(Welcome to the) NEW Chiefsplanet SERVER!!!!

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by Easy 6

So would another fundraiser help or not?



I have no idea how it all works, but are we somehow limited in what can be done at this point, sharing bandwidth with other boards etc?

I honestly don't know if it's a matter of money or just AC's time. Theoretically we could do a fundraiser for professional help or something, but it all comes down to what AC wants to do.

[AustinChief]

Originally Posted by DaFace

I honestly don't know if it's a matter of money or just AC's time. Theoretically we could do a fundraiser for professional help or something, but it all comes down to what AC wants to do.

It's a bit of both but honestly throwing money at the server and getting better hardware won't do as much as people think. I will take some time to do some clean up and hopefully get things in better shape but it mostly boils down to what you said... old software(that people prefer) and a HUGE database.

[007]

Originally Posted by AustinChief

It's a bit of both but honestly throwing money at the server and getting better hardware won't do as much as people think. I will take some time to do some clean up and hopefully get things in better shape but it mostly boils down to what you said... old software(that people prefer) and a HUGE database.

I vote to change to the more efficient software. No, I don't know how to do it.

[scho63]

Originally Posted by AustinChief

It's a bit of both but honestly throwing money at the server and getting better hardware won't do as much as people think. I will take some time to do some clean up and hopefully get things in better shape but it mostly boils down to what you said... old software(that people prefer) and a HUGE database.

What DB is this is using?

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by scho63

What DB is this is using?

MariaDB 10.0.38. Most of the tables are MyISAM. I've debated messing around and seeing what would happen if I changed the POST table (which is the problem) to InnoDB, but it would likely take hours to change it and hours to change back if it still sucks. Plus, it could also royally break stuff. So I've decided I'm probably not the best one to do it.

At some point, if we decide we're just going to live with this software forever, we may need to consider pruning the database down. I've mulled over something like cloning the site and DB, then putting it at a different URL as a pure archive (no new posts), then pruning the active CP site down to just threads/posts from the past 5 years or something. Constantly sorting a 13 GB table almost has to be the biggest issue. There are better ways of doing the query in newer versions of vBulletin, but the queries in this version suck donkey balls.

The one hardware upgrade that I wonder might help would be to move to a server where we could throw the entire database onto SSDs rather than HDDs. I could be wrong, but it seems like IO is probably the issue, so moving the DB onto a drive that would respond a lot faster might help. Maybe.

So for what it's worth, here are the options as I see them:

• Live with what we have. Possibly try a few things that probably won't help much. The end.
• Try a hardware upgrade (new server with SSDs for storage maybe). Might not really help much. Tough to say. But could work. Very time intensive for AC.
• Prune the database. Some loss of functionality (couldn't bump a 15-year old thread, which can be fun sometimes). Moderate amount of time for AC.
• Move to completely different software. We'd gain a lot of features in "modern" software, but we'd lose some functionality people are used to here for sure. Rep would work differently. Thumbs would work differently. Categories and prefixes would work differently. Mod options like thread bans might not work. It would almost certainly fix the lag issues, but there are plenty of sites out there that have gone under due to major functionality changes, so it's not a decision to make lightly. Would be an insane amount of work for AC and high amount of work for others like me and Bearcat to try and tweak all of the settings to make things as familiar as possible.

[limested]

Originally Posted by DaFace

MariaDB 10.0.38. Most of the tables are MyISAM. I've debated messing around and seeing what would happen if I changed the POST table (which is the problem) to InnoDB, but it would likely take hours to change it and hours to change back if it still sucks. Plus, it could also royally break stuff. So I've decided I'm probably not the best one to do it.

At some point, if we decide we're just going to live with this software forever, we may need to consider pruning the database down. I've mulled over something like cloning the site and DB, then putting it at a different URL as a pure archive (no new posts), then pruning the active CP site down to just threads/posts from the past 5 years or something. Constantly sorting a 13 GB table almost has to be the biggest issue. There are better ways of doing the query in newer versions of vBulletin, but the queries in this version suck donkey balls.

The one hardware upgrade that I wonder might help would be to move to a server where we could throw the entire database onto SSDs rather than HDDs. I could be wrong, but it seems like IO is probably the issue, so moving the DB onto a drive that would respond a lot faster might help. Maybe.

So for what it's worth, here are the options as I see them:

• Live with what we have. Possibly try a few things that probably won't help much. The end.
• Try a hardware upgrade (new server with SSDs for storage maybe). Might not really help much. Tough to say. But could work. Very time intensive for AC.
• Prune the database. Some loss of functionality (couldn't bump a 15-year old thread, which can be fun sometimes). Moderate amount of time for AC.
• Move to completely different software. We'd gain a lot of features in "modern" software, but we'd lose some functionality people are used to here for sure. Rep would work differently. Thumbs would work differently. Categories and prefixes would work differently. Mod options like thread bans might not work. It would almost certainly fix the lag issues, but there are plenty of sites out there that have gone under due to major functionality changes, so it's not a decision to make lightly. Would be an insane amount of work for AC and high amount of work for others like me and Bearcat to try and tweak all of the settings to make things as familiar as possible.

Moving DB to own server on SSD’s would help quite a bit. Moving to a small cluster on SSD’s more. Move to a cluster that also shards the tables across multiple instances even more so.

