Passwords Should All be Working

As I am still receiving requests to change passwords I thought I had better update the information:

1. Most, if not all, are reporting that their old passwords worked fine. Try that first! The only reason we went through this process is because Register.ca said that they "would not work". I guess they were wrong!
2. If your old password does not work, follow the instructions to RESET your password as shown in the post on the forum (you can read that as a guest).
3. If none of those work, send me an e-mail to rlaughton@cefresearch.ca and tell me what you did and what did or did not work. Make note that you read this post and are still having problems.

Thanks,

Richard

We are back!

Go here:

http://cefresearch.ca/phpBB3/

and follow the instructions to reset your password here:

http://cefresearch.ca/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?p=76446&sid=25e5dcbb8ff9d4d2005d3ec35b8331bd#p76446

I will add a new topic area for BB3 "Bug Reports" and move the old information to the Archives.

Richard

Today is the day! Stand by!

Timeline August 28, 2012

• 0915 hour EST - phpBB2 site closed to download database
• 1000 hours EST - Register.ca scheduled to start upgrade
• 1130 hours EST - site is still not active, will continue to check
• 1215 hours EST - no change in status
• 1415 hours EST - appears to be active
• 1445 hours EST - we are now live on phpBB3!

 

http://cefresearch.ca/phpBB3

The following was posted to the CEFSG Forum on Tuesday August 28, 2012 and is repeated here for the benefit of members who may not see the post prior to the phpBB2 forum being closed for the upgrade.

It is now Tuesday August 28th, 2012 0730 hours EST.

The actual transfer of the system from phpBB2 to phpBB3 is scheduled to start at 1000 hours. That detailed work is being completed by the technical team at Register.ca, the company that currently hosts cefresearch.ca.

The existing phpBB2 site will be closed to members some time prior to 1000 hours to prepare backup files of all the information present prior to the upgrade - just in case! Routine backups have been made daily for the most recent period.

At this time we have no information as to how long the site will be down while the upgrade is taking place. As soon as it is complete we will post a message to the blog ( http://cefresearch.blogspot.com ) and we will place the new links on the main CEFSG site ( http://cefresearch.ca ).

If you currently have the CEFSG Forum bookmarked, please note that the bookmark may cease to function. From this time forward, please do not use any bookmarks to gain entrance to the forum as this may disrupt the process.

The MATRIX ( http://cefresearch.ca/matrix ) is not affected by this upgrade. Note also there are a number of links on the CEFSG Blog site to other member sites. Take some time and visit our members .... we will be back shortly!

Important Notice August 27, 2012

The following notice was published on the CEFSG Forum on Monday August 27th and is repeated here for the benefit of those that are not able to access the forum during the transfer period.

THE CANADIAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE

STUDY GROUP

PLEASE READ THIS NOTICE

(This Page Last Update on August 27, 2012 )

The CEFSG Forum will be closed on Tuesday August 28th to allow for the system upgrade to phpBB3 from the current phpBB2.

Please do not try to gain access to the forum from any book marked links as that may disrupt the transfer process. The phpBB2 data base will need to be backed up in the most current state and then moved to the phpBB3 system.

There are a number of posts on the phpBB2 system about the planned upgrade which you should read on Monday August 27, 2012:

Upgrade to phpBB3 Tuesday August 28th

That link will disappear this evening, however all of the notices and updates are posted on the CEFSG Blog at this location:

http://cefresearch.blogspot.ca/

 You can add your questions or comments at either of those locations. All notices posted on Tuesday August 28th will be on the BLOG ONLY, so you might want to also paste your comments there. If there are any serious issues, you can send an e-mail to rlaughton@cefresearch.ca.

Please note the special request relative to your TEMPORARY PASSWORD for the new system. User Names and Avatars will stay intact but all existing passwords will be lost during the transfer.

You can confirm that you have read this notice by clicking on the following link, which will then direct you to the forum:

 

CONFIRMED

 

Passwords Must Be Reloaded - Act Now

This message was posted on the CEFSG Forum in the event that the passwords need to be manually entered after the new phpBB3 site is activated on Tuesday August 28, 2012. This message will also be important to members that have not been to the site in the days prior to the upgrade of the server software.

One of the quirks of the change from phpBB2 to phpBB3 is the enhancement of the security of the forum.

