We're Baaaaack!!
It looks like we are back!
I'll try to chronicle what happened the last three days.
In a nutshell our site was moved to a different server that broke it and it didn't come back until we had it moved back to the type server it was originally installed upon.
Last Friday: I called to pay our server and domain name fees. The accounts/billing rep recommended we upgrade to a business account so we could take advantage of various functional and security improvements. I agreed thinking this was only a matter of switching our accounts over and then installing a dedicated IP and then later a SSL certificate. What he did not mention to me and I was not aware of was that switching to a business account meant moving our site to a different server.
Unbeknownst to me he proceeded to move our site to another server and installed the dedicated IP. Immediately our site went haywire. I quickly hit the phone wanting to know WTH just happened. I was assured that it was due to the new dedicated IP having to propagate through the DNS and all would be fine in a matter of hours. So I let it slide until later Friday night and I called again wanting to know when this propagation thing was going to end. I'm then told that it could take up to 24 hours, so I think "OK, I'll wait until tomorrow and see what happens". Keep in mind that no one told me that our site had been moved to another server.
Saturday: The site is still broken so I call tech support again and spend the whole day waiting on hold, talking to them about what the site is doing and researching the Drupal boards for any clue as to what the problem is. I try everything possible to no avail. The techs have no idea other than maybe the propagation isn't finished and one even told me that it could take up to 48 hours! By this time I'm getting pretty flustered and irate and was uncivil with a couple of them but there wasn't much I could do but wait and keep trying to troubleshoot it myself. Keep in mind no one still hasn't told me that our site had been moved to another server.
Sunday: Still no joy, the site is still wacked, so off to the phone I go again. It has now been 48 hours and the DNS propagation can no longer be used as an excuse, but still no help from tech, I spend the day again researching and troubleshooting. Finally Sunday night I call tech again and this time I get a very knowledgeable fellow that walks through the problem from beginning to end in a logical manner. He is the first one that tells me, in all this time, that when we switched to a business account that meant that our site was moved to another server. Immediately a light bulb goes off for me. You see, you can't just up and migrate a Drupal site from one server to another, there are preparations that need to be made within the software before it can be moved or a site may be broken. One of the most important preparations is to disable a program called Clean URLS, not disabling this program before migration can cause links to stop working correctly after the site has been moved, sound familiar? There are various other preparations but that is one of the most crucial.
I then at that time pretty much know what the problem is and explain it to the tech and he concurred. The best hope of fixing our site was migrating it back to a shared server like the one it originally came from. For whatever reason our site was not playing well on the business server that we had been moved to. There was no assurance that this would work but it made theoretical sense. There was a catch though, the department that could handle such a switch would not be available until Monday morning. So I put the site in maintenance mode Sunday night for security reasons until the following morning when we could make the switch back to a shared server.
Monday: I get up in the morning and check the site, still FUBAR, so I begin the process of preparing the site for another migration, most of which had to be done in maintenance mode, backing up the database, file system, clearing the database cache, disabling the programs that needed to be down, etc. Finally I was ready for the move so I call and get the account switched back over to a regular account and asked if we could get moved back to the exact server we were on before, no, we couldn't get the exact server but we could be moved to a shared server that would have the same settings as our previous piece of iron we called home. That was the best we could do so I gave them the go ahead. There's just one thing though, moving our site again meant that we were going to have another change in our IP address and we'd have to go through through DNS propagation again.
It took about an hour or so for them to move everything over to the shared server and another 3 or 4 hours for the site to propagate. I got nothing on my computer but a "Temporarily Unavailable" page for a couple of hours of the propagation period and of course back to the phone I went to ask why. Finally, after 4 or 5 hours total it suddenly came back. I was hesitant and apprehensive about checking it out, but to my utter joy, everything was in place and functioning as it should!! About a half an hour after that I made the post in last night's EB stating that we were back in business.
