repeated long-term forum downtimes - Page 6

Banzai · 21-09-2004, 13:05

CDZ was down for me from lunchbreak till now.. approximately one and a half hour.

Lt. Killer M · 21-09-2004, 13:26

CDZ was down for me most of this morning:

Tue, 21.09.2004, 10:30 CEST to 14:00 CEST no reply.

Shabbaman · 21-09-2004, 14:18

For me a bit later, but a bit longer as well. Until some minutes ago.

anarres · 21-09-2004, 14:39

I've been on the phone again to the ISP and they are useless. It appears that one of the websites we share the servers with is constantly taking down the machine. This means we will get continued downtime, until this asshole is found and removed from the server.

The "Load Balancing" we pay an extra £50/year for but it appears that this is pure BS from the ISP. Their "Load Balancing" consists of sending you to one of the servers, but this appears to be based not on which server has the least load, but a lottery based on your originating IP address. I complained bitterly about this farce of an option and they have agreed to remove it and refund it if we want. This in itself isn't great news - it means they are not capable of providing a service we require for no downtime.

It seems like the only solution is to change ISP and to pay for a dedicated machine.

On the bright side a dedicated machine would provide us everything we need and more, it will just cost the earth.

I've had a quick look and the cheapest we can get a machine for is £30/month is we buy 3 years or £40/month if we buy a years worth. This would give us guarenteed 99.95% uptime and max bandwidth before extra charges is 3 times what we use. Also we should be able to put SQL Sever on the box so that the DB is more robust. Many dedicated machines cost £100+/month, so you have to have a good look to find the cheap ones.

Anyway - this is all food for thought, but unless donations suddenly reach the £40/month area I can't see this happening soon. Any suggestions on how to raise this money is welcome.

P.S. If we go this route we can probably host as much as we want (up to a total of 40Gb space and 20Gb/month transfer) to make up the money, but IIRC not many people were interested when I asked at the last reunion.

Lt. Killer M · 21-09-2004, 14:47

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

thanx for looking into all this.

Shabbaman · 21-09-2004, 21:55

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by anarres

Anyway - this is all food for thought, but unless donations suddenly reach the £40/month area I can't see this happening soon. Any suggestions on how to raise this money is welcome.

Hm, that reminds me that it's time for a new donation.

Grille · 22-09-2004, 00:33

Hmm, not sure if my mind tricks me, but IIRC overall performance seemed better before this load balancing service. In case it's possible, maybe just cancel it and see if it works out ok?

(btw, forum was not accessable 2 hours or so ago, this time 500.13 error page showed up)

Samson · 22-09-2004, 13:18

I was wondering what people would think of a move to a *nix system. You can get a virtual linux machine with 300MB of space, unlimited bandwidth and claimed 99.9% uptime for 6 pounds a month [1], though this company has caused problems [2]. There is a thread discussing options for this sort of thing here [3].

I have access to a *nix machine on the web for the next 9 months or so, so could put up a site for the moment probably, just as a test for a start. I have made a start at putting phpbb2 on it, but I have got a bit stuck allready, see http://www.hgmp.mrc.ac.uk/~hmorgan2/...ll/install.php I guess I had better not spend too much work time on it

I belive there are some issues with changing from micro$hit to a grown up system, but I am sure we could work something out.

Just a thought.

--
Linux, because eventually, you grow up enough to be trusted with a fork()

[1] http://www.amenworld.com/static/index.php?pid=580
[2] http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=e....csx.cam.ac.uk
[3] http://groups.google.co.uk/groups?hl...com%26rnum%3D2

Kingreno · 25-09-2004, 13:44

Forum down again between 11am and 1 pm on saturday 25th of september

Grille · 25-09-2004, 21:28

no reply between 15:00 and 17:00 cet, 25th Sep

21-09-2004, 13:05	#51
Banzai Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Netherlands. Posts: 1,226	CDZ was down for me from lunchbreak till now.. approximately one and a half hour. __________________ I see your face when I am dreaming. That\'s why I always wakeup screaming.