I have been advised by the "techies" at Register.ca that the "cookies" that have the passwords for all the users will be lost when the new system goes into effect on Tuesday August 28th. This means that all the existing passwords will be erased (lost). I can assure you that is correct, as I have been using the test site as it is being built and my password was gone. All the names and avatars survive, just the passwords disappear.

We are looking at alternatives. For example, Neil is checking with Chuck today to see if there is a file of passwords in the old .COM system that we could use to manually insert the existing passwords - only 1,618 to load! My guess is that will not be an option and they will need to be reset one-by-one.

The process by which I see this will happen is to give each member that is still active a NEW TEMPORARY PASSWORD and then they can go to their USER PROFILE (when the new system is operational) to change it back to their preferred password. I suspect we will not hear from all 1,618 registered members!

To get this process rolling I have set up a separate e-mail account (like we did for the donations) and so you will need to send an e-mail to:
password@cefresearch.ca

Please put your forum USER NAME in the SUBJECT LINE -

and include in that e-mail only the following: (using mine as an example)

1. Your real name: Richard Laughton
2. Your user name: rlaughton
3. Your temporary password: a1b2c3 (6 letters or numbers in any order)

The temporary password will then be entered into the new system and you will then have access and can go back and change what you want. I thought about giving everyone the same temporary password but that would mean anyone reading this forum could get into your account - not a good idea! As you can imagine, it is going to take some time to enter this information if they all come at once, so we might as well plan ahead.

You can start sending in your information at any time and we will hold it until Tuesday - or whenever we have access to get this done.

HTML Not Allowed in phpBB3

The following was posted to the CEFSG forum site and is duplicated here for ease of transition on Tuesday August 28, 2012:

This note is for members who have been using HTML recently in their posts for the resizing of pictures ("img src") or the posting of albums for cloud computing ("iframe src"). For all others, don't read any further as this will be absolute gibberish, and for those that continue - put on your seat belts and life jackets!

The use of HTML codes is [u]prohibited[/u] in the phpBB3 system that this site will be changing to at 10 am on Tuesday August 28th (2012). It has been determined by the experts that this is the major reason forums have been "hacked" as it is a simple route for the nasty people out there to input computer code into the system.

Not to worry though, there is a new system of forum based BBCode that we add to our own forum that creates the same effect as the HTML code did in the phpBB2 system that we currently use. For example, where you now see and use the codes [IMG], there will be a new code [fIMG] that will let you set the width and height of the images you post. For the albums, there will be a new code [iFRAME]. These will all appear under the existing BBCode that you see every time you are creating a post.

There are many, many more codes that we will be able to add - thus the great benefit of the upgrade to phpBB3. We will have the option to be able align text to the left, right or centre; to change the font within a post, the alter the background colour - and a whole host of other options. Specific codes also exist for inserting videos from YouTube etc.

For those that want additional background on phpBB3, please refer to these official phpBB3 sites:

https://www.phpbb.com/support/documentation
phpBB3 Tutorials in Text Format

https://www.phpbb.com/support/tutorials
phpBB3 Tutorials in Flash Video Format

phpBB3 Upgrade Notice for August 24, 2012

The following was posted on the CEFSG Forum this morning and is copied here for those that may not see it prior to the switch, currently scheduled for Tuesday August 28, 2012.

The testing program by Register.ca on the upgrade to the phpBB3 system is nearing completion. It is expected that the change over to the new system (from the old phpBB2 - which is no longer serviced) can be completed on Monday or Tuesday of next week. I have opted for Tuesday as it is generally unwise to make major changes on a Monday.

The main structure of the forum is now in phpBB3 but is not accessible by the general membership, while we are checking the individual components of the system.

We will follow a similar plan to what was used when we moved from the .COM to the .CA site, in that we will close down access to the CEFSG Forum while the transfer is being completed ([i]expected to be a period of about 3 hours - but assume there will be no access on Tuesday[/i]). During this period, also keep watch on the CEFSG Blog Site as that is where specific notices and updates will be posted:

http://cefresearch.blogspot.ca/

Three issues have been identified to date that may cause some problems with the transfer:

