IMPORTANT: At 9PM ET tonight (Monday, March 25) we will be making our second attempt at a required software update

[EarlG]

This discussion thread was locked by EarlG (a host of the Announcements group).

tl;dr: DU will be offline for up to an hour starting at 9PM tonight (Monday) for a required update. After that, we may have to temporarily restrict access to the site for certain visitors, depending on what happens after the update is complete.

If the site cannot handle a full traffic load, we will temporarily restrict access so that only registered members can access DU.

If the site cannot handle the traffic after that, we will temporarily restrict access so that only Star Members can access DU.

While we have done everything we can to avoid the possibility, there is still a small but non-zero chance that we will have to take DU offline again, revert the update, and try again at another time.

While the goal is to have DU up and running for all visitors as soon as possible, this situation could last for anywhere from a few hours to a few days. For a complete explanation, read on.

On February 28, we attempted a required software update which we needed to perform in order to avoid issues with our service provider. Unfortunately the update failed and we had to restore the site from a backup. Ultimately, it turned out than the update process was significantly more complicated that originally anticipated.

Elad has spent the last 3+ weeks working behind the scenes to resolve these issues, and we are now ready to attempt the update again. Here are some important things you need to know.

At 9PM ET tonight (Monday) DU will go offline for a brief period of time while Elad performs the update. This is (hopefully) the easy part, and we expect the downtime to last for no more than 30-60 minutes.

The next phase is more complicated. All the work on the update so far has been performed in a test environment, which means we don't need to interrupt the live site. The problem with this is that the test environment has essentially zero traffic compared to the live site, which means that everything can look good during testing, but once the site is opened back up to everyone and we have a full traffic load, issues can arise. And the only way we're going to be able to identify and fix these issues is when they start occurring.

So once the update is complete, one of two things will happen:

1) Everything will work just fine and there will be no major issues. Any minor issues can be resolved while the site is open to everyone.

OR

2) The updated software will not immediately be able to handle a full traffic load, and the site will slow down to a crawl (which is what happened last time).

We're not going to rule out number 1, but to be completely honest, number 2 is the more likely scenario. However, this time, instead of reverting the update and restoring the site, we will push through the problem and fix it as it's happening. Elad will work on optimizing the software while we have live traffic coming to DU.

In order for this to work, we may have to restrict access for certain visitors, possibly for anywhere from a few hours to a few days. If the site cannot handle a full traffic load, we will temporarily restrict access so that only registered members can access DU. If the site cannot handle the traffic after that, we will temporarily restrict access so that only Star Members can access DU.

These restrictions will only last for as long as it takes to resolve the issues, at which point the site will re-open for everyone. If we do have to restrict access at any time, we will provide clear explanations and updates about what's going on.

This update has been a huge project and an enormous pain in Elad's ass for months now, so we are really hoping to get it over and done with as soon as possible, so that we can move forward and get back to working on other DU development. We're sorry for the service interruption which may occur starting tonight, but we will work as hard as we can to make sure DU is back to normal as soon as possible.

As always, we appreciate your patience while we work on improving DU.

Thanks for reading!

EarlG, on behalf of Elad -- the DU Administrators

[c-rational]

1. EalG, thanks for the announcement - today is March 25.

[niyad]

4. Belated Happy 7th DUnniversary to you!

[c-rational]

10. Thank you niyad. Time flys. So happy I found DU. I can thnk my wife who has been here since 2001.

[niyad]

14. It does indeed. I am thankful every day for this wonderful community.

[EarlG]

8. Oops, thanks

Fixed!

[CincyDem]

2. Good luck gang - may the Force be with you. n/t

[JohnSJ]

3. Thanks for the heads up. Let's hope there isn't a major news event during that time.

[Demsrule86]

5. Thanks for the update...fingers crosed !

[cbabe]

6. Excellent opportunity to go outside to see the lunar eclipse and maybe aurora borealis. Thank you. Cheers!

[niyad]

7. Thank you for this. Fingers crossed for easy, successful upgrade.

We are in Mercury retrograde shadow.

