A Little Downtime Overnight

Chris

Administrator
Staff member
Hi Folks,
We are going to have a hardware upgrade overnight. It is scheduled around 3am CST. We are currently using 16GBs of RAM on the dedicated server and we are using on average about 89% of our RAM. With spikes in traffic we have maxed out our RAM. So, in the very early morning hours of Nov. 11th we will be doubling our dedicated server RAM to 32GBs. It is estimated that the downtime to add the physical RAM to the server and make some checks will be about 30 minutes. But we should see a vastly improved performance on the server as a result. This of course increases the costs of the server, but we really need to do this.

So, this is a little heads up to late visitors to the site as well as visitors from around the world in different time zones. Please be patient and most of us won't miss a thing, but for those who do, it will be a minor downtime.

Thank you for understanding.
 

Chris

Administrator
Staff member
As you all know, we moved to a new host and the site has been running well since the move. However, the dedicated server we are on is a single processor server and we are currently using 93% of our physical RAM on the machine. So, I was able to snag a better deal with a dual processor dedicated server with 2x the RAM for practically the same price due to a "Black Friday" sale with out new host. So, the new server has been set up, the site has been moved and I've tested it out, and the last thing to do is to do a final synch, perhaps overnight and then we will be on the new server. This should be the LAST change. *keeps fingers crossed* So, be prepared for a change and possibly a small amount of downtime, if much since we are only making an in house server change. I'm hoping downtime will be minimal and only overnight. But hopefully by tomorrow we will be on the new server. Sometimes you have to start with the base server and see where it leads on RAM, etc. the single processor server maxed out at 64GBs of RAM so we will be able to upgrade in the future rather than having to change later again.

Anyway, this server will be even faster and more powerful. It should do us for quite some time. But just a heads up on possible downtime overnight. I will update this thread when I hear from them via email in a little bit. They usually ask for 12 hours notice for doing the final synch so we should be good to keep making posts on the forums until the early morning hours but after that they make make the final move.

Just a heads up. will update this thread as I can.
 

Chris

Administrator
Staff member
OK, I have tested the site on the new server and it is working fine. So, Wednesday evening at 10EST they will begin the final synch and take both servers offline. there will be a maintenance page up for a short time while the final synch is done and the IP addresses are swapped for the site so that we don't have any DNS propagation downtime. Because this is an in house server change it should run much more smoothly and without a lot of downtime for some folks.

So, Wednesday night at 10PM EST/9PM CST the site will go down for a short bit of time. Unfortunately, I will be gone at that time but will return within the hour. I will have my cell phone with me to check in and make sure the site is up and running. So, please just be a little patient tomorrow late evening and we will get this done and I believe without anyone losing any posts. :)

So, that's where we are and hopefully it will go off without a hitch. :)

God bless.
 

Chris

Administrator
Staff member
Hi,
The final synch and IP address swap has been done and the RF website is now on the new dedicated server. So, we are moved and no anticipated downtime is expected. Thank you for your patience during this transition. :)
 
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