ASTRAPI

Hi @sefla
1. What version are you running today? 3.x or 4.x? 
2. Are you looking for more hands-on server assistance, or are you capable of basic server troubleshooting?
There are some excellent third party providers (paid) such as @ASTRAPI or @Driven 2 Services who can help with upgrade, or you can consider Cloud.  

My suggestion is contact @ASTRAPI, he's good and known servers specialist. I'm pretty sure that he would help you with these issues.

Per the first post...
Once you have a paid account, you'll have to wait a short while for it to sync and realize your account is paid.  I would suggest waiting an hour after you activate it at least.  

Hello 🙂
(This is a community guide on how to setup Backblaze and Cloudflare, as a significantly cheaper replacement for Amazon S3 and Cloudfront.  The author has no affiliate arrangement with any of the companies listed in the guide and offers the guide as a free community resource.  You should consult with your hosting provider and / or server administrator before proceeding with the guide.)
The tutorial is tested with the latest version of Invision 4.5.4 !

Invision Community allows a file storage configuration with Amazon S3 and a content distribution network (CDN) of your choice:
 
WHAT IS BACKBLAZE?
 

 
Backblaze is an infinitely Scalable B2 Cloud Storage. Backblaze B2 is enterprise-grade, S3 compatible storage that companies around the world use to store and serve data. Backblaze's service works with native APIs, CLI, and GUI; you can move and manage data with minimal coding. Their service provides fast access all the time; there is no need to accept delays or pay speed surcharges. It can also support HIPAA compliant storage with their Business Associates Agreement (BAA). B2 is compatible at ¼ the cost of AWS S3 with no hidden fees or minimums.
 
Backblaze is an award winning cloud storage provider for 2020 !
 

 
Pricing:
 

Based on their latest pricing, it is very cheap at around 5$ per 1TB storage per month! There is a cost for direct downloads (bandwidth) at 0.01$ per GB but it will not affect us as we will use Cloudflare and all files will be served from Backblaze to Cloudflare and then to users that is totally free 🙂
Be careful if you have any custom direct downloads that bypass Cloudflare. If you link to custom downloads directly, you will be charged for bandwidth. All default Invision files should go through Cloudflare. I am using Backblaze for a few of my clients and they never charged anything extra as all Invision files are going through Cloudflare as expected. Please monitor your balance after a few days just to be sure!
 
GUIDE:
BEFORE PROCEEDING, PLEASE BACKUP YOUR DATA FIRST!
 
STEP 1: Create a bucket on Backblaze
First we need to sign up at Backblaze Cloud: https://www.backblaze.com/b2/sign-up.html
You will need a phone number to activate your account:

After the activation of the account we will need to create a bucket that will host our files.
 
On the Buckets sections we click on Create a Bucket:

 
Then we add a name for our bucket. Recommendation: avoid dots (.) in the bucket name.
 
On the next screen we type a Bucket name and we select Public and then we click at Create a Bucket.

 
 
After that under the Create a Bucket we should have our Bucket.
 
Now we must keep a note of the ENDPOINT:

 
 
Now we need to get our Bucket access keys from the App Keys menu. At the bottom we click at Add a New Application Key:

 
 
At the new screen we select a anything as a key name and we keep selected the Read and Write access and wee click at Create New Key:

 
 
Then you will see there only once the KeyID and the Application Key that we must keep a note of them as we will need them later !

 
As a last step we need to go to our bucket that we just created and upload an image. From the menu on the left we click on Browse Files and then we click on our bucket:

 
Then we click on upload and we upload a simple file like an image...

 
On the right side of the uploaded image we have to click at the info icon:

 
At the pop up screen we need to keep a note for that part so copy it with the other notes that wee have already:

 
That's it ! We created our bucket and we got the access info that we will need !
 
STEP 2: Create a CNAME dns record at Cloudflare
 
Now you have to login to Cloudflare and go to your DNS tab from the top menu and then click Add record:
 

 
We use as Type the Cname and as Name the cdn and as Target the info that we got from the pop on the previous step in the tutorial above:

 
After saving that DNS record we should have that:

 
Now for security reasons we have to go to the page Rules on the top menu and create two rules:

RULE 1:
Just replace your domain and the bucket name that you create:

 
RULE 2:
Just replace your domain:

 
The final result should be like this:

 
Keep in mind the order of the rules as if you set the second rule as 1 it will not work and your forum images will not work as page rules uses priority. This is important!
That's it for the Cloudflare part!
 
