oops, hiccup in service

[cowsmanaut]

don't know if anyone noticed a hiccup yesterday in getting on the forums.. if so, sorry it was my fault. I hadn't paid the upkeep on the url. I just renewed it for 5 more years so it should be fine for a while

[oh_brother]

You pay the full cost? Is it expensive?

No, I did not notice any problem, maybe Europeans were asleep when it went down!

[ChristopheF]

I didn't notice either

[beowuuf]

Lol, never noticed.

I assume you have the domain name registered separately from equus's webspace then? Let me know if you want me to pay for that too. Hmm, speaking of which, I need to remmeber when he's due for paying again...

[Gambit37]

I keep offering to host all this for free but no-one takes me up on it....

[Chaos-Shaman]

thank u cows

[cowsmanaut]

beowuuf, yes, the domain is registered through another service.. I keep paying because it keeps me connected. I'm glad that you've taken on the rest of it though.. Was just me getting burned out back then.. I don't really want to leave the community though.. so it gives me incentive.

[Bit]

Bit hugs Cows!

[Jan]

Oh, I didn't realise someone has to pay for these forums. Of course, I also offer to "share the burden" and pay a part of it, if it's possible somehow and not too complicated.

[cowsmanaut]

well I suppose no one would have to if it were something like dungeonmaster.free.fr or dungeonmaster.blogspot.com or dungeonmaster.someotherfreewebsite.com.ca.fr.uk.nz.etc

but for premium czech servers and a url that is nothing but the dungeon and the master.. there is a tiny cost which is totally affordable. I just got 5 years for $65 canadian.. so it's not like it's an arm and a leg. The space and bandwidth is a bit more but still affordable. and it's up to beo if he wanted to put it onto a different service. There are a few cheaper ones.. but none that are as forgiving on late payments as ZPC :S and since I'm forgetful .. that worked out well for me.. I think Beo's a bit more on top of things than I was..

[Gambit37]

Like I said up the thread, I've offered several times to host all of this for free. I don't understand why you don't take me up on the offer!

[beowuuf]

For my part because I'm usually not thinking about those thigns when it was offered. Like right now, I'm so late for work it's not funny! Might try to find some time this week to discuss it with y'all then.

[T0Mi]

Big thanks, cow!
(also: never change a running system)

[Paul Stevens]

(also: never change a running system)

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
"If it's free, it's probably worth the price."

I would rather pay for the service myself
than have everyone go through the grief that
generally comes with big change. Most of us
would be willing to contribute. If my money
can help, let me know.

[ChristopheF]

Gambit, is it really free, or free because you would pay for it yourself?
Could you post some details about the hosting plan you propose or a link to the hosting company web page? (storage space, bandwidth, versions of php & mysql, management tools, etc.).
Personnaly, I agree that today there is no real need to move ("If it ain't broke, don't fix it.").
However, since we upgraded to the latest version of phpbb - 3.0.8 - a few months ago, we now have a reminder message in the admin console stating that the version of php on the current host will not be supported by future versions of phpbb (simply because it is too old and I agree with the phpbb team for this choice).
That's one pretty good technical reason to move to another host.
Some may think that we should simply stop upgrading, but that is a very bad choice from a security standpoint as support from the developers will end for our version and as soon as a vulnerability will be found by hackers, we can be sure it will be expoited to destroy our beloved forums.

I think it is time to start discussing the future and prepare a migration plan so we'll be ready when the time comes that we'll have no other choice.

[Gambit37]

"If it's free, it's probably worth the price."

Sometimes "free" really is worth more than the price [of free]; see below.

Gambit, is it really free, or free because you would pay for it yourself?

I currently pay a montly fee for reseller space. I set it up for my business but no longer need it for that. However, I still use it for all sorts of things and I pay for it myself. It's now a "cost of living" for me that I account for in my normal expenses, so it's easy for me to offer hosting to people and not charge them for it. This is a no strings attached offer. I don't want any money from anyone, and I can donate this space in perpetuity, for free, to the community.

