AW Forum Update-2018
Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2018 9:35 am
All
As some of you may have noticed we recently had another major downtime from our current hosting provider . We have requested further information on the actual cause and will continue to work with them to minimise problems .We are also looking at other hosting providers and the backup that they provide ,this would be a medium term project for the year and we will keep members updated about these major changes .
Another item we will need to tackle to enable us to be able to move seamlessly to another host is the version of the software .The forum has been operating on an older version of phpBB software for some time .We did update it to the latest available service pack of the current version last year and that update went well. We are now planning to upgrade the forum to very latest release of the software (which is two major release above our current version) so that we can get the benefit of the newest developments including security ,better support for new browsers ,better mobile support and ongoing updates to the features .This is not a small upgrade like undertaken last time and it will result in some major changes occurring during the transition as the new version does not directly support many of the modifications and styles made to the forum over the years .It should not result in any loss of posts and we will do a full site and database backup before we make the change and may use this to revert back should any issues occur .
I have not set a specific date yet ,as I will need to prepare backups and check for issues ,but it will most likely be done during the next two weeks mid week as these tend to be the quietest times on the forums.A pm will be sent to members and messages put onto this forum and the Boma to keep members updated .
As some of you may have noticed we recently had another major downtime from our current hosting provider . We have requested further information on the actual cause and will continue to work with them to minimise problems .We are also looking at other hosting providers and the backup that they provide ,this would be a medium term project for the year and we will keep members updated about these major changes .
Another item we will need to tackle to enable us to be able to move seamlessly to another host is the version of the software .The forum has been operating on an older version of phpBB software for some time .We did update it to the latest available service pack of the current version last year and that update went well. We are now planning to upgrade the forum to very latest release of the software (which is two major release above our current version) so that we can get the benefit of the newest developments including security ,better support for new browsers ,better mobile support and ongoing updates to the features .This is not a small upgrade like undertaken last time and it will result in some major changes occurring during the transition as the new version does not directly support many of the modifications and styles made to the forum over the years .It should not result in any loss of posts and we will do a full site and database backup before we make the change and may use this to revert back should any issues occur .
I have not set a specific date yet ,as I will need to prepare backups and check for issues ,but it will most likely be done during the next two weeks mid week as these tend to be the quietest times on the forums.A pm will be sent to members and messages put onto this forum and the Boma to keep members updated .