The "What Are You Working On?" Thread - Month Ending May 2016

[Greenguy]

I figured it was time to start another one of these - but let's do it monthly from here on out

My main goals these days are simple:
1 - Update Greenguy Links 6 or 7 days a week.
2 - Update Chubby Girls Links every Saturday.
3 - Update Greenguy's Interesting To Him Celebrity News on Tues, Thurs, and Sat.
4 - Run the Link Checker once a week (usually on Thursday's)

Anything extra is frosting on the shit cake that is my life

---

So, Skippy, what are you working on this month?

[hincapie]

Away on holiday, doing a bare minimum of updating sites

[ecchi]

Software changes and develops over time, ClitPass was created some time back, and used scripts that were even older. MySQL will probably have evolved since then. So working on the theory that the reason I cannot find the database is that I am looking for it using "modern" MySQL methods, I have just ordered a book on MySQL from one of those second hand book dealers who sell via Amazon, that was written and published just before the copyright date on the script PC used for ClitPass. Hopefully that will help me find the bloody database.

[ecchi]

I is readin' the book!

Scary, it appears it will be telling me to go into Apache shell. Frightening for two reasons.

1) I know bugger all about the mysteries of hosting, including Apache. I pay some nice Czech's to do all that stuff for me.

2) I haven't worked in shell on any OS since the 1990's, and then it was a OS/Bios compo that had not been updated since 1986. I'm thinking that things may have changed a little since then.

Kind of afraid I'll type in a command that I think means "sort the array alphabetically", but it will really mean "Delete all data. Not just the data in this database, but all the data on the server. And every server in this server farm/country/planet.

So if the Internets are all broken next week, it will probably be my fault. But you won't here from me, I'll be in hiding!

[Pagan]

Pssst... always always always... back up your data and store it safely before making any changes. I know, it's an old school concept but it just might save your neck. I used to feel the same way working in the telecom switches, knowing that I had the power to completely take out a switch with just a few keystrokes. I would always write out the command I was going to use in those situations, step back, look at it, check it against what I knew was correct. If I had any doubt, I got another tech to check it.

**********
As for me this month, it is the first month I am officially retired and collecting those benefits. It means I won't be looking for a real job and I can go back to working on my sadly-neglected empire. I've been working hard on it all week and can finally see progress. My goals for the month:

1. Finish the review of the submitted sites for my network.
2. Say goodbye to any submits that are broken or redirecting.
3. Update the friends lists as I clean pages to point to the correct categories
4. Update Lezzietown and Rear Entry Lover's layout
5. Update the ads on all pages
5. Build Build Build
6. When I am happy with my builds, start submitting again.
7. When I am out there pulling new materials from sponsors, get the blogs going again.
8. Rinse, lather, and repeat 5-7

I did build a site the other day on a new template. It felt so strange and yet so familiar. I would have submitted it elsewhere, but... when I was reviewing sites I discovered I had used the exact same sponsor content as Greenguy, and in exactly the same place. Needless to say, it won't be subbed anywhere.

I realized that my 18 months of inactivity cost me some hardlinks, and I would really like to restore or add to what I originally had. That is kind of an informal #9.

[ecchi]

Originally Posted by Pagan

Pssst... always always always... back up your data and store it safely before making any changes.

Yeah, but how? This is a database, not a HTML page. I cannot just FTP a copy to my home computer. It is not possible to simply copy the database (if anyone knows different please post here or PM me). I am either going to have to go into the guts of the server (using shell) or write a Perl program that dives into those guts. And there are infinite ways I can bugger that up, particularly as I don't know Apache shell and will be learning as I go along. It is quite possible for me to learn the command to delete a database by accidentally typing it, thinking it does something else!

And Apache shell does not just control the database, but the whole server. I could accidental delete an entire domain, or all my domains (e.g. whatever the Apache shell equivalent of: >reformat:c/).

Have not even started yet, and I am already shitting myself!

[Pagan]

MySql will have a routine in there for you to export the database. If there is php, you also have an option to do so from there. You may well be able to see the databases from your MySQL control panel. if so, back them up (export them)... now. Even the newer versions of MySql can see the databases created by the older versions. Somewhere, there is a config file that is telling the server what database file name to store the data in.

