We are back!

Go here:

http://cefresearch.ca/phpBB3/

and follow the instructions to reset your password here:

http://cefresearch.ca/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?p=76446&sid=25e5dcbb8ff9d4d2005d3ec35b8331bd#p76446

I will add a new topic area for BB3 "Bug Reports" and move the old information to the Archives.

Richard

Today is the day! Stand by!

Timeline August 28, 2012

• 0915 hour EST - phpBB2 site closed to download database
• 1000 hours EST - Register.ca scheduled to start upgrade
• 1130 hours EST - site is still not active, will continue to check
• 1215 hours EST - no change in status
• 1415 hours EST - appears to be active
• 1445 hours EST - we are now live on phpBB3!

 

http://cefresearch.ca/phpBB3

The following was posted to the CEFSG Forum on Tuesday August 28, 2012 and is repeated here for the benefit of members who may not see the post prior to the phpBB2 forum being closed for the upgrade.

It is now Tuesday August 28th, 2012 0730 hours EST.

The actual transfer of the system from phpBB2 to phpBB3 is scheduled to start at 1000 hours. That detailed work is being completed by the technical team at Register.ca, the company that currently hosts cefresearch.ca.

The existing phpBB2 site will be closed to members some time prior to 1000 hours to prepare backup files of all the information present prior to the upgrade - just in case! Routine backups have been made daily for the most recent period.

At this time we have no information as to how long the site will be down while the upgrade is taking place. As soon as it is complete we will post a message to the blog ( http://cefresearch.blogspot.com ) and we will place the new links on the main CEFSG site ( http://cefresearch.ca ).

If you currently have the CEFSG Forum bookmarked, please note that the bookmark may cease to function. From this time forward, please do not use any bookmarks to gain entrance to the forum as this may disrupt the process.

The MATRIX ( http://cefresearch.ca/matrix ) is not affected by this upgrade. Note also there are a number of links on the CEFSG Blog site to other member sites. Take some time and visit our members .... we will be back shortly!

Important Notice August 27, 2012

The following notice was published on the CEFSG Forum on Monday August 27th and is repeated here for the benefit of those that are not able to access the forum during the transfer period.

THE CANADIAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE

STUDY GROUP

PLEASE READ THIS NOTICE

(This Page Last Update on August 27, 2012 )

The CEFSG Forum will be closed on Tuesday August 28th to allow for the system upgrade to phpBB3 from the current phpBB2.

Please do not try to gain access to the forum from any book marked links as that may disrupt the transfer process. The phpBB2 data base will need to be backed up in the most current state and then moved to the phpBB3 system.

There are a number of posts on the phpBB2 system about the planned upgrade which you should read on Monday August 27, 2012:

Upgrade to phpBB3 Tuesday August 28th

That link will disappear this evening, however all of the notices and updates are posted on the CEFSG Blog at this location:

http://cefresearch.blogspot.ca/

 You can add your questions or comments at either of those locations. All notices posted on Tuesday August 28th will be on the BLOG ONLY, so you might want to also paste your comments there. If there are any serious issues, you can send an e-mail to rlaughton@cefresearch.ca.

Please note the special request relative to your TEMPORARY PASSWORD for the new system. User Names and Avatars will stay intact but all existing passwords will be lost during the transfer.

You can confirm that you have read this notice by clicking on the following link, which will then direct you to the forum:

 

CONFIRMED

 

Passwords Must Be Reloaded - Act Now

This message was posted on the CEFSG Forum in the event that the passwords need to be manually entered after the new phpBB3 site is activated on Tuesday August 28, 2012. This message will also be important to members that have not been to the site in the days prior to the upgrade of the server software.

One of the quirks of the change from phpBB2 to phpBB3 is the enhancement of the security of the forum.

I have been advised by the "techies" at Register.ca that the "cookies" that have the passwords for all the users will be lost when the new system goes into effect on Tuesday August 28th. This means that all the existing passwords will be erased (lost). I can assure you that is correct, as I have been using the test site as it is being built and my password was gone. All the names and avatars survive, just the passwords disappear.

We are looking at alternatives. For example, Neil is checking with Chuck today to see if there is a file of passwords in the old .COM system that we could use to manually insert the existing passwords - only 1,618 to load! My guess is that will not be an option and they will need to be reset one-by-one.

The process by which I see this will happen is to give each member that is still active a NEW TEMPORARY PASSWORD and then they can go to their USER PROFILE (when the new system is operational) to change it back to their preferred password. I suspect we will not hear from all 1,618 registered members!

