WikiChristian talk:Server Status
The wikimedia software is now upgraded to the latest release as of today - january 26, 2006. You may experience some images not loading properly until the server and the browser cache are updated. The new version has improved features and helps deal with vandalism better. Leave your views, and any problems with this version here. --Prab 08:41, 25 January 2006 (EST)
Our previous server had an older version of php which limited our ability to upgrade the mediawiki. So, we decided to get a new dedicated server with the latest php. Wikichristian webserver is now upgraded to mediawiki 1.7.1. Thanks to Tom Major for the upgrade. Please let us know if there are any other issues. We are working on the image thumb nail issue.
The wikichristian server is a dedicated machine hosted by Aplus.net for a fee of $99.99 per month as of November, 2007.
--Prab 20:28, 6 October 2006 (EST)
Contents
Server Down time, Jan 2007
The wikichristian server was temporarily down briefly. We had to do a hard reboot of the system and fix a database issue which was done by me on January 22nd, 2007 and the server is up and running as before. If you notice any issues, please email me at tumpati at hotmail dot com and I will be glad to address the issue, if I can. I also work with Tom Major who is a great techy and an asset to wikichristian. Thanks for the patience and sorry for the inconvenience.
--Prab 14:17, 22 January 2007 (EST)
Wikichristian server was offline and needed a server restart on June 8th, 2007. It took about 10 minutes for the webhost aplus.net to restart and the server is back again. However, we would like to have a user alert me via email in case this happens at tumpati@hotmaildotcom so I can address this issue faster. thank you. --Prab 20:49, 8 June 2007 (EST)
Fixed image upload problem
Wikichristian server had an image upload problem that generated an error everytime we tried to upload an jpeg image. Thanks to some input from P.B. Pilhet, I was able to fix the issue. We can now upload jpeg images. See the test image I uploaded here
--Prab 15:10, 19 June 2007 (EST)
- Hi Prab and P.B. Pilhet. Thanks for fixing the uploading image problem. Unfortunately imagemagick seems to have disappeared so thumbnail pictures aren't working - see Church history to see what I mean. --Graham grove 05:41, 20 June 2007 (EST)
Wikichristian server up and running again
Wikichristian is growing and with it some growth pains! The server was full in capacity that lead to the server down time. Upon looking at the server in consultation with the support team, we learned that some of the backup files which were old were taking up significant space causing the trouble. Since we only need the latest backup, we were able to delete the older backups and clear as much as 20 GB of space. The database had some issue that prolonged the downtime but we were able to fix the issue upon working on it for many many hours. We are talking to our webhost for an upgrade in the near future in order to accomodate future growth. The new server might cost us about $99.00 per month as per aplus.net, our webhost for a standard dedicated server. If you would like to contibute to the server cost or able to help in other technical stuff with the server, please feel free to drop me a line at tumpati at hotmail dot com. We really appreciate the trust you place in this project and for your patience as we were working on the server. Finally, the server is back online! Thank you and God bless.
--Prab 15:44, 25 November 2007 (EST)
Wikichristian migrated to a new server
Wikichristian is growing everyday, thanks to many dedicated users like you that believe in this project. With the growth, the site has outgrown our dedicated server's capacity. We have bought a newer and better server with aplus.net, our host and have successfully migrated the site to the new server with help from our good friend and techie Raja in Washington DC. With this upgrade, we will have plenty of server capacity and memory to accomodate for future growth. The new server will cost us USD 99.00 per month. If you would like to contribute toward the server expenses, please contact us at tumpati at hotmail dot com. (remove spaces and replace at with @) Thank you all for your understanding and participation in this project. God bless wikichristian. --Prab 14:03, 9 December 2007 (PST)
Move Permissions
As we have been seeing some move vandalism, we changed the permissions in the wiki so that only trusted users can move the pages. --Prab 13:41, 5 April 2008 (PDT)
Update October 9th, 2008
The objectcache table in the database got currupted and needed to be reset. The issue was fixed when Kathleen wright brought it to the attention of me. This could have been caused by the cache that was not cleared periodically and this table might have outgrown. If any of the technical guys have any idea how we could avoid this, please feel free to post your ideas.
--Prab 01:10, 10 October 2008 (PDT)
Server Load Handling
Wikichristian server has been having issues with handling loads on the database server. I had a long chat with the technical support team as the server is brand new and still has a lot of capacity unused. The techie looked at the server and said the MySql server was not configured properly to handle loads. He was able to reconfigure the database server to handle loads and hopefully, that should fix it for awhile. As you all know, we constantly have to keep the server upgraded to suit our needs and we are all committed to doing whatever we can to upgrade as the need arises.
--Prab 22:39, 17 October 2008 (PDT)
Wikichristian server memory upgrade
Wikichristian server is using almost all the RAM on the dedicated server which at times was leading to slow response time. After discussing the issue with the webhost, we decided to upgrade the memory. The webhost will add another GB of RAM which doubles the system RAM to 2GB. Hopefully, that would improve the server's ability to handle load.