It's the Business package on this page: http://www.ezpzhosting.co.uk/resellers.html

I could setup a full "resold" domain and hosting for DM.com. We can decide what the disk space/bandwidth allocation should be, based on looking at stats of the current site. I'm sure I have plenty of spare disk space and band width to handle our little corner of the web

The benefit of this is also that I can create a new "customer" for DM.com. That customer can then get full technical support from the hosting company's support staff (email ticket system only, no phone). So for example, if Christophe needed to have something technical done at server level, he can login, raise a ticket directly and they will sort it out. (As far as I'm aware, we can't do this with the current host due to Czech language issues and overall "agreement").

I can vouch for the hosting company because I've been using them for two years and I totally recommend them.

And regarding the version of PHP on the server, the host keeps things up-to-date, so we don't need to worry about stuff like that. Future versions of phpBB will work just fine.

I think it's a good deal for the forum all round

[Jan]

Czech language issues

*coughs*

[Gambit37]

If you could be on hand whenever someone has a tech problem, that would be great Seriously though, no disrespect was meant, it's just easier if the hosting is with a company that speaks English. It took well over a week to get some stuff sorted in the past due to language problems (and the non-availability of our intermediary!)

[ChristopheF]

This looks like a great offer. If you agree to create the necessary account/configuration for me, I'm willing to test the forum there and check if everything works fine (transfering the database, ftp etc.).

[T0Mi]

This is a great offer, Gambit. However, if I did the math right, this would cost $1170 for 5 years for the most basic hosting with a monthly limit of 100 GB traffic and 5 GB webspace, even if you "no longer need" the webspace for anything else. (edit: "professional" package: $1475 for a monthly paid 200 GB traffic and 10 gigs of webspace)
How large is the DM forum database and what kind of traffic are the forums producing now? In any case, I don't think this should be burdend on a single persons back.

[Gambit37]

I do still use it for other things. I have different projects and websites on there. It actually works out much cheaper to use a reseller space than, for example, buy 5 separate hosting packages at £50 each.

We don't need to worry about how big the forums are -- I'm pretty sure I have plenty of free resources for it. We should check this for sure though: Christophe -- can you get the stats for the last six months usage of dungeon-master.com?

[zoom]

erm, Cows, you renewed it just now for 5 more years..Just in case, can you cancel that if the forum would move?

[Gambit37]

The 5 year renewal is for the domain name ("dungeon-master.com") and is completely separate from the hosting (which is where we store all the files that run the website, etc.) Entirely separate things One can buy both a domain name AND hosting from the same company (usually better and easier), or you can buy them from separate companies and link them together. The second option is what have happening here...

[ChristopheF]

I'd be happy to get stats, however I don't know how to access them. I have FTP access to upload files, phpmyadmin access to manage the database and that's all.
There is a statistics link on https://muj.cesky-hosting.cz/login.php however I don't know the password to use (I tried the ones for FTP/mysql but they don't work).
Does somebody know any more information?

[Jan]

Is there anything I could do about it? I can see that all information is both in Czech and English, but of course, I'd be happy if I could help.

I can see that there is the "Lost password" option - did you try it? It should send your password to your e-mail address. They also say that "for a successful log in and functioning of the client section, you must have cookies and Java Script enabled / turned on in your browser". Hmmm, I don't know if it helps. I don't understand the internet stuff.

[ChristopheF]

I don't know whose email address the "Lost Password" option would send an email to. Certainly not me as my email is not registered anywhere with the host.

[beowuuf]

It would either still be cows, or be to me I guess. Or maybe it would go to equus?

[ChristopheF]

OK, I entered www.dungeon-master.com in the "Lost Password" form. If anyone gets a message from the host, please forward me the necessary information.
Thanks!

[ChristopheF]

Do you have an email address for equus?

[Jan]

I've sent them an e-mail, asking them what to do, or, ideally, send the password to dmweb at free dot fr - I used all my academic titles and university affiliations to impress them (or to make all us scholars look stupid).

We'll see what happens. If nothing, I'll call them on Monday.