MAINTAINANCE WINDOW SCHEDULED (February 2-28, 2018) Rolling Updates
MAINTAINANCE WINDOW SCHEDULED (February 2-28, 2018) Rolling Updates avatar

MAINTENANCE WINDOW SCHEDULED: (2/2/2018 – Rolling Updates): Tomorrow through the 14th of February, I will be conducting a maintainence window to perform updates and upgrades to all domains (COM/ORG/US) on the BBWN – We will also be updating the BBOARD install, so this may require a small update to some config files.
MAINTENANCE WINDOW SCHEDULE EXTENDED: [2/11/18 (@12:51)]  The Maintenance Window has been extended, and will now run through the end of February 2018 – More work is needed on these updates and upgrades and we want to be sure we are getting them all as necessary. ~Brian
[UPDATE: (2/7/2018 @13:20): Changes to the BBOARD install require us to do a FULL UPGRADE, as the last backup of the forum software is at least 2 version  points below the current version – To facilitate this upgrade I have deleted the forums from the directory, and will have to manually do some of the configurations to bring it back online – The forums will be DOWN until this has been completed – the software does not seem to have an easy way to download and do an install with a “drag and drop and go” approach, so this is the best solution, although it means that I will have to manually tweak things a bit. ~Brian]

[UPDATE: (2/8/2018 @18:12):  The BBUS Forums are being restored over the next couple weeks.  For now, I have turned the forums OFF to perform maintenance tasks, and if I work on them again, I will turn them back on to do the work.  We had to rebuild the forums from the ground up using the most current version.  The problem was that the sql database I had backed up for the Forums was named for the database I thought I backed up, but it was WRONG, so I dropped that database and did a reinstall, then removed data that was not needed – This Data was from a BLOG install, so that was not useful for a board install – I will backup the database again when we get most of the work completed, so we don’t miss the data, and I will be backing up content soon after ~Brian]

Following that, I will be making upgrades to the WordPress Installs systemwide, on the advice of our WordPress Guru (Jeff Weisbein, of Besttechie Holdings) – He has made suggestions for better security and performance, and I will be making these changes on all domains, if possible.

Then, we will be backing up all databases (SQL) on Cardinal, and making sure they are working well, and following that, We will do Dropbox Backups of all Websites on the Network.

Next week, I will PRUNE the number of FULL and Monthly backups we have of critical files on the system, so that we have the most current, and the next oldest backup in all categories: These things are getting BIG, so we need to prune these back, and I HAVE to figure out which directories I should NOT back up, because it would take forever to do this if files keep changing as they are backed up, and some directories are NOT needed to be backed up, or recommended to back up, chief of these being directories that are temp directories or /run, /proc, /tmpfs, etc – I will be checking to see which ones I can skip, and make sure that they are NOT backed up – I want to make sure that my backups can be restored and are not going to be corrupted.

Each Day that I decide to do something, it will most likely be anytime between 8am and NOON or 1PM to 3PM – I will take it slow and steady, and make sure we do this right, but the basic idea is that I will tackle something every few days until I am satisfied that we are up to date – Automation is good, but I want to be sure we can restore and backup files without errors – Once we can do this, then it will be easy to command a backup of anything we need.

Please be advised that during this period, Cardinal may be slower then usual, or that configs may have to change to make the updates/upgrades. These tasks should NOT affect my users, but I want to be sure that I inform you of the situation, or the POSSIBILITY of having to inconvenience my users.
Thank You for Your Cooperation During this Maintenance Window!
Buddy
BBWN (COM/ORG/US) Admin

About The Author

bbus-brian

Brian is a Veteran of over 30 years of the computer field. Staring in 1982 on an IBM Selectric Electric Typewriter, He Graduated quickly to an Apple IIe/IIc/IIgs, through High School and Then PC's through College and Beyond. Brian is the Owner of the Websites Buddy Hyphen Baker Dot Com/ Dot Org, and This One: - BBUS. He is proficient in PC's and Linux, and has over 25 Years experience in Linux-Based Machines, and 37 Years experience with PC's and flavors of Windows. Known as Buddy to many online, he is well-known, and well-respected in the community at-large for his expertise with many aspects of technology.