Why was the site down today?

CougTek

Serial computer killer
Joined
Jan 21, 2002
Messages
8,724
Location
Québec, Québec
I've been unable to access SF for most of the day. I'm sure it's the CIA, alarmed by Flagreen, that shut it down because of my (and Merc's) anti-Bush comments.

Damn conservative rednecks!
 

Handruin

Administrator
Joined
Jan 13, 2002
Messages
13,737
Location
USA
Man I'm steaming right now. The support staff was non-existent ALL day. I've opened several tickets and heard nothing until roughly 30 minutes ago. Apparently some problem with MySQL happened tonight requiring a patch to the OS?!? WTF.

So, in short, I'm sorry for the downtime. I was not able to do anything other than change the front page to indicate my displeasure with their response time.
 

CityK

Storage Freak Apprentice
Joined
Sep 2, 2002
Messages
1,719
The site seems the snappiest its ever been for me right now (very responsive) ... did the support monkeys actually make any changes?
 

Handruin

Administrator
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USA
They rebooted. ;) It had been 128 days since the last reboot, and they also applied some patches to the system (so they say).
 

Handruin

Administrator
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Messages
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USA
You know what, the site does seem a lot snappier. Anyone else notice this?
 

Handruin

Administrator
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Jan 13, 2002
Messages
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USA
I guess it was short-lived. It still seems faster than it was. Earlier today is was flying for me.
 

CityK

Storage Freak Apprentice
Joined
Sep 2, 2002
Messages
1,719
Its still pretty good for me, albeit not as peppy as the other day ...
 

Explorer

Learning Storage Performance
Joined
Jun 26, 2002
Messages
236
Location
Hinterlands
This was what it looked like on Black Thursday (15/Dec/2005)...




  • Warning: mysql_connect(): Can't create a new thread (errno 11). If you are not out of available memory, you can consult the manual for a possible OS-dependent bug in /home/handruin/public_html/forum/db/mysql4.php on line 48

    Warning: mysql_error(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL-Link resource in /home/handruin/public_html/forum/db/mysql4.php on line 330

    Warning: mysql_errno(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL-Link resource in /home/handruin/public_html/forum/db/mysql4.php on line 331
    phpBB : Critical Error

    Could not connect to the database
 

CougTek

Serial computer killer
Joined
Jan 21, 2002
Messages
8,724
Location
Québec, Québec
I've been unable to access SF during the past few minutes, but then poof, it went back like if nothing happened. I even took the time to write Doug a message (which I now think I should have waited before).

Anyone else experienced the same?
 

Handruin

Administrator
Joined
Jan 13, 2002
Messages
13,737
Location
USA
I wasn't around during that time, but maybe another client on the server created a new hosting account. That causes apache to restart. It's nothing new with this server, but it will cause a moment of downtime. Either way, thanks for letting me know.
 

LunarMist

I can't believe I'm a Fixture
Joined
Feb 1, 2003
Messages
16,624
Location
USA
What wild events occurred last night? The site was full of errors again.
 

Tannin

Storage? I am Storage!
Joined
Jan 15, 2002
Messages
4,448
Location
Huon Valley, Tasmania
Website
www.redhill.net.au
Yeah, there was some weirdness. I couldn't acceess the top-level pages (forum index for e.g.) but could get the individual pages. Top-leevel pages gave me the dreaded white page of death. But it's fine now.
 

Handruin

Administrator
Joined
Jan 13, 2002
Messages
13,737
Location
USA
Sorry guys, I don't honestly know. I was out all night and this morning so this is the first I'm hearing about it. Seems to be fine now, perhaps our server had a bad night and apache needed a restart. Thanks for letting me know.
 

Tannin

Storage? I am Storage!
Joined
Jan 15, 2002
Messages
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Location
Huon Valley, Tasmania
Website
www.redhill.net.au
Is it time to consider better hosting? Over the last couple of months, Storage Forum has been down more often than I can count of late. It's never off for long at a time, typically 5 or 15 minutes, but it's starting to bug me, and it must be driving you mad, Doug.

OK, I'm here in Australia, but I'm comparing with my own little stable of sites, and they are much more reliable. If you are looking for a better hosting company, you might do worse than try the California-based firm I've been using for the last three yeras or so.
 

timwhit

Hairy Aussie
Joined
Jan 23, 2002
Messages
5,278
Location
Chicago, IL
I know we have talked about changing providers in the past, but maybe it is time to think about it again.

How would something like this compare to the reseller account you have now?
 

timwhit

Hairy Aussie
Joined
Jan 23, 2002
Messages
5,278
Location
Chicago, IL
I also don't know how much work it would be to switch providers. If it is 20+ hours of work, then it is a pretty big pain, but if it is 2-3 hours, then I don't see the drawback. If the new provider turns out to be crappy, then try someone else. Just make sure not to sign a 1 year contract with the new host.

I'm sure the regulars would be willing to donate to the cause.
 

Handruin

Administrator
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Messages
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USA
My major concern with switching are having access to SSH to allow me to run my backup scripts (along with restore). Do you know if Lunar pages provides that feature?
 

Handruin

Administrator
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Messages
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USA
That's usually the catch I face when looking for a new place. I'd either have to find a hosting service that allows SSH access or get a dedicated box. I'm not ready to swing $100-150/month just yet. We don't have that much traffic.
 

Handruin

Administrator
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Messages
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USA
I don't know of any (I'm open to suggestions). The database is close to 200MB, which I know isn't enormous by any means, but it does rule out most of the ways I can think of. This is why I use a bash script to run mysqldump for me and then compress it which brings the size down greatly.
 

Mercutio

Fatwah on Western Digital
Joined
Jan 17, 2002
Messages
21,564
Location
I am omnipresent
LunarPages pisses me off.
I know there are people who hate Dreamhost with a passion but honestly, I e-mail dreamhost about a problem and they help. I call Lunarpages for something and the answer I've gotten every time is some variation on "Well, what do you expect on a shared hosting plan?"
 

Mercutio

Fatwah on Western Digital
Joined
Jan 17, 2002
Messages
21,564
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I am omnipresent
Dreamhost, at least my server, has issues with oversold capacity.
We have tons of disk space, and awesome bandwidth, but my server has 1107 accounts listed in /etc/passwd and every time I log in and look, load averages are way high (4.5 - 6 is common), making shell access unresponsive and a little frustrating.

Dreamhost more or less does not limit disk usage; most anything I'd want as far as software is already installed. Dreamhost DOES put quotas on CPU time. Tons of php and MySQL might stretch what's allowed, were we to move there.

I'm more than willing to give Handy a sub-account off my hosting, if he wants to try it out.
 
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