[Nymph]

Oh wow, it's been awhile right?

After taking my extended leave of absence from porn, I am dipping my toes back in the waters. I let most of my domains expire, only holding on to NymphsLinks, and 2 others that are not really in the game any more (still trying to figure out what to do with those).

My plans for the month.....

Catching up with submits on NL, and playing around a bit with it's stale design.

Continue with my mainstream sites... recipes if anyone is interested.

Hopefully get back to camming as time allows.

Working in the gardens we have created at the new house.

Keeping Licker happy and sexually wore the fuck out!

PS.... Welcome back Pagan, we need to catch up chicky!

[Pagan]

Originally Posted by Nymph

Oh wow, it's been awhile right?
...
PS.... Welcome back Pagan, we need to catch up chicky!

Wow.. yeah, thanks! It has been a while. Funny how we both came back about the same time! Why do I see some of the guys cringing?

[Nymph]

Originally Posted by Pagan

Why do I see some of the guys cringing?

They should be scared, very scared.....

[Greenguy]

Originally Posted by Nymph

Oh wow, it's been awhile right?

Catching up with submits on NL, and playing around a bit with it's stale design.

Keeping Licker happy and sexually wore the fuck out!

1 - Welcome back
2 - Keep me posted
3 - Lucky Licker!

Originally Posted by Pagan

...Why do I see some of the guys cringing?

Originally Posted by Nymph

They should be scared, very scared.....

[Greenguy]

Updated the New Links @ Greenguy, as well as a lot of new links over at Chubby Girls

I got 2 bugs up my ass about how I list/promote my AEBN Theater & I have the feeling the one is not gonna go away until I alter about 2000 existing links |banghead The 2nd bug I might be able to impliment today, but knowing me & .....

[ecchi]

Originally Posted by Pagan

MySql will have a routine in there for you to export the database.......You may well be able to see the databases from your MySQL control panel.

That is all right if you know where the database is. However PC's old sites seem to be reading and drawing data from a non existent database. Nothing on the server will let me back up a database until I know where it is, and searching for that ghost database is what I'm afraid may knacker it!

[Pagan]

PC's old sites are reading the data from the location he gave them when he set the application up to begin with. All DB-driven apps do this, including WordPress, TGPx, and so very many others. For example, my host does not even give FTP access to the SQL database, nor can I even see it from the file manager on the control panel. Only a very special few ever get to see those files because they are so vital. BUT... magically, if I go into myPHP, there they all are -- all 9 databases. Which one goes to which? I will never ever tell. For example, TGPx has an install.php file that collects this info when you first install it, but it tells you to delete it after it has done its work. WordPress does much the same thing.



What you have going on here is someone saying, *I live at 123 Main Street" but not showing you what city, area, postal code, or anything else. There is a document out there that has this information for you. Likewise, computers have maps to where all the files are kept. Servers have to know where your files are located, just like following any other pathway for any type of file. Because of the type of file, you also need to use the correct server app to see it from your control panel. The little screenshot above is from MyPhp. I see the same list but presented a little different if I go into MySQL.

If it is php, try looking for a config.php or install.php. There is a call out or a reference to that database somewhere. While everyone's servers are different, this is pretty much a constant and has been for a good number of years. SQL databases are not downloadble via FTP. You can export them to a file and then download that file but you are not downloading the actual database. Far different world from HTML, believe me.

[Greenguy]

Decided to add a new category for some dumb reason as I was in the middle of the 2 bugs up my ass

[ecchi]

Originally Posted by Pagan

PC's old sites are reading the data from the location he gave them when he set the application up to begin with..

First thing I did was go into his PHP scripts and find the host name, username and password. He has a nice, easy to read config file which gives me the data his script uses to find and log on to the database. Trouble is the hostname is "localhost", which means it is on my server, but there is no database with the username and password that his script is using on my server!. And if you go in via MySQL control, there is a different database with a different username and password listed - but this database is empty, there is absolutely no data in that database whatsoever! But the scripts still chortle along, drawing data from God knows where.