STEP 3: Configure Invision to use the Backblaze Cloud
From Invision Admin Control Panel, go to System -> Files -> Storage Settings

 
Then we click on Configurations:

 
and then on Create New on the right side.
Then we select Amazon S3 and we fill the needed info as:

 
When you click Save if you get any warnings or errors then you have to check again the tutorial as you may forgot something or may have a typo somewhere...
If you save it without any issues then you are ready to use it by going to: System -> Files -> Storage Settings
and select a category with not many images for example Icons & Logos or anything else with a few images and from the drop down options the: Amazon S3:superbucket
 

 
Then wait for the automated task to transfer your files to the Cloud and check if all are ok !
If yes then you can proceed with the rest categories.
 
*Keep only at your server your theme resources:

 
Keep in mind that if you have a lot of GB of files it may take a long time for the transfer !
 
It may help to go to the Dashboard and run manually the process to get the files transferred faster.

*Attachments and Downloads may not work out of the box (don't use them on my test forum and i don't know for sure) and you may need to use the addon S3 Compatible Downloads:
 
I hope that you will benefit from this tutorial and get better performance while saving space on your main server and a lot of money 🙂
Backblaze is much more stable than Wasabi!
It also includes up to 10GB free storage, so you can test it easily !
Credits to: @Joel R and @Martin A.
Enjoy !

This ^
Nginx + PHP-FPM and Cloudflare will make wonders for your site. Moving uploads to S3 may help tremendously too. This must be done in combination with Cloudflare as most S3 providers doesn't have server locations in ZA, except for AWS. CF have two and these will cache your uploaded images for you. This will also free up space on your VPS and possibly lower the RAM usage as more than 50% of the requests will be handled by Cloudflare.
If you reach out to @ASTRAPI he may be able to do a one-time optimization for you. I can assist you with moving your uploads to S3 should you need that. 

At Cloudflare on Crypto section select Full and check if it works.
If not then check again the tutorial step by step....
There is an issue with your certificate at your server:
Error 526: Invalid SSL certificate
Error 526 happens when Cloudflare is unable to successfully validate the SSL certificate on the origin web server and the SSL setting in the Cloudflare Crypto app is set to Full SSL (Strict) for the website.  
https://support.cloudflare.com/hc/en-us/articles/200721975-Error-526-Invalid-SSL-certificate
 

Hello 🙂
(This is a community guide on how to setup Backblaze and Cloudflare, as a significantly cheaper replacement for Amazon S3 and Cloudfront.  The author has no affiliate arrangement with any of the companies listed in the guide and offers the guide as a free community resource.  You should consult with your hosting provider and / or server administrator before proceeding with the guide.)
The tutorial is tested with the latest version of Invision 4.5.4 !

Invision Community allows a file storage configuration with Amazon S3 and a content distribution network (CDN) of your choice:
 
WHAT IS BACKBLAZE?
 

 
Backblaze is an infinitely Scalable B2 Cloud Storage. Backblaze B2 is enterprise-grade, S3 compatible storage that companies around the world use to store and serve data. Backblaze's service works with native APIs, CLI, and GUI; you can move and manage data with minimal coding. Their service provides fast access all the time; there is no need to accept delays or pay speed surcharges. It can also support HIPAA compliant storage with their Business Associates Agreement (BAA). B2 is compatible at ¼ the cost of AWS S3 with no hidden fees or minimums.
 
Backblaze is an award winning cloud storage provider for 2020 !
 

 
Pricing:
 

Based on their latest pricing, it is very cheap at around 5$ per 1TB storage per month! There is a cost for direct downloads (bandwidth) at 0.01$ per GB but it will not affect us as we will use Cloudflare and all files will be served from Backblaze to Cloudflare and then to users that is totally free 🙂
Be careful if you have any custom direct downloads that bypass Cloudflare. If you link to custom downloads directly, you will be charged for bandwidth. All default Invision files should go through Cloudflare. I am using Backblaze for a few of my clients and they never charged anything extra as all Invision files are going through Cloudflare as expected. Please monitor your balance after a few days just to be sure!
 
