How to safely delete old database files

[Elliot Marx]

In order to get my database working, since the admin section of my 4.6.11 installation was damaged, I had to do a fresh installation to 4.6.12.1. Then in order to get my forum working again, I switched the   'sql_tbl_prefix' from '' to 'ibf_' in the conf_global.php file.

Now the problem is I have some 578 tables in the database. It's getting unwieldly. So I tried to delete the files which didn't have the 'ibf_' prefix - all of the non-prefixed database files plus the 'orig_ibf_', 'x_utf_ibf'. But once I did this the forum stopped working - a notice came on that the forum was in the process of updating - and I had to restore the databases which I thought weren't being used but apparently triggered this and stopped the forum from working.

Is there a safe way to prune out unused database files? Every upgrade is getting more and more painful to manage!

[Marc]

Im not sure why every upgrade would be more painful to manage there. Are you doing this process every upgrade? If so, you really shouldnt be, as thats not the correct way in which to upgrade.

With regards the tables, you need to do a backup and delete one set at a time. Only the tables which use your prefix shown in your conf_global.php file are the ones that are used. If your site is going down, its very likely you are deleting one of those tables. The best advise I can give right now would be to do it again, and then check what the actual error message is you are getting

[Elliot Marx]

11 hours ago, Marc Stridgen said:

Im not sure why every upgrade would be more painful to manage there. Are you doing this process every upgrade? If so, you really shouldnt be, as thats not the correct way in which to upgrade.

With regards the tables, you need to do a backup and delete one set at a time. Only the tables which use your prefix shown in your conf_global.php file are the ones that are used. If your site is going down, its very likely you are deleting one of those tables. The best advise I can give right now would be to do it again, and then check what the actual error message is you are getting

Edited May 25, 2022 by Elliot Marx

[Elliot Marx]

Sorry your forum isn't really that easy to use and requires any database manager to watch over it like a hawk. Also it requires every single upgrade to be done religiously and timely or there are major problems.

I had to manually reformat hyperlinks since there were changes in the hyperlink and image embedding format. Suddenly I found my posts containing a bunch of garbled test as a surprise replacement. Ideally the forum upgrades should be doing the reformatting but apparently that's the way I get penalized by not doing every single upgrade in order and right away.

One time I missed a few upgrades and spent weeks chatting with the web host and Invision to try to get things sorted out because the upgrade didn't work.

If you want to blame me the customer that's up to you. I'm just sharing my experience.

I'll give the database fix a try again.

[Randy Calvert]

I obviously am not calling you a liar or trying to blame you as you're having problems, but that has not happened on any of my sites.  It does not happen as part of the default software upgrade process that most customers experience.  

So there is something either specific in your hosting setup or in your current configuration that is causing those problems.   The IPS staff can help if it's something in your software configuration, but won't be able to do much if it's something in your server (apache or mysql) setup.  

[Chris Anderson]

@Elliot MarxEach self-hosted customer will utilize this software in completely different ways. Very few of us use the platform "as is", we tweak this, we tweak that, we install a multitude of marketplace or custom apps and then our customers (and bad actors) abuse our sites in every conceivable way. We also tend try to run our sites on hosting platforms that aren't "really" setup to accommodate this platform, or if so, not always well.

The IPS programmers and testers do think outside of the box but its next to impossible to guess how every site will be configured and if there might any underlying problems with a site. So, they create upgrade scripts that will work well on "healthy" default installs.  When an upgrade fails it is more likely than not to be attributable to something from the above paragraph.

The more details you can provide IPS (and any customer who might lend a hand) about how you setup the IPS suite and your customers use it the more likely they might hit upon some workarounds to get your site up and running again and prepare you for upcoming upgrades.

One wonders about the number of tables created and prefixes.  What led to their creation in the first place? What has been your upgrade path over the last year or so? The more clues you can provide, the better chance one can deduce what the underlying problem(s) might be. 

[Elliot Marx]

Fair enough, I can only imagine how difficult it is to create and maintain a forum while at the same time keeping out bad actors. Not to mention the variety of hosting platforms.

And I thank Invision. I originally was hesitant to come on the boards doubting whether or not posting would be helpful or useless. A combination of Invsiion and others on the board have helped resolved every issue.

I did as Marc suggested and deleted database files until finding what broke. After deleting the most recent database files generated by the 4.6.12.1 installation and changing the  'sql_tbl_prefix' setting from '' (blank) to 'ibf_' the forum was still ok. But deleting the 'orig_ibf_', 'x_utf_ibf' seemed to break the forum. My guess is that these 'orig_ibf_', 'x_utf_ibf' were also somehow linked to the 'ibf' files, and that these prefixes were selected automatically many revisions ago.

Basically I've been using Invision Board since 2009. Used it based on the recommendation of Mark Settle who at the time was running Skratchworx. Besides the recent upgrade, the one other memorable one was when I went from a 3.x to 4.x. I hadn't kept up with the regular upgrades so this is where things got super complicated. I've also been using Startlogic as a host and switched over to iPage which is essentially run by the same company, but I needed to switch over to iPage so I could have a VPS account.

I'd like to use the forum more in the future. One thing I've notice that's improved a lot is the verification system for adding new members. It seems to be doing a much better job of screening out the spammers and only letting through the legitimate customers. This is a big change from a few years ago. I'm taking note and will start getting more people approved and on the board as a result. But one thing still plaguing me is the second I allow guests to post, I get tons of porn spam posts. Might be related to the web host, not sure. But if this is fixed I'd be really happy and have a much more active site.

For now things are up and running smoothly again so thanks everyone for your help!

Elliot

[Marc]

I think you may have taken what I said above out of context there. What I was saying is if that is the way you are performing your upgrades every time, it is not the correct manner in which to upgrade. If there is a reason you are doing that, then this is really what needs to be addressed. Whats happening at present is it seems you are upgrading in a different manner to try and work around an issue, and in turn causing other issues (in this case multiple sets of tables). When really, you need to get the original issue resolved.

Upgrades should really be painless to do. Of course, as mentioned above, we cant account for every scenario. There will be instances where 3rd party items cause an issue, where hosting doesn't fit with the latest release, or indeed there is a scenario specific to yourself that is a bug we need to resolve. But in any of those scenarios, it should only be painful the once. 

My advice at present would be if you have an issue with the automatic upgrade process, once you hit that issue, call out. Don't try to work around the issue. Also, do yourself a copy of your site using your test key. This way, if you are having issues, you can do a test upgrade on your test site, before upgrading your live site.

We are here to help you at the end of the day, and if we arent aware every time, the issues will continue to occur.

[Elliot Marx]

OK in the future I will backup the forum and database first, upgrade a test site before going live, and ask for help right away when the upgrade runs into an issue. Especially now it's clear the Invision Community is super helpful. I'm pleasantly surprised how easy it is to get good responses very quickly, even for issues that are quite complex.

Thank you all!

[Marc]

Thank you for the feedback. Glad to hear 🙂