Task force TalkChess access

[hgm]

In order to solve the access problem, I want to do some experiments on a clone of the forum. This has become possible, now that we obtained ftp access to the talkchess.com server a few days ago. This is a call for members who think they can contribute expertise that would be helpful, to assemble a 'task force' for solving this problem.

My idea for approaching this problem consists of the following steps:
1) borrow or rent a server machine or VPS running some Linux version.
2) install the MySQL database software on this system.
3) Install the latest phpBB on this system.
4) Load a backup of the TalkChess forum at talkchess.com into this phpBB on the other server.

The first goal is to establish if we can achieve such a migration without loss of data or other problems. If we succeed, we can use that clone of the forum to experiment on, for the purpose of making it more secure against hacker attacks. In the mean time, the forum here can keep running as always.

All ideas on this are welcome.

[AdminX]

Or just Create a VM and place it in the DMZ of your network, since it is for testing only.

[Frank Quisinsky]

I have a problem with the name "Task force".
"Group of sleeping pills" I like more.

[Damir]

I think '' Counter Strike'' is better...

[amanjpro]

In order to solve the access problem, I want to do some experiments on a clone of the forum. This has become possible, now that we obtained ftp access to the talkchess.com server a few days ago. This is a call for members who think they can contribute expertise that would be helpful, to assemble a 'task force' for solving this problem.

My idea for approaching this problem consists of the following steps:
1) borrow or rent a server machine or VPS running some Linux version.
2) install the MySQL database software on this system.
3) Install the latest phpBB on this system.
4) Load a backup of the TalkChess forum at talkchess.com into this phpBB on the other server.

The first goal is to establish if we can achieve such a migration without loss of data or other problems. If we succeed, we can use that clone of the forum to experiment on, for the purpose of making it more secure against hacker attacks. In the mean time, the forum here can keep running as always.

All ideas on this are welcome.

How big is the database? Also how do we check if there is no dataloss, what is the criteria?

[hgm]

The (gzipped) database was 203MB.

I have now rented a VPS, and installed Ubunto 20.04 plus the Light TPD HTTP server on it. The website still only consists of the standard welcome page, and can be accessed at http://212.114.109.12 . It is accessible through ssh and ftp. I have already installed MySQL, but have not configured it in any way yet.

Assistance from someone with MySQL experience would be appreciated. I will continue with this tomorrow.

[Rebel]

In order to solve the access problem, I want to do some experiments on a clone of the forum. This has become possible, now that we obtained ftp access to the talkchess.com server a few days ago. This is a call for members who think they can contribute expertise that would be helpful, to assemble a 'task force' for solving this problem.

My idea for approaching this problem consists of the following steps:
1) borrow or rent a server machine or VPS running some Linux version.
2) install the MySQL database software on this system.
3) Install the latest phpBB on this system.
4) Load a backup of the TalkChess forum at talkchess.com into this phpBB on the other server.

The first goal is to establish if we can achieve such a migration without loss of data or other problems. If we succeed, we can use that clone of the forum to experiment on, for the purpose of making it more secure against hacker attacks. In the mean time, the forum here can keep running as always.

All ideas on this are welcome.

How big is the database? Also how do we check if there is no dataloss, what is the criteria?

Unzipped about 1.4Gb

[smatovic]

The (gzipped) database was 203MB.

I have now rented a VPS, and installed Ubunto 20.04 plus the Light TPD HTTP server on it. The website still only consists of the standard welcome page, and can be accessed at http://212.114.109.12 . It is accessible through ssh and ftp. I have already installed MySQL, but have not configured it in any way yet.

Assistance from someone with MySQL experience would be appreciated. I will continue with this tomorrow.

I have some experience as webprogrammer and sysadmin but my skillset is pretty much outdated and I am not into the current best practices...with phpBB you want to run a LAMP system, Linux+Apache+MySQL+PHP, the install is pretty easy on Ubuntu with apt-get, there are howtos out there in web, then you use the mysql command-line-tool to import/export SQL dumps, and some webinterface like phpmyadmin to manage the DB, something like this...

1. Create a subdomain like test1.mydomain.com and point to your host's IP
2. install Apache+mod-php+MySQL
3. setup a virtual host (a site) in Apache for the domain which directs to a directory
4. create database (with the password from the phpBB config) and import SQL dump
5. copy the current phpBB files to the directory
6. update phpBB config file with new domain

that should be already the basics for the migration of the current phpBB TC.

If you want to use a newer than current phpBB the question is open if the DB design changed, so a simple SQL import won't work, and you have to setup the current version and then maybe update, or to use/write DB import scripts by your own.

With phpmyadmin you can create and config databases for MySQL, you can also import and export dumps, but these are limited in execution time and also in size (php config), so you might have to stick to the mysql command line tool. phpmyadmin should be a password protected area (via .htacess for example) on your host.

--
Srdja

[Rebel]

Srdja, do you understand PHP?

This is an example I found in the viewforum.php

Code: Select all

// Permissions check
if (!$auth->acl_gets('f_list', 'f_list_topics', 'f_read', $forum_id) || ($forum_data['forum_type'] == FORUM_LINK && $forum_data['forum_link'] && !$auth->acl_get('f_read', $forum_id)))
{
	if ($user->data['user_id'] != ANONYMOUS)
	{
		send_status_line(403, 'Forbidden');
		trigger_error('SORRY_AUTH_READ');
	}

	login_box('', $user->lang['LOGIN_VIEWFORUM']);
}

Note the notorious 403 - Forbidden

This type of code is also found in other crucial php files.

[PK]

This is an example I found in the viewforum.php

I didn't read PHP for ages, but this snippet does not contain information how $user and all its fields are filled. The inner if clause depends on these variables. Also, it seems that code is blocking access for users who are *not* ANONYMOUS, whatever it means and wherever it is set.

In the outer if clause $auth->acl is probably access control list and this is where I'd start looking for the reason of blockage.

Reading this webpage may be of help: https://community-auth.com/ (not sure if this exact auth is used, probably not)