The reason so many of you lost the content to the site yesterday was because you were accessing it during the migration and propagation periods. To move a site it has to be taken out of maintenance mode and made live, that's why you folks were able to access it but also why it was so messed up. The time it took for the new IP number to propagate through the DNS obviously varied, that's why everyone wasn't seeing the site as normal at the same time.
Anyway, it appears to be totally back to normal and it looks like no content was lost. We were very lucky that the first move to the business server did not permanently break our site since I wasn't able to prepare for it. I can't totally blame Bluehost in all of this because the case could be made that I should have been aware about the consequences of moving our site to a new server after switching to a business account, even if they didn't tell me about it. All in all, Bluehost tech was pretty good though all of it, they did what they could from their end and couldn't really help me with my end as none of them were experts in the Drupal software, even with the fact that I was not told about the server move in mind. As in all things in life, there are some that are excellent in what they do and some that are not, with the remainder filling the gamut in between. The lesson I've retained is to make damn sure I damn well understand what any new changes may entail in the future and not to make any more spur of the moment decisions.
Thanks to you all for hanging in there through all of this. As for me putting in all the time it took to rectify the problem, well, it was my decision that caused it therefore it was up to me to fix it.
Comments
Howdy folks...
I'm in a much better mood today. I tried to truncate this story into a few sentences but it just couldn't be done.
Is everyone now viewing the site as normal and does everything seem to be in place? I'll answer any questions you may have.
Everything is working beautifully, thank you
Lots of hard work and time spent on your part.
To thine own self be true.
Great...
glad to hear it M, and thanks.
Thank God, JtC, it's over now,
I saw yesterday late at night how the content, which we couldn't see at first after you said we are back, rolling in. You could actually see how it came in starting in February or March and some 20 minutes later it had filled up already til June etc. So, I thought I comment on that, but was too tired. Nevertheless I was confident that by this morning everything would be back.
I am glad for JayRaye, who had so much material that seemed to have been at risk to be lost. Nothing is lost. That's pretty nice.
Though I am not going back to look at my comments ... let's celebrate for all the content that is worthwhile reading from days back !!!
Cheers.
https://www.euronews.com/live
thx mimi
yep, let this be a lesson for me. I need to get started on saving all my work to a few different places.
I calmed down immediately as soon as Johnny said that he could see all my stuff, and that it would all come back eventually.
Nothing appears to be lost.
Never be deceived that the rich will allow you to vote away their wealth.-Lucy Parsons
JayRaye...
I have some recommendations on what you should do to back up your work to an archive on your own personal computer, that way no matter what happens you won't lose all the blood sweat and tears you've invested. The fact of the matter is that ALL websites are subject to losing content in many different ways and for that reason shouldn't be relied upon to store your work. The only fool proof method is to have local backups on your own PC and to back up the backups in case you lose one of them. I'll put this in an essay form when I get a chance.
I agree completely, JtC
And now that the big Joe Hill project is done, that will be my next big project.
Something I should have started when I got this new computer a year ago.
Never be deceived that the rich will allow you to vote away their wealth.-Lucy Parsons
As soon as I saw...
that everything was AOK on my box, I was pretty sure it was just a matter of time for everyone else. I let out a big sigh of relief when I first checked it out and things were working correctly.
Wow, Johnny, thank goodness that ordeal is in the past.
And thank you for this update, I actually read the whole thing and even pretty much understood it. You're good at explaining tech stuff to those of us who are tech-challenged.
Soooooo glad to be back in the C99 writing room. Had to write one day in that awful new DK writing room. What a creepy place. Had to give up on trying to make the diaries over there look nice, everything is way too complicated at the new improved DK5. A perfect example of fixing what wasn't broken.
The way you have things set up here, it's easy and intuitive. Even someone like me can manage.
C99 is accepting edits once again, and everything seems to humming along just fine.
We made it!!! and we're still here!
Never be deceived that the rich will allow you to vote away their wealth.-Lucy Parsons
Yeah...
I really didn't have the time to reply to anyone or give any explanations at the time, so I figured I'd try to explain things now, so in retrospect you'd have an idea of why things were the way that they were.
