Skadi Forum Upgrade : Please Read This!

[Thorburn]

In the last 72 hours, we have unsuccessfully tried to upgrade the forum software from vBulletin 3.6.12 to vBulletin 4.2.5.

This upgrade is necessary on security grounds and to add new functionalities (in particular social media integration). We eventually plan to upgrade to the most recent version, vBulletin 5.

Unfortunately, the upgrade ran into unforeseen technical difficulties.

To add to the problems, vBulletin hasn't responded to any of our tickets either in the last 3 days (despite so-called 'priority support'). One cannot reach the vBulletin support department by phone (but only their sales department), and all e-mails, contact form submissions and tickets get automatically routed into their ticket system where we have received no human reply so far.

Since we have neither an idea when the tickets will be addressed nor an estimated date for the resolution of the problems, we reopened the 3.6 version of Skadi Forum on our backup domain forums.skadi.info, so that you can access at least your PMs and other important information you might need. You can also chat with other forum members.

You have been automatically rerouted to this domain, when you tried to access Skadi Forum on its usual domain forums.skadi.net. Search results on Google and links are also rerouted, preserving the REQUEST_URI (the full URL), so you will arrive at the right thread or post if you clicked on a link to Skadi Forum anywhere on the Internet (such as on Google).

We hope that vBulletin will eventually provide a solution to make a successful upgrade.

Naturally, whenever this happens, we will try to upgrade the most current database (that's the one used here, on forums.skadi.info), so that none of your PMs, posts or setting changes are lost.

However, we also cannot promise this, since we have no idea what kind of solution vBulletin will provide (if any). When they will finally address the tickets, they will inspect the database stuck in the upgrade process (containing all data until including June 3, 2017), not this one (containing everything).

That means that everything you might post, write or change in your account from now on could be lost in case vBulletin cannot provide a solution that can be reproduced. In this case, we would not be able to migrate the most recent data (everything beginning from June 4, 2017).

It might thus be advisable to keep personal backups of important new posts or PMs (everything you write or receive from now on) until we have finalised the upgrade.

We apologise for the inconvenience and we will keep you posted if there are any news.

In case you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Thanks for your understanding!

[Thorburn]

Update Log of the last 72 hours...

Technical Maintenance...



June 1, 2017, 6 am PT (3 pm CET):
Upgrading Skadi Forum...

June 1, 2017, 8 am PT (5 pm CET):
mySQL problems with the upgrade due to 3rd party plugin collisions. This can take a while. Go out and enjoy nature or treat your loved ones. Then try again this evening or to-morrow...

But if you insist on staying, watch this presentation ... because everyone should have seen it:

When Terror Struck Norway...

I know that's it's long, but it's worth it ... you won't regret it. It gets the better, the longer it runs, really.

June 1, 2017, 2:30 pm PT (11:30 pm CET):
No news. mySQL experts and the vBulletin team are hopefully looking into the issue this very moment... We will restore the backup in the next 48 hours if there is no substantial progress.

June 2, 2017, 2:30 am PT (11:30 am CET):
We are giving the upgrade another run, after we locked problematic tables manually, so that they can be upgraded.

June 2, 2017, 1:50 pm PT (10:50 pm CET):
The upgrade is still stuck. Just came from the phone talking to Josh from vBulletin. He said they didn't have had a chance yet to look at the issue in depth, but he assured me that their tech guys would also work over the weekend, and that he will prioritize the ticket if it hasn't been assigned by 5:00 pm PT (when he goes home). Thus, I would suggest we hold on over the weekend, until vBulletin had at least a fair shot. Sorry, folks! Wish I had better news...

June 3, 2017, 12:40 pm PT (9:40 pm CET):
Still no reply from vBulletin. No ETA, no 'we are working on it', no nothing. Can't say that I am entirely satisfied with their support. I sent them another support e-mail and contacted them via their forum. Chlodovech & Ahnenerbe, if you read this, please send me an e-mail to [removed]

June 3, 2017, 2:00 pm PT (11:00 pm CET):
Awesome, we received an auto-generated reply to the e-mail:

[Mrs vonTrep]

It was very appreciated with the little updates we got during the days Skadi was down, so thank you for that and for this heads up.

[Norman Pride]

Thanks for the information.

I was writing a post just as the site went down and unfortunately couldn't recover it. Then I saw the updates on Facebook and learned what was going on.

I guess I should really make it a habit to copy texts to a notepad before submitting them, just in case...

Is the update more a matter of security or functionality?

[Aeternitas]

Naturally, whenever this happens, we will try to upgrade the most current database (that's the one used here, on forums.skadi.info), so that none of your PMs, posts or setting changes are lost.

However, we also cannot promise this, since we have no idea what kind of solution vBulletin will provide (if any). When they will finally address the tickets, they will inspect the database stuck in the upgrade process (containing all data until including June 3, 2017), not this one (containing everything).

That means that everything you might post, write or change in your account from now on could be lost in case vBulletin cannot provide a solution that can be reproduced. In this case, we would not be able to migrate the most recent data (everything beginning from June 4, 2017).

It might thus be advisable to keep personal backups of important new posts or PMs (everything you write or receive from now on) until we have finalised the upgrade.

This might also hold true for new registrations (after June 3, 2017). We will try to preserve everything but in the event we cannot integrate the content from June 4 onwards, new users might have to re-register. We will of course let you know if that is the case and keep you updated on the process.

Is the update more a matter of security or functionality?

Both. We've had some security issues recently (spam, etc.) which we managed to patch with the current software, however in the long run, an upgrade would be the ideal solution. The current forum software (vbulletin 3.6.12) is outdated and no longer supported technically; so are many of the modifications we use. It's more a matter of when than if, but we'd prefer to have it done more sooner than later.

[Thorburn]

We are in contact with vBulletin and are working on the issue.

They advised us to install the 3.8.11 files and to try the 3.8.11 update scripts, then take it from there, but this doesn't work either (as expected). The upgrade hangs at the same step (as expected, since all the upgrade scripts must be functionally identical). What is now new is that it causes an internal server error, yeah!

Don't worry we'll find a solution. Maybe we'll just have to pay them for a 'professional upgrade' to get some real attention ($199).

But since we paid them for 'priority ticket and phone support' ($49/month) already, let's annoy them with that one first.

[Ingvaeonic]

At the risk of stating the bleedin' obvious, vBulletin hardly seems to be an efficient and effective concern or organization. Perhaps exploring Skadi's options regarding another company or companies providing the same service as vBulletin would be in order.

Just a suggestion!

[Mrs vonTrep]

XenForo

No idea what that would cost though.

[Thorburn]

At the risk of stating the bleedin' obvious, vBulletin hardly seems to be an efficient and effective concern or organization. Perhaps exploring Skadi's options regarding another company or companies providing the same service as vBulletin would be in order.

Just a suggestion!

Surely. Any suggestions as to concrete brand names?

XenForo

I guess this means you like it. Why do you prefer it to ... let's say vBulletin 4 or 5?

No idea what that would cost though.

$140. It has import scripts for vBulletin 3.6.x, so this could be an option.

No guarantees either that they will work, though.

[Mrs vonTrep]

I have only used one XenForo forum and several vBulletin but definitely prefer XF when it comes to looks/design. So much more modern looking than VB, more inviting. I don't know if there's any truth to it but I heard that all the original developers at VB have quit and that things went downhill from version 3.x something? That 4 and 5 also are more vulnerable to hacks etc? And that the support from the VB team is getting worse and worse seems to be common knowledge these days. Then again XF might be just as bad in that regard, I don't have much experience of that. It's supposedly "safer" than VB 4 or 5 though?