V-Flyer

I'd like to start right at the top of this post with an enormous thank you to the members of V-Flyer for their support, patience and ability to embrace (huge) change as we took the biggest leap this site has ever attempted in moving not just ISP, but server platform and programming language that drives the site. On the face of it, we were mad to attempt it - but I think you can already see the benefits of taking the risk, and the new features and possibilities this now affords.

For the statistically minded, we moved over 4,300 members, along with 230,000 posts in over 27,000 topics. There were more than 4,000 photos that were re-sized, thumnailed and copied to the new server. 1600+ trip reports where re-indexed and updated. New (far more accurate) data was integrated, and we now query over 10,000 historical flight movements when pulling up the Which Aircraft tool, and re-use the same data to expose new views on information like flight status and all flights. In the last few days, we've already served up 1 million page views on the new site.

This all requires a bit of horsepower to make it happen (especially when, like we did last Friday, you suddenly have 450 users on the site concurrently!). So under the hood of the new site is a 8-core server, with each processor ticking along at nearly 3Ghz. We've also increased our bandwidth allowance from 100GB per month to 400GB per month, and the physical location has moved from Florida in the US to London - so it's closer to where the majority of visitors are. With our move, we've also gone green, as the energy usage of our server (and cooling of the environment it sits in), is carbon offset.

These improvements are, of course, designed to be transparent so that you just get the page you want to see as quickly as possible. And of course, there's plenty of room for more growth. Growing pains can be tricky, but I'm glad to say this latest - and largest - move has been reasonably smooth (notwithstanding the odd login error...!)

Pete

Once again, this time in public, - many,many thanks for all your efforts, Pete. oo)

Here's to the next six years.

Nick

Big drink for you Pete! Have you managed to get some sleep yet?

As a newbie on here, First of all can I saw the new site is excellent! really really well done and a lot faster then the old one! I have been a lurker on the old site for about 3 years and now it was the stunning new site that made me sign up and become a member...

Well done once again

Mike

still getting used to a few things Pete but in general a big

y) y) y) y) y)

to you and all involved in the update etc

And a stunning result too. Congratulations Pete and all her sailed her into new waters!

I'm loving most of it and missing bits but totally understand the need for change and appreciate everything you and the mods have done to set this up. oo)

Just to echo what has already been said, a huge thanks, the new site really is fantastic y) (and sorry for the near constant emails with changes )

It's been said before but worthy of many more.

Thank you for all of your hard work in getting this great new site up and running with minimal down-time. oo)

As Nick says, heres to the next 6 years of V-Flyer. y)

In the light of your success here,why not have a pop at IT in the NHS?

stevebrass wrote:In the light of your success here,why not have a pop at IT in the NHS?

I think Pete's probably sane enough to give that the widest berth. Only the criminally revenue-hungry would think their egos could sort that one out!

A brilliant job, Pete, many thanks to you and the others involved in making this happen y)

Thank you Pete for all the great work. V-flyer looks brilliant and here's to the future. y)

Have a large drink on me! y)

Fab
Wow
Wkd
Hot

What more can i say?

Thanks for all your efforts.

Top notch job....one for the c.v. I think.... send me your test and transition plan and I'll stick it into our Method.

Thanks also for keeping the design clean and resisting the F*c*book approach of larding "stuff" onto every page.

Paul

Like nick, a very public thank you oo) oo)

We all appreciate the considerable effort you have gone to.

buns

The more I get into the site, the more I realise how much hard work and creativity that was involved. Thanks from me too. oo) oo)

DocRo wrote:Fab
Wow
Wkd
Hot

What more can i say?

Ooh, V-Nerd quiz! Easy really, the odd one out is WKD.

Just to add to the plaudits, Pete, grand job on the new site and many thanks for all the hard work. And if you can bring the countdown and upcoming flights functions back, your place in heaven will truly be assured...

mdvipond wrote:And if you can bring the countdown and upcoming flights functions back, your place in heaven will truly be assured...

Ah, go on then...

This doesn't quite work the same was as the old countdown clock (and to be fair, the old countdown timer was so fussy about date formats, that didn't work very often...)

... but, I've added a BBcode (and that means it'll appear on the posting page menu bar), called 'event' - which means you can click it and fill in the gaps.

Assume that the curly brackets in the following examples are square when you use them;

so {event=2010/05/16}Bay To Breakers in San Francisco{/event}

will produce

Events in the past are now handled better than just 'Outta Here', so;

{event=2010/03/12}New Site Launch{/event}

gives:



Ok, so they're not 'live', to the second countdowns like the old ones - but they should be easier to use, and you can put them in your signature files (found under the User Control Panel). I've filled my signature to show what you can do with them.

BTW, please use your signature files responsibly - we don't want to end up with forum pages that are 90% signature files, and 10% forum

And it gets better! Thanks Pete. y) y)

Just to add my congrats. It's like discovering an old friend all over again. Love the attention to detail - specifically the clocks on the 'Which Aircraft' calender that actually show the real departure time - in fact love the departure / arrival history generally, now a statistical analysis of this as punctuality would be really amazing

FM

Pete wrote:

mdvipond wrote:And if you can bring the countdown and upcoming flights functions back, your place in heaven will truly be assured...

Ah, go on then...

Is there no limit to this man's omnificence? Now, all I need to do is find a spare hour or so to set up countdowns for my upcoming flights, my birthday, Mrs V's birthday, Tizer's birthday, the cat's birthday, next dental appointment, days since last bowel movement...

mdvipond wrote:

Pete wrote:

mdvipond wrote:And if you can bring the countdown and upcoming flights functions back, your place in heaven will truly be assured...

Ah, go on then...

Is there no limit to this man's omnificence? Now, all I need to do is find a spare hour or so to set up countdowns for my upcoming flights, my birthday, Mrs V's birthday, Tizer's birthday, the cat's birthday, next dental appointment, days since last bowel movement...

Don't forget the seemingly rather necessary doctor's appointment ):

Don't forget the countdown to your next TR.