We're Moving!

[Raz]

so can I ask why the server needed moving and what changes have taken place (as in, what has been improved etc.)?

You can ask BUT I'LL NEVER TELL.

Okay... Actually I will. I made the same type of post on VGFacts but I suppose an explanation would be pretty good for here, too.

tSR has been on the same server for over two years now, when we first got the server it was a mid to high end server. The speed with which server hardware moves is even faster than in the desktop market and so after over twenty four months on the same box we're now an a pretty old server. We've run the disk drives in to the ground with the way we use them, the amount of RAM we have is no longer sufficient and, as you know, we've been growing to accomodate VGFacts and the other Resource sites (as well as some projects which haven't been announced yet).

So basically, the current server is old, worn out and is no longer big enough to handle all the growth that running a network like the Resource sites requires.

In steps the shiny new server. Double the CPU, double the RAM and, double the Disk space for the same price as we currently pay for the old server - it's really a no-brainer. Stay where we are and continue to feel the restrictions being imposed by the hardware or make the move and get all new hardware which will allow us to grow over the next year.

Before you joined, Jetters a server move was something I performed once a year, that allowed us to run a server in to the ground and then get shiny new hardware - that was all good when we were operating in the same physical datacenter - this time that is no longer the case. To get the best deal we changed the company that host the tSR server and because of that the data had to be transferred over the internet to the new server (unlike before when it was moved inside the datacenter at a much faster rate). That's the reason there has been, and will be a little downtime. It's not ideal, I know but it will mean we get a much better experience overall.

Hopefully that kind of explains it but if it doesn't let me know and I can try to explain more of why we've moved, why we chose to move from the datacenter we're in or anything else you might want to know.

As for improvements - in terms of the site coding and the software we use - absolutely everything is the same it's just on higher capacity hardware so hopefully should work better now and in the future as move members join the sites on the network.

tl;dr

Our old server was set to expire and instead of renewing with the old hardware, we upgraded. We now have more storage space and better specs all around so the server will be able to handle much greater loads.