New Mars Forums

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 19,422

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

For all members who might be interested ...

For All Members re new phpBB3 test account ....

I understand that members of the forum do not have time to read every post, so you may not be aware of the test account that the Admins have set up for evaluation of newer forum software.

Please connect to the Azure test account using the information in the Azure topic.

If you encounter an SQL timeout message please just refresh the page.  Azure is a Virtual Machine that goes to sleep and has to be re-awakened.

I'd appreciate your feedback on the site.

(th)

Void

Member

Registered: 2011-12-29

Posts: 7,824

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

Is this link from post #2 the correct starting point? 

A test phpBB3 site is up: http://40.75.112.55/phpBB3/index.php

It seems to want me to establish an ID and Password.

I will have a look over this weekend.

Thanks.

---

End

GW Johnson

Member

From: McGregor, Texas USA

Registered: 2011-12-04

Posts: 5,801

Website

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

Didn't work for me at all.  Said my username was wrong.  I checked,  I had the right user ID and password.

Sorry,  but my understanding of all this kind of stuff is extremely limited.  Most of the words are not in my dictionary.

GW

---

GW Johnson
McGregor,  Texas

"There is nothing as expensive as a dead crew,  especially one dead from a bad management decision"

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 19,422

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

For Void re new test forum...

Is this link from post #2 the correct starting point? 

A test phpBB3 site is up: http://40.75.112.55/phpBB3/index.php

It seems to want me to establish an ID and Password.

I will have a look over this weekend.

Thanks.

Thanks for giving the new forum a first look....

This is an empty forum.  We have an opportunity to register (enter username and password you want to use) and the forum software will let you in.

I am hoping SpaceNut joins soon, because as Senior Admin, he would be responsible for creating groups and forums and whatever else is needed.

Please keep in mind this is a temporary forum. We are evaluating this software to see if might be a reasonable upgrade from the forum software we are using now.

(th)

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 19,422

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

For GW Johnsion!

Thanks for giving the new test forum a first look!

Didn't work for me at all.  Said my username was wrong.  I checked,  I had the right user ID and password.

Sorry,  but my understanding of all this kind of stuff is extremely limited.  Most of the words are not in my dictionary.

GW

This is an empty forum. You need to register to become a member, just as you did many years ago to join NewMars.

You can use the same username and the same password. You have to set them up by registering.

We are waiting for SpaceNut to take charge of setting up groups and categories and whatever else is needed.

(th)

GW Johnson

Member

From: McGregor, Texas USA

Registered: 2011-12-04

Posts: 5,801

Website

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

My slide rule never asked to to register anything.  Problem is,  my basic thought pattern is today,  exactly the same as it was,  when I first went to work using that slide rule. 

What little computer stuff I can do,  is nothing but a "monkey-see,  monkey-do" add-on to that same basic thought pattern.  I have no more understanding about what I do on the these computer things,  than that monkey.  Maybe less.

I may try to register on that new Azure test thing,  but the outlook for success is not promising. Just so you understand.

GW

---

GW Johnson
McGregor,  Texas

"There is nothing as expensive as a dead crew,  especially one dead from a bad management decision"

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,433

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

It gave me a loop for registering and log in. at each layer of submit.

I was able to walk through the 1 topic post and read each section of the postings.
Seemed to function as the catcha was removed from the page after submitting information.

I checked my email address submitted and had not gotten anything to indicate that I had registered.

Since I did not make the profile for spacenut I also then do not know the password and there is no means to indicate that I need it reset to be able to change it.

I can see

STATISTICS
Total posts 10 • Total topics 3 • Total members 3 • Our newest member Dave Z

present to the main page and all seems to function to show the posts in reading mode.

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 19,422

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

For SpaceNut ...

Thank you very much for post #82, with news of what sounds like a successful login.

The email address in your account needs to be changed! I used newmarsmember@gmail.com as a temporary.

Above all, the password needs to be changed. I published that so you could get in, but it needs to be changed at your earliest convenience. As soon as you change the password, I will upgrade you to Administrator, so you can start to learn about and experiment with the Admin functions.  Those functions are above my Moderator "pay grade" and I don't need to know about them. What we are going for here is to make sure you are comfortable with such functions as creating new forums so you can do the same in FluxBB.

