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Website Upgrade - Help Needed

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Commodore
Russ Johnson

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USA
690 Posts

Initially Posted - 06/18/2015 : 16:50:56

To All,

We need your help.
The website hosting company has informed us, they will be moving our website to a new server. This normally would not be a big deal, because the users would not notice the change. What is important about this change is our current website uses software that is no longer supported. The new server is using newer software, which "should" support us.

Here are the details.
On June-24-2015 the website is moving to a new server.
Our current web server uses MicroSoft IIS-6.
The new web server uses MicroSoft IIS-7.
Note: MicroSoft no longer supports IIS-6 and we cannot find any website company that will support old software.

The forum software (from Snitz) uses "Classic ASP" pages.
We understand "Classic ASP" will work on IIS-7, but there are additional setup steps.
We are working with the website hosting company to complete these steps, but as of today, it is not working in our "Test" server.

Also, Snitz does not have a newer version of the forum available (asp.net also called .aspx). There are other forum software companies, but we would lose all the forum history.

In the best case, the changes will be complete and you will not see any changes.
On the other hand, we are working on alternatives if that doesn't work.

We are looking for anyone willing to volunteer who is a certified Microsoft system administrator, who understands IIS-7 and .asp / VBScript
Please contact me directly.

Thank you,
Russ Johnson (commodore@catalina-capri-25s.org)

Russ Johnson, Commodore 2009-2022 (commodore at catalina-capri-25s.org)

Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
9013 Posts

Response Posted - 06/19/2015 : 11:25:25

Am I to understand that Snitz is not evolving with Microsoft--thereby effectively bowing out of the business? What does this mean for us long-term, especially given the customizations Paul has worked so hard on?

This website and forum have a lot of cool features--many solely due to Paul's work. But the coolest thing is the community of sailors here. And let's face it--Paul is no longer a Catalina "25-footer"... We might want to start thinking about the longer term.

Dave Bristle
Association "Port Captain" for Mystic/Stonington CT
PO of 1985 C-25 SR/FK #5032 Passage, USCG "sixpack" (expired),
Now on Eastern 27 $+!nkp*+ Sarge

Commodore
Russ Johnson

Members Avatar

USA
690 Posts

Response Posted - 06/19/2015 : 14:12:39

Dave,

You make several good points.

First, the Snitz forum, as with any "bulletin board" type forum, was the original "social media" application. Notice the logo in the bottom-right has "Snitz Forums 2000". That's when "2000" was the future!
Since then, social media has changed an Snitz has not kept up, so YES Snitz is not in that business. As far as I can tell, they were a non-profit anyway.
Personal note: I remember bulletin boards with character-only, "Amber" monitors and dial-up modems.

Next, the Snitz forum was free and we don't pay any annual support fee, so we can't say the "owe" us any updates.

Next, the Snitz forum was "open-source" and as you have pointed out, the webmaster (Paul) could make customizations. Note: this forum was here long before Paul or myself were members. Just trying to give credit to previous webmasters throughout history.
The forum is built using MicroSoft "Classic ASP", which is the part giving us trouble.

Next, other parts of the website, like the Members Area, will not be impacted by this change. Of course, the forum is the most popular website feature so everyone will notice if it changes.

Next, we have short-term and long-term issues.
Today, we need to fix the short-term issue of the website upgrade.
We have been aware of a forum replacement as a long-term issue.
A replacement where we could convert the data and not lose all the forum history.
If someone wants to volunteer for that project, please contact me directly.

Thank you,
Russ Johnson (commodore@catalina-capri-25s.org)

Russ Johnson, Commodore 2009-2022 (commodore at catalina-capri-25s.org)

jduck00
Captain

Members Avatar

USA
313 Posts

Response Posted - 06/19/2015 : 17:26:02

I looked at some posts on how to transfer over to bbpress. Didn't look that hard at first glance. But then again bbpress has its own issues with iis 7 but they don't look that hard to work around.

I'm sure with a little sql work the site could be ported to most any forum platform.

Jeremy Duck
The Lucky Duck
1980 SKSR Hull # 1850

mdidomenico
1st Mate

Members Avatar

71 Posts

Response Posted - 06/19/2015 : 19:01:54

i cant offer much help on the iis side, as by trade im a unix guy. but if you were interested in moving away from ms/iis to a LAMP type stack, id be willing to lend hand. i build million dollar supercomputers for a living currently, but i have a background in dev/web hosting/sql/perl from a current/former life.

Commodore
Russ Johnson

Members Avatar

USA
690 Posts

Response Posted - 06/19/2015 : 19:16:42

quote:
Originally posted by jduck00

I looked at some posts on how to transfer over to bbpress. Didn't look that hard at first glance. But then again bbpress has its own issues with iis 7 but they don't look that hard to work around.

I'm sure with a little sql work the site could be ported to most any forum platform.

Jeremy,
I just replied to your email.
Thanks, Russ

Russ Johnson, Commodore 2009-2022 (commodore at catalina-capri-25s.org)

Commodore
Russ Johnson

Members Avatar

USA
690 Posts

Response Posted - 06/23/2015 : 09:48:24

As of Tuesday, June-23, the Forum software is not working on our separate Test server.
This means the Forum will be down after the migration on Weds.
We had hoped the migration would be seamless, but that is now unlikely.
Please expect the forum to be unavailable for several days.

We are sorry for the inconvenience.
Russ Johnson
Commodore

Russ Johnson, Commodore 2009-2022 (commodore at catalina-capri-25s.org)

Commodore
Russ Johnson

Members Avatar

USA
690 Posts

Response Posted - 06/27/2015 : 08:04:00

To all,

As of June-27, the website hosting company has not completed the server migration.
We will keep the forum running and merge the new posts after the new server is running.
We have a backup from June-24 and that will be the basis of the new server.
The new posts will be merged on a "best effort" basis, since we don't know when the old server will be shutdown.

Also, we are still not sure if the current Snitz forum software will work on the server.
Another forum software called PhpBB forum, looks promising.
We are working on a data conversion to PhpBB as a test.

Thanks, Russ

Russ Johnson, Commodore 2009-2022 (commodore at catalina-capri-25s.org)

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