Bad Site Upgrade - Forum Reset to 11/4 State

Mr. K

Administrator
Staff member
Feb 14, 2009
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www.orangetractortalks.com
Hello visitors and OTT members, been an eventful week here on the site -

First on 11/4 we had an unplanned host update go out which broke database connectivity. Visitors were met with an error message for about 4 hours until the issue was identified and resolved. You can read more about that event here: https://www.orangetractortalks.com/forums/threads/11-4-forum-outage.48237/#post-422485

On the evening of 11/5 we attempted a planned forum software update that unfortunately failed to execute correctly. When we attempted to rollback the failed update, we discovered the backups taken before the upgrade began were incomplete, which meant we had to use backups from the day before on 11/4 to restore the site.

What this means for you as a regular member or recent visitor is that any threads, posts or private messages created from around 9am PST on 11/4 through 11:30pm 11/5 PST are unfortunately not recoverable. It will look as if the last 2 days or so on OTT never took place. I sincerely apologize for the data loss here. It is only a few days and could have been worse, but it still unfortunate that we've lost some of the posts and contributions to the site over the last day or two here.

The forum software upgrade is important to complete at some point, so we are going to make another attempt at it eventually (after making sure the backups are working as expected). If you see anything unexpected or not working on the site as expected, please drop me a private message and I can investigate further. Thanks, and again apologies for the series of disruptions here, we'll eventually get there.

Q: Is this why the thread I created or post I made is not there anymore?
Yes, sorry about that.

Q: If I just recently created a new OTT account and it does not seem to exist anymore, what do I do?
You should be able to reregister your account just like you did the first time around. Welcome to OTT and I apologize for the frustration here having to create your account twice.


Mr. K
 
Last edited:

torch

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B7100HSD, B2789, B2550, B4672, 48" cultivator, homemade FEL and Cab
Jun 10, 2016
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Muskoka, Ont.
I hate when that happens.

But sometimes it does. Been there, done that.

A suggestion: When I upgrade a website's software, I create a duplicate database, and a duplicate site on a different subdomain: EG: Copy mywebsite_db_Aug_2020 to mywebsite_db_Nov_2020; copy www.website.org to test.website.org. Set test.website.org to use mywebsite_db_Nov_2020.

Run the upgrades, make sure everything works, then rename www.website.org to old.website.org and rename test.website.org to www.website.org. Instant working upgrade and instant known-good backup in one swoop.
 

BAP

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Dec 31, 2012
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Thanks for the update on what happened and for all the hard work you do keeping the site up and running Mr K.
 
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NHSleddog

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Dec 19, 2019
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Always "practice" on a "dev" copy. Your developer should practice this as SOP. What if you had to roll back to last month, or pre-upgrade?
Another advantage is being able to test it prior to live.
 

pokey1416

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Thanks for the update on what happened and for all the hard work you do keeping the site up and running Mr K.
X2 - this forum is worth so much more than a lost couple days!
 

Orangeglow

Active member

Equipment
2015 BX2370
Jun 19, 2014
331
151
43
Prescott, Ontario
Great site, and lots of very good info. I cann,t seem to get past page 1 when I click on all threads. Is this a problem for anyone else ?
 

SidecarFlip

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M9000HDCC3, M9000HD, Kubota GS850 Sidekick
Oct 28, 2018
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Maybe Bill Gates has something to do with it....lol
 

Lil Foot

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1979 B7100DT Gear, Nissan Hanix N150-2 Excavator
May 19, 2011
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Peoria, AZ
Found another oddity.
Found and replaced a couple recent posts that I had lost, but when I looked at a post from Nov 1st, (Off Topic, Show Us Your Shop & Equipment) the posts were still there, but the pics were gone, replaced with the little blue square with the question mark. Not a big deal, fixed them with "Edit", but odd the posts were there but not the pics.
 

sdk1968

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Oct 19, 2016
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Ohio
it happens bud. its happened on our forum as well....

we do try to make a back up every day at a different time than our server/host makes their back up....

but sometimes you get a "burp" & have to reset.

all part of life on the net.

other than this little burp..... how are you liking the Xenforo? (we are thinking of switching to it.)
 

