Over the next three weeks, we’ll be updating the MariaDB (MySQL) database server software on all our servers from the MariaDB 10.3 series to the MariaDB 10.5 series (equivalent to the Oracle MySQL 8.0 series).
The MariaDB/MySQL database stores pages for WordPress and other sites that are run by scripts. Customers should not notice any difference after this change; we’re upgrading it to a more recent version simply to make sure it’s as fast, reliable and secure as possible. We’ve been using the new version on internal and test servers for some time.
At the moment the software is updated on a server, WordPress and other database-backed sites on that server will have 30-60 seconds of unavoidable “downtime”. To minimize the impact of that, we do these upgrades only on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights between 9 PM and midnight Pacific time (midnight-3 AM Eastern time). We expect this process to be complete on all servers by September 6.
Beyond that one-time brief interruption in service, customers should not notice any difference to how their site works, as we said. But as always, don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any trouble or questions.
Update 9:24 PM Pacific time September 5: This upgrade has been completed on all servers.
Between 10:00 PM and 11:59 PM Pacific time on Friday, July 16, each of our hosting servers will be restarted. This will cause a brief interruption of service (less than 5 minutes) for each site at some point during this 2 hour period.
Update 9:16 PM June 27: the maintenance described below has been completed on all servers, so all servers are now running the MariaDB 10.3 series.
Over the next three weeks, we’ll be updating the MariaDB (MySQL) database server software on all our servers from the MariaDB 10.1 series to the MariaDB 10.3 series (equivalent to the Oracle MySQL 5.7 series).
The MariaDB/MySQL database software is what stores pages for WordPress and other sites that are run by scripts. Customers should not notice any difference after this change; we’re upgrading it to a more recent version simply to make sure it’s as fast, reliable and secure as possible. We’ve been using the new version on internal and test servers for some time.
At the moment the software is updated on a server, WordPress and other database-backed sites on that server will have 30-60 seconds of unavoidable “downtime”. To minimize the impact of that, we do these upgrades only on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights between 9 PM and midnight Pacific time (midnight-3 AM Eastern time). This process will be complete on all servers by June 28.
Beyond that one-time brief interruption in service, customers should not notice any difference to how their site works, as we said. But as always, don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any trouble or questions.
Update 10:58 PM Pacific time: the maintenance described below has been completed, and all services are running normally.
Between 9:00 PM and 11:59 PM Pacific time on Saturday, February 15, 2020, the MySQL database software on each of our servers will be upgraded from MariaDB version 10.0.41 to 10.0.44 (roughly equivalent to MySQL 5.6.47). This will cause an approximately 60 second interruption of service on each MySQL-using customer website at some point during this period.
In addition, the web14 server will be restarted during this period for a hardware upgrade, causing an approximately 3-minute additional outage for sites and email on that server only.
This upgrade should not be noticeable to our customers in any way, but of course, don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or difficulties.
Update August 21, 2019: The maintenance described below has been completed for all sites.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll be retiring some old servers and moving sites on those servers to new (often faster) ones. Migrating a site takes just a few seconds in most cases, so it’s likely that neither you nor your visitors will notice this happening.
If someone does view your site while it’s being migrated, they’ll see a maintenance screen with a link to this blog post, like this:
If your site is in the small minority that has a large database (more than a few hundred MB), the migration could take a little longer — perhaps a few minutes. We try to do migrations during slow periods for each site, minimizing the impact on visitors.
Update 9:32 PM Pacific time: the maintenance described below has been completed, and all services are running normally.
Between 9:00 PM and 11:59 PM Pacific time on Friday, February 8, 2019, the MySQL database software on each of our servers will be upgraded from MariaDB version 10.0.37 to 10.0.38 (equivalent to MySQL 5.6.43). This will cause an approximately 60 second interruption of service on each MySQL-using customer website at some point during this period.
Update 11:22 PM Pacific time Dec. 1: The maintenance described below has been completed and all services are running normally.
Between 10:00 PM and 11:59 PM Pacific time on Saturday, December 1, 2018, the MySQL database software on some hosting servers will be updated. This will cause an approximately two minute interruption of service on each MySQL-using customer Web site (including WordPress sites) at some point during this period.
Update 10:39 PM Pacific time Nov. 24: The maintenance described below has been completed and all services are running normally.
Between 10:00 PM and 11:59 PM Pacific time on Saturday, November 24, 2018, the MySQL database software on some hosting servers will be updated. This will cause an approximately two minute interruption of service on each MySQL-using customer Web site (including WordPress sites) at some point during this period.
Update 10:46 PM Pacific time Nov. 17: The maintenance described below has been completed and all services are running normally.
Between 10:00 PM and 11:59 PM Pacific time on Saturday, November 17, 2018, the MySQL database software on some hosting servers will be updated. This will cause an approximately two minute interruption of service on each MySQL-using customer Web site (including WordPress sites) at some point during this period.
