SITE MAINTENANCE / UPDATE - Planned outages during February

[RichM]

SITE MAINTENANCE AND UPDATE - Planned outages during February.

During the remainder of February, we will be carrying out maintenance on the site in preparation of a major site update, followed by the update of the sites software. During which period, the site will be temporarily offline. The maintenance break will enable us to implement major updates to the software which we use run Canal World. The new update will bring many notable design and functionality improvements and concepts.

Why are we doing this?:

- The discussion forum software we're currently using was initially released over 5 years ago. While it has been maintained over the years, it's no longer optimised for use with current technology.

- The discussion forum software we currently used is no longer supported by our vendor. This would make it difficult to receive support should we encounter any problems. It is important that we keep up to date

- Mobile browser support is currently very limited. The new version will bring many improvements for mobile users

- The new version of the forum software includes many security enhancements.

Is there anything I need to be aware of?

The site will be offline for an extended period of time in preparation of the new release commencing this Thursday. (23/02/2017)

Upon completion, a number of significant design and functionality changes will be introduced including the search functionality.

We will designate a forum sub-area where people can seek assistance from us and our members should they require.

As we are a non-profit site, the site staff all have busy lives just like everyone else. As such we too have time constraints. Should the maintenance take longer than expected on the live server, we may continue the works at another time.

After the launch of the site, we look to make continual improvements based on user feedback where possible

What if I have a problem?

Please either PM one of the site staff members or email sitestaff@canalworld.net

What if I want to give some feedback?

We welcome feedback and request you submit a topic in the Feedback & Suggestions forum.

Technical Details:

Current version of Invision Power Board: 3.4.8 (patched)
New version of IPS Community Suite 4.1.17.1

[system 4-50]

Will any history be lost?

[RichM]

Just to add to the above, I'd like to take the opportunity to encourage you all to take a look at our Facebook page and perhaps even consider joining it if you're not already a member. When the site is offline, we will re-direct users to the Facebook page so I highly recommend joining in advance if you have not already done so.

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/707309872616701/

 

Cheers

 

Rich

[DHutch]

Thanks Rich.

 

Will any history be lost?

All off the sites data, posts and members will be retained and migrated to the new site.

 

The primary reason for the duration of the outages is the time and processing power required to migrate this data, given the size of the forum, and the different way in which Version 4 arranges the data in its database.

 

 

Daniel

[dor]

Just to add to the above, I'd like to take the opportunity to encourage you all to take a look at our Facebook page and perhaps even consider joining it if you're not already a member. When the site is offline, we will re-direct users to the Facebook page so I highly recommend joining in advance if you have not already done so.

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/707309872616701/

 

Cheers

 

Rich

I do not and will not sign in to Facebook.

 

I believe I am far from alone in this view.

 

I understand that this site is relatively secure and anything I say on here, or my personal details, will not be misused.

 

As we all know, this is not the case with Facebook.

[DHutch]

I do not and will not sign in to Facebook.

 

Dor,

There is no needed to use facebook if you do now wish to. It's simply an option for some users while the main site is down for maintenance.

 

Daniel

[RichM]

I do not and will not sign in to Facebook.

 

I believe I am far from alone in this view.

 

I understand that this site is relatively secure and anything I say on here, or my personal details, will not be misused.

 

As we all know, this is not the case with Facebook.

 

Appreciate your thoughts on that and it touches on one of the reasons as to why we must carry out the planned maintenance to deploy the major update; It's one measure that will enable us to keep on top of security as technology advances.

 

Of course, whether or not you choose to visit our Facebook page is entirely up to you, the option is there for those who wish to use it and we will try and bring Canal World back online as soon as we can.

 

Any questions/concerns, let me know.

 

Rich

[dor]

Jon, Rich.

 

Thanks for your response. It was the bit about "when the site is offline we will redirect users to the Facebook page so I highly recommend joining in advance", which gave the impression that you were expecting people to go to Facebook.

 

Good luck with the update. Last time a major update was implemented, with a change of platform, all history was lost and users had to rejoin from scratch. Will this apply this time?

[RichM]

Jon, Rich.

 

Thanks for your response. It was the bit about "when the site is offline we will redirect users to the Facebook page so I highly recommend joining in advance", which gave the impression that you were expecting people to go to Facebook.

 

Good luck with the update. Last time a major update was implemented, with a change of platform, all history was lost and users had to rejoin from scratch. Will this apply this time?

 

Sorry should have been clearer. - There will be a maintenance page with a link to our Facebook page whether or not people visit it is entirely optional. The idea is to simply give our community another place where they can discuss and continue to be part of just that, a community.

 

I was not involved in any major updates previously, so I cannot comment on those but the short answer is no. As for the long answer, I have planned it as follows;

 

The migration is being done in such a way that preserves the site on the original server. I will take the site offline, followed by taking a copy of the site including the database, transfer it to a different/much more powerful server, upgrade it to the new version of the forum software, address any configuration issues and then point the domain canalworld.net to the new server via DNS. Should the migration not be successful or should it take longer than expected we will point the domain back to the original server and continue the work at another time. This approach keeps risk to a minimum and allows me to "abort" without implicatons should the need arise.

 

In addition to that, we have full site backups which are hosted in multiple locations in the UK, US and France.

 

A further server migration will later be scheduled but more on that nearer the time.

