We're here! New server!

*sunrunner_pei* · 09-22-2005, 08:26 AM

After a bumpy ride, the GAOC and G6OC are finally settled on our new server. We hope this will give us faster speeds and better reliablity. We're very happy with this decision, and hope it will benefit the site in the long run. We simply grew too big for shared hosting.

Why did it take so long to transfer the site?

We ran into several snags along the way. The first was an issue with DNS. As many of you know, DNS changes take several hours to complete. We were anticipating that, but ours took much longer than anticipated. Because we're on our own server now, we also have our own nameservers. Between a glitch on our server, and a misunderstanding on my part about how to register our new custom nameservers, we were about 12 hours longer than we had hoped.

Second was a site transfer issue. The GAOC is too large to do a site-to-site transfer, so we had to do a backup and restore. We tried to have the backup file created on the new server, however it errored about half way through. After some frantic emails to support, we created a new backup locally and tried to FTP it to the new server. I spent many hours Tuesday night trying to transfer the site over. Thanks to Erimar77's help, we discovered that there was a 2 GB file size limit on our FTP server, and our backup file was 2.5GB. After some fat trimming, I created a new, much smaller backup file (1.2 GB), and started the transfer/restore, and went to bed.

Wednesday (yesterday) morning, I woke up to see that the site had restored successfully, but at this point we were still having DNS issues, so no one was hitting the new site, myself included. I worked most of Wednesday afternoon getting the DNS issues straightened out.

Once DNS was fixed, we discovered that all our image attahments and avatars were corrupt. Some of you that made it on the short time we were online Wednesday know what I'm talking about. We decided to close the forums and do another backup/restore. Tried that, with the same result. We did some research, and found it is an issue with incompatibility with versions of MySQL. I sent some help requests to vBulletin support and our web host, and went to bed exhausted.

This morning I woke up to a reply from the head of support at vBulletin. He had somehting for me to try, a switch for the backup command, and with my fingers crossed I gave it a shot. Well, since you're reading this, you can tell it worked. Our forums restored properly, and our images are looking good.

I would like to thank a few people who helped out during this move. ..

First, my wife Karen and my son Evan. You two have no idea how much I appreciate your support. I know I was stressed out the last 2 days, and I probably took it out on you the most. Thanks for standing by me.

Kelly, thanks for your help and support through this. It's great to be able to vent when things aren't working.

Steve from vBulletin. Wat can I say man, you saved my ass. Thank you so much for helping with this restore issue!!!!

Eric (erimar77). Thanks for all your help and suggestions the other night. If it weren't for you helping me out, I'd probably have killed that non-responsive tech support guy.

Domainmonger. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction with the nameserver issues. Lord knows the instructions from my web host weren't very clear.

Our advertisers. Without your continued support, we could never afford to make a move like this.

Tim @ ASO. Thanks for your help in getting our new server up and running. Your help is always appreciated. I just wish the rest of your staff were as helpful as you are.

And finally, you, our membership. Thank you for your patience through this very rough transition. Without you there would be no GAOC, and we know that. We hope you will enjoy our new home, and continue to enjoy our friendly atmosphere. We're here for you and because of you. Get back on the forums and enjoy!

Shawn & Kelly

Bjornboy81 · 09-22-2005, 08:31 AM

THANK YOU!!! With out dedicated people like you working on it we wouldn't have this awesome site!!!

buckeyejack · 09-22-2005, 08:37 AM

Thank you two for all you do, I love this site and come to it every day.

YOUR the BEST

SikMindz · 09-22-2005, 08:39 AM

Hey hey! Where's MY thanks for refreshing every 10 minutes trying to get onto the GAOC site, huh? Ungrateful, I tell ya...

LoL

Glad to see everything's back up and running!

Old Guy · 09-22-2005, 08:39 AM

Wheew!!! I'm exhausted just reading that.

Sit back and have a few beers on me tonight Shawn!!

*99GrandAMSE* · 09-22-2005, 08:44 AM

Well, as usual, Shawn and his abilities came through

... though I would like to sit here an take 'some' of the credit for the GAOC coming back up, I can't ... the site is now up due 100% to Shawn and his marathon effort to continually search for ways to overcome expected results ... I may own half of the site and am involved in all decisions including the one to move to our own server, but, I have nothing to do with the actual setup or technical portion of the site and rely entirely on Shawn for this

Anyway, I want to not only extend my personal gratitude but also, on behalf of the entire member ship I want Shawn to know what a great job he did ... Shawn, I have watched you struggle over the past couple days and I know how stressful this was but rest assured, your efforts are truly appreciated and if it weren't for you, the GAOC wouldn't thrive as well as it has.

