The urbanohio server has been utilizing CentOS 7 for many years and currently boasts 458 days of uptime!  As of June 2024, version 7 will no longer be actively maintained to protect it from security threats, meaning we will have to upgrade or switch distros.  The options are:

 

1. To use our control panel (Plesk) and perform an in-place upgrade/migration to Alma Linux 8, then upgrade 8 to 9.  (minimal downtime)

2. Move the site to a different server and completely wipe the old, replacing it with Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (with Ubuntu Pro), then move it all back to the original VPS, while still using Plesk. (minimal downtime, but potential for reconfig issues)

3. Move the site to a different server and completely wipe the old, replacing it with Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (with Ubuntu Pro), then move it all back to the original VPS, and use a different (free) control panel. (minimal downtime, but potential for reconfig issues)

 

Control panel prices continue to increase year over year, making websites more expensive to run and maintain.  That is why I added option 3.  My vote would be for option 2, due to being more familiar with Ubuntu and having the Pro variant (for free), along with using Plesk due to their holiday sale, making it much more affordable.  

 

Any feedback is appreciated!! This community is made possible by each and everyone who contributes.  So, thank you all! 

3 minutes ago, richNcincy said:

The urbanohio server has been utilizing CentOS 7 for many years and currently boasts 458 days of uptime!  As of June 2024, version 7 will no longer be actively maintained to protect it from security threats, meaning we will have to upgrade or switch distros.  The options are:

 

1. To use our control panel (Plesk) and perform an in-place upgrade/migration to Alma Linux 8, then upgrade 8 to 9.  (minimal downtime)

2. Move the site to a different server and completely wipe the old, replacing it with Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (with Ubuntu Pro), then move it all back to the original VPS, while still using Plesk. (minimal downtime, but potential for reconfig issues)

3. Move the site to a different server and completely wipe the old, replacing it with Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (with Ubuntu Pro), then move it all back to the original VPS, and use a different (free) control panel. (minimal downtime, but potential for reconfig issues)

 

Control panel prices continue to increase year over year, making websites more expensive to run and maintain.  That is why I added option 3.  My vote would be for option 2, due to being more familiar with Ubuntu and having the Pro variant (for free), along with using Plesk due to their holiday sale, making it much more affordable.  

 

Any feedback is appreciated!! This community is made possible by each and everyone who contributes.  So, thank you all! 

God Bless you for all you time and effort.  I think I can speak for all members by saying your expertise is much appreciated.  That said, I don't speak French or what ever language you are speaking above so God Speed.😉

To add to this, I will be moving UO to a new server in the coming week or two (holidays are a good lul for online communities). Once the move is complete, our URL scheme will change.  Instead of the main page of UO being https://forum.urbanohio.com/home/, it will become the https://urbanohio.com, which is the "root" of our domain.  I will try to put auto redirects in place, just as we did with the previous move, but just incase you may have to update book marks. This means our old html/php home page, along with content will be removed. 

On 12/4/2023 at 11:08 AM, richNcincy said:

The urbanohio server has been utilizing CentOS 7 for many years and currently boasts 458 days of uptime!  As of June 2024, version 7 will no longer be actively maintained to protect it from security threats, meaning we will have to upgrade or switch distros.  The options are:

 

1. To use our control panel (Plesk) and perform an in-place upgrade/migration to Alma Linux 8, then upgrade 8 to 9.  (minimal downtime)

2. Move the site to a different server and completely wipe the old, replacing it with Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (with Ubuntu Pro), then move it all back to the original VPS, while still using Plesk. (minimal downtime, but potential for reconfig issues)

3. Move the site to a different server and completely wipe the old, replacing it with Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (with Ubuntu Pro), then move it all back to the original VPS, and use a different (free) control panel. (minimal downtime, but potential for reconfig issues)

 

Control panel prices continue to increase year over year, making websites more expensive to run and maintain.  That is why I added option 3.  My vote would be for option 2, due to being more familiar with Ubuntu and having the Pro variant (for free), along with using Plesk due to their holiday sale, making it much more affordable.  

 

Any feedback is appreciated!! This community is made possible by each and everyone who contributes.  So, thank you all! 

I’m with @Htsguy - whatever you think is best, @richNcincy, gets my vote. Thanks for all your efforts on this community!

That's sad about CentOS and news to me. Never heard of Alma but my two cents is go with Ubuntu. Alma has a better chance of being abandoned like CentOS.

Can't you just create a new instance on a new VPS, then once it seems to be working point the DNS over that way and ditch the existing one? I'm not sure how to handle the last bit of synchronization for the posts database (handling posts made during the migration), but that must be a common issue addressed on all the Stack Overflow type sites. Maybe it'd possible to briefly point the old site instance to the (freshly synchronized) database on the new VPS so that there wouldn't be any gaps when the nameservers switch over.