[dirk digler]

Originally Posted by DaFace

MariaDB 10.0.38. Most of the tables are MyISAM. I've debated messing around and seeing what would happen if I changed the POST table (which is the problem) to InnoDB, but it would likely take hours to change it and hours to change back if it still sucks. Plus, it could also royally break stuff. So I've decided I'm probably not the best one to do it.

At some point, if we decide we're just going to live with this software forever, we may need to consider pruning the database down. I've mulled over something like cloning the site and DB, then putting it at a different URL as a pure archive (no new posts), then pruning the active CP site down to just threads/posts from the past 5 years or something. Constantly sorting a 13 GB table almost has to be the biggest issue. There are better ways of doing the query in newer versions of vBulletin, but the queries in this version suck donkey balls.

The one hardware upgrade that I wonder might help would be to move to a server where we could throw the entire database onto SSDs rather than HDDs. I could be wrong, but it seems like IO is probably the issue, so moving the DB onto a drive that would respond a lot faster might help. Maybe.

So for what it's worth, here are the options as I see them:

• Live with what we have. Possibly try a few things that probably won't help much. The end.
• Try a hardware upgrade (new server with SSDs for storage maybe). Might not really help much. Tough to say. But could work. Very time intensive for AC.
• Prune the database. Some loss of functionality (couldn't bump a 15-year old thread, which can be fun sometimes). Moderate amount of time for AC.
• Move to completely different software. We'd gain a lot of features in "modern" software, but we'd lose some functionality people are used to here for sure. Rep would work differently. Thumbs would work differently. Categories and prefixes would work differently. Mod options like thread bans might not work. It would almost certainly fix the lag issues, but there are plenty of sites out there that have gone under due to major functionality changes, so it's not a decision to make lightly. Would be an insane amount of work for AC and high amount of work for others like me and Bearcat to try and tweak all of the settings to make things as familiar as possible.

As an IT person I would do the last option because I hate keeping around super old software just because. And if you were going to do that and the cost wasn't to bad I would move it to Azure or AWS.

The downside of that is probably no way to import accounts and post history outside of that there is no feature that I couldn't do without that I depend on. People would get used to it.

[limested]

Originally Posted by dirk digler

As an IT person I would do the last option because I hate keeping around super old software just because. And if you were going to do that and the cost wasn't to bad I would move it to Azure or AWS.

The downside of that is probably no way to import accounts and post history outside of that there is no feature that I couldn't do without that I depend on. People would get used to it.

Upgrading to newest VB would be seamless minus a few feature losses.
Migrating to another software such as Xenforo would be pretty much the same as they have conversion scripts. Just more time consuming.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by dirk digler

The downside of that is probably no way to import accounts and post history outside of that there is no feature that I couldn't do without that I depend on. People would get used to it.

so all accounts and history are wiped out, on purpose. How do you think that’s going to go over with the posters?

[-King-]

Originally Posted by AustinChief

It's a bit of both but honestly throwing money at the server and getting better hardware won't do as much as people think. I will take some time to do some clean up and hopefully get things in better shape but it mostly boils down to what you said... old software(that people prefer) and a HUGE database.

How many people really prefer keeping the old software if it's going to keep running like this?

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by -King-

How many people really prefer keeping the old software if it's going to keep running like this?

It's not just a new GUI. When I looked into this, there was a high probability of at least some loss of data, that means our history. Rep would be zeroed out. etc.

This site is like a shoe that fits you perfectly. Maybe eventually it wears out and you have to get a new one. But, most at least at first will hate the new GUI/shoe, traffic will go down. Would that love of the new shoe ever recover to current levels? There is a risk of never recovering to the level of love with the new shoes/GUI.

[Raiderhater]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

It's not just a new GUI. When I looked into this, there was a high probability of at least some loss of data, that means our history. Rep would be zeroed out. etc.

This site is like a shoe that fits you perfectly. Maybe eventually it wears out and you have to get a new one. But, most at least at first will hate the new GUI/shoe, traffic will go down. Would that love of the new shoe ever recover to current levels? There is a risk of never recovering to the level of love with the new shoes/GUI.

Sooo, you’re saying there is a potential to lose some of the idiots around here? Where do I sign up?

Truthfully though, rep isn’t important and anyone who thinks so has their priorities all wrong. The loss of history would suck but a) Daface was talking about the possibility of an off site archive so it would still exist and, b) King’s point is valid - what good does any of it do if you cannot access it easily or at all?

I do like/am completely comfortable with our current format but, if a change is deemed necessary I will not be amongst those opposing it.

[dirk digler]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

It's not just a new GUI. When I looked into this, there was a high probability of at least some loss of data, that means our history. Rep would be zeroed out. etc.

This site is like a shoe that fits you perfectly. Maybe eventually it wears out and you have to get a new one. But, most at least at first will hate the new GUI/shoe, traffic will go down. Would that love of the new shoe ever recover to current levels? There is a risk of never recovering to the level of love with the new shoes/GUI.

I guess we should all still be using Windows XP using this reasoning.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by dirk digler

I guess we should all still be using Windows XP using this reasoning.

Just saying like any other user experience, it has to be taken into account what the customer wants even though we are not buying anything on this site.