I just wanted to take a moment to mention WHY(?) BGDF.com has been down for about 1 hour twice in the last month. It seems like an AddHandler in the .HTACCESS file was modified for PHP 7.2. I was told by the first Support Analyst that indeed they have made an update to their systems and are DEFAULTING to version 7.2... Originally I did nothing but "restore" the older .HTACCESS file and the website was restored as before.
But yet again TODAY, the .HTACCESS file was modified around 1:00 PM and the 7.2 instructions were YET AGAIN added to the .HTACCESS file.
However today was a bit different than the last time. This time the Support Analyst told me that this was because the AddHandler was for PHP 7.2 and it seems like the website was using PHP 5.3... Unfortunately version 5.3 of PHP is no longer offered on the HOST of this website. So we tried the lowest version which was PHP 5.4... And miraculously it works, the website is up and running no problems.
The Support Analyst also took care to note that BGDF.com requires an OLDER version of PHP and not the latest PHP 7.2. Such that this does not occur again, whenever cPanel decides to update the .HTACCESS files again (and yeah it modifies all .HTACCESS files including the ones for Quest and Monster Keep...)
The point that I would like to MAKE... is this:
It's been over 20 years that the website has been active and in the past there were a half dozen admins to today only 1.5 (Rich is available for questions but he is no master of Drupal either).
So there may be a time where BGDF.com might be down because of LACK of SUPPORT. And what I mean is "Technical Software" required by this ancient beast of a Legacy website which is like 2 versions behind the times.
I unfortunately don't have the expertise to MIGRATE it to a newer version and people who do know... Say it is not as simple as running a script and everything gets done "magically".
Therefore I ask that if there is a DOWNTIME that last a couple days... Rest assured, I will be contacting OUR HOST and seeing if in some way we can REVERT back to the "earlier" version of PHP that was working or whatever else may come our way.
The bottom line is that I "tweak" BGDF.com and I am as GREEN as it comes to Drupal. Yes, I have made some modifications ... But mostly local changes. The reality is that IF for some reason we MUST "go-back" to an earlier version... We will TRY to reason with our HOST and insist that whatever Technical Specs that change ... might need to be "reverted" for BGDF.com to remain live and up-and-running.
And yes... That day will come. As everyone is moving forwards "technologically" and updates are continuous ... and at some point we may just hit a wall in which we will require "special" handling... And hope that BGDF.com can remain a Legacy website.
Regards,
Kristopher
Aka QuestCCG
"Indie" Game Designer
BGDF Administrator/Moderator
I think this is because this is a Drupal website. And the problem is migration and compatibility of features from one version to the next. Nobody that I know has much experience with Drupal. And my day-to-day business is RUNNING the website... Not "Technical Administration".
I guess what it would take is a seasoned Drupal developer to come on-board and see how this website could be migrated ... and IF it can be migrated.
Again this is difficult to grasp seeing as though I am very technical too... When it comes to managing the "internals" of Drupal ... That type of knowledge is way above my experience and knowledge.
We're not "patching" ... We're simply operating the site AS-IS.
I honestly don't know... And nobody has ever shown any interest in what the website needs and what is possible. Drupal experts are not around all that much either... I wouldn't even know where to begin, TBH!
Note #1: As far as I see it it's about $66k for a Drupal Developer (annually)... I don't know anyone who is experienced enough to do this kind of work. It's like being a Wordpress Developer. You need to know and understand all the internals and then figure out with all the "extras" how to get them working properly. It's difficult... Not an easy job to say the least!