Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

SpaceNut · 2024-03-31 12:44:51

Not sure what you would change to your experimental index.html page but it is different for sure.

Testing our forum, we have the index page appearing on both of these address bars entries.
https://newmars.com/forums/
https://newmars.com/forums/index.php

One can view the source code of our page to learn where the replacement should also replicate with all other sub forums that we are thinking about as new index areas.

tahanson43206 · 2024-03-31 13:48:22

For SpaceNut re #26

Thanks for taking a look at the index.html file!

Regarding your testing ... please note that the default behavior of the forum Apache configuration is to serve index.php.

That file is NOT the index.html that is the default for Apache, so I'm assuming there must be a configuration file that is called by Apache on Dreamhost when the visitor does not specify a php script to run.

Hopefully we'll learn a lot more about how everything works as kbd512 makes progress in working with the old 1.5.11 FluxBB version.

I am enthusiastic about your having a playground where you can experiment with the changes we are discussing, without putting the existing production system at risk. I'm pretty sure you will find there are features available to you as Senior Admin that you have been hesitant to use on the production system.

Chief among these is the option to create new forums, but (I believe) there may be several more.

I'd very much like to have a new membership category, and that may be an option you can exercise in the test environment when kbd512 has it ready. I'd like to have a membership category of "Inactive" for our members who should not be banned. The only reason so many folks are banned is that is the only option we had when dealing with the spammers.

Speaking of spammers .... Dr. Lewis Dartnell's Knowledge site is running on punBB software (from which FluxBB came). The forum has accumulated over 19000 spammer accounts. That in itself isn't so bad, but recently one of them found a way to post on the forum. That is NOT so good. I've written to Dr. Dartnell offering to serve as a moderator, but I doubt he looks at the email from that web site. He has another web site, much as the Mars Society has it's main web site, and newmars.com is a loosely connected affiliate.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2024-03-31 15:15:08

For SpaceNut re Azure test environment....

I asked ChatGPT4 to prepare a report showing (in general terms) what the procedure to open an account with Microsoft to use the free Azure services (for a year for selected items and 30 days/$200 for everything).

This document is intended to provide a guide for someone wanting to set up a simple LAMP system in Azure, by building the system from a plain Ubuntu environment.

While the setup process is reasonably understandable, there are options that can delay a first time experimenter.

In this case, I am looking back at the working configuration, in hopes of capturing the settings that are helpful for increasing odds of success.

###
The key insight I’d like to offer is that after a plain Ubuntu VM is created, and you have succeeded in connecting using ssh (and a key file generated during the setup of your account), you must precede every command with sudo.
###
Region: East US 2
###

ssh -i /path/to/private-key username@vm-public-ip-address
###

Setting Up an Azure Subscription
Sign Up or Log In: Navigate to the Azure website and sign up for a new account or log in.
Subscription Creation:
- Access the Subscriptions section in the Azure Portal.
- Click on "Add" or "Create a subscription". Choose the type that best fits your needs.
Payment Information:
- Enter your payment details, typically a credit card, during the subscription setup.
Verification:
- Complete any required phone or email verification to secure your account.
Subscription Configuration:
- Configure your subscription settings, including spending limits or alerts.
Configuring a Virtual Machine
Create a Resource:
- Select "Create a resource" in the Azure Portal and choose "Virtual Machine".
Basic Settings:
- Provide the VM details such as name, region (e.g., East US 2), and OS image.
VM Size Selection:
- Choose the VM size. For small projects, a VM with 1 GB of RAM may suffice.
Administrative Account and SSH Keys:
- Set up an admin account and provide your public SSH key for secure access.
Networking, Management, and Advanced Settings:
- Assign a public IP, set up security group rules, and configure optional features like monitoring.
Review and Create:
- Review your settings, then click "Create" to deploy the VM.
Finalizing and Accessing the VM
To connect to your VM via SSH, use the following command:
ssh -i /path/to/private-key username@vm-public-ip-address
Replace
/path/to/private-key
with the path to your private key file and
username@vm-public-ip-address
with your actual VM's username and public IP address.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2024-03-31 15:18:30

For SpaceNut (or RobertDyck) .... if there is any interest in the free Azure account, I'd be happy to assist (as much as possible).

The guideline provided in Post #28 looks fairly close to the mark.

The show stopper for most folks would be the need to enter a credit card into the system. If you are willing to trust Microsoft, then the setup process should go smoothly.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2024-04-01 08:23:46

Budget report ... We still have $194 and change left in our $200 play money account.

