So today was the day we finally moved from the old server to the new one, it was partially planned but a little bit unexpected at the same time. I had been intending to do it yesterday but put it off partly because I was busy and partly because I was anxious that the switch over would not go smoothly. I had done some testing of the new server but until traffic actually hit it I wouldn't know how well it would handle the load. I had planned to make a post before I did the change over and some other small last minute data pulls but all that really needed done at this point was to update the DNS. I was debating when I would do the change over today or if I would put it off yet again but at 1:30 BST I received and alert that the old server had went down. Our old host had assumed I had already done the changeover and had taken it down. I scrambled and pointed the DNS to the new server and crossed my fingers hoping that nothing would go wrong.

It seems however my fears were misplaced and the new server handled the traffic fine and everything seems to be running better than ever. I have been working on the site the past week and have made several performance improvements. I optimised the database and made the site use memcached for data cacheing as well as setting up OP Cache to improve the performance of the compiled templates/the site pages. We also now proxy all of our traffic through cloudflare which should help with performance but will also be another layer of protection against DDOS attacks in future.

So we are now at our new home and the change will allow me to offer a lot more features for the site. Action messaged me last night about adding more features for streamer clips and that is one of the first things on the list, also searching for streamer profiles by name, clips voting (prolly a little later) and a userscript to add a hasroot button to Twitch VODs which pulls data and takes you to the history of the current timestamp. I have had the userscript for...

So this is a semi brief update to let you know the progress on moving to the new server.

I spent the weekend looking over potential hosts and settled on Kimsufi. They offer low cost dedicated servers on the OVH network which is the network our current host are on. During the massive DDOS attacks they stepped in and helped mitigate a lot of the traffic before it hit our box. Unfortunately (for me :P) Mopman has been busy preparing for his fiancee flying in today so it was left to me to set up the box with him fielding questions when he had time. I got there in the end though (20 hours or so) and the new server is running everything that we need. It wasn't just a case of moving over the website and database, I had to set up the entire server from scratch which is not something I have done for awhile (10+ years? at least on a production server). Definitely learnt a lot and will have plenty more to learn in the future running it.

You may have noticed some downtime today on the live site while I was doing the final database backup before we switch to the new server. That was the final step to bring the new server up to date with the live site. At this point we could immediately switch to the new server but I will be holding off for a few days. This time will allow me to do some improvements to the backend that are more difficult to do when the site is live will also allow for more testing to be done to make sure the final switch over goes smoothly.

I will post an update before we do plan to flip the switch just incase there are initial teething issues. I hope you will all bear with us through these changes but I think it will be for the best. I have a list of new things I plan to add (how about comments for blogs for one? Voting on clips is coming soon™ too) once we get through the server change.

Hope you are all enjoying the site and the RP.

Sean - ScottishRambler.

Firstly welcome to the massive influx of new users that have been visiting the site, hope you are all enjoying it and the recent surge in popularity GTA RP is experiencing.

I have been watching GTA RP since SoE blew up when lirik and waffle started playing on it. Back then I made a small java application so I could see who was streaming on the server and eventually the site was born. It has come a long way over the past year or two so hopefully you enjoy the features we have now.

One thing I would like to clear up that there has been some confusion about is that this site is not the official No Pixel site, nor do we have any affiliation with them or any other servers. For any official information regarding No Pixel or to apply you will need to go to http://NoPixel.net. Their site is currently down right now so you may have to wait awhile, they also have a discord Official No Pixel Discord.

If you see any great clips, interesting things happening live or have any feedback feel free to share them in our discord Has Root Discord.

Sean.

There was an update a day or two ago, it mainly focused on backend stuff for stability but there were a few other changes.

The new stuff

There is now a button on the streamer profile pages so you can let us know if you notice any errors. These can be including but not limited to missing characters, people not being assigned to white list servers appropriately, characters names being changed for whatever reason,character deceased status being incorrect or simply the streamer being assigned to the wrong server or anything else that seems off to you.

I also added a daily tip notification to the stream list page with a few general pieces of information about the site and its features. These can be disabled in the settings via the general tab and if you feel these tips are good but too frequent let me know and I can adjust the interval or make them customisable.

One of the tips does mention we are always looking for helpers, there is a simple web based interface to add characters via the streamer profile pages and to move them to a different server if incorrectly assigned. I may make a blog showcasing these features in future and add an open signup page to become a helper. I don't always have the time to keep the character data up to date and while our staff does what they can they only watch so much content. So if you are interested just join the discord and message me or use the feedback form and leave a contact address. You can add as much as little as you like and your help would be appreciated.

I added The Wack Pack and Aftermath RP as servers on the backend, currently I am not adding them to the menu but they will be listed on the gtarp.hasroot.com page and information about them will be collected going forward.

Andre Awesome is now staff instead of character admin/helper.

Ramble

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