#SoFurryServerMoveUpdate
#SoFurry is BACK ONLINE! 💥
That was the worst.softlaunch.ever because it was all over (Bluesky) town ;)
After many unforseen roadblocks we're now at a point where we feel comfortable releasing the next version of SoFurry to all of you! [1/3]
#SoFurryServerMoveUpdate
Merry Christmas!
We've opened the site to all staff members for testing. We got two major items to fix/test. However it honestly doesn't make much sense to do a crunch right before New Year's Eve & having to support launch issues. [1/3]
#SoFurryServerMoveUpdate
- Fixed performance issues that caused long load times for users with lots of DMs
- Integrating systems to help diagnose performance issues more easily in the future
- Submission analytics should now work across the site for all users, giving you insights... [1/2]
Status update time! We have completed importing user submissions, your stories, art and music are safe and sound on the new site. A small number has not been imported successfully yet, we'll need more time to figure out why as it's a variety of reasons - file errors that don't play nice with the new libraries, out of memory exceptions, ginormous animated GIF files, that sorta thing. This will be done in the near future. Comments and Watchlist have been imported as well. Right now the focus is on importing DMs, we've done a semi-successful import but we'll have to do another run later. Vital performance improvements are also being worked on. Now as to when SFX will open up for everyone, our estimate is before the end of the year. Just a little more patience!
Hello everyone! This #SoFurryServerMoveUpdate took a bit longer but again it's a bit too much to put in one or two posts, so please check out the progress via the attached screenshot.
Thank you!
x) All nodes have been upgraded and we have a brand new cluster running SFX x) The database has been upgraded to the latest version x) Automated backups are running x) Upgraded the application framework to the latest version x) Tests added x) Static code analytics added x) Search has been reworked We have decided to import all user accounts and submissions before opening SFX to the public - this lets us see any major issues instead of having you all run into them and then potentially requiring further downtime anyway. About user handles: SFX allows users to set their own username as they please including names already taken by another user. However the "user handle" is a separate name every user has and which has to be unique. No two users can have the same handle. During the beta we let users set their own handle, but this presents a problem: Those who did not log into SFX most likely want to use their current SF short name (the name you used as the URL for your profile) as a handle, and there's a possibility that some handles might be taken by users on SFX already. To solve this, we will do the following:
1) All SF2 users who haven't migrated to SFX yet will have their SF2 short name used as handle on SFX. 2) Any SFX user who set their handle to something that collides with an SF2 user's name will have their handle changed so there's no conflict anymore. This preserves your identity coming from SF2. Of course this change affects a handful of users who have been in the SFX beta and wanted to pick a particular handle that was actually already taken on SF2, but please keep in mind that while we always said that we'd try to avoid any sort of resets or data erasure from the beta to the full opening, AND this will only affect a small number of users, there was never a guarantee that everything that happened in the Beta would survive the go-live without any change whatsoever. We thought about this long and hard, and the concern of a lot of users about their name potentially getting lost (even if it's "just" the handle and not the prominently-visible username) is completely understandable and we hear you loud and clear. I really hope you're okay with this - In hindsight letting users modify their handle during the beta was a mistake, though the same issue existed for new registrations too. Technically handles don't matter, but we came to understand that user handles aren't just about the technical side of things, this is a kind of personalization that is important to people. Anyway, the decision to go ahead with the import ahead of reopening means the wait will be a bit longer. I know it's been a long time, but please stick with us. Credits go to @Terra @Nicko @nekosune and the others who are doing great work, also thanks again to @KeikoOrca for helping with configuring and transferring much-needed hardware
Hello everyone! This #SoFurryServerMoveUpdate is rather comprehensive because a lot happened, so we will share two screenshots instead. Overall good news!
Thanks for your patience. We're working on going online very soon again!
#SoFurryServerMoveUpdate
We're updating our web framework to the latest version. Switched our offsite backup to a different method as it affected read performance. We switched to an internal CI/CD pipeline runner, which means we stopped using ext. build infrastructure to save cost. [1/2]
#SoFurryServerMoveUpdate
A new volunteer developer joined the team, work is progressing on bugfixes & general things that just need to be done before going live. New off-site server is now syncing data which will take some time, but does not have to be 100% done before opening the doors. [1/2]
#SoFurryServerMoveUpdate
We're in the process of fixing some important bugs before opening the site. SF2 users who never logged into SFX should now be able to recover their account if their password doesn't work (provided their email still works). [1/2]
A screenshot of the website So furry saying that the website is still in maintenance mode. You can't reach it, yet but it's alive!
#SoFurryServerMoveUpdate
Good news: New hardware installed and working, good progress upgrading the cluster.
Bad news: Our CPUs are pretty old by now and lack support for some modern features, so additional patching of various libraries is required. Not 100% sure yet if this will be successful.
#SoFurryServerMoveUpdate
A quick one today: Good news everybody! We confirmed the new hardware is compatible and the rest of the nodes will get the same equipment in the coming days.
Expect an update in the coming days.
Thanks for sticking with us ❤️
#SoFurryServerMoveUpdate 1) When SFX comes online, some users may not be able to log in immediately due to an incompatibility between SF2 and SFX. These users will have to use password recovery. However this may not be immediately possible on day one, but we are working on making this happen as soon as possible. Note: We will not be able to perform a complete import immediately. When SoFurry comes online you will be able to import your SF2 submissions yourself. However we do plan to do the import of all submissions in due time. 2) One hard disk got damaged in the move. It was either dropped or already on its last leg. Everything's safely backed up, so that shouldn't be a problem. The new one is already ordered and on its way. 3) We have connection to the SF2 database backup and once that situation has been cleared up it should not be too much work to get SFX online.
We don't want to leave out any information regarding the #SoFurryServerMoveUpdate, so please check the attached #screenshot instead of 4-5 split up posts on here ➡️📝
We know progress has been slow, but we're coming closer be get back online again.
Thank you for your patience 🙏
#SoFurryServerMoveUpdate
Server has been moved to the new location and powered on. Now we have the following steps ahead of us:
1) Configure the new firewall
2) Set up a link to the SF2 database for importing
3) Perform the import for all users
[1/2]
#SoFurryServerMoveUpdate
1) The SFX server gets moved soon. We've already received the neccessary network config information for the new data center. No concrete date yet, but we hope it's not much longer now [1/3]
#SoFurryServerMoveUpdate
[1/2] New equipment for US datacenter arrived at friend's location & is prepped for shipping. Due to the current political situation in the US, esp pending plans to regulate adult content online, we're also prepping a non-US location to host SF there, just in case.