(th)

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,433

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

Actually, not able to login as the default password I did not know.
I am not able to change it and I am not able to change the email as these both are in the user profile account that you created.
From what I can see the creation failed as the account already exists.

update

Seems I missed where the default password was and did find and got into the forum...

was able to return and do a new session.
made several member level posts

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 19,422

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

For SpaceNut .... did you change the password?

Once you change the password I will upgrade you to Admin, so you can start working at that level.

(th)

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,433

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

yes it was changed

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 19,422

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

for SpaceNut re #86

Thank you!  I'll upgrade you to Admin.

I have no idea what I am doing as an Admin, so really appreciate your coming in to help.

FYI ... kbd512 and I made another attempt to get FluxBB to work with the changes he made, but it is still balking.

We have decided to look into converting to phpBB3, which we now have running in Azure.

As a reminder, I have decided to take the risk of accepting real money charges for use of the Azure account.  So far the funny money charges have been modest, for what I thought was a ** lot ** of processing, while installing software.

The drop-dead date is no longer in effect. We have until May 8th, at which point I'll get my first real money invoice.

If that invoice is under $10 I'll keep going as long as we need.

What I need for you to do is to exercise all the Admin powers and add to them.

Please create all the groups and categories we have now.

Don't worry about adding users.  The conversion will add everyone.

One caution... the conversion script will not be able to convert passwords.  Everyone will have to change the password in the new system back to whatever they were using in the old system.

All of this may take weeks, so no one should be holding their breath.

(th)

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 19,422

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

For All... GW Johnson was successful in registering with the new test forum this evening.

Every current member of the forum is welcome to register with the new test forum.

The address is published at the top of the Azure topic.  There are a couple of quirks that everyone should know about ...

Because this is a virtual machine, we are seeing error messages that (I think) are caused by the virtual machine waking up out of a sound sleep, waiting for you to knock on the door.  When you ** do ** knock on the door, the Virtual Machine will grumble because it has to load a copy of the MySql server which it only loads when someone needs it.  You'll see a complaint about the database missing. Just refresh the page and say Yes to the question if your really want to refresh the page.  At that point, it appears grumpy will have had time to load the database.

When you first open the site, you will have to Register.  Register is up in the upper right, to the left of log in.  The procedure should seem familiar or at least reasonable. 

Here is the next quirk... Create a post and you will cause me to see a notification that you have arrived. I will approve your post, and I will also lift you from Newby to Registered member. 

At that point, you will be able to help the Admins to evaluate the new system.  Please remember that everything we do is temporary, so put your permanent posts into NewMars as usual.

If you have any questions, please post them here in the Azure topic.

(th)

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 19,422

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

For SpaceNut ... you are promoted to Administrator in the test forum.

You are logged in as:
tahanson43206 [ Logout ][ ACP Logout ]     
Users

    Inactive users
    Manage users
    User permissions
    User forum permissions
    Custom profile fields
    Prune users
    Manage ranks

Groups

    Manage groups
    Manage group positions
    Group permissions
    Group forum permissions

User security

    Ban emails
    Ban IPs
    Ban users
    Disallow usernames

« Back

User administration :: SpaceNut

Here you can change your users information and certain specific options.
Select form:
Pre-defined groups user is a member of
Administrators     Make group default for member           Remove member from group
Registered users     Make group default for member           Remove member from group
Add user to group:

After adding you to Admin, I removed the Registered users line.

At this point, you have all the powers you have in FluxBB, plus whatever more are available in phpBB3.

(th)

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 19,422

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

For SpaceNut re new forum and new topic created ...

This morning I added a new forum (Forum two) and a topic for the new forum.

I am wondering what "Category" means in this package.  Is that similar to the "New Mars" top level, or to "Meta New Mars" within "New Mars"

Is there a level in FluxBB we do not have in phpBB3?

***
Last night I found a conversion script that looks as though it might be a model for kbd512 to use to create a script to convert our FluxBB database to the phpBB3 format.  It appears that there a great many differences in field names, and each of those must be carefully checked before the script can be run. This is going to be a long slog.

***
If you get time this week, please post an explanation of what the various levels are in FluxBB...

What is "New Mars" called?  Is that similar to a Category in phpBB3?