Thanks bud!!

Rayz · 09-22-2005, 09:07 AM

Good job Shawn

2K SE · 09-22-2005, 09:21 AM

Thanks Shawn. Awesome service you guys do for us. (you too Kelly). The wait to come back up was not nearly as bad as when the site took a dive. lol.

erimar77 · 09-22-2005, 09:27 AM

Shawn, thanks your including me in your "thank you"

I'm just glad what I suggested worked....and we both "learned a lot" on Tuesday night, lol

**Gimli** · 09-22-2005, 10:14 AM

Good job Boss! Take double your commission for this month

*sunrunner_pei* · 09-22-2005, 11:09 AM

erimar77 · 09-22-2005, 11:31 AM

don't laugh... your bill came to $750

*99GrandAMSE* · 09-22-2005, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Gimli
Good job Boss! Take double your commission for this month

Cool ... zero x 2 = zero ...

XoticGA · 09-22-2005, 04:43 PM

Ahhh... home...

*99GrandAMSE* · 09-22-2005, 05:23 PM

... glad you're home Trish

**Big Joe** · 09-22-2005, 09:51 PM

Im so happy to be back imma do the chain

everybody join in

*99GrandAMSE* · 09-23-2005, 06:33 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Big Joe
Im so happy to be back imma do the chain everybody join in

Joe ... you know will happen to the fllor if we BOTH do the 'chain' at the same time

**Big Joe** · 09-23-2005, 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by 99grandamse

Joe ... you know will happen to the fllor if we BOTH do the 'chain' at the same time

Well it will be bad news for the floor I know that

Chain · 09-23-2005, 12:22 PM

You should see me do the Chain in real life.......

Rayz · 09-23-2005, 12:27 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Chain
You should see me do the Chain in real life.......

Is that from a chemical dependency or just to much coffee?

09-22-2005, 08:26 AM	#1
sunrunner_pei Bazinga! Joined: Jan 08, 2003 Member Number: 1 Location: PEI, Canada Name: Shawn Age: 33 Sex: M Vehicle Information: 2003 Pontiac Grand Am GT Engine: 3400 V6 Odometer: 119,500 KM Best ET: 15.600@87.06 2006 Pontiac Vibe Engine: 1.8L DOHC VVTi Odometer: 65,700 KM	We're here! New server! After a bumpy ride, the GAOC and G6OC are finally settled on our new server. We hope this will give us faster speeds and better reliablity. We're very happy with this decision, and hope it will benefit the site in the long run. We simply grew too big for shared hosting. Why did it take so long to transfer the site? We ran into several snags along the way. The first was an issue with DNS. As many of you know, DNS changes take several hours to complete. We were anticipating that, but ours took much longer than anticipated. Because we're on our own server now, we also have our own nameservers. Between a glitch on our server, and a misunderstanding on my part about how to register our new custom nameservers, we were about 12 hours longer than we had hoped. Second was a site transfer issue. The GAOC is too large to do a site-to-site transfer, so we had to do a backup and restore. We tried to have the backup file created on the new server, however it errored about half way through. After some frantic emails to support, we created a new backup locally and tried to FTP it to the new server. I spent many hours Tuesday night trying to transfer the site over. Thanks to Erimar77's help, we discovered that there was a 2 GB file size limit on our FTP server, and our backup file was 2.5GB. After some fat trimming, I created a new, much smaller backup file (1.2 GB), and started the transfer/restore, and went to bed. Wednesday (yesterday) morning, I woke up to see that the site had restored successfully, but at this point we were still having DNS issues, so no one was hitting the new site, myself included. I worked most of Wednesday afternoon getting the DNS issues straightened out. Once DNS was fixed, we discovered that all our image attahments and avatars were corrupt. Some of you that made it on the short time we were online Wednesday know what I'm talking about. We decided to close the forums and do another backup/restore. Tried that, with the same result. We did some research, and found it is an issue with incompatibility with versions of MySQL. I sent some help requests to vBulletin support and our web host, and went to bed exhausted. This morning I woke up to a reply from the head of support at vBulletin. He had somehting for me to try, a switch for the backup command, and with my fingers crossed I gave it a shot. Well, since you're reading this, you can tell it worked. Our forums restored properly, and our images are looking good. I would like to thank a few people who helped out during this move. .. First, my wife Karen and my son Evan. You two have no idea how much I appreciate your support. I know I was stressed out the last 2 days, and I probably took it out on you the most. Thanks for standing by me. Kelly, thanks for your help and support through this. It's great to be able to vent when things aren't working. Steve from vBulletin. Wat can I say man, you saved my ass. Thank you so much for helping with this restore issue!!!! Eric (erimar77). Thanks for all your help and suggestions the other night. If it weren't for you helping me out, I'd probably have killed that non-responsive tech support guy. Domainmonger. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction with the nameserver issues. Lord knows the instructions from my web host weren't very clear. Our advertisers. Without your continued support, we could never afford to make a move like this. Tim @ ASO. Thanks for your help in getting our new server up and running. Your help is always appreciated. I just wish the rest of your staff were as helpful as you are. And finally, you, our membership. Thank you for your patience through this very rough transition. Without you there would be no GAOC, and we know that. We hope you will enjoy our new home, and continue to enjoy our friendly atmosphere. We're here for you and because of you. Get back on the forums and enjoy! Shawn & Kelly __________________ Shawn Hume ~ Founder, Webmaster & Administrator ~ GAOC Facebook Page \| Official Merchandise \| GAOC Decals ~