GUIDE:
BEFORE PROCEEDING, PLEASE BACKUP YOUR DATA FIRST!
 
STEP 1: Create a bucket on Backblaze
First we need to sign up at Backblaze Cloud: https://www.backblaze.com/b2/sign-up.html
You will need a phone number to activate your account:

After the activation of the account we will need to create a bucket that will host our files.
 
On the Buckets sections we click on Create a Bucket:

 
Then we add a name for our bucket. Recommendation: avoid dots (.) in the bucket name.
 
On the next screen we type a Bucket name and we select Public and then we click at Create a Bucket.

 
 
After that under the Create a Bucket we should have our Bucket.
 
Now we must keep a note of the ENDPOINT:

 
 
Now we need to get our Bucket access keys from the App Keys menu. At the bottom we click at Add a New Application Key:

 
 
At the new screen we select a anything as a key name and we keep selected the Read and Write access and wee click at Create New Key:

 
 
Then you will see there only once the KeyID and the Application Key that we must keep a note of them as we will need them later !

 
As a last step we need to go to our bucket that we just created and upload an image. From the menu on the left we click on Browse Files and then we click on our bucket:

 
Then we click on upload and we upload a simple file like an image...

 
On the right side of the uploaded image we have to click at the info icon:

 
At the pop up screen we need to keep a note for that part so copy it with the other notes that wee have already:

 
That's it ! We created our bucket and we got the access info that we will need !
 
STEP 2: Create a CNAME dns record at Cloudflare
 
Now you have to login to Cloudflare and go to your DNS tab from the top menu and then click Add record:
 

 
We use as Type the Cname and as Name the cdn and as Target the info that we got from the pop on the previous step in the tutorial above:

 
After saving that DNS record we should have that:

 
Now for security reasons we have to go to the page Rules on the top menu and create two rules:

RULE 1:
Just replace your domain and the bucket name that you create:

 
RULE 2:
Just replace your domain:

 
The final result should be like this:

 
Keep in mind the order of the rules as if you set the second rule as 1 it will not work and your forum images will not work as page rules uses priority. This is important!
That's it for the Cloudflare part!
 
STEP 3: Configure Invision to use the Backblaze Cloud
From Invision Admin Control Panel, go to System -> Files -> Storage Settings

 
Then we click on Configurations:

 
and then on Create New on the right side.
Then we select Amazon S3 and we fill the needed info as:

 
When you click Save if you get any warnings or errors then you have to check again the tutorial as you may forgot something or may have a typo somewhere...
If you save it without any issues then you are ready to use it by going to: System -> Files -> Storage Settings
and select a category with not many images for example Icons & Logos or anything else with a few images and from the drop down options the: Amazon S3:superbucket
 

 
Then wait for the automated task to transfer your files to the Cloud and check if all are ok !
If yes then you can proceed with the rest categories.
 
*Keep only at your server your theme resources:

 
Keep in mind that if you have a lot of GB of files it may take a long time for the transfer !
 
It may help to go to the Dashboard and run manually the process to get the files transferred faster.

*Attachments and Downloads may not work out of the box (don't use them on my test forum and i don't know for sure) and you may need to use the addon S3 Compatible Downloads:
 
I hope that you will benefit from this tutorial and get better performance while saving space on your main server and a lot of money 🙂
Backblaze is much more stable than Wasabi!
It also includes up to 10GB free storage, so you can test it easily !
Credits to: @Joel R and @Martin A.
Enjoy !

Updated a forum to 4.6.9 yesterday, and at the same time updated Elastic to the highest supported version - 7.16.3.
Woke up to lots of these errors in the log caused by a stream periodically fetched as RSS.
 
