MattyB Posted August 8 Report Share Posted August 8 Hi ! So, it's that time in the decade where I need to move this forum to a new host. However, this time needs some consideration, happy to take some feedback on this about how to proceed. A bit of background,for those not around during the "peak" of CL (which wouldn't suprise me, it was 20 years ago and I suspect some of you may not even have been born ) but we moved to Invision board, It was expensive to purchase and maintain, but was funded largely by Google Adverts. However, many years ago I stopped paying for support as the traffic declined, as did ad revenue to support it. Now, it's just paying for hosting, so I've covered some of the cost personally, some from ads. Been happy to do this, as I do use the hosting for other personal projects. However, this needs to change as when we move to a new host, there is a risk in migrating a very old unsupported system, especially when we've got about 30GB of CL history over 25 years that I really, really want to keep. Invision isn't an option anymore, as it's expensive....they don't want people to self host, so their self hosted option is $500 up front to move to their new software, $200/year maintenance plus hosting fees. Alternatively, they host it and do it all $90/month. As you can see, this isn't an option. So we've got a few options here, and I'm happy for people to weigh in. 1. Migrate to the new host "as is" and just roll with it. Risks are that migrating may not work, and even if it does, on the new host and underlying update could break the forum, and renders it unusable as there is no support/fixes, or there's an exploit that gets taken advantage of that can't be fixed. However, it's probably the "easiest" option. 2. Move to different forum software altogether. While this will keep the posts and members, I've no idea what impact this will have elsewhere with other content, or if anything will be lost that's not immediately visibile. Upside is, easier to maintain moving forward. Free options include PhpBB, MyBB...but bear in mind what we have here is a paid professional solution, most free options are more basic, open source stuff. 3. Final option, and I'm happy to consider it *for the right person* is if someone want to take on CL themselves and cover the costs. This is a decision I wouldn't take lightly! This has been a personal project for 25 years now, but appreciate now I'm older my priorities lie elsewhere. Anyone considering this needs to have a basic understanding of IT/Hosting/Web, appreciate it takes up your own time for no money, and take the responsibility of it properly. There's a lot of history here I absolutely wouldn't want to lose, and neither would anyone who visits! If you don't, well, have you seen the movie "Taken?" Open to other suggestions. It's likely that Option 1 will be the way to go, as it's probably the easiest and lowest risk given everything else. Thanks all 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk2 Posted August 8 Report Share Posted August 8 You don't mention the cost of option 1? There should be a way to pay for the hosting just through clicks to the site I'd guess? Depends how many... If the new host uses the same file structure/system, surely the html files would port straight over? It'd just be uploads and images to check I'd guess. Can u port it over before signing up, just to check, using a domain IP address translation tool or something (never tired anything like that), which would help check the sub directories and structure. Personally, I'd keep the existing forum software. Any external links to this site would resolve as before just using the domain lookup, so long as the file structure doesn't change? Or I think that's how it works? I haven't designed a web site for a few years now, so could be talking utter shite. I seriously don't have enough time to manage it, but I know (knew) what is needed. In a few years my work load should drop (I hope). It'd be a shame to lose the huge amount of documented and tested knowledge on this site, as I think it's better than the German workshop manual, facebook group or youtube videos (which are mostly wrong). But, what generally happens to a free access group forum site once the founder wishes to give it up? It's not like it generates any income and like you say, it just eats time for no reward. I don't know the answer. Yahoo and google groups also dissolved away into nothing too. Lots of juicy info lost forever. PM me as I'm curious what other sites yiu run or what IT projects you have on the go. There might be a way to do everything with absolute minimum cost or effort... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigcraft Posted August 9 Report Share Posted August 9 Well all this is well over my head as I’m NOT IT and no idea how the magic works. I do think I’d rather subscribe that read adverts as I hate coming on here bombarded with them and loose a third of the page so many times due to adverts I have no connection to. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyB Posted September 24 Author Report Share Posted September 24 I've been doing some testing, so I'll be moving this over the next couple of days, should be straighforward now the new host is configured. @mk2 projects are nothing major, just a couple of personal sites. Those have moved, just this one to go! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk2 Posted September 25 Report Share Posted September 25 Post the host's/site direct IP before you do switch just in case the domain lookup system doesn't filter through... means we can still get on here. 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyB Posted September 26 Author Report Share Posted September 26 All moved - wouldn't have helped posted IP's, as I'm using vHosts. However, it all looks OK after a few issues, so we're good to go Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk2 Posted September 26 Report Share Posted September 26 Yeah, looking completely normal this end... 👍🏻 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk2 Posted September 26 Report Share Posted September 26 How big is the site now, with images and all the posts... and who are we using for the virtual hosting service? Expensive? Ad revenue? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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