Bongo4U Migration & Downtime
The Bongo4U system is being migrated to a newer, faster server on Thursday, August 20, 2009. This is an all-day activity and there is an impact to all Bongo4U admin users.
What Does This Mean?
The Bongo4U “Admin Area” for ALL Bongo4U Websites will be Unavailable during the Migration. We need to “lock” the database contents during the migration and therefore Admin Area logins will need to be disabled while the system and databases are migrated to the new server. This means that you will not be able to update your website during the migration.
Will this Affect my Public Website? No. Your public Bongo4U website will continue to be displayed by the Bongo4U system (only updates are disabled). There will be a very short downtime late afternoon or early evening when the “switch is thrown” to the new server, but other than that short time, the public websites should continue being serviced as usual throughout the migration.
How Long will the Admin Areas be Down? The migration will begin at 8:00am ET on August 20th and is expected to take between 9 and 12 hours. Therefore the Admin Areas are expected to be re-enabled sometime between dinnertime and mid-evening on the 20th. (All times are Eastern Time.)
Will I still be able to Login to the Admin Area during the Migration? No, admin area logins will be disabled during this period. If you forget and attempt to login, you will just see a friendly reminder about the migration and that admin area logins are currently disabled. (no harm done)
What about Newsletter Subscriptions and Email Forms during the Migration? Your website will still be able to accept mailing list subscription and unsubscribe requests and be able to send emails from any email forms during the migration. That data is stored in a different database and is unaffected by this migration.
How will I Know when the Migration is Complete or if there were any Delays? We will be using our @Bongo4U Twitter account to provide status updates during the migration, including a reminder beforehand, and any problem notifications post-migration. You might want to sign-up for a free Twitter account so that you can follow the progress or see when everything is back to normal. Once you have a Twitter account, go to http://twitter.com/Bongo4U and click the [Follow] button. Thereafter, check back whenever you wish to see the latest status.
What if I Discover a Problem during or after the Migration? If you believe that Bongo4U is acting differently or incorrectly during or after the migration, please submit a helpdesk ticket to us as soon as possible using the quick form at http://help.bongo4u.com/#helpdesk (or send us a tweet to @Bongo4U on Twitter)
What if I have a Question now, Before the Migration? Please submit any questions to us using the handy helpdesk form at http://help.bongo4u.com/#helpdesk or post a comment under this article on this blog.
Summary
Please mark Thursday, August 20, 2009 on your calendar to remind you that the Admin Area will be unavailable that day.
To receive an email whenever a news article is posted to this Bongo4U Blog, subscribe using this feedburner form: http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=Bongo4uBlog
To be informed about the status of the migration, follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Bongo4U
We all look forward to having the Bongo4U system and all of its websites on the newer, faster server… using an upgraded database infrastructure, etc. It’s another step in Bongo4U’s growth!
The Bongo4U system migration to a new server was successfully completed! All systems are go. The Admin Area was available again immediately after the migration was done. Everything is now back to normal (other than being on a new server).