[error] => Array ( [root_cause] => Array ( [0] => Array ( [type] => x_content_parse_exception [reason] => [1:8714] [bool] failed to parse field [should] ) ) [type] => x_content_parse_exception [reason] => [1:8714] [bool] failed to parse field [filter] [caused_by] => Array ( [type] => x_content_parse_exception [reason] => [1:8714] [bool] failed to parse field [should] [caused_by] => Array ( [type] => illegal_state_exception [reason] => expected value but got [START_ARRAY] ) ) ) The issue in the JSON appears to be here:
{ "bool": { "should": [ { "bool": { "filter": [ { "terms": { "index_class": [ "IPS\\forums\\Topic\\Post" ] } }, { "terms": { "index_item_id": [ 657215, .......... 785214 ] } } ] } }, [<--- HERE, this is 1:8714 { "terms": { "index_author": [ 61654, 151262, 204067, 204990, 272358, 503699, 554475 ] } } ] ] } }, The latter "terms" should not have been in brackets.
This is caused by too many array()'s added to the condition in Elastic\Query.php
/* Are we including content posted by followed members? */ if ( $includeMembers and $followed = iterator_to_array( \IPS\Db::i()->select( 'follow_rel_id', 'core_follow', array( 'follow_app=? AND follow_area=? AND follow_member_id=?', 'core', 'member', $this->member->member_id ), 'follow_rel_id asc' ) ) ) { $conditions[] = array( array( 'terms' => array( 'index_author' => $followed ) ) ); } I've removed one of those arrays and that seems to have solved the issue.

And this one for Wasabi and Cloudflare 🙂
 
 

Hello
There is a vulnerability that has been discovered in popular Java logging library Log4j 2 which may allow attackers to run code remotely on your servers.
Apache Log4j 2 is bundled with and used in many Java applications including Elasticsearch.
So if you are using Elastic Search you may be vulnerable.
Vulnerability info:
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-44228
As there is no official patches out yet and the exploitation of the vulnerability already started you may want to apply a workaround until an official patch released:
 
So for Elasticsearch version 6.4 and up:
Edit your jvm.options configuration file usually located at:
/etc/elasticsearch/jvm.options and edit at the end this line:
-Dlog4j2.formatMsgNoLookups=true  
Then restart Elastic Search using something:
systemctl restart elasticsearch  
If you are using ELastic Search version 6.3 and and any earlier version please upgrade asap to the latest supported version by Invision.
The 6.3 and earlier versions are using an old version of Log4j which means the above workaround will not work !
 
Update also your JDK :
When running on older JDKs, an attacker is able to inject and execute a remote Java class.
On recent JDKs the attack is limited to potential DoS - causing data ingestion to temporarily stop - and information leakage, but no remote code execution attack vectors are known.
 
Keep your servers secured !!!!
 
Thanks

Hello
There is a vulnerability that has been discovered in popular Java logging library Log4j 2 which may allow attackers to run code remotely on your servers.
Apache Log4j 2 is bundled with and used in many Java applications including Elasticsearch.
So if you are using Elastic Search you may be vulnerable.
Vulnerability info:
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-44228
As there is no official patches out yet and the exploitation of the vulnerability already started you may want to apply a workaround until an official patch released:
 
So for Elasticsearch version 6.4 and up:
Edit your jvm.options configuration file usually located at:
/etc/elasticsearch/jvm.options and edit at the end this line:
-Dlog4j2.formatMsgNoLookups=true  
Then restart Elastic Search using something:
systemctl restart elasticsearch  
If you are using ELastic Search version 6.3 and and any earlier version please upgrade asap to the latest supported version by Invision.
The 6.3 and earlier versions are using an old version of Log4j which means the above workaround will not work !
 
Update also your JDK :
When running on older JDKs, an attacker is able to inject and execute a remote Java class.
On recent JDKs the attack is limited to potential DoS - causing data ingestion to temporarily stop - and information leakage, but no remote code execution attack vectors are known.
 
Keep your servers secured !!!!
 
Thanks

Yes, the minimum version will be set to 7.2. We will be issuing an ACP bulletin on this early next week ahead of the beta. 