However, the 30 days is counting.

The test environment is ready for new software to be tested.

For SpaceNut ...because time is getting short, please familiarize yourself with the Admin powers that are available to you.

To find out what is available, please visit the NewMars forum and explore the menus that are available just to the Admin.

We want to be able to create new forums and I'd like to be able to create new member categories.

Please make sure you know where those options are and how to use them.

We may have only a few days for you to experiment on the test system.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2024-04-02 08:20:52

Budget report ... we have $193.80 left in our play money account, and only 13 days left in the 30 day free trial period.

We seem to have everything installed and working, to support a test of the newly updated forum software.

It appeared (at last check) that only two modules of the forum software required adjustment to run with modern PHP and MySQL.

Hopefully we will have an opportunity to test the newly updated software within the remaining 13 days.

For SpaceNut ... please take this opportunity to learn what powers are available to you as Senior Admin. If the test system becomes available you will be able to test those powers safely. We certainly want to be able to create new forums, and I'm hoping you have the power to create new membership categories as well.

To do this, you'd be able to study the existing production interface to see what powers are available, without actually making any changes to the production environment.

I'd be interested in seeing a copy of the menu available to you if you can figure out how to create one that will display in the forum.

(th)

SpaceNut · 2024-04-03 17:11:34

How to add user/groups as phpBB comes with standard groups that meet the needs of many administrators.

tahanson43206 · 2024-04-03 18:45:05

For SpaceNut re #32

It is good to see your interest in phpBB !!! We hope to get there eventually. Right now we have FluxBB 1.5.11 to work with, and kbd512 is applying fixes to allow that software to run on modern PHP and MySQL.

Instead of looking ahead to phpBB, please open a session with the forum we have, and see if you can make displayable copies of the menus available to you as Senior Administrator. We can only use the tools we have now, so we need to study those. Hopefully kbd512 will have the updated system available soon, and you'll be able to test what you've learned in a safe environment.

(th)

SpaceNut · 2024-04-03 20:17:39

The Administration Control Panel

NEED HELP? Install or Update phpBB

newmars admin uses menu forms to make changes.

This is the links for

Moderator menu

Index
Users
Bans
Reports

tahanson43206 · 2024-04-03 21:14:19

For SpaceNut re #34

Thanks for the link to the phpBB Administrator Control Panel! I can imagine you are looking forward to having all those capabilities. We have to walk before we can run.

What is the Administrator menu in FluxBB 1.5.11 ???

The Moderator menu is quite limited, as is appropriate.

I'm looking for your having the ability to create new forums and new member categories.

Obviously I have no idea what other powers you may have.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2024-04-04 08:46:40

For SpaceNut re Azure account status: Balance of Play Money is $193.01 (of $200)

The account will expire in 11 days. As far as I know, everything is ready for installation of the revised FluxBB 1.5.11 software.

SpaceNut, because it appears you will have only a day or two to test the system, please prepare ahead of time by looking at the powers of an Administrator available to you in FluxBB 1.5.11 which we are running now. Please do not spend any more time looking at more advanced software. The software that kbd512 is working on is the same as the existing forum, so whatever powers you have as Senior Administrator are going to be what you see in the test system.

Please look in particular for where you would add new forums. We want to exercise those features in the test system so you are comfortable making the same changes to the production system.

Please look as well for where you would add new member categories. At a minimum I'd like to have an "Inactive" category, so we can stop calling inactive members as "banned". The only reason we did that was because the folks who set up the forum did not create an "Inactive" membership category.

(th)

SpaceNut · 2024-04-04 09:55:42

Winter has returned with 14 inches of heavy wet snow with guts of wind to 50 mph. The power went out last night and I am going to be without power for days as the feed line has been ripped off the pole.

I believe the server backup function was removed asi would not know how much space was to be had for quite some time.

I tried to post the admin menu but got apache error last night.

tahanson43206 · 2024-04-04 10:03:20

For SpaceNut re #37

Sorry to hear of this latest weather setback for you and your neighbors!

14 inches of snow (and especially ** wet ** snow) would be hard for anyone to deal with ... I hope you can get most of it off the roof before it freezes.

I bought an "Alaskan" snow rake some years ago to try to deal with the problem. Ice jams can pull gutters right off the roof in our area.

***
Server backup is a webmaster function. kbd512 has already exercised that option, in creating the backup that is restored into the Apache Vm.

***
Thanks for trying to post the admin menu.

Please send it by email when you can!

Best wishes for speedy power restore!