09-22-2005, 08:31 AM	#2
Bjornboy81 Senior Member Joined: May 20, 2004 Member Number: 6362 Location: St. Clair Shores, MI, USA, Earth Age: 29 Vehicle Information: 2001 Pontiac Grand Am GT1 Engine: 3400	THANK YOU!!! With out dedicated people like you working on it we wouldn't have this awesome site!!! __________________ Paul ---------------------------------------------- SLP Exhaust----Dr. Speed CAI----FFP UP pulley----DPP P&P Intake Manifolds and TB MSD Coil Packs----Vinyl Overlays and Inlays----20%tint in back, 35% in front----Debadged ---------------------------------------------- Michigan Post Whores Club

09-22-2005, 08:37 AM	#3
buckeyejack Frequent Poster Joined: Jan 26, 2005 Member Number: 9403 Location: Morristown,Tn. (East Tennessee Age: 57 Vehicle Information: 2001 Pontiac Grand Am GT Engine: 3400	Thank you two for all you do, I love this site and come to it every day. YOUR the BEST __________________ Buckeyejack

09-22-2005, 08:39 AM	#4
SikMindz OG GA Owner Joined: Jan 24, 2003 Member Number: 160 Location: The Bay maaaaaaannnn! Vehicle Information: 1999 Pontiac Carbon Fiber GA SE Engine: Modded 3400 V6	Hey hey! Where's MY thanks for refreshing every 10 minutes trying to get onto the GAOC site, huh? Ungrateful, I tell ya... LoL Glad to see everything's back up and running! __________________ [ SikDomain \| Sik High-Res \| FSik ]

09-22-2005, 08:39 AM	#5
Old Guy The G.A.O.C. Dad Joined: Mar 15, 2003 Member Number: 1367 Location: Medina, Ohio Age: 57 Vehicle Information: 2002 Buick Park Avenue Engine: 3800	Wheew!!! I'm exhausted just reading that. Sit back and have a few beers on me tonight Shawn!! __________________ I'm suffering from amnesia and deja vu: I remember forgetting things before...

09-22-2005, 08:44 AM	#6
99GrandAMSE No, I'm not dead!! Joined: Jan 08, 2003 Member Number: 2 Location: NS, Canada Name: Kelly Age: 43 Sex: M Vehicle Information: 1999 Pontiac Grand AM SE2 Engine: 3.4L V6 Best ET: 15.589@86.28 2004 Jeep Liberty Sport 4x4 Engine: 3.7L V6	Well, as usual, Shawn and his abilities came through ... though I would like to sit here an take 'some' of the credit for the GAOC coming back up, I can't ... the site is now up due 100% to Shawn and his marathon effort to continually search for ways to overcome expected results ... I may own half of the site and am involved in all decisions including the one to move to our own server, but, I have nothing to do with the actual setup or technical portion of the site and rely entirely on Shawn for this Anyway, I want to not only extend my personal gratitude but also, on behalf of the entire member ship I want Shawn to know what a great job he did ... Shawn, I have watched you struggle over the past couple days and I know how stressful this was but rest assured, your efforts are truly appreciated and if it weren't for you, the GAOC wouldn't thrive as well as it has. Thanks bud!! __________________ ~ PLEASE SUPPORT THE GAOC SUPPORTERS!!