[hlthe2b]

9. 🍀🍀🍀Good Luck! 🍀🍀🍀

[Mister Ed]

11. Thank you, EarlG and Elad, for all that you do. n/t

[2naSalit]

12. Thasnk you and good luck!

[ificandream]

13. Good luck, EarlG and Elad

[Rocknation]

15. You have my most sincere hopes, thoughts, and prayers

Last edited Mon Mar 25, 2024, 01:27 PM - Edit history (1)

I've missed having access to my journal so much


Rocknation

[JoseBalow]

16. Is there place for status updates if the site remains down longer?

Is there like a facebook page or xwitter account for something like that?

[Marthe48]

39. There is a Democratic Underground page on Facebook

It doesn't get much use, but it's there

[riversedge]

17. I hope for your own well-being that it works and you can get some well-deserved

down time--or at least back to normal.

Thank you EarlG

[Buns_of_Fire]

18. Thank you and good luck. I know how stressful this can be. nt

[mopinko]

19. could u please post updates on the du fb page?

it’s hell for us when we dont know how long.

[AllaN01Bear]

20. got my fingers, toes . and ears crossed that all goes well. see ya on the other side.

[Cha]

21. TY.. Glad I'm a Star Member!

[William769]

22. Kick to stay visible.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

23. Solar flare, eclipse, DU denied to its addicts -- I will be in my fallout shelter.

[orleans]

35. lol (and possible true???)

that's how it always felt on those few times du went down

[Fla Dem]

24. We appreciate YOU, EARLG and ELAD!!!!

If it wasn't for the Dynamic Duo there'd be no DU. Whatever you need to do, you both have our appreciation!

[HuskyOffset]

25. Thanks for all the hard work!

I can't pretend to understand what is involved in updating (or even maintaining) a site like DU, but I bet it's a lot of work that most of us will never notice. Thanks for all you & the rest of the team do to keep DU running!

[judesedit]

26. Thank you guys for everything you're doing to keep us sane

We'll just have to imbibe in adult mood altering entertainment while we're jonesing lol. Thank you Elad. Thank you Earl. You are the best

[Warpy]

27. Here's hoping it works and gives you an early night

and thank you for moving it out of prime time.

[MontanaMama]

28. Thank you for the heads up.

May the update gods be with you.

[highplainsdem]

29. Thanks for the heads-up, and for all the work you and Elad do. I have a question about getting back to DU if there are

any limitations on traffic.

I'm a registered Star member...but do I have to be logged in, when you take the site offline, to return to the site, if there are limitations?

I don't have DU set so I stay logged in. Will I still be able to get to the log-in page?

[EarlG]

33. When the site is completely offline

there will be a "503" error message -- basically a blank page with a short message on it saying the site is offline. That should last from 30-60 minutes (hopefully).

After that, IF we have to restrict traffic once the update completes, in a nutshell here's what will happen:

If you were already signed in, then when you arrive at DU you should be signed in as normal and the site should look normal.

If you were not signed in, then you'll see a normal-looking DU page with the site header and the left column. However the main section of the page --- and this will happen on every page except for the Sign In pages -- will simply display a message explaining what's going on. However, you WILL be able to sign in from that message, and once you do that, you'll be able to browse DU as normal.

One last thing to bear in mind: Once the update is complete, we're going to doing optimizations on the live site. So during the post-update period there may be some weird glitches and errors popping up -- those are the things that Elad will be running around trying to fix.

[highplainsdem]

34. Thanks! It's reassuring that we will still be able to log in.

[Hope22]

30. Thanks!

Best wishes!

[ms liberty]

31. How do you say go ahead and watch Rachel live, without saying go ahead and watch Rachel live?

[relayerbob]

32. This stuff can be very hard, you're doing a great job!

[blogslug]

36. Cross fingers all goes smoothly

You guys are the best.

[OhMcNo]

37. Good luck!

May the force be with you….

[Wednesdays]

38. Kick and rec.

Hope it works out well.

[msfiddlestix]

40. Thanks to you and Elad for all the hard work and dedication. It's a good time for this to be done. Thanks again.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

41. Thank you

for all the work you do maintaining this site of legend