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2024-04-05 09:22:40

For SpaceNut ... we have 10 days left in our free Azure test account. Play money balance is $192.57 of $200 start.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2024-04-06 08:08:01

For SpaceNut .... we have 9 days left in our free Azure test account. Play money is now 192.28 of $200 start.

Here is a screen scrape of text from the Azure subscription page, in case there is anyone in the membership (or readership) who is interested:

Azure subscription 1
Subscription
Search
Overview
Activity log
Access control (IAM)
Tags
Diagnose and solve problems
Security
Events
Cost Management
Cost analysis
Cost alerts
Budgets
Advisor recommendations
Billing
Billing profile invoices
Settings
Programmatic deployment
Billing properties
Resource groups
Resources
Preview features
Usage + quotas
Policies
Management certificates
My permissions
Resource providers
Deployments
Deployment stacks
Resource locks
Help
Support + Troubleshooting
Your remaining $192.28 of free credit expires in 9 days. Upgrade to keep going with your account.
Subscription ID
Removed for security reasons
Directory
Default Directory (Removed for security reasons)
Status
Active
Parent management group
---
Subscription name
Azure subscription 1
My role
Owner
Plan
Azure Plan
Secure Score
Not available
Spending rate and forecast
03/31
04/07
04/14
04/21
04/28
03/26
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
Current cost
$2.10Forecast
$2.99
Costs by resource
fluxbbtest_disk1_removed for security reasons
$0.84
fluxbb-ip
$0.63
fluxbbtest-ip
$0.63
Others
$0.00
Top free services by usage
1/2
Used within limit
2Limit exceeded
0Unused services
56
Service
Usage
Virtual Machines, BS Series, B1s
125 / 750 (1 Hour)
Networking, Data Transfer Out (GB)
0.02 / 15 (1 GB)
Azure Cosmos DB, Free Data Stored
0 / 25 (1 GB/Month)
Azure Cosmos DB, Free 100 RU/s
0 / 2976 (1/Hour)
Storage, Files, LRS Data Stored
0 / 100 (1 GB/Month)
Storage, Premium Page Blob, P6 Disks
0 / 2.2 (1/Month)
Top products by number of resources
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
1/2
networkwatchers
2publicipaddresses
2networkinterfaces
2virtualnetworks
2
Azure Defender coverage
Azure Defender is not enabled for this subscription

(th)

SpaceNut · 2024-04-06 15:53:41

Apache error for post

Adding space between words letters made it enter.

A d m i n m e n u
O p t i o n s
P e r m i s s i o n s
C a t e g o r i e s
F o r u m s
U s e r g r o u p s
C e n s o r i n g
M a i n t e n a n c e

P l u g i n s m e n u
M o d I n s t a l l e r

Bold are just text, but the others have links to the forums forms pages to do the data entry for the choices to be made.

SpaceNut · 2024-04-06 16:01:08

current user groups are as follows

Administrators
Moderators
Guests
Members
Newly Registered

tahanson43206 · 2024-04-06 17:05:33

A category for inactive members would seem better than what we have now.

What we have now are Members who are Banned.

If we move the inactive members into a new membership category, we can (hopefully) unban them.

It would appear that the "Forums" option is where we would add new forums, or edit the names of old ones, if that is desired.

I hope we can get the test forum running this weekend, and you'll have the following week to test it, and try out options you don't want to experiment with on the live production system.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2024-04-07 06:59:07

Azure account status Sunday 2024/04/07

Azure subscription 1

Your remaining $191.81 of free credit expires in 8 days. Upgrade to keep going with your account.

Virtual Machines, BS Series, B1s
153 / 750 (1 Hour)
Networking, Data Transfer Out (GB)
0.02 / 15 (1 GB)
Azure Cosmos DB, Free Data Stored
0 / 25 (1 GB/Month)
Azure Cosmos DB, Free 100 RU/s
0 / 2976 (1/Hour)
Storage, Files, LRS Data Stored
0 / 100 (1 GB/Month)
Storage, Premium Page Blob, P6 Disks
0 / 2.2 (1/Month)
Top products by number of resources

tahanson43206 · 2024-04-08 08:32:28

For SpaceNut re Azure account ...

As reported elsewhere, we do not appear likely to set up the FluxBB software on the Azure account in the few days remaining.

I have two options to pursue. One is to test a small script that ChatGPT4 wrote for me last night. This script would (if it works) allow a field inside the posts table to be updated by a visitor to the web site. I'll try to have that running in a day or so. The other option is to try to install phpBB on the Azure account. If we let the phpBB install create it's own database, we might be able to give everyone a chance to experiment with it.

