We're moving shortly!!! - Actually we're there now!!

[LowWaterMark]

Wilders Security Forums will be moving to a different Web Hosting company in a couple hours or so. That means there will be a downtime (about 4 hours long) to transfer the forum data and when we open back up, we'll be at a different IP address. However, as soon as DNS updates around the world, the normal wilderssecurity.com domain name will direct you to the new server. All posts, users and other data in the forum will be current up to the moment we close the forum to start the move.

For those who want to read about the hosting company we're going to, it's Application X (http://applicationx.net).

During the move, there will be a closed message on the current (old) forum and a placeholder page on the new server to let you know you've arrived at the right place. Once the new forum opens, the old one will have a single page letting you know you are in the wrong place, and listing the IP address of the new server. (If you are a Hosts file user, and have at some point added the IP address of wilderssecurity.com in there, you will need to update it to the new address, which we'll make available shortly.)


So, pack up your stuff and climb on to one of the sleds and join us as we move. Mush Pixel, mush!


|>:( :gack: :wacko: :shifty: :blink: :-\ :P :o ::) :D :) |-----*puppy*

[Triple Helix]

Great to here!!

Cheers,

[WSFuser]

oooOOOooo, an update! cant wait.

[betauser2]

WILL THERE BE ANY CHANGE IN BOARD STYLES TO COMPLEMENT THE MOVE?

betauser2

[LowWaterMark]

-{ Quote: "WILL THERE BE ANY CHANGE IN BOARD STYLES TO COMPLEMENT THE MOVE?

betauser2" }-No, no changes are being made to content or style at all. In fact, that is deliberate. Since we want to ensure that the move is successful, we're not making any other changes at the same time that could complicate trouble diagnosis or resolution.

[Cochise]

OOOOOOOHHH!......I'm frightened....will we be alright??.......


Cochise,8) Wandering in Wonderland.......

[LowWaterMark]

And we have arrived!! :D *puppy*

[ronjor]

Ahead of schedule. :D

[BlueZannetti]

-{ Quote: "And we have arrived!! :D *puppy*" }-On time no less.

Only thing I noticed was that I had to log in again to post the message (hit reply button> get another login screen > now I'm here).

Jim

[LowWaterMark]

-{ Quote: "Only thing I noticed was that I had to log in again to post the message (hit reply button> get another login screen > now I'm here)." }-Everyone may need to do a browser cycle... clearing cache & cookies, exiting browser fully, restarting browser and return. I've noticed my client programs seem to get mixed up when the IP address changes while they're open. My email client had to be exited and restarted before it would try come to the new server rather than still trying to hit the old one. Many flaky things may happen until everything is cycled on people's PCs and DNS stablizes.

[bigc73542]

:thumb: :thumb: working great ;) ;D

[snapdragin]

Wonderful work, Mike! :thumb: Like, Blue, all I had to do was re-log back in. :D

*puppy* <-- bet he's tired from dragging us back and forth on that sled. ;D

[Zhen-Xjell]

Welcome to heaven Wilders.

[WSFuser]

everything's smooth as silk here :)

[nicM]

Congratulations, the move is working great! :D

I didn't even have to clear cache, I was logged as soon as I came back :o


Cheers,
nicM

[dallen]

I must be stupid. The only way that I can get to this forum since the move is to input the 65.175.38.194 IP into my browser. Everytime I put in URLs www.wilderssecurity.com or wilderssecurity.com I end up getting the notification page. I use Spywareblaster, Spybot Search & Destroy, SpySweeper and ZA Security Suite. I've tried disabling all of them and cleaning my cache, temporary internet files and history. I checked my host file and am unable to find anything related to Wilders. What am I missing? Oh, I would like to avoid having to insert any entry into the host file, if that's possible. If not, please educate me as to why this is necessary.

[LowWaterMark]

-{ Quote: "I must be stupid. The only way that I can get to this forum since the move is to input the 65.175.38.194 IP into my browser. Everytime I put in URLs www.wilderssecurity.com or wilderssecurity.com I end up getting the notification page. I use Spywareblaster, Spybot Search & Destroy, SpySweeper and ZA Security Suite. I've tried disabling all of them and cleaning my cache, temporary internet files and history. I checked my host file and am unable to find anything related to Wilders. What am I missing?" }-DNS at your ISP is probably not updated yet. While we did have a low time to live set well before the move, there are always ISPs and hosting companies that have DNS cached longer. It can actually take a few days for DNS to be fully propagated.

In the meantime, you will have a lot of trouble using all the forum features if you browse to the IP address itself. Cookie functionality is not supported fully when browsing the IP on a vBulletin forum. Even though you don't want to use it, the hosts file is really the only way to go. These two lines near the top of your hosts file will allow you to browse by the proper domain name:

-{ Quote: "65.175.38.194 wilderssecurity.com
65.175.38.194 www.wilderssecurity.com" }-

[dog [away]]

Nice Job Mike :)

But I think we lost P-I-X-E-L I haven't seen him around. :P

[wildman]

:wacko: So what changed? It still looks the same to me, and my Favorites thingy get me right here. Hay just because I am moving doesn't mean ya has got to move also.

