Hi All,
I've mentioned in a few topics lately that we're going to change forum software. I'm opening this topic to keep you informed of the progress on this project, and as a place to make important announcements about the change. This will require some cooperation and help from all of you, so me giving you all the information I can will help you help me! Believe me, I'll need all the help I can get!
We're also going to change web hosts, which will save us some money, but introduces its own complications into the mix. I'll be doing both at the same time.
WHY are we doing this?</u>
We have outgrown this forum software (Snitz). It's an open-source product, but development has nearly stopped. We need new features and capabilities which commercial software is better able to provide.
Our forum is so large that we have hit the performance limit of the software and hardware we're running on. You all know that search is broken and has been for a long time.
Because we are using Microsoft scripting and MS SQl server, our hosting costs are high. The new software is written in PHP and uses MySQL, both more modern and more efficient platforms for what we are doing. We'll easily save $100 a month on hosting.
WHAT is the new software?</u>
We are going to run vBulletin along with the vBadvanced content management system. The feature list for vB is excellent, especially the user control panel features.
HOW will this happen?</u>
We'll migrate all user accounts and posts, all articles, and all posted (i.e. in topics) photos. The one hitch right now is how to move the photo albums. The new software has photo albums built in as part of user profiles (which is great!) but there is no smooth way to move them from the existing photo albums to the new ones. I'm working on that.
WHEN will this happen?</u>
Ahhh, the big question. The sooner the better as far as I'm concerned, but realistically not until sometime in June. I've done several test migrations and they take hours to complete, plus there is quite a lot of tweaking needed after the switch. I want to have this process down cold to minimize the time that the site is closed. I'll probably do this over a Saturday night.
I'll post updates as we go forward. There are a few things you can do to make this process smoother, and I'll let you know what those are ASAP.
This topic is locked, but please go HERE to discuss.
I've mentioned in a few topics lately that we're going to change forum software. I'm opening this topic to keep you informed of the progress on this project, and as a place to make important announcements about the change. This will require some cooperation and help from all of you, so me giving you all the information I can will help you help me! Believe me, I'll need all the help I can get!
We're also going to change web hosts, which will save us some money, but introduces its own complications into the mix. I'll be doing both at the same time.
WHY are we doing this?</u>
We have outgrown this forum software (Snitz). It's an open-source product, but development has nearly stopped. We need new features and capabilities which commercial software is better able to provide.
Our forum is so large that we have hit the performance limit of the software and hardware we're running on. You all know that search is broken and has been for a long time.
Because we are using Microsoft scripting and MS SQl server, our hosting costs are high. The new software is written in PHP and uses MySQL, both more modern and more efficient platforms for what we are doing. We'll easily save $100 a month on hosting.
WHAT is the new software?</u>
We are going to run vBulletin along with the vBadvanced content management system. The feature list for vB is excellent, especially the user control panel features.
HOW will this happen?</u>
We'll migrate all user accounts and posts, all articles, and all posted (i.e. in topics) photos. The one hitch right now is how to move the photo albums. The new software has photo albums built in as part of user profiles (which is great!) but there is no smooth way to move them from the existing photo albums to the new ones. I'm working on that.
WHEN will this happen?</u>
Ahhh, the big question. The sooner the better as far as I'm concerned, but realistically not until sometime in June. I've done several test migrations and they take hours to complete, plus there is quite a lot of tweaking needed after the switch. I want to have this process down cold to minimize the time that the site is closed. I'll probably do this over a Saturday night.
I'll post updates as we go forward. There are a few things you can do to make this process smoother, and I'll let you know what those are ASAP.
This topic is locked, but please go HERE to discuss.