See my comment above about archiving your work, and thanks JR.
my question
is when you will post a "donate" piece wherein we may monetarily massage you for the angst you went through on our behalf, and also to provide funds for uh, Mario, to go "deal" with these criminal angst-creators.
Excellent--thank you. I'd say 'lessons learned'
for all of us.
First, apologize that I may have caused confusion by re-activating a thread from February. It was the only choice I had, since when I attempted to reply to any of the more current comments, a click on a reply link produced a screen that said I was unauthorized, or, I was allowed to actually fill-in the comment box, then I was stopped (with a similar screen) when I tried to submit the comment.
If the February post had disappeared with the rest of my posts, I guess there would have been no way for me to have communicated. So, I'm grateful that, for whatever reason, a couple of my posts didn't get gobbled up due to the server transition(s).
Also, thanks for the detailed explanation, in that if there should be a similar occurrence in the future (when a server switch is involved, or a major technical change like a SSL Certificate), I'll ask first if user feedback would be helpful, before offering any.
Not fully understanding the nature of the problem, I 'thought' that the more user input/feedback that you received, the easier it might be to deal with/resolve the problem.
Now, I see that it was mostly a waste of time, if not a flat-out nuisance, since the 'fix' was mostly out of your hands, and in the hands of Bluehost (if I understood you correctly). Again, 'live and learn.'
Thanks for everything, JtC. Hope you get a good and well-deserved rest.
Major kudos!
Have a nice day, Everyone!
Mollie
"Every time I lose a dog, he takes a piece of my heart. Every new dog gifts me with a piece of his. Someday, my heart will be total dog, and maybe then I will be just as generous, loving, and forgiving."--Author Unknown
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
Thanks Mollie...
No, the input was helpful, I just didn't have the time to reply or explain. And until Sunday night I didn't really have a clue what was wrong, only that the main culprit was the dedicated IP installation as the tech support kept telling me. As soon as I heard sever migration it all clicked.
The gist of the whole affair is we were migrated to a server that didn't play well with our site, the reason for that I was never able to ascertain, sometimes that just happens. The fix was to get us back to the same type of server we were originally on.
Thank you, Johnny!
While it may have been somewhat annoying for those of us here, it had to be traumatic for you trying to deal with it all over a four day period. I hope your blood pressure is better and that it will continue to be smooth sailing from now on. I cannot thank you enough for everything you do around here.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
I found it more strange than annoying
it was like the computer was playing mind games. I changed my glasses at one point when I thought I saw the February dates. I was here late at night after a hard day's painting so my eyes were tired, I was tired and easily suspicious of myself. What fun. Mercifully, I was eventually "denied access." Doesn't that kind of make a person feel guilty of something?
To thine own self be true.
Thanks gg...
it was double traumatic because I have to get back to work for a few days and the site's issues had to be resolved first, and because of that I'll be a little scarce for the next couple of days or so. I think my wife is more relieved than anyone, heh.
great job jtc, thanks!
thanks for all the hard work making things right.
perhaps when we upgrade, we might want to have some overlap time where we build the new site (with the next version of drupal) on the business server with the static ip and the ssl certificates, and when it's ready, migrate the content from the existing site and go live there before we take down the old site.
Thanks Joe...
much of the angst could have been avoided if I had known we were going to be moved to another server. I would have prepared the site and given everyone ample notice.
We are no longer on the business server, our site would not cooperate with it for whatever reasons. We are back on a shared server with a shared IP. Although I would love to get a SSL certificate, we can't get one unless we have a dedicated IP first, and to get a dedicated IP we must have a business account on a business server.
When we make the transition to Drupal 8 I plan on installing a development site, an exact mirror of this one, where we'll first test the new version 8 and whatever other changes that we may want to make and to work out any bugs that may pop up. You'll be heavily involved with that process. When we do make the final jump there will be ample warning as to what will be happening and when the site will be down in maintenance mod, if at all.
so, when you move to a dedicated server with a business account
and a dedicated IP, how much more do they charge for that and is that a prerequisite to get a SSL certificate with it?
https://www.euronews.com/live
My tech support rant.
