DLF Server Migration!

[dlf_kenm]

OK folks, so here is the deal.

As you have all no doubt noticed, the DLF site has been experiencing some increasingly significant performance issues over the last few weeks. As we have mentioned in other areas of the site, the traffic to the website has increased dramatically over the last few months. We knew at some point our current hosting environment would no longer be able to meet our needs, we just did not know when that would be. Nor did we expect to hit that wall so suddenly and dramatically. There have been a few isolated performance issues here and there over the last few months, but they were intermittent and brief. Things really came to a head on the day of the NFL draft when we were not only crushed with traffic, but our chat room script caused the server to crash. Since then we have seen record traffic days, one after another, activity which honestly exceeded all of our expectations.

Just like that, the wall had been hit.

We knew then that we had to do something. But we did not want to take the site down at a critical time, during or right after the NFL draft. Moreover, we wanted to make sure the decision we made was a well thought out, long-term decision. One that would not only minimize the impact of a migration right now, but more importantly, ensure maximum performance and scalability for the long haul. We absolutely do not want to run into another situation like this any time soon!

We also wanted to be able to give at least a little advance notice of the inevitable downtime. A number of dynasty rookie drafts are underway, and we are quite sensitive to that fact, and do not want to suddenly bring down the site at an inopportune time. But bring it down we must.

We will be performing a migration of the site to a new dedicated hosting environment. This is no small migration, as we need to stop all activity on the site, copy the databases over to the new server, and bring everything up carefully. We are moving into an environment which vastly exceeds the needs of the current site. We will be able to grow and scale the site for many years to come. This is not an inexpensive undertaking, and I mention that because we absolutely could not have gone this route without the income generated from the premium subscriptions. That income is what is funding this move, and is what enables us to continue providing the DLF content and community, whether you are a free visitor or paying premium member. So, to all of you premium subscribers out there, Thank You! We quite literally could not have done this without you!

OK, enough of the technical non-sense. This is all you really care about…


The site (and forum) will be down from 4:00pm PST Friday May 04 and will be back up (hopefully) before Noon on Saturday May 05. It could be back up sooner. There’s an outside chance it might be up later. Just depends on how things go.


We sincerely apologize for the delays and errors which have been plaguing the site for the last few weeks, and for the downtime necessary for the migration. We take enormous pride in hosting the best possible dynasty community, information and user experience.

We are amazed and humbled at the tremendous growth we have all seen here at DLF. And we want to do whatever we can to ensure the DLF community continues to thrive - for this year, and for many years to come.

Thanks for your patience, your patronage, and your subscriptions. Here’s to a terrific 2012 season, for all of us!

The DLF Team

[Steelersfan]

I just wanted to "bump" this thread in case anyone missed this important post. Thanks for understanding guys and gals!

[dlf_kenm]

Forum posting access will be shut down just a bit before 4:00pm PST.

[dlf_kenm]

Well... that sure went smoothly.

[Steelersfan]

Well... that sure went smoothly.

All water under the bridge now Ken...hopefully.

[dlf_kenm]

Well... that sure went smoothly.

All water under the bridge now Ken...hopefully.

Still having some lingering issues. The server just crashes every now and then.
Once everything is totally stable, I'll let you all know.

Thanks for your patience!

KM

[Shawn]

Well... that sure went smoothly.

All water under the bridge now Ken...hopefully.

Still having some lingering issues. The server just crashes every now and then.
Once everything is totally stable, I'll let you all know.

Thanks for your patience!

KM

Thanks for the hard work keeping the site great!

Any chance we could bring the DLF chat back, possibly putting it on the main forum page to increase activity???

[dlf_jeffh]

We'll be looking at a new chat plug-in or service soon Shawn.

[esull9]

Hey DLF team. Just an FYI, I have been getting intermittent 503 errors and/or not connecting to the site at all. I would hit refresh right away, or try again a minute or so later and then I would connect. This has been happening since Sunday. If you have any other questions or would like any additional info, email me.

[dlf_kenm]

Yes, sorry for the continuing issues. While the server has somewhat stabilized, there are still a few periods where it is unresponsive. Our hosting company continues to work on the issue, things are getting better but were not out of the woods yet. As soon as the issues appear to be resolved, I'll let everyone know. Thanks for your ongoing patience, I know how frustrating this is for all of us!

[esull9]

Yes, sorry for the continuing issues. While the server has somewhat stabilized, there are still a few periods where it is unresponsive. Our hosting company continues to work on the issue, things are getting better but were not out of the woods yet. As soon as the issues appear to be resolved, I'll let everyone know. Thanks for your ongoing patience, I know how frustrating this is for all of us!

My reply was informational. I know migrating to new hardware and moving databases can be a pain in the butt. I work for a large software company and deal with software/hardware so the best we can do for you as end users is provide you guys with info, good and bad.

[dlf_kenk]

Absolutely!

We're working like crazy to get the problem resolved and are doing everything humanly possible to make it happen.

[Madtoker]

[dlf_kenm]

The final follow up on the server migration.

The long and short (mostly short) of it is this.

The migration didn't go well, but it's done, and everything is working now.

GoDaddy really dropped the ball in a number of ways through this entire process. Until this weekend, I have usually had overall pretty good experiences working with GoDaddy for the last seven or more years. But they really blew it on this.

Ultimately however, the new server is finally working as anticipated. It's running very quickly now, is stable, and gives up plenty of capacity for future growth.

We all genuinely thank you for your patience through this last week or two, I know it's been a rough ride. I can't think of there ever being a more stressful time in all our years at DLF. We sincerely want to create the best possible experience for everyone, and hopefully, moving forward, we'll do that.

Thank you again for your patience and understanding through all of this, here's to a terrific 2012 season!

KenM