Xs11.com Upgrade Report

[nezzer]

All the logins and account information required for the upgrade has been gathered. A survey of the current system has been performed and the following list of changes and upgrades has been agreed to:

1. Enable SSL redirect. SSL cert already generated for xs11.com
2. Upgrade from vBulletin 3 to vBulletin 5
3. Update from Joomla 1.5 to latest (3.9.14)
4. Host vBulletin outside Joomla so that they are two separate sites with Joomla just containing a link to the vBulletin
5. Enable member payment to offset costs of forum upgrades and hosting.
6. Investigate re-enabling user self registration if captcha works well enough
7. Get email notifications working again. Looks like they stopped in April 2014

So far all of my time has gone into #2 (the vBulletin upgrade) and indirectly #4. Catching up on 12 years worth of forum, database, and OS updates takes a toll but I am pleased to announce that the upgrade has been successfully performed on a backup server. The forum, including member information and posts, successfully migrated to the latest version of the vBulletin software and I successfully logged in and posted a new message.

Here are two pictures to prove the point.




The URL shown in those pictures won't resolve outside of my house so don't bother trying to visit the site. Here is what I learned about the upgrade so far.

A. No way in heck am I doing that upgrade to the live server. Too many moving parts. I have asked the site owner to investigate purchasing another VM for an easy cut over.
B. When the upgrade is performed for real, the current xs11 website will need to be read-only for a day or two. Still online, but any new content won't get transferred over.
C. The URL format in VB5 is different. The vBulletin team has stated URLs in our current format will still resolve correctly in VB5. So even though the URLs will look different, any old links to our site out there on the web will still work even after the upgrade is complete.

I believe the forum will be the hardest part of the upgrade. I will get started on upgrading Joomla, the content management system that provides the non-forum parts of the xs11.com website. This is like my low priority 5th job so hang in there while the work gets done.

Several people have expressed an interest in helping out. I appreciate the offers and now is the time to cash in on those offers. I would like help with the following areas:

1. Need someone to lead an evaluation of the vb5 test site. I will send you a good URL so you can start compiling a list of issues, sorted by deal breaker vs fix it after the upgrade.
2. Need someone to prepare hosting provider recommendation (cost, capabilities, domain name transfer, etc.) in case we end up not getting another VM with the current provider

If you would like help, please volunteer below. I only need to know the lead person for #1, but he/she is more than welcome to have a team of volunteers helping conduct the tests.

I am terrible about logging into the xs11 forums and since email notifications don't work, here is my personal email in case you need to reach me; jonathanknez@hotmail.com.

[nezzer]

Another volunteer

Thought of one more volunteer needed:

Need someone to prepare a upgrade guide for users. For example, how do we post images? What about new features, like the blogs?

[IanDMacDonald]

If nobody steps up, I will. There are a few of us that are still regulars as long as the page loads. Not an ideal situation for me, but if that's what it takes.

[thebottle]

NearlyFreeSpeech is a good host... I've had many sites hosted on them. Otherwise a VPS really is the way to go for hosting now, and there are many cheap options.

I may be able to help with testing things, but I can't take over the lead role there, I'm super slammed right now. If anyone else wants to take over that role, I can help with them test, break, and report but that's about it.

[Bonz]

I have zero expertise in the types of things that are being asked however I would be happy to be considered for a moderator position if that opportunity opens up.

[nezzer]

Thank you to all those who volunteered. Here is where we stand.

1. Test vb5 site - Psycoreefer will leading the testing effort. Please contact him at psycoreefer@gmail.com to volunteer to help with testing.
2. Hosting - Dan S. will be investigating hosting options, including NearlyFreeSpeech.
3. User guide - No one explicitly volunteered for this yet. Let me know if you are interesed.

[Bonz]

I haven't heard Psychoreefer mentioned around here in almost ten years. If you're watching, how are you doing? We met at the Durango rally in 2011.

[dansmith65]

FYI: I'm "Dan S." and have been working on preparing some hosting options for the site.

I'd like to put another call out for help on the User guide. You don't have to know how it works to take this task on; you just have to be willing to figure it out! If nobody steps up, I assume we'll be left with docs like: https://forum.vbulletin.com/forum/vb...-features-list or https://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/...intro_whatsnew.

If there is a specific/common issue people are having, I don't mind recording a video explaining how it's done. Like this, for how to login to the current site: http://permalink.dansmith65.com/xs11...4040_login.mp4

[psycoreefer]

I haven't heard Psychoreefer mentioned around here in almost ten years. If you're watching, how are you doing? We met at the Durango rally in 2011.

Yup - I'm still around. Been out riding, and unable to log into the forum for a very long time.

I really could use some help testing out the upgraded forum software - any takers?

[dbbrian]

I get email notifications...

FYI

I see a mention of email notifications not working. Maybe I am not understanding. I have been getting emails all along, whenever somebody posts on a thread where I have posted something or started a thread myself.

Great news on the upgrade, thanks guys. I am not too tech savy, and so swamped at work that volunteering for anything is overwhelming. I need downtime.

Brian

[Bonz]

Glad to help with testing out the software, tell me what I need to know and when. Looking forward to it!

Man I loved seeing "short stack" at the 2011 Durango Rally. That was a fantastic alteration so she could ride it!

You're in Nevada, come to Colorado if you want to come join us for the rally the 9th through the 11th of July in Westcliffe. Mike, Roo and Scott are coming this way and could meet you or both of you en-route.

[3Phase]

I seem to get one e-mail for the next reply in a thread, then I have to log on and read the thread again before I get another one.

FWIW: I have 51 pages of Subscribed threads on the "Subscribed Threads" page when I click the "Subscribed Threads" button.

[Bonz]

Received an email from a fellow who would like to join the forum. I assume it has to be after the upgrade?