Today we’re detailing the issue behind the upgrade delay and presenting an option to move forward. We’d like to hear your thoughts.
The issue: Data conversion.
Within our database there are 34 Million posts and 1 million threads. Attempts to migrate this large of a database have not been successful so far, and at this point we’re not sure if it’s doable without spending more time and money than we’re willing to or have the budget for. Every attempt takes around 64 - 70 hours and so far they’ve all stalled out along the way. Recent updates to the tools IPB offers to transfer the data have improved the process, but it’s still not doable at this time. We’ve considered a few other alternatives as well, such as transferring the last 6 months of posts, but that's not currently supported within the system.
So currently our plan is to transfer
accounts only and archive this version of ATRL. Old ATRL would still be accessible to view, (not immediately - we’d need to reestablish it somewhere else post-upgrade). Users may be able to keep their post counts (we’re still looking into that) and other data stored within accounts, but threads, posts, blogs and PMs will not transfer. This method has
already been tested and it works without any issues.
If moving all the data matters to the community, we would reconsider it and possibly raise funds for a service that IPB offers to transfer everything for us, but this would just be hiring them to try - it doesn’t guarantee success. I know it has been a long wait - it has been for us as well. Regardless of which route we decide to go with, we’re aiming to launch the new forum in January 2017.
Let's hope this is nice!
