Alright, I’ve now lost track of how many times I’ve logged into forumosa this month and it has looked different. Didn’t I say STOP IT?
The way I do it for important websites (mostly shops) is to have two directories (e.g. shop1 and shop2) for each domain on the server. One is the “active” one (domain points to that directory), the other one is used for uploading new site versions and testing them. Once everything is OK, I just switch over two the second directory. With this method, there’s no downtime at all (maybe a few shoppers lose the content of their shopping carts, not sure about this) and, since the new site has already been tested, there are usually no unpleasant surprises after making it active.
Of course, stupid mistakes can still happen (like confusing the two directories). 
Anyway, from what I read on forumosa.org, whatever went wrong yesterday happened during the setup of virtual hosting (several domains on one server, each [usually] leading to a different directory), so that’s a problem on a higher level. However, now that the server is correctly configured for virtual hosting, using the method I described should be easily possible in the future.
Hi HMG,
Thank you for the suggestion. It’s helpful
Yes, we have some parts on forumosa on other servers and have had mixed results (the bad result led to our moving the banner ads server to this machine)
Since we plan to push classified ad traffic to the Forumosafieds, it made sense to house it here, too. Mixed into the confusion was an update of Apache that we were not familiar with (or as familiar with as we originally thought). But hey, we were down for less than a day - and considering the frantic end of the month rush we have with our real jobs, I think we should be counting our blessings 
Hold that thought, HMG. The virtual hosting configuration is NOT complete. We are still seeing inconsistent results to domain re-direction on different machines that WE are testing from. We are not in the clear yet - it’s just a lot less dark now.
In the meantime, Maoman and I are brainstorming ways to avoid THIS disaster. Unfortunately, the most obvious solutions to me involve throwing more money at the server 
is it just me that is in here via a back door, meaning the main index is giving a 404. Has been this way since last night.
Sigh. I sure will be glad when all this is over, and things are settled. I also sure hope it is worth it.
another thing. If there is a problem, it sure would be nice to direct the index to a problem update page. I even see that forumosa.org isn’t really that up to date with the current issues and progress.
anyway, my rant for the day.
no, it’s me too, backdoor was open … frontdoor locked … or moved to a new street address.
truant -
thanks for opening the backdoor.
Unmanaged playing about.
I wish the forum would stay as it is at this very moment. No ads and confusing navigation. The default phpbb install?
Hi Goose Egg,
I don’t want to complain. I’d just like to know how much more blackouts will we have? Another week? It’s good to have a warning for us to know that it’s likely the site will be down in the next week or two, so users beware.
[quote=“914”]Hi Goose Egg,
I don’t want to complain. I’d just like to know how much more blackouts will we have? Another week? It’s good to have a warning for us to know that it’s likely the site will be down in the next week or two, so users beware.[/quote]
I agree - we should give fair warning when we are going to futz around with the forums. At least 24 hours would be nice.
Now, we have two sets of Forum files to work with. We’ll make changes on the ones that are NOT public.
I’m meeting Maoman tomorrow and we will talk about how best to avoid disruptions from this point forward.
Gus,
thanks for the update.
[quote=“truant”]is it just me that is in here via a back door, meaning the main index is giving a 404. Has been this way since last night.
Sigh. I sure will be glad when all this is over, and things are settled. I also sure hope it is worth it.[/quote]
Don’t use forumosa.com/taiwan/index.php .
Although Forumosa.com seems to be up at the moment, I was not able to reach it in the normal way. The address “www.forumosa.com” failed for quite a while, then it finally redirected to the “.org” site. The only way that I was able to access the forums was via the link at the top of the “.org” website. ??