21-09-2004, 13:26	#52
Lt. Killer M Emperor Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: HAWK!. Posts: 4,365	CDZ was down for me most of this morning: Tue, 21.09.2004, 10:30 CEST to 14:00 CEST no reply. __________________ One more turn..... just one more turn... one MORE!

21-09-2004, 14:18	#53
Shabbaman Administrator Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Costa La Haya Posts: 8,494	For me a bit later, but a bit longer as well. Until some minutes ago. __________________ "Our spam is backed with COMETS!"

21-09-2004, 14:39	#54
anarres anarchist butcher Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: United States of Whatever. Posts: 4,677	I've been on the phone again to the ISP and they are useless. It appears that one of the websites we share the servers with is constantly taking down the machine. This means we will get continued downtime, until this asshole is found and removed from the server. The "Load Balancing" we pay an extra £50/year for but it appears that this is pure BS from the ISP. Their "Load Balancing" consists of sending you to one of the servers, but this appears to be based not on which server has the least load, but a lottery based on your originating IP address. I complained bitterly about this farce of an option and they have agreed to remove it and refund it if we want. This in itself isn't great news - it means they are not capable of providing a service we require for no downtime. It seems like the only solution is to change ISP and to pay for a dedicated machine. On the bright side a dedicated machine would provide us everything we need and more, it will just cost the earth. I've had a quick look and the cheapest we can get a machine for is £30/month is we buy 3 years or £40/month if we buy a years worth. This would give us guarenteed 99.95% uptime and max bandwidth before extra charges is 3 times what we use. Also we should be able to put SQL Sever on the box so that the DB is more robust. Many dedicated machines cost £100+/month, so you have to have a good look to find the cheap ones. Anyway - this is all food for thought, but unless donations suddenly reach the £40/month area I can't see this happening soon. Any suggestions on how to raise this money is welcome. P.S. If we go this route we can probably host as much as we want (up to a total of 40Gb space and 20Gb/month transfer) to make up the money, but IIRC not many people were interested when I asked at the last reunion. __________________ <b>Calculate the probability of culture flips: Flip Calc</b>

21-09-2004, 14:47	#55
Lt. Killer M Emperor Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: HAWK!. Posts: 4,365	grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr thanx for looking into all this. __________________ One more turn..... just one more turn... one MORE!

22-09-2004, 00:33	#57
Grille Join Date: May 2003 Location: in a swamp. Posts: 901	Hmm, not sure if my mind tricks me, but IIRC overall performance seemed better before this load balancing service. In case it's possible, maybe just cancel it and see if it works out ok? (btw, forum was not accessable 2 hours or so ago, this time 500.13 error page showed up)

22-09-2004, 13:18	#58
Samson Warlord Join Date: May 2004 Location: . Posts: 397	I was wondering what people would think of a move to a nix system. You can get a virtual linux machine with 300MB of space, unlimited bandwidth and claimed 99.9% uptime for 6 pounds a month [1], though this company has caused problems [2]. There is a thread discussing options for this sort of thing here [3]. I have access to a nix machine on the web for the next 9 months or so, so could put up a site for the moment probably, just as a test for a start. I have made a start at putting phpbb2 on it, but I have got a bit stuck allready, see http://www.hgmp.mrc.ac.uk/~hmorgan2/...ll/install.php I guess I had better not spend too much work time on it I belive there are some issues with changing from micro$hit to a grown up system, but I am sure we could work something out. Just a thought. -- Linux, because eventually, you grow up enough to be trusted with a fork() [1] http://www.amenworld.com/static/index.php?pid=580 [2] http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=e....csx.cam.ac.uk [3] http://groups.google.co.uk/groups?hl...com%26rnum%3D2

25-09-2004, 13:44	#59
Kingreno Moderator Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Netherlands. Posts: 3,270	Forum down again between 11am and 1 pm on saturday 25th of september __________________ Go ahead punk. Make my day.

25-09-2004, 21:28	#60
Grille Join Date: May 2003 Location: in a swamp. Posts: 901	no reply between 15:00 and 17:00 cet, 25th Sep