Server Upgrades

Chris Kilroy · 08-07-2021, 08:14 PM

Hi,

We last upgraded the server hardware that keeps RailPictures running in the summer of 2014. Seven years in the tech world is an eternity, and although this equipment has served us well, it's begun to struggle as site traffic has increased over the years.

With that said, we've begun the process of migrating the site to a pair of new, state of the art dedicated servers (one which will handle the web front end, and the other which will handle the database functions). While difficult to quantify exactly, these servers should be about 10x more powerful than the current equipment and should keep RP performing quickly and reliably well into the future.

The process of migrating a website of this size will take a bit of time. We hope for all work to be fully completed by the weekend of August 27. In the mean time, over the next few weeks, you may see bugs pop up occasionally and, at times (especially overnight), certain website functions may be temporarily unavailable.

Thanks for your understanding,
Chris

Chris Kilroy · 08-21-2021, 07:22 PM

Hi,

If you're seeing this message, you're now on the new servers.

In addition to upgrading the server hardware, we also took this opportunity to upgrade the backend software (Apache, PHP, MySQL, etc.) to the latest versions. This required a lot of re-coding and tweaking of scripts. I tried to test pretty thoroughly but I'm sure I missed something, so please feel free to post any bugs/gremlins that you may notice below so I can squash them.

Thanks!

Decapod401 · 08-22-2021, 10:59 AM

Hi Chris,

I tried to check EXIF data on a photo and received an internal server error.

Chris Kilroy · 08-22-2021, 04:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Decapod401

Hi Chris,

I tried to check EXIF data on a photo and received an internal server error.

Thanks, Doug. Should be fixed now.

StL-rail · 08-22-2021, 07:42 PM

Code not loading properly on the queued photo page? Attached screen shot. Don't think it's on my side since it's loaded this way about 10 times in a row...

Chris Kilroy · 08-22-2021, 08:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StL-rail

Code not loading properly on the queued photo page? Attached screen shot. Don't think it's on my side since it's loaded this way about 10 times in a row...

Thanks John. Fixed.

StL-rail · 08-22-2021, 10:05 PM

Also cannot delete a queued photo, get a "photo does not exist in the database" message...

Chris Kilroy · 08-22-2021, 10:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StL-rail

Also cannot delete a queued photo, get a "photo does not exist in the database" message...

Thanks again. This is fixed. I also added a link directly from the Queue Status page for each queued image directly to the page where you can modify/delete it. The old way of having to copy the queued photo ID, go to another form, and paste it to get to the modify/delete function was terribly roundabout.

LucasMR · 08-22-2021, 11:20 PM

Hi Chris,
I'm trying to add a remark in a photo, (photo management) but it's not working.

StL-rail · 08-23-2021, 01:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Kilroy

Thanks again. This is fixed. I also added a link directly from the Queue Status page for each queued image directly to the page where you can modify/delete it. The old way of having to copy the queued photo ID, go to another form, and paste it to get to the modify/delete function was terribly roundabout.

Just tried it, super awesome feature!

Is it possible to make ALL fields editable under Photo Management?
Such as:
Railroad
Locomotive
Location
Country

Often when I am uploading from the same trip/outing I'll forget to change one of these, and then I have to go thru the photo information correction thing.

Chris Kilroy · 08-23-2021, 01:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LucasMR

Hi Chris,
I'm trying to add a remark in a photo, (photo management) but it's not working.

Hi Lucas,

Did several tests and this appears to be working for me.

Chris Kilroy · 08-23-2021, 01:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StL-rail

Just tried it, super awesome feature!

Is it possible to make ALL fields editable under Photo Management?
Such as:
Railroad
Locomotive
Location
Country

Often when I am uploading from the same trip/outing I'll forget to change one of these, and then I have to go thru the photo information correction thing.

These used to all be open fields but we had to close them to prevent people typing whatever they wanted and inserting it directly into the live photo database (for example, we had probably 25 iterations for BNSF including BNSF, BNSF Railway, BNSF Railroad, BN SF, BN/SF, etc.). We try to keep the photo data standardized as best we can to make searching easier and more intuitive, so running corrections to those fields through the Correct Photo form (which gets screened by a human) at least allows us to standardize entries that should match other photos in the DB before we apply them.

StL-rail · 08-23-2021, 02:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Kilroy

These used to all be open fields but we had to close them to prevent people typing whatever they wanted and inserting it directly into the live photo database (for example, we had probably 25 iterations for BNSF including BNSF, BNSF Railway, BNSF Railroad, BN SF, BN/SF, etc.). We try to keep the photo data standardized as best we can to make searching easier and more intuitive, so running corrections to those fields through the Correct Photo form (which gets screened by a human) at least allows us to standardize entries that should match other photos in the DB before we apply them.

Understandable. Just a thought, what if you put the selectable menus on the photo management page?

Mgoldman · 08-23-2021, 06:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Kilroy

These used to all be open fields but we had to close them to prevent people typing whatever they wanted and inserting it directly into the live photo database (for example, we had probably 25 iterations for BNSF including BNSF, BNSF Railway, BNSF Railroad, BN SF, BN/SF, etc.). We try to keep the photo data standardized as best we can to make searching easier and more intuitive, so running corrections to those fields through the Correct Photo form (which gets screened by a human) at least allows us to standardize entries that should match other photos in the DB before we apply them.

What was the thought behind eliminating the open field for "Location"? I understand the reasoning behind the others, but "Location" will never be standardized nor matter how many iterations exist. "City" is left open, why not do the same for "Location"?