1. The PASSWORDS will apparently all be erased and will need to be re-entered manually. I am looking into details as to whether we can do this manually over the weekend so that some (many) will already be in place for Tuesday. I have not yet heard back from Register.ca on this issue. Also I do not know if we have everyone's password on file or if we will need to put in temporary passwords that are changed later. Watch for more information on that topic over the next few days.
2. There are about 200 existing posts (out of tens of thousands) that have characters that are neither English nor French and thus they will not transfer (update) correctly. The posts will remain but may have errors that may need to be corrected manually or ignored. We will have to wait and see what they are.
3. The format of phpBB3 is a bit different and so there are "new things to learn" to set up the new format. For example, the BBCode and HTML set up parameters are different so we have to figure those out and activate them. I am hoping that we can start on that ahead of time, again awaiting an answer from Register.ca. If the "system" of phpBB3 remains as it is now and only the database is updated on Tuesday then some of the issues can be addressed prior to the move.

The new system will be on the main CEFSG site at http://cefresearch.ca and the main page will be accessible at http://cefresearch.ca/index.html but the page for the phpBB2 system will be deactivated which is currently at http://cefresearch.ca/phpBB2 (the default of which is http://cefresearch.ca/phpBB2/index.php). As soon as the phpBB3 system is active we will have an automatic forward to the new site (or post a link to the new site if that fails - which it should not).

If I did it correct this time, you should be able to respond to posts in this sub-forum. I will place a copy of this notice on the blog.

Richard

July 10, 2012 Update: 0600 Hours

The update to the new server at http://cefresearch.ca/phpBB2/ is now complete. The process was finalized and the tests completed at 1:48 am on June 9, 2012.

Please update your bookmarks accordingly:

To Main Index Page of CEFSG: http://cefresearch.ca
Direct Link to the Forum: http://cefresearch.ca/phpBB2/

Once we are absolutely sure everything is stable we will make the final adjustments to the links.

July 9, 2130 Hours

I have no new information to report at this time and I will not be reporting here again until the morning - as I leave for the farm at sunrise. We will have to wait until later to see if Register.ca was able to upload the database this evening, or whether it will not appear until tomorrow morning. They have reported that they have already changed the linkages between the .CA and the .COM web sites. That is an IMPORTANT step so that you do not get sent back to the .COM web site while you are inside the .CA web site. If that does happen it is very important that you report the details of that event so it can be fixed.

If I am correct, you will know that the transfer has been completed if the FORUM CATEGORY at the top of the existing page (http://cefresearch.ca/phpBB2/) is NO LONGER "Important Notices - Progress of Move" as I placed that prior to the move and it would be overwritten by the new database.

If you so go to the site during the overnight hours (day time for other areas of the world!) and see that the site is working (or if there are issues), please post them here so that I will have a record of these in the morning.

July 9. 2012 1906 hours

The data base has left the USA server on .COM and is now at the Canadian server .CA but has not been inserted.

Good work Chuck!

We now have to wait until http://register.ca completes the upload. That requires a number of checks and inserts to make sure everything is working.

It would be nice if we could do all of this ourselves (which eventually we will) but for now it was ease of process and speed of process to let the new people complete that step.

July 9, 2012 1710 Hours EST

We are now t-45 minutes to the download of the CEFSG.COM site and that means it will not be operational after that time.

If for some reason you can get access to the site PLEASE DO NOT POST any information as it will be lost - and you may interfere in the backup that Chuck is making.

Everything is set up with Register.ca in Canada to move the backup database to the new server as soon as possible - they may even be able to do it tonight. They have my access codes to the .CA server so they may be very active on the new site checking to make sure everything is working (so that will not be me even though my name may appear).

Hang tight!

Richard

July 7, 2012 Update

This was posted Saturday on the FORUM and is reposted here for those that are following the transfer on the Blog site.

You will now note that when you go to the existing .COM forum site here:

http://cefresearch.com

that you will get the same page as when you go to the .CA site at:

http://cefresearch.ca

which was one more step in the conversion process. For those not conversant with HTML or PHP codes, when you go to a site it looks first for a page called "index.html". You can have that page open in your browser or set it to automatically redirect you to another site, or another page in the web site.

For some time the automatic feature has been in place that sends you directly to the forum at:

http://cefresearch.com/phpBB2/

where it first looks for a file called "index.php" and voilà, the site opens.

The purpose of having this change made is so that when the conversion starts, now planned for 1800 hours on Monday July 9th, you will still see the index page but you will not be able to go to the forum. Both the .COM and the .CA forums will be CLOSED during the conversion so that posts are not made and then lost when the new system is restarted.