Mr. K

Administrator
Staff member
Feb 14, 2009
526
139
43
www.orangetractortalks.com
When I upgrade a website's software, I create a duplicate database, and a duplicate site on a different subdomain: EG: Copy mywebsite_db_Aug_2020 to mywebsite_db_Nov_2020; copy www.website.org to test.website.org. Set test.website.org to use mywebsite_db_Nov_2020.
Yep this is a good suggestion and close to what we try to follow today, but without setting up subdomains. Will look at refreshing our update process to include a full website clone to a subdomain to isolate the changes better going forward. Nice tip.

Always "practice" on a "dev" copy. Your developer should practice this as SOP. What if you had to roll back to last month, or pre-upgrade?
Another advantage is being able to test it prior to live.
Yep agreed. Good that we caught this early and had a recent backup to pull from.

I cann,t seem to get past page 1 when I click on all threads. Is this a problem for anyone else ?
Could you share more details here or maybe a screenshot? Not quite sure I follow. Could be an indicator of unexpected behavior though that needs more investigation.

Found and replaced a couple recent posts that I had lost, but when I looked at a post from Nov 1st, (Off Topic, Show Us Your Shop & Equipment) the posts were still there, but the pics were gone, replaced with the little blue square with the question mark.
Hey Lil Foot, I'd like to investigate this a bit further. Could you please private message me some of the threads and posts you needed to update, or any others that you think are off a little?

how are you liking the Xenforo? (we are thinking of switching to it.)
Really like it so far. It's faster, more secure and supports devices better than VB3 that we were running earlier in the year. Improved mobile support is pretty important since mobile visitors now form ~33% of traffic today compared to <5% when we started OTT 10+ years ago. Coming from vBulletin, XenForo feels pretty natural to install and operate. Comes with an active developer community, plugins, add-ons and support forums, just like vBulletin. Would highly recommend the switch to give your forum a bit more technical runway and a better visitor experience.
 

random

Well-known member

Equipment
L3301, bucket, backhoe, grader, plow, harrow, cultivator
Nov 2, 2020
717
401
63
NC
I was just trying to figure out what happened to a couple posts I made! Thanks for the update.

If you would like help with any of the technical side of things, that's what I do for a living, so happy to contribute what I can.
 

wgator

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L4701HST, FEL and other stuff.
Jul 28, 2018
482
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NC
Mr. K, as the site owner you are in a no win situation with some members. I have no complaints with the way you run your site. I realize stuff happens good or bad. You and servicedept vic are doing a fantastic job running this site, kudos to you both!
 

rkidd

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28
Jefferson Ohio
I have the same problem since the new site. I use chrome as my browser and can never get past page 1.
 

Orangeglow

Active member

Equipment
2015 BX2370
Jun 19, 2014
331
151
43
Prescott, Ontario
Ok, for the past 3 days, every time I try to go to page 2 of new posts, I get zero response when I click on page 2. I,ve waited up to 5 minutes, and I never get to page 2.
 

Bmyers

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Grand L3560 with LA805 loader, EA 55" Wicked Grapple, SBX72 BB, LP 1272 mower
May 27, 2019
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Ok, for the past 3 days, every time I try to go to page 2 of new posts, I get zero response when I click on page 2. I,ve waited up to 5 minutes, and I never get to page 2.
Is it just one post or multiple post that the issue is popping up?

I just tried and was able to go from page one to page two. I tried it in three different post.

Here is a post I just tried it with
I was able to change page in both Edge and Chrome.
 

Orangeglow

Active member

Equipment
2015 BX2370
Jun 19, 2014
331
151
43
Prescott, Ontario
I,m not sure I can explain it any more clear, but I will try again.
I auto log into OTT. I click on new posts. I can open any topic on page 1.
When I try and go to page 2, I get zero response. I,ve waited as long as 8 minutes, with zero response trying to get to page 2.
 

random

Well-known member

Equipment
L3301, bucket, backhoe, grader, plow, harrow, cultivator
Nov 2, 2020
717
401
63
NC
Going to restate what it appears you are saying:

* Log on to OTT
* Click "New Posts" in the top menu bar
* Go to the bottom of the page and click "Next" or "2"
-> Page 2 does not load

Is that correct?

I just tried those steps (Firefox on mac) and it's working fine. Have you tried a different browser?