On a separate note -
I just went to Photo Management and edited my caption but when I went to the photo, it "did not take". My old caption remained. Oddly, I went back and my appended caption was still fixed reopening in Photo Management but when I checked the photo again, it was not updated. Gave it a minute, checked again, still not updated, but now the old caption was back when opening the image again in Photo Management.

Photo ID: 779018.

/Mitch

Just tried it with another image, no issues. But for some reason, no luck changing the caption in the photo listed above.

Coloradorailphotographer · 08-23-2021, 03:40 PM

Hello gentlepeople and friends, I am getting this now on every attempt regardless of size of submissions. I’m using an iPad if that makes any difference. Never had a problem like this before.

“Uploaded Photo Below Minimum Height Requirement!

The image you attempted to upload is below our minimum image height requirement of 500 pixels. Please ensure that this image is 500 pixels in height, then try uploading again.
”

Thank you if you guys can figure it out. And thanks for letting me share here on Railpictures.

Chris Kilroy · 08-23-2021, 10:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coloradorailphotographer

Hello gentlepeople and friends, I am getting this now on every attempt regardless of size of submissions. I?m using an iPad if that makes any difference. Never had a problem like this before.

?Uploaded Photo Below Minimum Height Requirement!

The image you attempted to upload is below our minimum image height requirement of 500 pixels. Please ensure that this image is 500 pixels in height, then try uploading again.
?

Thank you if you guys can figure it out. And thanks for letting me share here on Railpictures.

Hi Erik,

Chances are your images were over 2MB in size. I've increased the upload size limit to 10MB, which should be more than enough for a 1600px JPG. Could you please give it a try again?

Thanks!

Chris Kilroy · 08-23-2021, 11:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mgoldman

What was the thought behind eliminating the open field for "Location"? I understand the reasoning behind the others, but "Location" will never be standardized nor matter how many iterations exist. "City" is left open, why not do the same for "Location"?

On a separate note -
I just went to Photo Management and edited my caption but when I went to the photo, it "did not take". My old caption remained. Oddly, I went back and my appended caption was still fixed reopening in Photo Management but when I checked the photo again, it was not updated. Gave it a minute, checked again, still not updated, but now the old caption was back when opening the image again in Photo Management.

Photo ID: 779018.

/Mitch

Just tried it with another image, no issues. But for some reason, no luck changing the caption in the photo listed above.

Hi Mitch,

You're right, having the Location field locked was stupid. I've undone that stupidity.

I've also debugged editing the Remarks field and it should be working now. Was an issue with quotes.

Thanks!

StL-rail · 08-24-2021, 11:59 PM

All of a sudden, I've not been receiving submission Emails. Also, I cannot edit/change the description on photo albums. The changes do not "take."

StL-rail · 08-25-2021, 12:03 AM

Also, I'm sure it's been brought up before, but what ever happened to editing/changing the photo on the photographer profile page?

Mgoldman · 08-25-2021, 01:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Kilroy

I also added a link directly from the Queue Status page for each queued image directly to the page where you can modify/delete it. The old way of having to copy the queued photo ID, go to another form, and paste it to get to the modify/delete function was terribly roundabout.

Sweet! That idea was not brought up in my "Admin Suggestions list, nor the "Todo" list in the Forum Site Related threads, and it was a good one. Any thought regarding those brought up?

Was able to modify my caption - thanks.

Moving on to the next issue - We are well aware that symbols will not search well (& - +, ect), but I was surprised to discover some time back that I actually could get results on a search with a "-". Specifically, "ACS-64". This is no longer possible. Would be great to see it fixed as there is really no other way to isolate Amtrak NEC shots other then restricting to "Acela". Another thought, if possible, would be to allow searches of numbers less than 3 characters. Currently, you can not search for a locomotive number unless it is longer than 3 characters, so many steam locomotives with one and two digits are hard to search.

/Mitch

Chris Kilroy · 08-25-2021, 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mgoldman

Moving on to the next issue - We are well aware that symbols will not search well (& - +, ect), but I was surprised to discover some time back that I actually could get results on a search with a "-". Specifically, "ACS-64". This is no longer possible. Would be great to see it fixed as there is really no other way to isolate Amtrak NEC shots other then restricting to "Acela". Another thought, if possible, would be to allow searches of numbers less than 3 characters. Currently, you can not search for a locomotive number unless it is longer than 3 characters, so many steam locomotives with one and two digits are hard to search.

Please try now!

Chris Kilroy · 08-25-2021, 03:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StL-rail

All of a sudden, I've not been receiving submission Emails. Also, I cannot edit/change the description on photo albums. The changes do not "take."

Album description edits should be fixed. I identified an issue with the mailserver (which was working fine before... very frustrating) and e-mails should once again be flowing.

Mgoldman · 08-26-2021, 11:51 PM

All well with issues noted above - thanks!

Moving on to another - likely related:
Can't seem to upload an image where comments to the screener are added, though possibly due to an issue with special characters such as " - (). It will "take", but no comments appear in the preview and under members, the image does not appear in the queue.

Keep this in mind while screening this 26th day of August, also known as "International Dog Day".

/Mitch

RobJor · 08-30-2021, 11:36 AM

Small item, all my following notifications say 38 new photos.

Bob

Add: also unpredictable results like photos from 2018

Milepost 58 · 09-28-2021, 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StL-rail

Understandable. Just a thought, what if you put the selectable menus on the photo management page?

As someone who just made this error, forgetting to change the name of the railroad, I too wish the drop down list was available in the corrections. That way, it's an instant fix and not too many people will see the mistake.