During that period you would go to the BLOG for updates which is at:

http://cefresearch.blogspot.com

Interesting that unknown to me until I noticed it in the last few days, BLOGGER has also changed the system so when you go to the .COM address it directs you now to the .CA address. Eventually that will happen if you go to the CEFSG Forum at the .COM address.

July 4, 2012 Update

We are nearly set to take the big jump to the new .CA server, which may happen next week. We are ready here to make the change, but with the Canada Day holiday and now Memorial Day in the USA, it would be unrealistic to make the move this week.

We have resurected the old style INDEX page and posted it to the .CA page which you can find here:

http://cefresearch.ca

We have sent the same file to the team in the USA to post on the .COM site so that everyone that goes to either site will get the same information and notices.

In either case, you can select which part of the site you want to go to from the links on that index page. In the current format, the index page automatically directs you to the phpBB2 directory of the forum. We can switch back to that style once we work out all the bugs, including the upgrade to phpBB3. We have started that process but are currently locked out (timed out) on the server we are using. We will come back to that problem once we get the phpBB2 system operational on the .CA server.

Prior to making the switch to the .CA domain we need to have a final "database dump" which will capture all the posts and replies on the forum at that fixed point in time. That step would be coordinated with a "lockout" at the .COM forum, to ensure that we did not end up with orphan posts getting on to that site. The information in the database dump must then be uploaded to the .CA site, which would probably be completed by the Register.ca tech people. We are working on mastering this step internally but we would not want to delay the primary conversion by doing it ourselves.

June 25, 2012 Update

Thanks to Neil, we have bought some breathing room, as the termination of the service from the USA based server has been postoned, at least for a short while. We are not using this extra time to delay the transfer to the new server but it certainly does help.

The Admin & Moderator Team has been working in the background to review alternatives for the placement of the new site. We have already registered the Canadian alternative http://cefresearch.ca with the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (http://cira.ca) and a test site is under development on a new server at Register.ca (http://register.ca).

There are a few technical glitches that we are trying to resolove:

1. None of us working on this at the moment are fully literate with setting up a phpBB2 forum on the server. All the phpBB files have been moved but we now have to link the SQL database to the coding in the forum pages. That has not bee a great success to date, so we are waiting for the people at Register.ca to have a look at these issues when there shop opens.
2. The existing site is based on phpBB2 which went off-line in 2008 so at some time in the future we have to upgrade to phpBB3, or an entirely different system (i.e. the GWF is on the Invision system). There is a significant cost to upgrade to the phpBB3 system and I have no idea if we can transfer to the Invision system - I will check into that as soon as possible).

No matter what steps we take, we will now be using a system that we must pay for, as the "free ride" is over on the USA server. The Admin & Moderator Team has been paying those costs while a financial model is being put together. There will be an update on that in the near future.

We would like to hear back from the membership, so I would encourage you to post your comments here (rather than on the Forum) so we can all participate in the move. If you have programming skills that we can use to assist in the transfer or upgrade, please let us know!

Forum Disruption June 25, 2012

The following announement was posted to the CEF Research Study Group Forum on Wednesday June 20, 2012 by the Site Administrator (Neil Burns). As the site will need to be closed down at some point prior to the physical transfer, there will be a break in communications.

Hello,
We will be offline as of June 25th as we attempt to move to a new server.
This may involve some amount of downtime but we will try to get back up to speed as quickly as possible.
Thank you in advance for your patience,
Neil

As has occured in the past, announcements and status reports will be posted to the CEF Research Blog at this address - you may want to bookmark http:cefresearch.blogspot.ca for your future reference.

The blog was constructed with the intent to provide other avenues of research at any time the Forum was out of action. You will find a list of other sites as well as a list of member web sites and blogs. This will be a good time to refresh your knowledge of these sites. You many also add your comments in reply to this posting, or any other posting. I will do my best to watch for any questions.

In addition to the Blog there is also a CEF Matrix Twitter Account which can can monitor (or "follow" to receive immediate announcments). You will find that at this location:

http://twitter.com/cefmatrix

A "shadow copy" of the CEF MATRIX web site will be posted to my corporate web site so it can remain accessible during the transfer: (that should be active by mid-morning Thursday)

http://censol.ca/matrix

A note to read this blog entry has been posted to the Twitter Account this morning.