15:07:19 Migration started 15:07:19 Switching ~/public_html/index.pl to status monitor 15:07:20 Locking database 15:08:20 Locked database 15:08:20 Replicating tables 15:12:39 Loading 'vote' from disk 15:29:51 Synchronizing remaining votes 15:31:02 Migration done. Restarting webservers.
What amounted to a downtime of the site of about 20 minutes bore great fruits. The new database machine that Pair so generously provide to us is now in use. We are now on MySQL version 5. The new machine has lots more RAM than the old machine, so I expect the GMT 8:00 site slowdown due to the backups to be far less noticeable than it was in the previous years.
This migration was possible through the beta testing especially of ambrus who found the first two incompatible SQL statements, the scripts provided by tye for creating backups while the website is still in use, the moral support and patience of the site users when I tested the DB migration and made the site unusable/unavailable, and last but not least by Pair who donate the new hardware. I'd like to thank all of you and hope the new database makes the site faster.
If you notice any changes in site behaviour, please report them here or in the chatterbox. Preferrably accompany bug reports with a test script taken from Open beta test of the new database. The beta test didn't turn up any more inconsistencies between what MySQL 5 accepts as valid SQL, but there might be nodes that had been unchecked.