Hey, Johnny, you stumbled upon my pet peeve. So, from my point of view, it is not good at all.
You spent two days sifting gravel of the same size, going over every grain, trying to find the problem. And that's because the Tech Support Wienies did not give you vital information that they had when you first called.
Either you are the only person in the United States of America who ever migrated a blog to a new server — or the Tech Support Wienies couldn't find their ass with both hands and a friend holding a flashlight! They knew your blog had moved to a new server when you called, because the work order was on the screen in front of their eyes. They know the biz platform has differently modified server software. They also know that all migrations between differently formatted servers require tweaking and that database look-up routines are usually the source of broken programs. These problems are written down in Bluehost Support's Big Book Of Bugs so that customers who migrate servers can easily find what is bugging the system. They didn't walk you through the "surprise" migration and go down the checklist of issues. They didn't read the server error logs. They left you hanging with a bunch of propagation BS. For them, there is no propagation issue when looking at your blog (on the new server) using their in-house network. They could have done that and seen that fields were not populating, and known that it had nothing to do with DNS propagation.
They are unqualified to man the company's support chairs. They have neither knowledge nor discipline. At the very least, they should have shuffled you to Top Level Support on your first call. My guess: Bluehost hires gamer-slackers during the weekend, on the cheap.
We know all of the above to be true because when you talked to a Tech Support Guru two days later, he had a troubleshooting database inside his head, and could pin the issue quickly. Then, you had to migrate and propagate all over again.
This kind of brain-dead hosting would have killed an online merchant's business for the year. (It was holiday cyber week.) The person who took your order didn't know if you were a merchant, but he knew a site migration was going to take place on a differently platformed server. That should have raised a warning flag, there should have been a software screening discussion with you, you should have signed a waiver on potential problems, and then you would have known what was going on. A merchant might have sued them for damages for lack of disclosure.
Unless, you really are the only person the the United States of America who ever had this problem. Otherwise, Bluehost treated you very badly and they owe you.
I want three months of free hosting to make this right. Forward this email to Bluehost. The need to turn this into a win so we all feel good about them.
-----------------------------
End Rant
yeah, I'm tech-dumb & dumber
But even I had the same thot, surely we weren't the first to ever have this kind of problem as a result of changing servers.
Johnny is a whole lot more charitable than I am when it comes to Bluehost. They seriously fell down on the job.
Never be deceived that the rich will allow you to vote away their wealth.-Lucy Parsons
Well P...
I gotta' agree, while admitting a certain degree of my own culpability. And yes, the onus was on the original accounts guy that just whipped the directories and database from server to server without explanation. The subsequent techs probably took it for granted that I was already advised of this server migration. I probably talked to about 10 different reps, some I think I knew more than they and I'm an amateur. Thus this quote from this essay:
If you go back into my profile and read the ranting comments I made during this event, you'd see I was very much in agreement with your assessments. But it's over, I have learned and I'm ready to move on.
I think the DNS migration slow speed excuse
gave it away. You had bad luck with the "accountant" guy and the first tech calls. It's over. Let's forget about it and look at something else. Like tomorrow. Another day. May be a good one, heh?
https://www.euronews.com/live
Now the big question is?????
Do you have any hair left after pulling it out the last several days?
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Have you tried
turning it off and on again?
From The IT Crowd which is a really funny Brit comedy show about the tech department of a fictional company.
Have you tried sticking it up your arse?
Wow this works fine!
Thanks JtC
you did it! In my perpetual mode of pessimism I thought well shit he wrecked the only decent blog left. I freaking hate computers and tech problems both hard and soft and yet you managed to prevail. Inspirational as the answer is usually dead simple and yet so complex when human interaction and communication is overridden in the equation. Automation is not what it's cracked up to be says this diehard Ludditte. Life is not binary. Just wait till the robotics take over all human functions. Artificial intelligence my ass. While your at it get off my non- lawn! Seriously, thank you for working to make this site both user tech friendly and humanistic.