I assume "Meta New Mars" is a forum?

I don't see how to create a new Category in phpBB3... if you get time this week, please see  if you can figure out how to add a new category.

If you get time, and can figure out how to create a new Category, please create categories for:

New Mars
Mars Society
Acheron Labs
Dorsa Brevia
The First Hundred
Underhill
Archive

I ** was ** able to create a new group for members. Please take a look at that. I copied the permissions of a Newly Registered member, which means any posts by a member in that group would trigger a notification for an Admin.  I'd like to have something like that for our Inactive members.

They are currently banned because that is the only tool we have in FluxBB, but we may be able to learn how to create a new Group in FluxBB, and move our Inactive members into that and unban them.

(th)

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 19,422

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

For SpaceNut re new features we might be able to add to existing FluxBB...

You've already tested the script to update the "edited" field in the posts that are restored to a database in the Azure environment.

http://40.75.112.55/forums/UpdateEdited.php?id=80883

As a reminder, this is a script that allows you to increment the "Edited" field in actual posts that were restored from our existing FluxBB database.

If you click on the URL (Refresh it) the count of edits will increment.

What I have in mind is incrementing that field (or another we might add) to count reads by forum members from the Registered Users group.

The count we see now in our existing FluxBB system includes bots and spammers, in addition to Registered Members. The only count that I think has any value is reads by Registered Members.

Here (again) is what the output of the little test script looks like:

Testing UpdateEdited Version 3
Post ID is: 80883
Before update, Edited for Post ID 80883: 5
Post ID 80883 Edited updated successfully.
After update, Edited for Post ID 80883: 6

(th)

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 19,422

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

For SpaceNut ... I tried to create a second Category but it doesn't show up.

Please see if you can figure out how to make it visible.

(th)

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 19,422

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

For SpaceNut ... I found your post in the test forum ... thanks for finding the feature to turn off logins. 

Let's leave the current login open for now. We have no spammers at the moment, and we definitely want our members to try the new software.

It takes a bit of getting used to, because is is somewhat different from FluxBB.

One difference I just found is that the reply in phpBB3 is above the message to which we are replying. I like FluxBB putting the reply below the message to which I am replying. To me that makes more sense. We might be able to change that behavior,since Reply is just running in one of the PHP scripts.

(th)

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 19,422

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

For SpaceNut .... I spent some time with FluxBB that kbd512 updated to run with modern PHP.... The common.php file is corrupted... ChatGPT4 caught the problem this evening. I must have damaged the file somehow while working with it. 

I've asked kbd512 to send me another copy.  I'll take better care of the replacement.

Some of the code appears to have disappeared from the end of the file, or perhaps caused the problem while debugging. I just realized the line that is causing the problem is one I added for debugging.
***
Update ... the problem was ** indeed ** caused by my debugging. I removed a command that was causing the halt, and the FluxBB forum is up and running.

The tests I've run so far are all working correctly.

(th)

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 19,422

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

Reminder to forum members ... a version of the forum software is running on an Azure test site.

This software is being evaluated for possible replacement of our FluxBB forum software.

Please take a moment to help with testing.

You'll be able to register with the Username and password you are using now.

Please refresh the page if you get an error message from the Virtual Machine. It has to wake up and install a copy of the database program. Once it has installed the database program, it will handle your requests without further complain.

(th)

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 19,422

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

Update for FluxBB package on Azure ...

Update FluxBB

Your forum database was successfully updated. You may now go to the forum index.

This report indicates that the restored database is now in whatever exact form FluxBB needs.

Update: Success!  The FluxBB forum software updated by kbd512 to run with modern PHP, and tweaked to deal with a few unforeseen balks, is now working in the Azure environment. I have just logged in. The database repair was successful in fully restoring the password.

The URL for our members to log in and test their accounts is: http://40.75.112.55/forums/FluxBB/index.php

Please note:

1) This is a virtual machine that goes to sleep when it is not being used. If you receive a message that the database has gone away, refresh the page and confirm if the system asks for it.  The database will be loaded and it will remain present for as long as you continue using it.
2) There are black font error messages showing up, because kbd512 has a bit more work to do.
3) The queries are showing up at the bottom of the screen. I am attempting to discover how to deal with that.

