/members-only/951918-it-s-probably-time-to-upgrade-the-site-s-server

To summarise, the current, ageing, server we are running on needs more memory (RAM) to address some volatility in database handling we have been experiencing. We also need to move from an end-of-life operating system. We're going to do this in two stages.

1. Resize the existing server RAM. This will be done tonight and the server will be down from around 3AM UK time (I'm really sorry to all our visitors who are either late owls or situated where 3AM GMT is in the middle of the day!) for a couple of hours, according to the hosting company.

2. Support for our flavour of Linux OS ends in June next year. We will plan (and save up!) for a move, by then, to a brand new server environmenmt running a more up to date OS and also benefit from a more stable platform.

I'm happy to (try at least) answer any questions if you have some.

Ian

[Ian]

We're back! I noted that the server work started an hour later than planned and lasted three hours rather than the 'couple of hours' I had been told, but we're back now and I hope there won't be any residual 'snagging' to do.

Please, if yu notice anything unusual, please let me knw.

Ian

[Ian]

A bit of explanation - the hosting company didn't just switch our server off and install more memory, the whole server contents was moved to a different machine, which meant copying transferring around 400GB of files.

The server load continues to be a bit higher than usual at the moment, so you may notice a slight sluggishness but that should be temporary.

Ian

[Ian]

I will be honest... the site remains sluggush ti me and the the server dashboard details aren't reflecting a successful memory upgrade, so I am seeking some feedback from the the server techs. It's coming up to 3AM there so I might have to wait a bit.

Will report back as soon as I have a response.

Ian

[Ian]

Sigh of relief here the new spec. is now displayed in the dashboard and the server load has dropped to ideal levels once more.

Ian

[Ian]

And the lagginess of earlier this morning has definitely gone 👍

[Melaka]

Few changes run without a hitch! Thanks for all the work.

[griffljg]

Thanks for all the hard work Ian.

[Ian]

Thanks everyone - everything has been running very smoothly since my last update.

Ian

[MJ224]

Well done Ian, it works in Hawaii too...

[R99C99]

The fact that I (and probably others) didn’t notice anything is a great sign that all is successful. Well done.

[Phill D]

Yes well done from me too. All working well here. I must have slept through any issues .

[pdk42]

Super job Ian. Site is running very smoothly now and I didn't even notice any downtime!

[Gerry]

The past few weeks it sometimes took a while to get logged in, but now everything is super fast.

Many thanks Ian for all your work and efforts on this great site.

[Ian]

The past few weeks it sometimes took a while to get logged in, but now everything is super fast.

Many thanks Ian for all your work and efforts on this great site.

Yes, on reflection (hindsight is such a frustrating thing) the memory upgrade should have been done a lot earlier.

But I'm please the improvement is being noticed!

Ian

[Chris-G]

All works well here, thanks Ian!