09-22-2005, 09:07 AM	#7
Rayz Old School Joined: Apr 13, 2003 Member Number: 1752 Location: Langhorne PA Age: 55 Vehicle Information: 2000 Pontiac Grand Am SE Engine: 3400	Good job Shawn __________________ RSM front and rear strut tower braces, Eibach springs, KYB G2 struts, Eagle 077 rims, 235-40-18 General Exclaim UHP tires, Rear disc brake conversation.

09-22-2005, 09:21 AM	#8
2K SE Fear the Four Joined: Oct 23, 2004 Member Number: 8390 Location: Kenosha, Wi Age: 55 Vehicle Information: 2000 Pontiac Grand Am SE Engine: 2.4 Best ET: 15.299@89.85	Thanks Shawn. Awesome service you guys do for us. (you too Kelly). The wait to come back up was not nearly as bad as when the site took a dive. lol. __________________ 2.4l with GMSC, 5 speed Getrag tranny, Team Green LSD insert Front and rear sways and STBs, Eibach springs, KyB struts, MPRacing CAI, 56 mm TB Those parts help me go fast.

09-22-2005, 09:27 AM	#9
erimar77 n-body.net mod Joined: Apr 14, 2004 Member Number: 5911 Location: Fairview Heights, IL Age: 31 Vehicle Information: 2000 Pontiac Grand Am GT Engine: 3400 V6	Shawn, thanks your including me in your "thank you" I'm just glad what I suggested worked....and we both "learned a lot" on Tuesday night, lol __________________ Cardomain Page N-Body.net Registry

09-22-2005, 10:14 AM	#10
Gimli Moderator Joined: Jan 25, 2003 Member Number: 222 Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Name: Ben Age: 33 Vehicle Information: 2009 Hyundai Genesis Tech Engine: 4.6l V8 2003 Victory Touring Cruiser Engine: 92ci VTwin	Good job Boss! Take double your commission for this month __________________ Gimli 2009 Phantom Black Hyundai Genesis V8 w/Tech

09-22-2005, 11:09 AM	#11
sunrunner_pei Bazinga! Joined: Jan 08, 2003 Member Number: 1 Location: PEI, Canada Name: Shawn Age: 33 Sex: M Vehicle Information: 2003 Pontiac Grand Am GT Engine: 3400 V6 Odometer: 119,500 KM Best ET: 15.600@87.06 2006 Pontiac Vibe Engine: 1.8L DOHC VVTi Odometer: 65,700 KM	__________________ Shawn Hume ~ Founder, Webmaster & Administrator ~ GAOC Facebook Page \| Official Merchandise \| GAOC Decals ~

09-22-2005, 11:31 AM	#12
erimar77 n-body.net mod Joined: Apr 14, 2004 Member Number: 5911 Location: Fairview Heights, IL Age: 31 Vehicle Information: 2000 Pontiac Grand Am GT Engine: 3400 V6	don't laugh... your bill came to $750 __________________ Cardomain Page N-Body.net Registry

09-22-2005, 04:43 PM	#14
XoticGA Professional Toe Stubber Joined: May 04, 2005 Member Number: 10589 Age: 25 Vehicle Information: 2007 Chevy Cobalt LT2 Engine: 2.2 Eco W/O Torque!	Ahhh... home... __________________

09-22-2005, 05:23 PM	#15
99GrandAMSE No, I'm not dead!! Joined: Jan 08, 2003 Member Number: 2 Location: NS, Canada Name: Kelly Age: 43 Sex: M Vehicle Information: 1999 Pontiac Grand AM SE2 Engine: 3.4L V6 Best ET: 15.589@86.28 2004 Jeep Liberty Sport 4x4 Engine: 3.7L V6	... glad you're home Trish __________________ ~ PLEASE SUPPORT THE GAOC SUPPORTERS!!

09-22-2005, 09:51 PM	#16
Big Joe I'm Gone Joined: Jun 11, 2003 Member Number: 2317 Location: Yonkers,NY Age: 25 Sex: M Vehicle Information: 1994 Pontiac Grand Am Engine: 3100 Odometer: 150000 Mi 1999 Pontiac Grand Am GT Engine: 3400 Odometer: 80,000 Mi	Im so happy to be back imma do the chain everybody join in __________________ If I said it, I meant it. Bite my tongue for no one. Call me evil, or unbelievable

09-23-2005, 12:22 PM	#19
Chain Let is snow, let it snow Joined: May 05, 2004 Member Number: 6167 Location: Oklahoma Age: 47 Sex: M Vehicle Information: 1997 Pontiac Grand Am SE Engine: 2.4	You should see me do the Chain in real life....... __________________