I suspect that statements I added to the software to try to help with debugging are involved, but I have no way of knowing how to find them.

The local Linux user Group is meeting tonight, and if I am lucky, the group leader may agree to let the group look at the problem.

(th)

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 19,422

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

Update for FluxBB instance running in Azure development account.

I tried to create a new topic and got this error:

Info

Bad HTTP_REFERER. You were referred to this page from an unauthorized source. If the problem persists please make sure that 'Base URL' is correctly set in Admin/Options and that you are visiting the forum by navigating to that URL. More information regarding the referrer check can be found in the FluxBB documentation.

Go back

I'll take a look at the config.php to see if I made a mistake in configuring the 'Base URL'.

(th)

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,433

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

That happens when the ID# does not exist in the mysql table.

I took a small peek at the azure newmars link and was pleased to see it.
I go this stuff in the first category forum of meta

Notice: Only variables should be passed by reference in /var/www/html/forums/FluxBB/include/functions.php on line 582

[ Generated in 0.044 seconds, 6 queries executed - Memory usage: 551.27 KiB (Peak: 553.94 KiB) ]

Time (s)    Query
0.00187    SELECT u.*, g.*, o.logged, o.last_post, o.last_search FROM fluxbb_users AS u INNER JOIN fluxbb_groups AS g ON u.group_id=g.g_id LEFT JOIN fluxbb_online AS o ON o.ident='174.242.69.147' WHERE u.id=1
0.00451    UPDATE fluxbb_online SET logged=1713316781 WHERE ident='174.242.69.147'
0.00016    SELECT user_id, ident, logged, idle FROM fluxbb_online WHERE logged<1713316481
0.00041    SELECT f.forum_name, f.redirect_url, f.moderators, f.num_topics, f.sort_by, fp.post_topics, 0 AS is_subscribed FROM fluxbb_forums AS f LEFT JOIN fluxbb_forum_perms AS fp ON (fp.forum_id=f.id AND fp.group_id=3) WHERE (fp.read_forum IS NULL OR fp.read_forum=1) AND f.id=1
0.01689    SELECT id FROM fluxbb_topics WHERE forum_id=1 ORDER BY sticky DESC, last_post DESC, id DESC LIMIT 0, 30
0.00045    SELECT id, poster, subject, posted, last_post, last_post_id, last_poster, num_views, num_replies, closed, sticky, moved_to FROM fluxbb_topics WHERE id IN(9363,10051,10419,8279,3517,9793,5134,9490,9352,9366,8447,9336,10140,10143,10103,10101,9327,10325,10383,10092,10115,10380,10403,10545,9651,3648,10530,10526,10525,10519) ORDER BY sticky DESC, last_post DESC, id DESC
Total query time: 0.02429 s

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 19,422

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

For SpaceNut re #98

Thanks for your interest in the new FluxBB test forum in Azure.

Please log in at your first opportunity.

The problems we are having are likely due to updates still needed to the FluxBB php files.

Here is another error report:

Notice: Only variables should be passed by reference in /var/www/html/FluxBB/include/functions.php on line 582

I find that it is not possible to post an update right now.

In addition, detail is not coming back to fill out reports for users (and probably other requests).

I am reasonably sure the database itself is fine.

You can use the listtopic script, and the UpdateEdited script to confirm for yourself that the topics and posts tables match the production database.

In addition, you can pull users out of the users table in the new test FluxBB forum, and see for yourself that the data is what it should be.

(th)

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,433

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

I get this at the bottom of the log in page to enter the data

[ Generated in 0.007 seconds, 3 queries executed - Memory usage: 516.55 KiB (Peak: 520.21 KiB) ]

Time (s)    Query
0.00039    SELECT u.*, g.*, o.logged, o.last_post, o.last_search FROM fluxbb_users AS u INNER JOIN fluxbb_groups AS g ON u.group_id=g.g_id LEFT JOIN fluxbb_online AS o ON o.ident='174.242.69.147' WHERE u.id=1
0.00438    UPDATE fluxbb_online SET logged=1713317322 WHERE ident='174.242.69.147'
0.00014    SELECT user_id, ident, logged, idle FROM fluxbb_online WHERE logged<1713317022
Total query time: 0.00491 s

Will attemp log in now.