Thanks
Wildman
:dry: :blink: :gack: :thumb:

[LowWaterMark]

-{ Quote: "']But I think we lost P-I-X-E-L I haven't seen him around. :P" }-He's resting at his country house after pulling all those sleds! :P

176069

-{ Quote: "So what changed?" }-Just our address. :shifty:

[Longboard]

I will try and phrase this so you, the mods/admins can understandit and help me!

When I go back to some of the old threads I have bookmarked for specific interest and the links in those threads, I get taken to the "notification of moving page" from the bookmarks and the links.

I read the instructions on the moving page and I'm not sure I understand.
Can you make it even simpler/ :-[

Like: how to add to hosts file? (ithought the hosts file was to stop me going to malicious sites?0

If I add the old Wilders addresses/links to my hosts file, will all the old threads/links within the old posts work?

Hope dis is clearer dan mud :-\
Remember to whom you are addressing this reply:

Dopy downunder :blink:
Thanks

Longboard

[LowWaterMark]

If you are ending up at the notification of move page, then either the DNS for your ISP has not yet updated, (not to worry, that is only a matter of time before it resolves itself, if that is the case), or you actually have a hosts or proxy server reference to the old IP address of wilderssecurity.com, (if that is the case, that must be fixed).

More likely than not, it's your ISP DNS. But, editing your hosts file is not that difficult, so you could try to do that. (Interestingly enough, the real purpose of a hosts file is not the blocking of bad sites, although people use it for that more now than the real purpose. The real purpose was to map names to real IP addresses, not 127.0.0.1)

Assuming you have Windows XP, the hosts file is located here:

c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

You can open that file with Notepad and simple paste these lines into it and save it:

-{ Quote: "65.175.38.194 wilderssecurity.com
65.175.38.194 www.wilderssecurity.com" }-That will ensure that when you browse to wilderssecurity.com that you end up here.

But, do not attempt to browse the forum by using the IP address itself. While you'll be able to do some things, many parts of the forum won't work right doing it that way.

[MikeBCda]

I'm like nicM, already logged in when I got here today (via Bookmarks). Guess my ISP does a good job of DNS updating/refreshing/whatever frequently.

(Edit, update a while later) Hmm, I did run into that notice (but still showing as logged in) when I tried posting over in 10-F a few minutes ago, so did that hosts-file addition you recommended and carried on from there. Oddly, no problem posting here before that.

[Hard Rocker]

-{ Quote: "I'm like nicM, already logged in when I got here today (via Bookmarks). Guess my ISP does a good job of DNS updating/refreshing/whatever frequently." }-

;D Same here Mike !!

[LowWaterMark]

DNS can be a tricky thing. You can be browsing along just fine and suddenly end up back on the old server. This can continue until DNS around the world fully catches up with the change.

Two things to remember:

1. Do NOT try to browse to the IP address itself like this:

http://65.175.38.194/index.php

You will defintely have problems accessing the site, staying logged in and posting. You must browse to the name:

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/index.php

2. If needed, adding the two lines noted to your hosts file will ensure that your PC is mapping properly, all the time, to this server for this site name. (These lines should not be necessary after DNS has fully caught up everywhere in a few days.)

65.175.38.194 wilderssecurity.com
65.175.38.194 www.wilderssecurity.com

[Cochise]

Cracked it......Couldn't wait for my ISP to get it's finger out.......so I did the 'host' thing.........a quick 'Lick and Stick' in Notepad, battled my way through the darkness and smoke and here I'am, my Captain, safe and sound......;D


Cochise,8) Breathing easy in Bratislava....

[Alphalutra1]

No cracking needed with Treewalk DNS 8) . And its faster than any dumb ol' isp ;D

Alphalutra1

[Longboard]

Thanks LWM
Prob solved
Looks like I'm not the only person with misconceptions about hosts file functions:D

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=124660

Learning backwards as well as forwards.

Regards.

[Devinco]

We have arrived! Thank you Captain LWM!
The grass really is greener on the other side. ;D

[dallen]

I just wanted to let everyone know that was concerned about my ability to access the forum that my ISP has updated its DNS, thus I have arrived.

For those of you that were not worried and actually placed phone calls to my ISP offerring them money not to update the DNS, I'm sorry.

For Wilders and everyone involved in the migration, I commend thee for such a smooth transition.

[Carver]

I did the HOSTS file thing, didn't notice any interruption. I was busy wiping free space on my HDs ;D

[wildman]

-{ Quote: "

Just our address. :shifty:" }-

Hay so will mine here shortly. Oops your talking that puter stuff, I'm talking my residential address. In any case it is still my good ole Wilders no mater in what location it resides. Ditto the remarks about a good job!

