The blog has been running for close to 7.5 years now on MovableType, starting with MT 2.1 or something like that. Over that time it’s been updated and downgraded by beta and release versions of MT. Now it’s getting to the point where odd glitches happen and cause problems with getting entries published that I think might be related to DB clutter. Some of them I think are also caused by process reaping performed by my hosting provider. In any case, after all the things that have been done to the database, I’m thinking it’s time to clean things up.
Time to decide.
- Do I leave things the way they are and remain mildly annoyed?
- Try to migrate entries and comments into a fresh DB?
- Freeze this blog and start over fresh with a new instance of MT?
I could probably shell out more $ and move to a Dreamhost VPS. That would probably get me away from their process reaping and solve most of my problems. I would also have the flexibility to do a few other things too. Also the path of least resistance.
Trying to migrate to a fresh DB would leave things intact, but require a lot of back end work to figure out just what needs to be moved over. It’s the kind of thing that appeals to the geek in me though.
Freezing the blog and starting over with a fresh instance would be pretty easy. It would also give me an opportunity to transition over to either MT5 or OpenMelody (because I like to be on the bleeding edge) without having to worry about breaking things more during an upgrade.
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I would love to see you go to OpenMelody if only so I can know someone in the same state who runs OpenMelody. 🙂 But yes, preserve the blog. You should have no trouble getting entries and comments into the new DB. I rebooted my blog like that after my WordPress instance was hacked on DH a couple years ago and I’ve been working well since. Have you looked at your sessions table? Perhaps there is trouble brewing in there.
I remember you mentioned once that you were publishing everything dynamically — are you still doing so? I wonder if that could be part of it.
Also definitely consider Linode. I have absolutely loved my Linode 512. After a couple hiccups at the Atlanta datacenter, Linode has been solid for my WordPress setup (which I may transition to OpenMelody at some point). I think the outlay is pretty comparable, too, and the flexibility you gain over Dreamhost VPS (which Heather is using rather successfully) might be worthwhile.
I’ve been following the progress of OpenMelody and it looks like it’s almost ready to give a whirl. The blog will definitely stay, but whether I continue with the existing DB or start fresh is the question.
The main source of grief I get is a lot of Error 500s when publishing things. This installation of MT takes a long time to do things and is prone to being killed, which is what I think is causing the Error 500s.
Another site I run is also MT powered (different install) and is much faster, although doesn’t have as many entries. There’s something about this blog, whether it’s the templates or something DB related, that’s slowing MT down.
I’m considering the DB surgery option where I attempt to transfer the content and comments into a fresh DB. it just sounds like a fun geeky way to kill a few evenings.
I did look at Linode, and run the Southeast Linuxfest website on it. Was considering switching when my Dreamhost autorenewed before I decided. I might still switch later.