To get this process rolling I have set up a separate e-mail account (like we did for the donations) and so you will need to send an e-mail to:
password@cefresearch.ca

Please put your forum USER NAME in the SUBJECT LINE -

and include in that e-mail only the following: (using mine as an example)

1. Your real name: Richard Laughton
2. Your user name: rlaughton
3. Your temporary password: a1b2c3 (6 letters or numbers in any order)

The temporary password will then be entered into the new system and you will then have access and can go back and change what you want. I thought about giving everyone the same temporary password but that would mean anyone reading this forum could get into your account - not a good idea! As you can imagine, it is going to take some time to enter this information if they all come at once, so we might as well plan ahead.

You can start sending in your information at any time and we will hold it until Tuesday - or whenever we have access to get this done.

HTML Not Allowed in phpBB3

The following was posted to the CEFSG forum site and is duplicated here for ease of transition on Tuesday August 28, 2012:

This note is for members who have been using HTML recently in their posts for the resizing of pictures ("img src") or the posting of albums for cloud computing ("iframe src"). For all others, don't read any further as this will be absolute gibberish, and for those that continue - put on your seat belts and life jackets!

The use of HTML codes is [u]prohibited[/u] in the phpBB3 system that this site will be changing to at 10 am on Tuesday August 28th (2012). It has been determined by the experts that this is the major reason forums have been "hacked" as it is a simple route for the nasty people out there to input computer code into the system.

Not to worry though, there is a new system of forum based BBCode that we add to our own forum that creates the same effect as the HTML code did in the phpBB2 system that we currently use. For example, where you now see and use the codes [IMG], there will be a new code [fIMG] that will let you set the width and height of the images you post. For the albums, there will be a new code [iFRAME]. These will all appear under the existing BBCode that you see every time you are creating a post.

There are many, many more codes that we will be able to add - thus the great benefit of the upgrade to phpBB3. We will have the option to be able align text to the left, right or centre; to change the font within a post, the alter the background colour - and a whole host of other options. Specific codes also exist for inserting videos from YouTube etc.

For those that want additional background on phpBB3, please refer to these official phpBB3 sites:

https://www.phpbb.com/support/documentation
phpBB3 Tutorials in Text Format

https://www.phpbb.com/support/tutorials
phpBB3 Tutorials in Flash Video Format

phpBB3 Upgrade Notice for August 24, 2012

The following was posted on the CEFSG Forum this morning and is copied here for those that may not see it prior to the switch, currently scheduled for Tuesday August 28, 2012.

The testing program by Register.ca on the upgrade to the phpBB3 system is nearing completion. It is expected that the change over to the new system (from the old phpBB2 - which is no longer serviced) can be completed on Monday or Tuesday of next week. I have opted for Tuesday as it is generally unwise to make major changes on a Monday.

The main structure of the forum is now in phpBB3 but is not accessible by the general membership, while we are checking the individual components of the system.

We will follow a similar plan to what was used when we moved from the .COM to the .CA site, in that we will close down access to the CEFSG Forum while the transfer is being completed ([i]expected to be a period of about 3 hours - but assume there will be no access on Tuesday[/i]). During this period, also keep watch on the CEFSG Blog Site as that is where specific notices and updates will be posted:

http://cefresearch.blogspot.ca/

Three issues have been identified to date that may cause some problems with the transfer:

1. The PASSWORDS will apparently all be erased and will need to be re-entered manually. I am looking into details as to whether we can do this manually over the weekend so that some (many) will already be in place for Tuesday. I have not yet heard back from Register.ca on this issue. Also I do not know if we have everyone's password on file or if we will need to put in temporary passwords that are changed later. Watch for more information on that topic over the next few days.
2. There are about 200 existing posts (out of tens of thousands) that have characters that are neither English nor French and thus they will not transfer (update) correctly. The posts will remain but may have errors that may need to be corrected manually or ignored. We will have to wait and see what they are.
3. The format of phpBB3 is a bit different and so there are "new things to learn" to set up the new format. For example, the BBCode and HTML set up parameters are different so we have to figure those out and activate them. I am hoping that we can start on that ahead of time, again awaiting an answer from Register.ca. If the "system" of phpBB3 remains as it is now and only the database is updated on Tuesday then some of the issues can be addressed prior to the move.

The new system will be on the main CEFSG site at http://cefresearch.ca and the main page will be accessible at http://cefresearch.ca/index.html but the page for the phpBB2 system will be deactivated which is currently at http://cefresearch.ca/phpBB2 (the default of which is http://cefresearch.ca/phpBB2/index.php). As soon as the phpBB3 system is active we will have an automatic forward to the new site (or post a link to the new site if that fails - which it should not).

If I did it correct this time, you should be able to respond to posts in this sub-forum. I will place a copy of this notice on the blog.

Richard