United3dArtists Archive

Hostgator, our host, announced that they will upgrade to PHP 5.4 on May 13, 2014. They will attempt automatic upgrades of scripts etc. to use 5.4 but recommend checking compatibility yourself.

If any of you with cpanel access want to do that PM me and I'll PM, or forward, their email to you with details.

Hostgator, the host for U3DA, makes backups every week. They do have a daily backup service detailed here.

In my opinion the free weekly backup is good enough for us and the paid daily one is too expensive and its storage limits too small for a site with so many image files. But I thought we should be informed.

I made a backup of everything Jan. 1, 2017. I make them more or less once per month and keep three of them. Hostgator makes back ups each week and keeps one.

You all volunteer for these jobs to keep U3DA going. They are admin for the forum, front page, host account, and treasurer. Most are easy and only occasionally need anything done. They could be fun too. Except host admin it is just learning a user interface and what tasks need doing. Do more than one! We really need a couple of host admins. viewtopic.php?t=5222

I'm moving my own websites to InterServer within the month. That will provide us with a customer's perspective of them and experience that could help with moving the forum there in May-June. I'm glad we found InterServer since I need cheap but ok quality hosting too.

Several admin jobs are filled now. Some are still open. See here.

I renewed the domain "united3dartists.com" for three years with donated money and added private registration at my own expense. The domain expires May 2020.

Private registration hides the registrant information and provides a proxy for interested parties to contact the registrant. This keeps the treasurer's address, phone, email, etc. from being visible on whois.

U3DA's domain now has its own account at Godaddy. It was previously managed by SV4 which is run by Prodigy's friend.

Host Admin can need the billing login for some activities. The most efficient thing is to have the Host Admins also be the treasurer and backup treasurer. Are there any objections to Host Admins also being Treasurers?

Why the change from SV4 to Godaddy? Any advantages or just more convenient?

By transferring the domain from their account to our own we have direct access to the account rather than depending on SV4 to change info., pay bills, etc. We eliminate the middle man. The domain has always been on Godaddy. Along with SV4's hosting services they have a Godaddy account with hundreds of domains they manage for their customers.

Transfer of U3DA to our new host InterServer.

As noted in the hosting renewal donation drive we will be moving U3DA from Hostgator to InterServer. Our Hostgator hosting expires July 7, 2017. I intend to pay InterServer early in June so we will have a month to deal with any problems with the move. Problems are unlikely. I got my own account there and they transferred everything from Mid Phase to InterServer with no trouble.

To avoid forum posts getting lost in the transfer I suggest that the forum be locked when the transfer process begins until it is up at the new host. The transfer took a few days (2 or 3?) for my sites.

Proposed process:
0. U3DA "officers" exchange email addresses via PM to communicate outside of the forum.
1. Treasurer (Finis) signs up at InterServer and pays for account.
2. Forum Admin (Stan and Clintonman) locks the forum vs. new posts at Hostgator.
3. Host Admin (Clintonman and Froo) makes a full backup of the site and stores it on the Hostgator server (InterServer needs this to transfer). Host Admin also downloads the backup file for safe keeping and disaster recovery.
4. Host Admin or Treasurer asks InterServer to transfer the site. (Note to Host Admin, they will need the CPanel log in.)
5. Site is transferred.
6. Treasurer cancels hosting account at Hostgator so it does not renew.
7. Treasurer changes domain information at Godaddy to point to the new host.
8. Forum Admin unlocks the forum at InterServer.
9. Host Admin becomes Treasurer.
10. Host Admin asks InterServer to set up the free SSL.
11. Main Site Admin (front page, Clintonman and Froo) creates a new front page/website if wanted.

If you detect problems with this or have advice or objections please post it.

I just sent my email address to you, stan and froo.

I signed up for our hosting account at Interserver. Thank you members who donated to support U3DA! Steps 0 and 1 of the migration process above (link) are complete.

Host Admin (Clintonman and Froo) I'll email you the Interserver cpanel login credentials tomorrow. Clintonman, since you are Admin for the forum and for Hostgator I recommend that you do steps 2, 3, and 4 so there is no delay coordinating among people. You should do a forum post that explains why the forum is locked so visitors will know what is happening. Be sure forum admin can still log in when the forum is locked vs posting.