Scheduled Site Maintenance & Upgrade

[WebMaster]

We will be doing some forum maintenance, upgrades and clean-up in the next couple of days.

If for some reason you experience problems accessing and/or browsing the forums, please excuse us and try back again.

Thanks, enjoy!!!

[WebMaster]

This is done, Enjoy!

[WebMaster]

DefenceTalk.com FORUM and GALLERY will be upgraded on SUNDAY, October 2nd, 2005.

The forums and gallery will be unavailable during the upgrade process (15-30 minutes expected down time).

The new forum software will have some exciting new features for all of us to enjoy and use:

http://files.vbulletin.com/3.5/ajax.html

[Berserk Fury]

Regarding your decision to ban email domains etc.
I'm fine with the first list though the second one troubles me.
A huge percentage of people use @yahoo.com | @hotmail.com | @gmail.com
Many people do not want to use email addresses provided by their ISP as it is usually a email account for private use. ( I see your point for doing so, but seriously, the number of people registering would go down by at least 70%)

[WebMaster]

Those domains (yahoo, hotmail, gmail) are being CONSIDERED but not banned and I don't think they will be anytime soon.

You are talking about this thread:

http://www.defencetalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4146

If you read closely and very big and bolded letters, it says that those already registered are not affected. :)

These measures are only to control trouble makers... btw, why couldn't you comment about email restrictions in that thread? Just wondering!

[Berserk Fury]

because I had both posts open and I was up at 3 AM posting because I had to judge a tournament at 5AM.

[WebMaster]

DefenceTalk.com FORUM and GALLERY will be upgraded on SUNDAY, October 2nd, 2005.

The forums and gallery will be unavailable during the upgrade process (15-30 minutes expected down time).

The new forum software will have some exciting new features for all of us to enjoy and use:

http://files.vbulletin.com/3.5/ajax.html



This is done! Enjoy!

[WebMaster]

Due to extremely high loads of traffic today... We are looking into either moving up to a better server (upgrade on current host or change hosts if we find a better deal) so that we can accomodate future traffic spikes. DT today was very slow and unresponsive at times!

[WebMaster]

The MILITARY GALLERY and the DEFENCE NEWS sections will go through an update/upgrade during this week. The gallery may go down for 30 mins to 3 hours depending on which problem decides to visit us. ;)

[WebMaster]

The MILITARY GALLERY and the DEFENCE NEWS sections will go through an update/upgrade during this week. The gallery may go down for 30 mins to 3 hours depending on which problem decides to visit us. ;)

Gallery as announced earlier has been upgraded. Today, news page (http://www.defencetalk.com/news/publish/) got its share of make over and will go through some minor changes (which you probably won't notice) in coming days.

[WebMaster]

Soon, both DefenceTalk, Global Talk Networks.com and SinoDefenceForum will move to new server (faster) to accomodate growing demand for both of the sites. http://www.sinodefenceforum.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

Here is what we will be on:

Dual AMD Opteron 248 (this is 2 processors at 2.2 ghz each... current is 1 amd athlon 2.0 ghz)
2048MB RAM (same as now)
73GB SCSI Drive (currently we have 2 SATA drives 80 and 40 gb, scsi will improve performance and speed))
2000GB BandWidth (currently, 1200 GB)
100 Mbps uplink port (currently we got 10 MB uplink port)

Price? Don't ask.

[long live usa]

Price? Don't ask.
so..........whats the price.....:dodgy :D ,also this site may be down for a few hours on june 11th?

[WebMaster]

$230+ per month... who are you on SDF? :D

[bd popeye]

Oh great and exhaulted Webmaster..;) ..Will there be any improvement to the posting of pictures in the military photo discussion? Because sometimes I can but many times I can not post pics in that thread. Today it caused my computer to freeze up..:mad This is not the first time as you may know. I have an earthlink DSL connection. Could that be the problem??? My problem only occurs in the world military photos discussions....:(

[WebMaster]

Well, the improvements will be on all fronts but since the pictures are linked from OTHER sites, it really depends how fast that site lets you download the pictures so you can see.

