Why wait any longer? The MySQL conversion is complete, and all the Blog Engine modules have passed every test I could dream up. Special attention was paid to preventing a common database exploit called an “SQL injection” attack, by using the most modern and up-to-date PHP database abstraction layer available. (MDB2, if you must know.)

The interesting thing about this upgrade is that if everything works as it should, you (gentle reader) will not really notice any differences in most of the site. Browsing our front page, monthly archives, or entries with or without comments should look almost exactly the same, and posting comments works the same way.

The biggest differences are all in the code behind the curtain. Every page at LGF will now be served dynamically out of the database, which will eliminate a huge amount of file-thrashing overhead for our main web server.

In one part of the site, however, the improvement will be very noticeable; the search function has taken a quantum leap in functionality and usefulness, and now operates like a mini-Google, with very fast keyword-based searches and a lot of powerful features. More on this later.

I’m doing this on the weekend because traffic is lower and if anything misfires during the launch I’ll be able to quickly restore the old flat-file jalopy.

And now, heads up, lizards! I’m going to need to shut off all comments for a while, to complete the migration of our data to MySQL. This will happen at about 6:30 pm Pacific, and it may last up to an hour.

See you on the other side.

UPDATE at 3/31/07 8:07:07 pm:

All systems go. The new Blog Engine is functioning smoothly on its trial run.

UPDATE at 4/1/07 2:08:40 am:

Comment posting is temporarily on hold while a database operation finishes running.