ACL Forum and Chat room issues after update

[fasteddy]

I have been informed that a standard forum/server update has caused ACL to have some underlying issues, currently the chat room is not working and some links may not work. We hope to have these issues resolved in a timely manner. We apoligize for any inconvenience

 

[ryanschristmaslights]

Chat is a major component to AusChristmasLighting however as of right now, the latest release of the chat does not run properly with the latest PHP package. This latest PHP package has various fixes and is in some cases essential for other website software to work.

In order to try and keep the chat working without impacting on the use of other website software, there might be periods of downtime over the next couple of hours. During this time some behind the scenes server settings are being experimented with to see if the ACL chat can live in harmony with other website scripts.

Sorry for the short notice all!

 

[fasteddy]

Thanks for your efforts Ryan

 

[ryanschristmaslights]

OK, we're back where we were just over an hour ago. An end all fix for the chat wasn't able to be applied at this stage and so the chat is reopen again.

Another maintenance period may need to be actioned in the near future. Until then, happy chatting!

 

[ryanschristmaslights]

The chat went down earlier this evening as a result of a server-side change. This change was inevitable not expected to take place when it did. The change also rendered the wiki unusable.

Rather than rolling back only to need to address the incompatibility later, another attempt has been made at getting the various areas of ACL to work with the latest server-side settings. For the techy people, a newer version of PHP was configured which ultimately resulted in the site issues.

The server where ACL is running from is now running this newer PHP build and the chat and wiki are running. There may be some lingering issues that haven't been discovered and hence can't be fixed until we know about them.

Apologies for the inconvenience, CLAP-ers

 

[ryanschristmaslights]

Looks like I spoke too soon, these issues with the chat have resurfaced.

Something at the server level out of my control has been reconfigured (again) which has thrown a spanner back at the chat. This probably won't be able to be fixed this evening, unfortunately! Looking at early/late morning of tomorrow, at this stage.

Hang in there guys, don't get too vicious with your CLAP addiction

 

[fasteddy]

I appreciate your efforts Ryan, Thanks for the heads up

 

[ryanschristmaslights]

Update: The chat is reopen again, for those unaware.

The PHP issues at the server end have been fixed, and measures have been put in place which ought to prevent a repeat of the last changes to the PHP configuration, which ultimately resulted in the issues we had in the chat and on the wiki.



I am told that there will be a window on March 5 2013 where there may be multiple but brief interruptions with accessing ACL while there is some work done at the data centre. The work being done is unrelated to the PHP issues we've just had but will lead to periods of downtime. I'm told that the estimated start time of this is 12:00 am with a finish time of 1:00 am (Australian Eastern Time).

 

[ryanschristmaslights]

Re: Chat room issues - solution known awaiting rollout.

Hi all,

There appears to be a change to the server's configuration which is causing problems for the chat room again. The change that has occured is a rollback of PHP to an older version however the older version is incompatible with the chat room.

There is a solution, as it has been done before, however it may not be able to be implemented until tomorrow.



Additionally, there is some server maintenance scheduled for tomorrow morning but I am advised the interuptions are expected to be brief. Something like a few 30-second outages during a 10 minute window.

Sorry for the inconvenience!

 

[ryanschristmaslights]

Re: Chat room issues solved

Everybody rejoice and put your plastic away (or is that, get your plastic out? )

The chat solution has been reimplemented and so the chat room is, once more, open.

As long as PHP-related settings on the server are not rolled back (new is OK, older bad), then the issues overnight shouldn't resurface again.