[long live usa]

who are you on SDF? :D
do forces hunt me?..........:shudder .........are you the same webmaster from SDF?

[WebMaster]

Yeah, what did you think?

[long live usa]

oh sorry,whatever became of rommel and pisigma? they are still listed a mods but i never hear from them anymore

[Supe]

Today it caused my computer to freeze up..:mad This is not the first time as you may know. I have an earthlink DSL connection. Could that be the problem??? My problem only occurs in the world military photos discussions....:(

The problem is not your DSL connection. The only scenario I could imagine your DSL connection affecting system is if you used a USB modem. Google reveals Earthlink doesn't supply customers with USB modems though.

If you're using Internet Explorer as your browser, try Firefox instead and see how you go. Install is straight forward and if you don't like it, just uninstall it.

http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/ <- Firefox

What are your system specs? OS? Do you keep your OS (presumably you are on a Windows box) up-to-date with regards to patches/hotfixes?

[Big-E]

he does not need Firefox... quit pedling your wares.:rolleyes:

[WebMaster]

Actually, firefox is not a ware. It is one of the most popular internet browsers today, a good alternative to Internet Explorer!

[Supe]

he does not need Firefox... quit pedling your wares.:rolleyes:

It's not my 'wares', it's an alternative browser and it may help a fellow forum member browse gallery. I have a theory that his browser is crashing and is causing the 'freeze' he is experiencing. Firefox was proferred to test that theory out. If Firefox also crashes, then we know it's not IE. This is called troubleshooting. Sometimes it involves keeping an open mind and trying alternatives.

[WebMaster]

Move has been pushed to start from Friday, June 16th, 2006 (evening, Eastern US time)

[steelbird]

$230+ per month... who are you on SDF? :D

So, what's the income? I don't see many ad on both side. Can you balance the expense?

[WebMaster]

Defence Talk is now on the new server and move is completed. :)

[Grand Danois]

Defence Talk is now on the new server and move is completed. :)

And DT has become lightning fast! :cool:

[WebMaster]

Good to hear that! :) enjoy!

[WebMaster]

We will be moving to new (better/faster) server and network soon:

Server Processor: Dual Processor Dual Core Opteron 270 2.0GHz
Second Processor: Dual Core Opteron 270 - 2.0GHz
Ram / Memory: 4 GB
Disk System/HD: 3 x 250GB SATA II RAID 5
First Hard Drive: 250GB SATA II
Second Hard Drive: 250GB SATA II
Third Hard Drive: 250GB SATA II
Disk Controller: SATA RAID 5 Disk Controller
Uplink Port: 100 Mbps Public & Private Networks (upgradable to 1000Mbps)

I will put up exact date and timing soon!

Thanks and enjoy!

[WebMaster]

Hello Folks,

Its been a long time since we had any updates to the forum and gallery. So, I just wanted to give everyone a heads up on an up coming upgrade and forum/gallery maintenance. It means that the forums and the gallery will be unavailable for hour or so.

When?
-May 31st to June 1st.

Expected downtime for the forum and the gallery?
- 1 to 2 hours... but could be less.

What are the new features for the forum?
Inline spam management & prevention (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1450764#post1450764)
Thread tagging (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1450765#post1450765)
Search cloud / tag cloud (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1450765#post1450765)
Thread prefixes (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1450766#post1450766)
Reciprocal friendships between users (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1450767#post1450767)
Public visitor messaging on profile pages with 'conversation' feature (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1450768#post1450768)
User picture galleries with user comment facility (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1450769#post1450769)
User-created social groups with invite only and moderated membership options (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1450770#post1450770)
Extended member profile pages (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1450771#post1450771)
Customizable member profile pages with admin-controlled styling abilities (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1450772#post1450772)
Inline editing of custom user profile fields (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1450773#post1450773)
Lightbox viewer for attached images (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1450774#post1450774)
Viewable and comparable history maintained for post edits (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1450775#post1450775)
Extended re-authentication for inline moderation actions (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1450776#post1450776)
Notices system for navigation bar (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1450777#post1450777)
Multiple human-verification systems including reCAPTCHA, image verification and Q/A (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1450778#post1450778)
User change history (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1450779#post1450779)
Social bookmarking integration (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1450780#post1450780)What are the new features to look for in the Gallery?