51 minutes ago, Robuu said:

Can't you just create a new instance on a new VPS, then once it seems to be working point the DNS over that way and ditch the existing one? I'm not sure how to handle the last bit of synchronization for the posts database (handling posts made during the migration), but that must be a common issue addressed on all the Stack Overflow type sites. Maybe it'd possible to briefly point the old site instance to the (freshly synchronized) database on the new VPS so that there wouldn't be any gaps when the nameservers switch over.

 

Yes, that is essentially what I'll be doing, I just didn't explain it that way.  The new server will get Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and a fresh install of Plesk control panel.  I was going to try and use their migration tools but in all honestly, it's likely much easier to create the domains then manually move everything via ssh, change file ownership, and correct permissions.  The hardest part of moving will be the behind the scenes DNS and mail server settings (though Cloudflare helps), along with transferring the 5gb database.  I suspect very little downtime, most people wont even notice the change.  

Cool. I was just thrown off by the "move it all back to the original VPS" part. Was wondering if maybe keeping the old IP is advantageous for SEO or email reputation or some other security/spam filtering/reputation thing. That'd be more of a hassle than pointing the DNS to a new VPS though, and create more downtime.

December 23-24th look like good dates for the switch.  So mark your calendars!! Limited UO availability those two days until the switch is completed. 

Just a reminder tomorrow will likely be the start of our migration. I might even update the forum if all goes well, ahead of the 5.0 release. 

15 minutes ago, richNcincy said:

Just a reminder tomorrow will likely be the start of our migration. I might even update the forum if all goes well, ahead of the 5.0 release. 

Appreciate it.

23 hours ago, richNcincy said:

Just a reminder tomorrow will likely be the start of our migration. I might even update the forum if all goes well, ahead of the 5.0 release. 

 

Thank you for all the time and effort you put into keeping this site going strong!

9 minutes ago, X said:

 

Thank you for all the time and effort you put into keeping this site going strong!

 

You're very welcome!  Wouldn't have it any other way.

The site has been moved to a different server.  I'm sure there could be a few issues.  Let me know if you encounter any. 

There are a few Theme issues currently.  The site may not display correctly until it is resolved. 

6 minutes ago, richNcincy said:

There are a few Theme issues currently.  The site may not display correctly until it is resolved. 

I was just about to ask to be reminded of how to change the site to "dark mode."   I seem to remember a toggle but don't see one any longer. 

42 minutes ago, Cleburger said:

I was just about to ask to be reminded of how to change the site to "dark mode."   I seem to remember a toggle but don't see one any longer. 

 

There is a theme a selector at the bottom of the site.  It took quite sometime for the ssh transfer of "site data" to complete. 

6 minutes ago, richNcincy said:

 

There is a theme a selector at the bottom of the site.  It took quite sometime for the ssh transfer of "site data" to complete. 

Yep got it now!  Thanks! 

Previously I had a bookmark to the below site which had the latest 5 forums that had comments but the link isn't working anymore. Where would be the best place to see the latest comments on all forums?

 

https://urbanohio.com/mobile/

5 minutes ago, MikeyB440 said:

Previously I had a bookmark to the below site which had the latest 5 forums that had comments but the link isn't working anymore. Where would be the best place to see the latest comments on all forums?

 

https://urbanohio.com/mobile/

 

https://urbanohio.com/home/ or https://urbanohio.com/discover/

2 minutes ago, richNcincy said:

 

https://urbanohio.com/home/ or https://urbanohio.com/discover/

That makes too much sense! Thanks for the quick reply!

15 hours ago, Cleburger said:

I was just about to ask to be reminded of how to change the site to "dark mode."   I seem to remember a toggle but don't see one any longer. 

On this theme, at least on mobile, the toggle button doesn't seem to be working. I'm stuck in light mode. 

1 hour ago, Ethan said:

On this theme, at least on mobile, the toggle button doesn't seem to be working. I'm stuck in light mode. 

 

I noticed that too last night.  For now, just use the other dark theme if you're able. 

Sorry for the few hours of downtime today.  We're back on our original server with Ubuntu 22.04 installed.   

Don’t know if anyone else is experiencing this but the only part of the forum that would load is the northeast Ohio construction and projects. I can access individual links when they show up in the most recent but that’s about it.

I'm noting the same problem. The main forum page does not load from the urbanohio home page when clicked in the drop down menu, it just reloads the home page.

I've updated the links on the site and hopefully that fixes a few of these issues.

4 hours ago, richNcincy said:

I've updated the links on the site and hopefully that fixes a few of these issues.

This is bizarre but when I am not logged in the northeast construction works but when I am it just loads to a white page. I even deleted my history. This is true for both the mobile and regular versions. 

Edited January 2, 20241 yr by cle_guy90

The new version is looking good!

The site has been moved to a different server and updated to IPS 4.7.15.  This will likely be the last release until 5.0 is out.  There will be issues and some features were removed. Just an FYI.

Are we no longer able to add photos, or did things just move around? I only see options to add an image from a URL and an existing attachment. (I'm on Mobile). 

8 hours ago, Ethan said:

Are we no longer able to add photos, or did things just move around? I only see options to add an image from a URL and an existing attachment. (I'm on Mobile). 