 

There is a likelihood we will encounter some teething issues and as such this is a rolling work in progress as we will look to make continual improvements based on user feedback. (wherever possible) We have also carried out testing and have successfully updated the site a number of times in a test environment. Some issues we can expect to see are browser caching issues and DNS propagation issues but I will be around to assist with these as and when they arise.

 

I tried to keep it as non-techy as I could but hopefully it will help give some confidence.

 

Rich

[DHutch]

Last time a major update was implemented, with a change of platform, all history was lost and users had to rejoin from scratch. Will this apply this time?

As said in response to System4-50 the data will not be lost. This is a major version update rather than a platform change, and in common with the move to V3 in 2009, the move to V4 the site will maintain all major functionality and the core layout. Users will see a visual change and added functionality but not a wholesale change.

 

The change from early ForumMax software to Invision V2 in which data was not migrated was in 2003, six years before I took over ownership of the forum, however I understand it follow significant loss of data due to a technical issue predating the software change.

 

 

Daniel

[David Schweizer]

Will the new format still work in older systems such as Windows XP and without me having to download all sorts of new software like something called Flash, and Adobe Air (whatever that is)? I find that increasingly web sites are playing to those people who access the internet via a phone ignoring anyone with a desk based operating system that is more than five years old, telling me that their latest offering will not work on my out of date "xxxx" As for facebook, I am not interested.

Edited February 22, 2017 by David Schweizer

[DHutch]

Will the new format still work in older systems such as Windows XP and without me having to download all sorts of new software.

The software update should be fully backwards and forward compatible with both conventional and mobile browsers including those running on window xp.

 

I you have significantly out of date software you may have to update this, however I would always recommend such updates regardless as they are typically security focused.

 

 

Daniel

[NB Lola]

Whilst I am conscious of users varying experience with Operating Software, we must all be cautious about the use of unsupported operating systems, this is one of the reasons we are updating the application. If you are using unsupported OS, please do ensure you are engaging appropriate security measures. This is about security of your data rather than about this application upgrade.

[Machpoint005]

The software update should be fully backwards and forward compatible with both conventional and mobile browsers including those running on window xp.

 

I you have significantly out of date software you may have to update this, however I would always recommend such updates regardless as they are typically security focused.

 

 

Daniel

 

There aren't any Windows XP updates now -- support has been discontinued!

 

But of course, you knew that anyway

[mayalld]

The site will be offline for an extended period of time in preparation of the new release commencing this Thursday. (23/02/2017)

 

 

Could you possibly quantify "an extended period of time"?

 

Are we talking about several hours, a couple of days, or a week?

[mross]

IF all goes well when do you guess the site might be back to normalish? - just roughly?

[RichM]

 

Could you possibly quantify "an extended period of time"?

 

Are we talking about several hours, a couple of days, or a week?

 

Several hours

 

Rich

[Machpoint005]

Let's not castigate anyone if it turns out to be longer, though.

[David Schweizer]

 

There aren't any Windows XP updates now -- support has been discontinued!

 

But of course, you knew that anyway

 

Not strictly true. that is what Microsoft say, but I still get occassional security updates.

 

To be honest, if the new Canalworld does not work properly in XP, I will dump Canalworld rather than be forced into an OS change because of some imagined security risk.

Edited February 22, 2017 by David Schweizer

[matty40s]

Let's not castigate anyone if it turns out to be longer, though.

Oh, I don't know, a good thrashing never went amiss in the old days.....

[mross]

 

Not strictly true. that is what Microsoft say, but I still get occassional security updates.

 

To be honest, if the new Canalworld does not work properly in XP, I will dump Canalworld rather than be forced into an OS change because of some imagined security risk.

I hope you don't shop or bank online?

[David Schweizer]

I hope you don't shop or bank online?

 

Meaning exactly what, how can acess to any personal information held by Canalworld lead to anyone being able to access my bank details?

 

As far as I am aware, all the online shopping sites that I might use are automaticly secured by Firefox, as indicated by the little green padlock, I realise that Canalworld is not currently secured, but They do not have my banking details.

Edited February 22, 2017 by David Schweizer

[mross]

If you use an outdated operating system and browser to do online banking or shopping, you are much more likely to be a victim of fraud. Nothing to do with using or not using this forum. Have you heard of cross-site scripting? I'm only offering friendly advice, not criticising your choices.

https://blog.mozilla.org/futurereleases/2016/12/23/firefox-support-for-xp-and-vista/says that firefox won't be supported on XP after September. FF also recommends that you upgrade XP now as it is not secure!

[DHutch]

Let's not castigate anyone if it turns out to be longer, though.

Ahh I don't know, I'm sure I won't be the only one to have a stop watch running...

 

:-p

 

Daniel

[David Schweizer]

If you use an outdated operating system and browser to do online banking or shopping, you are much more likely to be a victim of fraud. Nothing to do with using or not using this forum. Have you heard of cross-site scripting? I'm only offering friendly advice, not criticising your choices.

https://blog.mozilla.org/futurereleases/2016/12/23/firefox-support-for-xp-and-vista/says that firefox won't be supported on XP after September. FF also recommends that you upgrade XP now as it is not secure!

 

I understand that, but I often hear people make statements about security without ever explaining what the risk is. I am a born sceptic, and am persuaded to disbelieve statements, unless they are supported by evidence, from disintersted parties who have nothing to gain finacially by encouraging me to buy their products.

 

Thanks for the link, Ironioc that it is titled "Be the first to know.,,," on a release issued on 23rd December, which i did not receive!! Oh and I have never heard of cross site scripting