. Private Messaging (PMs, notices for activity on photos and ratings, new photos from buddies,
message board activity)
. Built-in RSS (per category basis)
. Usergroup optimization resulting in significant reductions in memory usage for medium-large sites
. Lightbox integration for popover images
. Uniform thumbnails option (when using IM, all thumbnails are uniform in size and cropped from center
. Link codes for medium thumbnail/html codes
. Invites System for users to invite and track invitiations
. Mature Content flag to "hide" mature images from unregistered users (or users who select to not see mature pictures)
. Buddy Lists
. Who's Online page
. Internal Registration - Avatars, Titles and Signatures
. JavaScript usage for approve/delete options in admin bulk section (no page refresh)
. Redesigned data area for showphoto, more AJAX/JavaScript features
. Redesigned profile page - buddy lists, more stats, bio pages
. Slideshow Pause/Resume
. combined usergroup queries into 1 query versus multiple for each usergroup membership
. CAPTCHA image verification for new registrations
. Changed voting system to track votes seperately from ratings
. Use of icons versus text on showphoto page (famfam icons)

If anybody has any comments or suggestions, feel free to post here.

Thanks and enjoy! :)

[WebMaster]

We will be moving to new (better/faster) server and network soon:

Server Processor: Dual Processor Dual Core Opteron 270 2.0GHz
Second Processor: Dual Core Opteron 270 - 2.0GHz
Ram / Memory: 4 GB
Disk System/HD: 3 x 250GB SATA II RAID 5
First Hard Drive: 250GB SATA II
Second Hard Drive: 250GB SATA II
Third Hard Drive: 250GB SATA II
Disk Controller: SATA RAID 5 Disk Controller
Uplink Port: 100 Mbps Public & Private Networks (upgradable to 1000Mbps)

I will put up exact date and timing soon!

Thanks and enjoy!

It seems we have to go through this every year... first of all, sorry about the outage for couple of days. :(

As a result, we've upgraded to a better server:

Server Processor: Quad Core Xeon 5430 - 2.66GHz (Harpertown) - 2 x 12MB cache
Second Processor: Quad Core Xeon 5430 - 2.66GHz (Harpertown) - 2 x 12MB cache
So, all together, over 21Ghz of CPU processing power.
Ram / Memory: 8 GB
Disk System/HD: 4x Raptor 10k RPM HDs
First Hard Drive: 74 GB Raptor 10K
In RAID 05 Configuration:
Second Hard Drive: 150 GB Raptor 10K
Third Hard Drive: 150 GB Raptor 10K
Fourth Hard Drive: 150 GB Raptor 10K
Disk Controller: SATA RAID 5 Disk Controller
Uplink Port: 100 Mbps Public & Private Networks (upgradeable to 1000Mbps)
Price: Don't ask!

I would love to hear your comments and performance of the site over the next few weeks?

Thanks and enjoy!

[Tasman]

That's good news. It is frustrating when it takes a long time to log in, post, switch threads, etc. Good luck with the new system.

Tas

[WebMaster]

Forum software upgraded... slowly all of the features should be visible. :D

enjoy!

[eckherl]

Good to have defence talk up and running again Web Master, I thought you finally had enough of the whole lot of us and decided to pulled the plug.:D

[F-15 Eagle]

Oh so thats why I had trouble getting on. And I thought it was my stupid compuiter again....:rolleyes:

[radiosilence]

Hey Webs, good to see DT back up and running. What happen to the feature that showed threads with new posts at the bottom of the page?

[WebMaster]

It will be restored sometime today.