Here is a snap of today's status:

Azure subscription 1

Your remaining $191.38 of free credit expires in 7 days. Upgrade to keep going with your account.

Virtual Machines, BS Series, B1s
178 / 750 (1 Hour)
Networking, Data Transfer Out (GB)
0.03 / 15 (1 GB)
Azure Cosmos DB, Free Data Stored
0 / 25 (1 GB/Month)
Azure Cosmos DB, Free 100 RU/s
0 / 2976 (1/Hour)
Storage, Files, LRS Data Stored
0 / 100 (1 GB/Month)
Storage, Premium Page Blob, P6 Disks
0 / 2.2 (1/Month)
Top products by number of resources

(th)

SpaceNut · 2024-04-08 09:05:21

The AZURE virtual machine is a cloud based server and that would take it out of the hands of Mars society control as well as reason to provide funding.

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us

Of course, as a backup that others are to pay for means what is being accomplished is a mirrored server data base that runs a self-updating program that continuously copies data as its logged onto for posts to the backup copy sever. This is usually done with more servers than what it can handle for login under just a single server system.

tahanson43206 · 2024-04-08 10:51:38

For SpaceNut re #46

You have a lot to keep track of. Your post implies you have lost focus.

I've set up a free Azure test account and we only have 7 more days to try to take advantage of it. It is set up with everything we need to test the FluxBB software updated by kbd512 to run with modern PHP. Unfortunately, we seem to have run into a problem persuading the software to work with modern MySQL. I am not confident we can get the FluxBB package running within the time frame of 7 days.

Please make sure you are able to run the little listtopic.php script at the Azure test site.

You have already confirmed you are able to run the main Apache index.html file, and I changed that page based upon your feedback. I think you have run the PHP test page. Please make sure you are able to run the listtopic.php. You can reach it from the main index.html page, by cliicking on the link I provided.

We don't need to get distracted by the overall nature of Azure. We are using a tiny sliver of Azure, but while we have it, it seems to be working well.

(th)

SpaceNut · 2024-04-08 10:57:49

The little listtopic.php script produces

Post ID: 36425
Post ID: 126677
Post ID: 36433
Post ID: 78908
Post ID: 78914
Post ID: 80880
Post ID: 80881
Post ID: 80893
Post ID: 80908
Post ID: 80925
Post ID: 83103
Post ID: 85814
Post ID: 85899
Post ID: 88218

tahanson43206 · 2024-04-08 11:03:33

For SpaceNut re #48

Thank you for testing the little listtopic script.

You have given me much needed incentive to attempt to install the update script created by ChatGPT4 to help test the forum FluxBB software.

I should be able to install it on the test account after it is working on my development machine.

(th)

SpaceNut · 2024-04-08 13:22:30

http://40.75.112.55/forums/listtopic.php?id=5

Post ID: 33453
Post ID: 33476
Post ID: 126680
Post ID: 33964
Post ID: 33965
Post ID: 33998
Post ID: 34004
Post ID: 34086
Post ID: 34497
Post ID: 34512
Post ID: 34545
Post ID: 34552
Post ID: 34553
Post ID: 126679
Post ID: 34560
Post ID: 126681

New Mars Forums

Announcement

#26 2024-03-31 12:44:51

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

#27 2024-03-31 13:48:22

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

#28 2024-03-31 15:15:08

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

Setting Up an Azure Subscription

Configuring a Virtual Machine

Finalizing and Accessing the VM

#29 2024-03-31 15:18:30

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

#30 2024-04-01 08:23:46

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

#31 2024-04-02 08:20:52

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

#32 2024-04-03 17:11:34

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

#33 2024-04-03 18:45:05

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

#34 2024-04-03 20:17:39

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

#35 2024-04-03 21:14:19

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

#36 2024-04-04 08:46:40

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

#37 2024-04-04 09:55:42

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

#38 2024-04-04 10:03:20

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

#39 2024-04-05 09:22:40

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

#40 2024-04-06 08:08:01

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

#41 2024-04-06 15:53:41

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

#42 2024-04-06 16:01:08

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

#43 2024-04-06 17:05:33

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

#44 2024-04-07 06:59:07

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

#45 2024-04-08 08:32:28

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

#46 2024-04-08 09:05:21

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

#47 2024-04-08 10:51:38

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

#48 2024-04-08 10:57:49

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

#49 2024-04-08 11:03:33

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

#50 2024-04-08 13:22:30

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

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