I'm no expert at PHP, so I'm trying to write a Perl script that does what you suggest in PHP. However the problem is, I don't know the correct MySQL syntax, I'm learning as I go along, and it is bloody easy for me to make a mistake and mess everything up. For example, some types of databases destroy an entry after reading it, so you have to issue a read command, then a write command BEFORE you tell it to show you what it read, or you loose the data. I don't think MySQL does this, but the key word is "think" not "know". And there are probably a thousand other ways I can screw it up too!

So far I have written a script that searches out database tables and returns the table names. I've set up a new database on another domain simply to test it, and it seems to work. But so far I have not had the courage to run it on ClitPass, I want to test it some more on unimportant databases first.

[Pagan]

That database exists somewhere. Does MySQL or MyPhp find any other database? It may well be worth paying for the tech support at PC's former host and possibly your host to resolve this. if his files have not been gone too long, they may still have a backup of the MySQL database. Heck, PC may have a backup or have included the .tar or .gz file in the files you downloaded. I know I try to pull mine every few months and download it to safety, especially after major changes.

If you FTP'd everything, you don't have the database UNLESS PC put an export file there for you. As I said earlier, you don't see MySQL databases when doing FTP transfers. I don't even seen them from the file manager on the server control panel. You've said the one database on your server is empty. There have to be others. If not, you may be invading someone else's files unintentionally.

[ecchi]

Originally Posted by Pagan

That database exists somewhere.

Yeah, I know that, but finding it/them is the trick!

Originally Posted by Pagan

Does MySQL or MyPhp find any other database?

Yes, an empty database.

Originally Posted by Pagan

It may well be worth paying for the tech support at PC's former host and possibly your host to resolve this.

Paying someone to do this was the first thing I looked into. Much too expensive. Maybe if I win the lottery and decide to treat this as a loss making hobby rather than a business, but until then...No!

Originally Posted by Pagan

If you FTP'd everything, you don't have the database UNLESS PC put an export file there for you.

PC uploaded the database/s half way through things went wrong for him and he pulled out, that is why there is such a mess.

Originally Posted by Pagan

There have to be others. If not, you may be invading someone else's files unintentionally.

This I know, as I said finding it/them is the trick! I did wonder if the script was pulling from PC's old host, but his account was closed in February, and all files/databases deleted (the host has probably re-leased the server by now). I cannot see it being on anyone else's server, as PC's script states "localhost" which means it was pulling from his server when he ran the site, and is pulling from my server now (i.e. same domain as the script).

In short, I don't believe in magic, so te data has to be there. The fun part is finding it without destroying it.

[ecchi]

Just in case you think I'm mad, here is a screenshot of phpMyAdmin:

[ecchi]

(The next paragraph should be read in an Elmer Fudd voice)

Shhhh... be wery, wery quwiet, I'm hunting databases.


(At last got the courage to run my Perl search program on ClitPass. So if all goes dark, it is probably my fault!)

[ecchi]

Found one, and the result is .....suprizing. It changes what I thought was the definition of "localhost". Gonna have to do some Google searching on the matter.

[ecchi]

Wow, old school. Just had to use the command line interface to find the reason ClitPass works. Haven't used CLI in years and years (Windows was invented to make that unnecessary). Had to Google to find out how to open CLI in XP.

[Pagan]

Every day that the site has been down has cost you more than money. You have lost traffic and lost hard links. You have lost people who depended on ClitPass for their daily fix and have long gone elsewhere. You may well never regain those. Transferring from one host to another is not rocket science, but it has to be done methodically and logically, using the right protocols each step of the way. Just like baking a cake, if you use the correct ingredients in the proper order, you have a wonderful end result. Do it without reading the recipe and you can have a disaster.

Good luck on your hunt..

[ecchi]

I agree. ClitPass was only down for a couple of weeks, but that was probably very expensive traffic wise. Plus, during those two weeks, rumours and falsehoods spread.

[mOrrI]

Well I just revamped a tube site

WP for the win...