 

Regular users are able to upload about 500 MB of video's or pictures.  Once you hit that limit, you cannot add additional data.  (You're using 752 MB).  As of now, the only way for added storage is to become a premium member.  Premium members receive 2.5 GB of storage.  We are open to other ideas or suggestions, maybe even adding a "photo" subscription option if there is enough interest. 

 

20 minutes ago, richNcincy said:

 

Regular users are able to upload about 500 MB of video's or pictures.  Once you hit that limit, you cannot add additional data.  (You're using 752 MB).  As of now, the only way for added storage is to become a premium member.  Premium members receive 2.5 GB of storage.  We are open to other ideas or suggestions, maybe even adding a "photo" subscription option if there is enough interest. 

Interesting, I was a premium user a few days ago. I'll have to check to see if that just expired. 

 

Edit: yup, that was it. Sorry for the confusion.

19 minutes ago, Ethan said:

 

Interesting, I was a premium user a few days ago. I'll have to check to see if that just expired. 

 

Edit: yup, that was it. Sorry for the confusion.

The thing that extra sucks about missing your renewal is that it breaks your existing photo links in posts (or at least that was my experience last year). The photos are still on the server, just the links broke. I have updated some of my old posts to reconnect photo links. (And it may not happen to you with all the servers and platform updates.)

10 minutes ago, Boomerang_Brian said:

The thing that extra sucks about missing your renewal is that it breaks your existing photo links in posts (or at least that was my experience last year). The photos are still on the server, just the links broke. I have updated some of my old posts to reconnect photo links. (And it may not happen to you with all the servers and platform updates.)

 

I will take the blame for that.  We were using a CDN service to host images off the server, but over time, it was a service we didn't quite need yet.  So I moved everything back onto the server, therefore, going from cdn.urbanohio.com/XXXXX to just urbanohio.com/XXXXX.  This is likely the issue you had and I'm not sure if the switching updated the http address of previously attached images.  

Once IPS 5.0 is released and a proper CDN service is compatible, I may bring it back and make it very reasonable for everyone to sign up.  We all love sharing images and I'd hate for someone to not share them due to cost.

12 minutes ago, Boomerang_Brian said:

The thing that extra sucks about missing your renewal is that it breaks your existing photo links in posts (or at least that was my experience last year). The photos are still on the server, just the links broke. I have updated some of my old posts to reconnect photo links. (And it may not happen to you with all the servers and platform updates.)

Interesting. Hopefully that didn't happen. With a quick check I can confirm that at least some of the photo links are still valid, so hopefully they all are. 

 

As an aside, it is interesting there isn't even a notification of expiring subscription. Though I do appreciate that it doesn't auto renew, like most sites do now. 

I just love moving the site to different servers so much so, we're going to do it again! Not really, but I am planning another move, this time to a slightly more powerful VDS with more storage space.  This will allow us to increase the upload space restrictions for everyone moving forward. Right now our processor cores are both virtual and are shared.  The new server will have both virtual and less cores, but they will be dedicated to us.  Lastly, the new server will have a 2.5gb network port versus the 1gb port we have now.  Hopefully the changes equate to a better experience for everyone who chooses to be part of our community!

Our current host has been absolutely horrible.  I was going to wait to move the site, but I think I'm going to go ahead and move it sometime tomorrow (5/10/2024).  

We're now on a new VDS.  It is based in Chicago, same as the last.  Please let me know if there are any issues.

Can't find the new server. 

4 minutes ago, cadmen said:

Can't find the new server. 

 

Don't worry, it found you.  End users should not notice any difference just yet.  The change you'll see will come from the software update coming Jan/Feb.

When l click on the logo l get a message the server is suspended. Bit l have been able to find some forums and see people are adding comments so l know it's working somehow. 

 

I used to click on chrome/urbanohio/then topics. Now it just says server suspended. How do l  find the new server?

10 minutes ago, cadmen said:

When l click on the logo l get a message the server is suspended. Bit l have been able to find some forums and see people are adding comments so l know it's working somehow. 

 

I used to click on chrome/urbanohio/then topics. Now it just says server suspended. How do l  find the new server?

 

Try clearing your cache/trying incognito. Sounds like your browser is hanging on an old version of the site.

Edit your UO bookmark in Chrome to show https://urbanohio.com.  NOT forum.urbanohio.com or urbanohio.com/forum.   It's changed a few times over the years and it's hard to keep up with the work-arounds.

1 hour ago, GISguy said:

 

Try clearing your cache/trying incognito. Sounds like your browser is hanging on an old version of the site.

And this.

I've also purged the cache on Cloudflare to see if it is trying to hold onto dated data.

I think l got it fixed. Thanks for the help!

Just a heads up that I plan on moving the site yet again this Saturday (same datacenter, different server).  It should be a relatively easy transfer and if all goes well, I'd like to update to IPS 5 the following Saturday.  

The transfer went well, aside from the slow database import.   Please let me know if there are any issues, and we'll try to upgrade to IPS 5.0 next weekend!