Andromeda/Public Server Transfer

All of nottinghack.org.uk will move to a new server, this involves quite a lot of work!

Below is an ordered plan of action

Server Build

Buy the new server, build the OS, install required services (sshd, web server, mysql, etc)

Plan is to base this server on nginx, depending on testing.

Web Root

Before most of the remaining changes can be made, the server will need to have a live webroot. Maybe we can repurpose nottinghack.com temporarily, or register a new domain. Called <new-domain> in steps below.

All the steps below assume that the webroot is in the backup schedule

Planet

Easiest to move, so let's move it first. No actual data is involved.

Files

• Transfer the planet generation files outside of the webroot.
• Create necessary files underneath webroot (call folder "p")
• run generator to check that it is pulling in all blogs.

Set up

• Set "p" as seperate site
• point planet.<new-domain> to point at this site
• Set up cron job to run generator

Final

Point planet.nottinghack.org.uk at site

Wiki

Has a lot of data, but less traffic than the website. Make sure wiki move it announced publicly We could put a temporary banner on the wiki, similar to wikipedia's fund-raising.

First steps

• Set up folder "w"
• point wiki.<new-domain> at "w"
• Install mediawiki on new server - version 1.19.2 (to match current)
  • Use wiki-only database
  • Do not set up any additional users
• Set up url rewriting
• Install plugins (some of these are part of normal mediawiki install):
  • Interwiki
  • Renameuser
  • Replace Text
  • CSS
  • MagicNumberedHeadings
  • ParserFunctions
  • Poem
  • SyntaxHighlight
  • Widgets
  • ConfirmEdit
  • CategorySortHeaders
  • Vector
  • WikiEditor

Transfer

• point wiki.nottinghack.org.uk at splash page explaining transfer
• Take database dump
• Extract wiki tables
• Transfer media files
• Install database

Final

• Point wiki.nottinghack.org.uk at site
• Put wiki database into backup schedule

Website

First steps

• Update nottinghack.org.uk to latest Wordpress
• Update all plugins

Set up

• Install wordpress on <new-domain>
  • Use wordpress-only database
• Install custom theme
• Install wordpress-plugins
• Install custom plugins
• Ensure url-rewriting working correctly

Transfer

We have two options - use the wordpress backup and restore functionality, or dump the database & media files and transfer manually. I suggest we try the backup and restore first, but I seem to remember that this causes a lot of issues with media.

• Put nottinghack.org.uk into maintenance mode

Final

• Point nottinghack.org.uk and www.nottinghack.org.uk at site
• Put wordpress database into backup schedule

Clean up

Other tools, such as dm2tweet will need moving as well. These can't be moved until nottinghack.org.uk is pointing at the new webroot.