--Prab 22:52, 27 December 2008 (PST)
WikiChristian Server Upgrade 2009
Wikichristian has been growing at a constant pace requiring more server capacity. The existing server is a single processor and has been having limitations and downtime in handling the loads. We have upgraded the server to a multiprocessor with Dedicated Server 2x Xeon 2.8 GHz processor. The migration has been successfully completed on March 31st, 2009 at 00:15 AM. With this upgrade, we will have more capacity and ability to add additional memory as we grow. --Prab 14:48, 30 March 2009 (PDT)
Bug fixes
Since we upgraded the mediawiki version, we were having some issues with the internet explorer not displaying the login box, and templates not working properly and some issues with thumbnails. After a lot of research, I found the fix. The monobook skin did not get uploaded properly which I reuploaded and the issues seem to be fixed. Also changed the local setting file for image thumbnail for older images. Some bug fixes take some time to fix until you "stumble upon" something! Thank you all for the patience. Can somebody fix the mainpage as the side navigation is not displayed properly? Some of the problems with display with templates etc. seem to be only seen in monobook skin. can somebody edit the MediaWiki:Monobook.css page that will change the display for the better for the entire site?
Change of Skin
Since the last upgrade of the mediawiki version, we were experiencing some issues with display of certain features of the wiki such as the content templates especially in internet explorer. After spending considerable time in trying to fix the issues unsuccessfully, I thought we might try a different skin called 'cologneblue' to give a new look at the same time as solving some of the display issues. Please leave any feed back on this here. If any of the wikichristians is able to help fix the issues with monobook skin, please contact me at tumpati at hotmail.com, replacing at with @ and removing spaces. --Prab 21:19, 29 April 2010 (UTC)
- I think gumax would be a better default skin. It looks better in my opinion. ~Darth Stabro ~(Talk)(contribs) 05:59, 30 April 2010 (UTC)
Thank you for the suggestion. I did make the changes. Can somebody work on a better logo at the top that fits better with wikichristian and looks better with the overall design? --Prab 08:33, 30 April 2010 (UTC)
- I'm on it.
How's this? ~Darth Stabro ~(Talk)(contribs) 11:25, 30 April 2010 (UTC)
Thanks Garth for working on it. Can you change the font and reduce the size of the font as this one seems too big and not quite elegant yet. I like the logo and the transparent? background but I think it is not attractive enough yet. Make a few files and post them so that we can choose from a few choices, if you do not mind. Also, how about using a very beatiful scenary as a background? It would be great if we can create system of logo's with all kinds of scenaries from nature that change every week somewhat like google's? I know it is a lot of work to make a new logo every week but it might give a fresh look and appeal for the site. Scenaries like water falls, sea, beatiful beach, sand dunes, snow, mountains, etc. Please share your thoughts. There are many sites like freedigitalphotos.net that offer royalty free pictures that we can use as a background. --Prab 12:00, 30 April 2010 (UTC)
- I will keep the main image above and then it can be just pasted on top of the background... It would be easier to update it weekly or monthly if you could point the logo image URL to File:Gumax.png, or http://www.wikichristian.org/images/e/eb/Gumax.png. Then I could upload it every week instead of having to go through you or someone else w/ access to the server. Anywho, here's one.
I did make the changes in the setting file, $wgLogo = 'File:Gumax.png'; but it did not change the logo. I had to manually change the file in the gumax folder under skins, locate the file and replace it with the new. While I do like this better than the previous one, I think using a small print just above the cross with the inscription the free encyclopedia, and on the bottom with Wikichristian, leaving the left side without any words might make it look more elegant. The font size is still too big and does not seem very attractive. The logo image should stretch the entire length of the top instead of a portion of the page. Also, the font style could be changed to a different font. You seem knowledgeable about the technical aspects of the wiki. Would you mind helping us with the bug fixes etc? If so, please feel free to contact me at 267 864 6101 or by email at tumpati at hotmail dot com. --Prab 14:30, 30 April 2010 (UTC)
- You made the Monobook logo be File:Gumax.png. If you have an idea for a better font, suggest it and I'll put it in. I'll get the sizing better. ~Darth Stabro ~(Talk)(contribs) 14:35, 30 April 2010 (UTC)
This is what the local settings file has $wgDefaultSkin = 'gumax'; $wgLogo = 'File:Gumax.png';. I am not sure why this would change the logo in monobook but not in gumax until I change it manually. If you want to take a look at the local settings file, please contact me. Meanwhile, I commented out the wglogo so that the users with monobook profile get the correct logo. --Prab 14:44, 30 April 2010 (UTC)
- huh. Another version....
Also, if there's a way to have the logo be a png and not a jpg, it will have better quality. ~Darth Stabro ~(Talk)(contribs) 15:00, 30 April 2010 (UTC)
- I appreciate all the work people are putting in and so I don't want to sound too negative, but I actually don't like the colour changes. I also think the logo is too large now. I rather have less on the screen and keep the simple white colours that. Also, I'm not a sure that it is helpful to have a Bible verse of the day or prayer of the week because I know that these things in the past have never been updated regularly enough. Rather than making lots of changes to the layout, I think we need to work on getting more content in the wiki. But, just my two cents. Cheers, --Graham 03:31, 2 May 2010 (UTC)