MyBB Community Forums

Hi,

Background: My prior web host outsourced the actual hosting of business websites and acted as intermediary. The new host refused to deal with clients directly. At the beginning of this Year I was given notice that my host would no longer be involved. Choice--stay with outsourced company with new intermediary/billing company or get new host. Chose to try a new host that was compatible with subject matter of my site.

Having researched what they offered technically and then speaking with the owner directly I was assured it would be no problem to deal with my website and Mybb forum. I Gave clear info about MYSQL and MyBB needs and was assured they could take care of it. I had them migrate my site as well, and it was moved from website OS4 panel, to Cpanel.. They also said they would begin taking care of my forum upgrades once the migration and everything was settled. Exactly what I wanted in support.

However, they were unable to migrate the forum easily--the OS4 did not have the MYPHP program working so they said they were unable to download everything as they had planned. It took about 2 days for the migration and they had a terrible time with setting up or installing into the MYSQL tables for the initial setup and installation--I have since found out that they do not actually have a tech familiar/trained with either MYSQL or MYBB--that it was best guess scenarios based on their IT knowledge. They are very pro WordPress, but have assured me that has not entered into the issues that have come up. I ended up having to send them my backup of the forum via email as they were unable to get what they needed via the OS4.

Once they finally got the forum up and it seemed to be working after about 2 weeks, because I was also going SSL for website and forum, they decided to initiate that and put my site with a dedicated ip. Am not sure if they meant they moved it again--can't find the info specific to that right now, but it runs in my mind they moved it all to another section. Regardless, within 4 days, the forum was destabilizing, truncating old posts and heading to a major crash. I had been doing backups so they rolled it back from the 25th to the 22nd of the month. It was thought that the issues were maybe due to the migration and differences in the MYSQL version.

It was left to keep trying different parts of the forum to push it to try and make it crash basically but it seemed to be holding it's own.
At one point I did a file verification and it showed a missing file inc/3rdparty/diff/Diff/Engine/Native.php   -----but the file verification just kept running and I would run of time to see if it would ever finish it's check.

The tech wrote back about the missing file:

"The inc/3rdparty/diff/Diff/Engine/Native.php did not exist but inc/3rdparty/diff/Diff/Engine/native.php did exist.
This is a MySQL file the software such as MyBB and many others can use to assure MySQL compatibility.
As you can see above, the existing file name had a lower case "n" while your procedure looked for the file with an upper case "N"
I made a copy of the file with the correct case so it is now there. This is likely due to the version of MySQL on this server is a little newer than the old one..."

About a month later they finally let me know that they had tried to upgrade the forum 3 times and 3 times it crashed and they had to restore it.. That was version 1.8.11. They said they followed the directions for upgrading explicitly. I then convinced them--after seeing all sorts of problems reported here in MYBB forum re .11, that they try the 1.8.10. They agreed to try it once and it failed again..

The one IT who seemed most knowledgeable said that it's possible there is something internal in their network causing some issue, but it's unknown.

This is what it's running on.

Apache Version 2.4.25
PHP Version 5.6.30
MySQL Version 5.6.35

I tried to find out the specs of the specific hardware my site is actually physically on, but that was viewed as an insult I guess because I got told their stuff is all industry standard...but there has to be something that's different or one would think it would all work. Either hardware or a software version for that hardware.

I do have Vienna theme by IAndrew--- and if that is an issue it can be removed. I am down to thinking if it can't be upgraded, I need to dump the forum or find another server, and neither are good options. Although if it can't upgrade...I am kind of stuck. I don't feel comfortable even trying .12 until a solution for why it won't upgrade.

Hoping someone here will be able to come up with a solution. Regrettably, due to family health issues and needs and getting our house ready to sell, I am way behind in dealing with this.

Thank you for your time.

All you are describing are issues with your host. Mybb can be upgraded from as far back as 1.6 series, so unless there's something wrong with your backup, the same would apply to your forum.