Thanks
Wildman

[beetlejuice]

~a small voice is heard coming from the back seat~ Daddy, are we there yet? ;)

[mercurie]

Hello all,
Interesting how my emachine never missed a beat with the change over no host file change needed.

Yet my Compaq. No way, took me to the notice site everytime.

I hate tapering :P :-\ with the internals of the machine system files.

Anyway I followed LWM instructions bore down into the system files and pasted.

Well I'm here by way of ye old Compaq, so it worked.

My question is why would one computer using the same ISP be different, why would one not need to add the lines to the host file and the other one need it. I will give you the only differences btween the two that I think could possibly make a difference and let the membership give me their thoughts.

Compaq is XP retail box not mass install version, (don't think that would make any difference) Emachine came with XP already installed no disk.

Emachine is wireless, Compaq is not, yet like I said no problem getting the instructions by coming to the forum by way of emachine. :-\ I am behind a FW router of course.

Outpost FW on Compaq, McAfee on Emachine.

:wacko: to me...any suggestions....? Oh well I'm here on the Compaq now, looks like no harm done by pasting those two lines in the hosts file ;)

[LowWaterMark]

Has the Compaq system been up and running continuously for a while? Systems and programs can cache domain name translations and reuse those rather than querying out to the ISPs DNS servers. For example, Outlook Express has a nasty habit of doing that, and might even have to be exited and restarted to get it to pick up a changed address of your email server.

Also, XP has a service called "DNS Client" whose whole purpose is to cache DNS entries locally on your machine. So, you end up with a layer between you and real-world DNS updates. (Personally, I think a lot of the people that at this very moment are still hitting the old server, are doing so because of DNS Client doing this on their systems.) Most of those sites (like blackviper and others) that advise you on necessary versus unnecessary XP Services will tell you that 'DNS Client' is one that really ought to be disabled. For an end user PC, (ie. not a DNS server on a local LAN), caching DNS locally is truly overkill and definitely not needed.

For people running DNS Client, there is a command you can type in a CMD window to dump the cache and reload:

Start (menu) > Run... > ipconfig /flushdns

[mercurie]

Thanks for your quick reply LWM.

I rebooted yesterday evening thinking that would solve the problem, but yes I stay up and running all the time.

But you hit on something in your reply... what about Out Post DNS Caching plug in that is turned on? :-\

[LowWaterMark]

Outpost has a DNS caching plugin? (I need to get out more. :-\ )

It's possible, but someone like P2K (or other Outpost users) might need to comment on how that works.

[mercurie]

Yes, I activated it because as a feature it said pages and sites would load faster. I just ran the help file in Out Post to investigate further, it has limits that you can use to set expirations... I checked mine out they are as follows:

Limit DNS cach to 100 records and DNS cach records expire in 7 days.

To me it is just a toy that can report stuff if needed out of the the log. I am sure someone else could give me a dozen reasons why I need it. Before this latest version I had it turned off.

Would have been interesting to see what would have happened after 7 days.

;)

[Paranoid2000]

-{ Quote: "Outpost has a DNS caching plugin? (I need to get out more. :-\ )

It's possible, but someone like P2K (or other Outpost users) might need to comment on how that works." }-Outpost's DNS Cache does not respect TTL (Time-To-Live) attributes on DNS records but will instead keep the value for 14 days (the default - though you can change this) regardless so it certainly could cause problems with site address changes, as could other DNS caching software. It is however possible to clear entries if a problem is suspected (right-click on the plugin, select Properties/Miscellaneous/DNS Records/Edit/Remove All) and exceptions can be specified for dynamic domains that change often (e.g. dyndns.org).

[mercurie]

This is good to know Paranoid. Had I known this I would have cleared the enteries. As I really do not like to bore down into the system files and make changes, and only do when a problem occurs.

"If it is not broke don't fix it or try to tweak something that is working", Is my way.

I am not sure how useful this plug in is, I have used it both on and off and can not really tell any difference, but I know only a little of such things. On my Compaq the less RAM useage the better since it is at 256 with no more slots left for me to slip another card in and I do not wish to invest anymore in this old system anyway. ;)

[Paranoid2000]

-{ Quote: "I am not sure how useful this plug in is, I have used it both on and off and can not really tell any difference, but I know only a little of such things." }-DNS caching is also done by the DNS Client Service on Win2K/XP so Outpost's caching would likely make very little difference there. However there are security advantages to disabling the DNS Client Service since it then forces applications to make their own DNS requests (making it possible to detect/block the DNSTester leaktest and malware using similar techniques) in which case Outpost's DNS plugin becomes less redundant.

Aside from that, the main factor would be your Internet connection and your ISP's DNS server. Those on dialup and/or with problematic DNS servers should gain more benefit from DNS caching.