~ Albert Einstein
Since early this morning I have been plodding away at a website migration. The first two hours went fine and I was feeling happily optimistic. Then I hit my first obstacle. The migration software that I used simply wouldn't work. Image Source
It's an interesting problem to have and I could probably draw parallels to other issues that people have that are similar.
After the first failed attempt I started to go into trouble shooting mode. It was automatic and I didn't really even hesitate, I just accepted that the upload was failing (I tried it 4 times on two seperate networks to be sure) and that there was probably a conflict somewhere.
There were numerous things I tried. I checked the backup and replaced it with a fresh one. I then changed the php versions to match. I checked that all the plugins were updated to the latest versions. I checked that the versions of Wordpress were the same (I didn't actually think that this was the core problem but perhaps there was something that wasn't carrying across - I was wrong), I tried deactivating the firewall and security incase they might be stopping the upload - nope. As the download was smaller than 512MB I tried the non-paid version of the migration tool - to no avail. I checked my server settings and found that some of those needed adjusting but that wasn't the issue either.
Eventually after about 6 hours of various attempts, I decided it was time to contact the support desk of the software developer. I have the upgraded paid version of the software so the least they could do after all these things had been checked was to help me out right?
I admit feeling a bit deflated when I got an automated email reply stating their turn around time on help desk queries is 24 - 48hrs and not over weekends. Sigh. I carried on trying fixes but nothing was really helping so I figured I would take a break until I got a reply from them, which would more than likely only be on Monday.
This job was for a long standing client of mine who I have a good working relationship with. He tends to be understanding when things go wrong or if we hit roadblocks, it happens. I have just done a hosting and domain transfer for him and let me tell you...we were almost expecting the company to ask for a retinal scan and stool sample. So much paperwork, it was insane! I was seriously unimpressed with the process. It seems they are trying to retain their client base purely by making it too much of a hassle to complete the transfer.
Seeing as we had already hit so much red tape, I was forging ahead full steam to try and get the website migration completed as soon as possible and Monday seemed very far away. To my delight, I received an email back with some helpful tips from a real person and I was able to do the migration manually, it seems like it may be a glitch with the program.
In retrospect, I probably could have just sent them a query right at the start, but I actually think that the way I did it ruled out all sorts of things that could have potentially been problematic anyway. Contacting support was the last resort and even though it might have saved me some time if I had done that first, I was actually proud of the perseverance I exhibited today to continue working through possible solutions without giving up or admitting defeat.
While thinking about this afterwards, I recognized that many of the people that I admire and respect are people that simply don't back down when faced with challenges or problems, they simply get to work searching out ways to change the situation, resolve the issue or remove the problem. I think that because I'm quite analytical, problem solving has always been one of my strong points and it felt great to go through the steps required to get to the end result - a successful migration.
I won't be billing my client for the hours that I spent troubleshooting because I felt that it added to my knowledge base for future instances where I may run into similar challenges. I gained more out of the experience than just that particular fix. All in all, it was a positive experience for me and I'm quite proud of myself. Tomorrow will no doubt bring new challenges but if I can face them with the same determination and perseverance I had today, then I think I'll be fine.
What do you do when faced with an issue like this? Do you carry on investigating or do you phone a friend?