(2017-06-16, 10:41 PM)Ashley1 Wrote: [ -> ]All you are describing are issues with your host. Mybb can be upgraded from as far back as 1.6 series, so unless there's something wrong with your backup, the same would apply to your forum.

Thank you for your reply. I am quite aware that MYBB can be upgraded, having had the forum since 2008. The problem is, not being able to find what the problem is that is causing it to crash when attempting to upgrade. As I said, the hardware is industry standard. And while versions may be different, it should all accept the upgrade based on what I think are there.
Are there any known hardware/software or version conflicts with MyBB? Those are the things I am asking. 

Since many people have had problems with 11 and other versions with crashes and so on---it can't be all due to the specifics of my host, as I am quite sure we wouldn't all be having the same host.

Thank you for your time.
Vic

(2017-06-17, 12:18 AM)ConfusedVic Wrote: [ -> ]Since many people have had problems with 11 and other versions with crashes and so on---it can't be all due to the specifics of my host, as I am quite sure we wouldn't all be having the same host.

Thank you for your time.
Vic

I don't follow what you mean by that, because it very much looks like this is due to the specifics of your host, but maybe a member of staff will be able to assist you better.

I should point out that my server had done a MySQL cleanup on the data base and the database check and repair found no issues in the MyBB database. Also the system health looks good.

If the upgrade issue is all the server side, I would think the forum would not work at all or it would be constantly needing to be rolled back or reloaded. But that's not the case. It's been stable and working for some time now.

I am stuck on MyBB 8.7  ...and that leads to security issues eventually. And having been hacked twice, with the last time last August...I really don't want to go there again. 

Thank you for your time.

Quote:The tech wrote back about the missing file:

"The inc/3rdparty/diff/Diff/Engine/Native.php did not exist but inc/3rdparty/diff/Diff/Engine/native.php did exist.
This is a MySQL file the software such as MyBB and many others can use to assure MySQL compatibility.
As you can see above, the existing file name had a lower case "n" while your procedure looked for the file with an upper case "N"
I made a copy of the file with the correct case so it is now there. This is likely due to the version of MySQL on this server is a little newer than the old one..."

I... What? It's not a "MySQL file". It's a PHP file. It has nothing to do with MySQL. It has nothing to do with the MySQL version of the server, either. That specific third party library was updated in 1.8 and the developers of the library changed the case sensitivity. That's it. Sounds like they're pretty incompetent. Take your backups and run. Use a different host.

(2017-06-21, 02:22 PM)Nathan Malcolm Wrote: [ -> ]

Quote:The tech wrote back about the missing file:

"The inc/3rdparty/diff/Diff/Engine/Native.php did not exist but inc/3rdparty/diff/Diff/Engine/native.php did exist.
This is a MySQL file the software such as MyBB and many others can use to assure MySQL compatibility.
As you can see above, the existing file name had a lower case "n" while your procedure looked for the file with an upper case "N"
I made a copy of the file with the correct case so it is now there. This is likely due to the version of MySQL on this server is a little newer than the old one..."

I... What? It's not a "MySQL file". It's a PHP file. It has nothing to do with MySQL. It has nothing to do with the MySQL version of the server, either. That specific third party library was updated in 1.8 and the developers of the library changed the case sensitivity. That's it. Sounds like they're pretty incompetent. Take your backups and run. Use a different host.

Hi,
Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. Thank you for your candor. I knew that when he wrote about the SQL, but I was thinking maybe he just was tired and misspoke, but you are correct, they are not what I was led to believe when talking to the owner initially and what appeared in my research.

That said, I think there is something wrong with what they have done, perhaps in the setup. I tried running the file verification again, and was only able to be on for 45 minutes ---and it never finishes checking. How long should it take to run a check? It showed the Native.php file as changed but just kept going. I don't recall it taking that long when running it before, and have run it successfully before being on this host.

Secondly, if they have done something incorrectly in the mysql setup or the mybb forum setup , and since they were continually crashing it when trying to upgrade, that suggests to me that perhaps my backups will also hold that error. If I can't figure that out, and am unable to upgrade it, I am no further ahead, moving it or not. Would that be a correct assumption?