Bucket policy to only allow cloudflare IPs if anyone is interested:
 
{   "Id": "S3PolicyId1",   "Version": "2012-10-17",   "Statement": [     {       "Sid": "AllowRead",       "Effect": "Allow",       "Principal": {         "AWS": "*"       },       "Action": "s3:GetObject",       "Resource": [         "arn:aws:s3:::bucket-name",         "arn:aws:s3:::bucket-name/*"       ]     },     {       "Sid": "IPBasedNarrowFurther",       "Effect": "Deny",       "Principal": {         "AWS": "*"       },       "Action": "s3:GetObject",       "Resource": [         "arn:aws:s3:::bucket-name",         "arn:aws:s3:::bucket-name/*"       ],       "Condition": {         "NotIpAddress": {           "aws:SourceIp": [             "173.245.48.0/20",             "103.21.244.0/22",             "103.22.200.0/22",             "103.31.4.0/22",             "141.101.64.0/18",             "108.162.192.0/18",             "190.93.240.0/20",             "188.114.96.0/20",             "197.234.240.0/22",             "198.41.128.0/17",             "162.158.0.0/15",             "104.16.0.0/13",             "104.24.0.0/14",             "172.64.0.0/13",             "131.0.72.0/22",             "2400:cb00::/32",             "2606:4700::/32",             "2803:f800::/32",             "2405:b500::/32",             "2405:8100::/32",             "2a06:98c0::/29",             "2c0f:f248::/32"           ]         }       }     }   ] }  

Technically you can use any other Russian CDN in front of Wasabi and do the same thing.  It would be on that CDN provider if they're providing a SSL cert or allowing you to use Lets Encrypt, etc.  
CF was suggested and defaulted here because it's free for both the CDN as well as the certificate.  You could use any other provider you like however we obviously cannot comment on costs, availability, etc.  

Thanks for your kind words 🙂

Best thing I ever did was get in touch with @ASTRAPI 
He now hosts and manages my site and its never been faster. Im also paying less than before.

Running 10.5 with no issues so far. Waiting for 10.6 support on RDS.

Not yet as no needed 🙂

I prefer also MariaDB 🙂

The guide is still valid.  I'm guessing your problem is not being able to download the marketplace "S3 Compatible Downloads" plugin from the AdminCP.  That's because it has not been flagged for 4.6 yet even though it actually works.  
Just download it from:
Choose that you are installing version 4.4 which will let you download the file without being told to go through the AdminCP marketplace.  Once you have it downloaded, go to your AdminCP.  Install it by going to the Plugins section and choosing "Manual Installation".  
Outside of that, follow the guide as written.  

Hi
Just a thought... Have you got your SSL/TLS encryption mode in Cloudflare on Full Strict? If so try it on Full (not Full Strict).

 
 

I have a backup but a few members sign up since I install the beta. I guess I'll have to wait until the dev update their apps.
I kind of like the old system before this marketplace, where I could download files no matter which version IPS I was using.

I figured out what the issue was, and it may be worth noting.
The maximum file size Cloudflare's CDN caches is 512MB for Free, Pro, and Business customers and 5GB for Enterprise customers. Enterprise customers can contact their Cloudflare Account Team to request caching of larger files.
 
 

If you have enabled the Cloudflare then you should not have any direct download from Wasabi as all requested files will be going through Cloudflare that there is no limit.

Hello 🙂
(This is a community guide on how to setup Backblaze and Cloudflare, as a significantly cheaper replacement for Amazon S3 and Cloudfront.  The author has no affiliate arrangement with any of the companies listed in the guide and offers the guide as a free community resource.  You should consult with your hosting provider and / or server administrator before proceeding with the guide.)
The tutorial is tested with the latest version of Invision 4.5.4 !

Invision Community allows a file storage configuration with Amazon S3 and a content distribution network (CDN) of your choice:
 
WHAT IS BACKBLAZE?
 

 
Backblaze is an infinitely Scalable B2 Cloud Storage. Backblaze B2 is enterprise-grade, S3 compatible storage that companies around the world use to store and serve data. Backblaze's service works with native APIs, CLI, and GUI; you can move and manage data with minimal coding. Their service provides fast access all the time; there is no need to accept delays or pay speed surcharges. It can also support HIPAA compliant storage with their Business Associates Agreement (BAA). B2 is compatible at ¼ the cost of AWS S3 with no hidden fees or minimums.
 
