AAOkube migration incoming
As you may have noticed, I've not been very active on AAO in the last few years, and as a result, I've left the technical architecture of the site get severely outdated.
This causes stability issues, and potential security issues, as most of the underlying software has not been updated for a while.
In addition, the server that has been hosting AAO since 2017 is reaching end of life soon, and I have to migrate to a new server before it all goes offline.
This is why I've been working since August on a new architecture called AAOkube.
It is a much more modern and modular architecture, based on the most current technologies in the cloud computing world, Docker and Kubernetes.
What does it change ?
This change is really technical : most users won't see the difference at first. (if it goes well, at least)
That being said, it's a radical change behind the scenes, so you might encounter issues shortly after the migration - please report them in the forums as always.
Among the benefits of this move, I expect :
- Simpler software upgrades for me,
- More stability, hopefully no more blackouts like those that have plagued the site regularly for a few years (Kubernetes brings a lot of tools to detect and recover from failures automatically)
- A lot more simplicity if I ever need to move the website somewhere else in the future.
- For developers who want to contribute to AAO, a simple way to run AAO on their own computer to test their changes.
I am planning the migration early next week, probably on Monday Oct 5th. (This might change, depending on my busy schedule.)
Expect several hours of downtime, while I freeze the database here and transfer to the new environment.
You don't have anything specific to do, but avoid planning important work on your trials on Monday, as you might lose it if I shut the site down while you're working.