Jason

So.. this was an interesting weekend.

My original estimate was that migrating to the new software would take roughly 8 hours between setup and migration, configuring the test boards, etc.. I missed the mark by about, oh, 16 hours or so

So let me break down the order of events, partially so I can have this documented the next time I get a bright idea, and partially for your entertainment..


Friday morning:

• Talk with the admin team, put up a post to gauge interest in making a change

Friday early afternoon:

• Read the ton of email / pms / etc telling me people want this place to hang around a good bit longer

Friday afternoon:

• Talk with Noghri on IM, tell him that I need to do a major rework of AtvNC. His immediate reply - "what did you do?!?"
• Debate the merits of a few different forum softwares, nearly immediately settle on vBulletin because of its features and functions
• Buy it. Ouch
• Wait for download links and keys.. cmon cmon.. hurry up.
• Bug the hell out of Noghri some more, get new databases set up, new accounts configured on the server.
• Finally get download information - WOOT
• Start the install. I'm immediately impressed with the quality of the work so far. SimpleMachines was GREAT, but I'm seeing things I like.
• Test board configured
• Spam the mods that are online, make them create accounts.
• Get harrassed by Chad for an hour while he plays with various functions to taunt me.

Friday Night:

• Set up and configure the migration wizard..
• Point it to the old database for SMF
• Let it rip (what the hell.. tests, who needs test!)
• Immediately discover that I need an upgrade..

..and we now roll into Saturday morning. Angie has long ago fallen asleep on the couch tired of listening to me babble about @!#$@#(& SQL code, etc.

• Data migration complete!
• Great fanfare!
• Fail. Epic Fail.

• Remove all the data, fix the original source and delete around 100,000 posts from the recycle bin.
• One.More.Time..
• 90 minutes later, posts are done. WOOT!
• At this point, I debate emailing Rider to get a golf club recommendation, but decide better of it.. ONWARD!
• Take a break for a couple hours
• Grab some breakfast with Angie, decide sleep is in order. Grab a couple hours of nap time.

Summary - so far, testing looks good, but I'm getting the feeling this project may be going something like this:



Jump forward to 11pm Saturday.

At this point I should be going to sleep, Angie and I have to be up at 5 for an appointment.

Bah, lets look at the new stuff some more..maybe I can tweak the upgrade and make it a bit faster......
.....
.....
........
..............

..or not. 300,000 posts, a few thousand threads, and god knows how many PMs is a lot of data.

• Data moved! WOOT!
• Tear down the original site..
• Post up instructions for a password reset, these work for some, but not for all, and this is already becoming a problem.. DAMNIT!
• SportsmanPhil is already on, posting smart ass threads. I figure he's up cleaning his shitkickers; back to what I'm doin.
• It's 3 am.. 3 am.. eternal...

• 4:30 a.m.. Oops, looks like I'm not going to sleep tonight either
• Run to the office with Angie, while I'm there reset about a dozen accounts that can't get the links to work right
• Discover why, birthday field has corrupt data
• Look for scripts to fix, don't find anything
• Rant. A Lot.
• Debate calling Nog, decide he'll just taunt me a second time! (Monty Python..cmon people!)
• Finally find right fields, do an update. Fails.
• Fails again.
• And. Again.
• Complete, 0 rows updated.
• Rant. A lot. (two words.. remember..two words)
• Complete, 0 rows updated.
• See above
• If see above, goto rant
• rant = rant +1
• Finally find whats wrong in my code, fix it

• Decide its time for dinner. YES, I've been working on it that long.
• Eat (with laptop beside me, watching for more users to update)
• Realize that people have entirely too many PMs.
• Hey..look.. Super Bowl is on.
• 10 nothing.
• More code.
• Finally fix the search BMW Dr. found was wrong hours ago. He's probably stoked, he can go back to e-stalking Wyndzer now.
• Try moving forum attachments again, fail.
• Russell realizes that subscriptions are broken, figure I should fix this one quick since people can give me money that way
• Test.
• Test.
• Test.
• The Who? Seriously? Janet pops out a boob and we're stuck with the freakin' Who from here on out?
• Who, who, who are you..
• <insert graphic of Tootsie Roll Owl here, don't have one handy>
• More fixes.
• Test.
• Test.

10 pm:

• Manning = bigger fail than this data migration.
• Realize that Colts wining might have meant not hearing "Who dat" 10,000,000 times.
• Pack clothes for NJ trip this week
• Catch up on posts again, fix some more users.

.... to be continued...