Backblaze is an award winning cloud storage provider for 2020 !
 

 
Pricing:
 

Based on their latest pricing, it is very cheap at around 5$ per 1TB storage per month! There is a cost for direct downloads (bandwidth) at 0.01$ per GB but it will not affect us as we will use Cloudflare and all files will be served from Backblaze to Cloudflare and then to users that is totally free 🙂
Be careful if you have any custom direct downloads that bypass Cloudflare. If you link to custom downloads directly, you will be charged for bandwidth. All default Invision files should go through Cloudflare. I am using Backblaze for a few of my clients and they never charged anything extra as all Invision files are going through Cloudflare as expected. Please monitor your balance after a few days just to be sure!
 
GUIDE:
BEFORE PROCEEDING, PLEASE BACKUP YOUR DATA FIRST!
 
STEP 1: Create a bucket on Backblaze
First we need to sign up at Backblaze Cloud: https://www.backblaze.com/b2/sign-up.html
You will need a phone number to activate your account:

After the activation of the account we will need to create a bucket that will host our files.
 
On the Buckets sections we click on Create a Bucket:

 
Then we add a name for our bucket. Recommendation: avoid dots (.) in the bucket name.
 
On the next screen we type a Bucket name and we select Public and then we click at Create a Bucket.

 
 
After that under the Create a Bucket we should have our Bucket.
 
Now we must keep a note of the ENDPOINT:

 
 
Now we need to get our Bucket access keys from the App Keys menu. At the bottom we click at Add a New Application Key:

 
 
At the new screen we select a anything as a key name and we keep selected the Read and Write access and wee click at Create New Key:

 
 
Then you will see there only once the KeyID and the Application Key that we must keep a note of them as we will need them later !

 
As a last step we need to go to our bucket that we just created and upload an image. From the menu on the left we click on Browse Files and then we click on our bucket:

 
Then we click on upload and we upload a simple file like an image...

 
On the right side of the uploaded image we have to click at the info icon:

 
At the pop up screen we need to keep a note for that part so copy it with the other notes that wee have already:

 
That's it ! We created our bucket and we got the access info that we will need !
 
STEP 2: Create a CNAME dns record at Cloudflare
 
Now you have to login to Cloudflare and go to your DNS tab from the top menu and then click Add record:
 

 
We use as Type the Cname and as Name the cdn and as Target the info that we got from the pop on the previous step in the tutorial above:

 
After saving that DNS record we should have that:

 
Now for security reasons we have to go to the page Rules on the top menu and create two rules:

RULE 1:
Just replace your domain and the bucket name that you create:

 
RULE 2:
Just replace your domain:

 
The final result should be like this:

 
Keep in mind the order of the rules as if you set the second rule as 1 it will not work and your forum images will not work as page rules uses priority. This is important!
That's it for the Cloudflare part!
 
STEP 3: Configure Invision to use the Backblaze Cloud
From Invision Admin Control Panel, go to System -> Files -> Storage Settings

 
Then we click on Configurations:

 
and then on Create New on the right side.
Then we select Amazon S3 and we fill the needed info as:

 
When you click Save if you get any warnings or errors then you have to check again the tutorial as you may forgot something or may have a typo somewhere...
If you save it without any issues then you are ready to use it by going to: System -> Files -> Storage Settings
and select a category with not many images for example Icons & Logos or anything else with a few images and from the drop down options the: Amazon S3:superbucket
 

 
Then wait for the automated task to transfer your files to the Cloud and check if all are ok !
If yes then you can proceed with the rest categories.
 
*Keep only at your server your theme resources:

 
Keep in mind that if you have a lot of GB of files it may take a long time for the transfer !
 
It may help to go to the Dashboard and run manually the process to get the files transferred faster.

*Attachments and Downloads may not work out of the box (don't use them on my test forum and i don't know for sure) and you may need to use the addon S3 Compatible Downloads:
 
I hope that you will benefit from this tutorial and get better performance while saving space on your main server and a lot of money 🙂
Backblaze is much more stable than Wasabi!
It also includes up to 10GB free storage, so you can test it easily !
Credits to: @Joel R and @Martin A.
Enjoy !