UBB.threads PHP Forum Software Community Forums General Suggestions and Feedback Extra options for a close board.

Most of us close a board for only a few reasons.
Such as making a backup,upgrades or repairs.
For me the most often time is a backup.

It would be nice to have some extra levels of a closed board.
Say if you are making a backup that you have a one click option to set all permissions to view only. Then have a message that states the same.

So at least the board is not completely closed to members while making a backup.

And if you are upgrading you normally make a backup prior so this would also allow you to keep downtime to a minimum.

That would be a great option, but i guess a hell of work.

Rob

Did I mention yet that I had the exact same suggestion in mind?

Well, actually a bit different. Allowing users to read would still involve database transactions you don't want.

But I want to close it on more of an admin level. Ie, the upgrade close should close up the board for real, a "prepare for a makeover" close should allow the admins to post.

Sounds good to me. I just think that closing the board for a backup could done by just making everyone as a guest. With no rights to post topics , PM's etc.
So what if the views stats are off a bit. or members have a few topics not marked as read. At least it would minimize down time.
As the data backups get larger the downtime gets longer.

Just my 2c

well, I don't know how long your backup takes, but it shouldn't take that long. It takes just a few minutes. I do this in the middle of the night, so nobody is really bothered with it.

I like the idea, but I don't see it as being added until the UI rewrite of v8; why? It'd take a lot of work ...

My backup only takes a couple of minutes; but I could see it taking hours if one was using say the built in backup option in the control panel (UBB)

Agreed the tables don't take that long and my site is very small compared to yours.
But I also backup file attachments, Gallery items and avatars.

Then with members on different time zones. What is the best time?

I just think the feature could be enhanced to minimize downtime for different situations for everyone.

We already have the feature for Admins on a closed board to be able to still post why not guests for view mode only.

If you backup attachements you should use the incremental backup, otherwise you keep copying the same files...

But i agree that it minimizes downtime.

Rob

I actually prefer that. Saves me time when it comes to restoring times. If your backup window allows you to do the full shabang, by all means, do it!

Well just call me Mr. Anal.
When I backup I overwrite everything. LOL.

ehr, as in overwriting your previous backup? I hope not

You know what I mean. LOL
Net new backups every time.

Nah! I'm mr. Anal - I keep all my old backups going back a few years.

Today (nothing to do with Threads) I found a backup file I needed from December 2004!

I don't think I consciously kept it - just lucky really

Nah, I do throw them away once in a while. I used to keep backup sets of before/after upgrades for ages, but well, who cares.

I just don't trust incremental's. Learned by the hard way.

i keep 1 backup.. no incrementals..

That is pretty bad practise.

In a major crash situation while you are halfway with your backup you are pretty much lost.

I have members from 66 countries around the world in my board. There is never a good time to close it.

You should pick the slowest time (statistics would tell you), and just do the backup without a close.
That's what I do.

Once a week, the board does get closed for maybe 2-3 minutes to get atleast one consistent backup done. And I do this whenever I upgrade because that's really a set moment in time you might want to revert back to.

In case of emergency where I have to revert to putting a backup back online, I can live with the small inconsistencies that might occur while backuping a live board.

I guess I disagree with your method YARP.
How do you deal with members online that are posting and sending PM's at the same time during a backup?
If you ever need to import your tables they will be completely out of sync with each table for member data.

dude, i don't backup on TOP of the backup..

while (1) {
backup on site, ftp to local HDD
}

no way to kill it that way, since i don't backup on top..

I backup on site, ftp local, burn to dvd, purge...

With all data lost when I have to revert to a backup, I'll live with that extra little bit of data lost.

If I have to revert back to a backup that might be 23 hours and 59 minutes old, the amount of data lost is a lot more then I might loose in your scenario because of backing up an open database.

Remember, this is my daily backup that is there for disater recovery. When I make a manual full backup in case of a board upgrade, I do close up everything.



Ehr, if you keep on overwriting your local HDD, yes it can. depending if your filetransfer starts overwriting your old backup file right away, or just replaces it at the end.

Most important thing, give it thought, weigh out the options, and do what's best for your board.

And so practise a restore once in a while on a local test machine to make sure you backup the full shabang. You are not the first one who found his or hers backup was useless.

A few good-practise backup things:

• Make backups!
• Automate those backups! If you do it manual, you forget!
• Check the automated process reguraly.
• Don't keep the backups on the same location as the data itself.
• Don't overwrite your only other backup. Keep a couple.
• Restore your data once in a while to test if your backup is complete
• If your hosting provider does a backup? That's fine, but in the end, if the data is lost your proviver says sorry and you are still lost. Make it always your own responsability to have a backup.
• Always have an extra pair of dutch wooden shoes as backup for footwear

dude, i run a local Wamp with the sites i support.. so you are preachin to the choir..

i just not an uber-backup fanboi like you.. mine works fine for me tho..


and the dutch shoes i have, but use as a weapon instead..