For migration to new codebase in preparation for the rewrite.... API v1 (current) and ULS will be down 9/5 0700Z (9/5 2:00AM) for approximately 15-20 minutes.  This change will allow development and deployment of API v2 for the website rewrite without future downtimes.

VATUSA is currently seeking motivated individuals to join the Web Team as Web Team Associates.  The VATUSA Web Team is responsible for: designing and maintaining the front web website, the Unified Login Scheme web application, the backend Application Programming Interface (API), assist VATUSA facilities with web-related tasks, or other duties as assigned by the Data Services Manager.

Requirements:
- Candidates should hold a VATSIM ATC rating of no lower than S3
- Candidates must have been a VATSIM member for no less than 1 year, and be in good standing
- Candidates must have working knowledge of MySQL/MariaDB databases
- Candidates must have intimate knowledge of PHP5 or newer
- Candidates must have knowledge of Laravel 5.4 or newer
- Candidates must have knowledge of jQuery and and AJAX calling
- Candidates must have knowledge of RESTful APIs
- Candidates should be familiar with git, to including branching, merging, pull requests
- Candidates should be familiar with VATUSA web systems

The desirable candidate should have intimate knowledge of: MariaDB clusters utilizing Galera (candidates will not be maintaining the cluster, but should understand how they work), Semantic UI, jQuery, Laravel, git, and bitbucket.

Interested candidates: should submit their interest via email to vatusa6[at]vatusa.net with:

- name and CID
- qualifications and link(s) to portfolio, to include github, bitbucket, or other projects.  Availability of server side code is preferable for review
- VATSIM related projects and past activities

This is an additional duty assignment; successful candidates will remain homeroomed within their VATUSA facility.  Vacancy announcement will be open until the team is filled.

Now available for all 22 VATUSA facilities are Traffic Management Maps.  They can be accessed via the VATUSA home page while logged in under the "TMU Maps" menu.


(like traffic moment)

Staff members (ATM, DATM, FE and WM) can modify their TMU Map colors under "Actions" > "TMU Map Management".  Instructions on how to do it are included on the page.

All, last night the database server lost power resulting in corrupted tables. I repaired most but had to leave for work. It appears the CBT progress table has been affected. Repairs will finish when I get home from work, so any part of Vatusa that uses that table will not function properly until I get home and fix it tonight.

As I'm sure many of you noticed, the server on which VATUSA is hosted suffered a significant hardware failure early yesterday morning which resulted in the server having to be rebuilt from the ground up.  The database was restored and is accurate, however, the filesystem was damaged in a way that anything over the past week or so has been lost.

I have restored much of the website, however, the API remains down until further notice while they work to restore the server and then re-enable lighttpd.  The ETA until the API returns is unknown.  This means events and news won't display on the front page, and staff members won't be able to access facility member lists.  Staff can still access user profiles through Member Management and entering their CID.

I will post updates here.

I've received a couple emails so far... if you were assigned an exam prior to 6:00AM Central on 8/20/2016, your assignment was not transferred over to the new site as stipulated at http://www.vatusa.net/forums/index.php?topic=5446.0.  The reason is due to the drastic differences in the databases and the way exams are handled and assigned.

What do I do?
Please contact your instructor or facility staff and request the exam be reassigned.

What exams were affected?
All except for the entry Basic ATC Exam.  This includes facility exams, SOP exams and rating exams.

What changed?
The exams allow test creators to define the percentage required to pass (50, 60, 70, 80%, etc), the waiting period between retakes (1-14 days), etc.  The handling of questions and answers is much smarter in that special characters no longer randomly flag an answer as incorrect.  The code is much more efficient in the back-end.

The following systems will be offline starting at 11:59pm Alaskan time (EDT-4, UTC-8) on 8/19/2016 lasting no later than 3:00am:
- Website
- Ticketing support system
- Exams

The following systems will not be affected, but may be in a limited status:
- Forums
- ULS (new accounts will not be generated, current accounts should still operate correctly)

The following systems will not be impacted:
- Email

All assigned exams must be completed prior to 8/19/2016 at 11:59pm AKDT.  The basic/entry exam will remain assigned, but any other pending exams may not be properly transferred.  So it is best to complete your exams prior to that time.

All,

The site move has been completed.  There may be a couple hiccups overnight as DNS finishes propagating.  Please report any issues to vatusa6[at]vatusa.net with as many details as possible.

Thanks for your patience!