View Full Version : We're back up!
Hi guys,
It's good to be back.. Apologies for the downtime and all the inconvenience attached to that! :rolleyes:
Full explanation later. Just got to do a few things first.
Marco.
Audio Al
25-07-2014, 08:19
Did the hamster go away for a few days ? or Die ? You could try solar panels for alternative power :)
hifi_dave
25-07-2014, 08:39
Thank goodness - I was developing a withdrawal twitch.
StanleyB
25-07-2014, 08:40
I had to wander the net and drop in on other forums. But there is only one AoS, and long may it continue.
I think you need to upgrade the mains cable.
PaulStewart
25-07-2014, 09:35
I think you need to upgrade the mains cable.
:rofl:
icehockeyboy
25-07-2014, 09:36
I had to wander the net and drop in on other forums. But there is only one AoS, and long may it continue.
Ditto!!!!
istari_knight
25-07-2014, 09:45
'Bout ruddy time ! :D
Well done getting it sorted :clap:
Magna Audio
25-07-2014, 10:00
Nice one, great to have it back:) Was getting a little worried, disc corruptions are never nice.
Thanks for the all the effort put in.
PaulStewart
25-07-2014, 10:18
Hi guys,
It's good to be back.. Apologies for the downtime and all the inconvenience attached to that!
Marco.
It's not the inconvenience that's a problem Marco, this is audiophiles being deprived of for some, their place of espousing and pontification and for others their place of garnering knowledge...... Have you any idea the extent of the existential crisis this has caused in the audio world? :laugh:
Runs behind the :sofa: singing the Python's philosophers song. :)
Well done for getting it back up and running
Ok, guys, here's what happened...
We needed to add some extra disk space (essentially memory) to our server, in order to cope with the increased bandwidth used, as a result of the forum's growth rate, thus providing enough 'headroom' for the site to run smoothly, especially during busy times where there is a heavy drain on system resources.
Therefore, when those who maintain our server were applying the necessary upgrades, this subsequently caused interruptions to the service, hence why (before the recent extended downtime) the forum was up and down more often than a whore's knickers!
However, when the extra disc space was added later, that's when the BIG problems started, as the hard disk on the server became corrupt, due to a kernel update which did not apply correctly, causing the server to crash and the site go down - and remain down.
This meant that, in order to get the site back on-line, the server had to be rebuilt from scratch and restored from the last available (saved update), and with so much data to restore, this took time (along with some other problems that occurred along the way) during that process, hampering our progress!
Needless to say it was an utter nightmare for all involved in resolving the issue and getting the site back up as soon as possible. Hard disks on servers can sometimes become corrupt, just like they can on home computers, so unfortunately it was just one of those things. Some lessons have been learnt, however, and thus steps taken to ensure that if this happens again any downtime caused will be considerably minimised.
Anyway, once again we apologise for the inconvenience caused - glad to see that AoS was missed! :cool:
Marco.
Nice one, great to have it back:) Was getting a little worried, disc corruptions are never nice.
Thanks for the all the effort put in.
No worries, Steve. How did you know there was a disk corruption before I reported it?
Marco.
StanleyB
25-07-2014, 11:04
No worries, Steve. How did you know there was a disk corruption before I reported it?
This has been mentioned in emails between members over the last few days. Quite a few of us are quite tech savvy about such things ;).
& it was on the twitter feed, good to see the site back up.
dantheman91
25-07-2014, 11:10
Back where i belong missed you guys................:)
& it was on the twitter feed, good to see the site back up.
Ah yes, I'd forgotten about that! :doh:
Marco.
Good job on getting it back up. Isn't there a simple way to prevent it happening by doubling the redundancy on the server? You can double up on the number of backup drives for example so when updates to one goes wrong you stand a fighting chance of the other update being spot on. My site is hosted on a server with 4 independent back up drives for example, each backed up daily.
Sites been down with me several times today. Just manged on but it is at times slow to stop. Dunno if anyone else is having similar prbs in last 2 hrs
istari_knight
25-07-2014, 12:46
Sites been down with me several times today. Just manged on but it is at times slow to stop. Dunno if anyone else is having similar prbs in last 2 hrs
Not just you, Its been up & down more often than a tarts knickers this end... Still ironing out the issue's I guess.
PaulStewart
25-07-2014, 12:47
Sites been down with me several times today. Just manged on but it is at times slow to stop. Dunno if anyone else is having similar prbs in last 2 hrs
Same here and I could not get on 'til after 10:30 and I think others could get it earlier.
Well done. The system down I have been working on took over a week. So I know it isn't fun.
Was posting something with pics on tapatalk and it crashed and burned before i got to the end. Doh! Best leaving trickier stuff for a while til it stabilises. Just got a pile of 78s handed me so gonna get the hmv wound up
Havent posted in a while but have looked in from time to time, I thought the forum had died when I saw it was down, still seems a little on/off for me but good to see the problem is being handled.
Good job on getting it back up. Isn't there a simple way to prevent it happening by doubling the redundancy on the server? You can double up on the number of backup drives for example so when updates to one goes wrong you stand a fighting chance of the other update being spot on. My site is hosted on a server with 4 independent back up drives for example, each backed up daily.
Hi Paul,
Good point. I shall mention that to Nick :)
Marco.
Magna Audio
25-07-2014, 13:22
:) It was on Twitter a while a go ;)
No worries, Steve. How did you know there was a disk corruption before I reported it?
Marco.
Not just you, Its been up & down more often than a tarts knickers this end... Still ironing out the issue's I guess.
Yup, I was just about to send this the last time before the system crashed again:
Also, as some of you will have noticed, using the forum at the moment is not a terribly speedy experience. This is due to currently high CPU (memory) usage, as a result of some idiot in Russia incessantly spamming our mail system, using up our memory reserves in the process, and thus causing the site to run slowly.
This matter will be addressed later once Nick gets back from work and can access the Plesk control panel, in order that he can take the necessary steps to solve that problem, so bear with us please whilst these changes are taking effect! :cool:
Marco.
I'm still waiting to hear if we're officially out of the woods yet, so hang in there folks.
Marco.
kenworthy100
25-07-2014, 15:59
Good to see the forum back, well done!!!!
Spectral Morn
25-07-2014, 16:00
I will try again lol last post in this here spot has evaporated.....
Its good to have AOS back, well done those behind the scenes who achieved this :cool:
Regards Neil
walpurgis
25-07-2014, 16:30
Ah, Hi everybody!! :) Nice to be back on here. Had a poke about on TAS, but it's not the same by any means. Early days yet for them. AOS is the place to be, other Hi-Fi forums seem to either lack the friendliness or are full of loonies (that is not directed at TAS by the way).
I'm still waiting to hear if we're officially out of the woods yet, so hang in there folks.
I've just had it confirmed by our server hosts that all should now be well.
We've had to add a considerable amount of disc space to the server, in order to house all the current data and ensure that in future things run smoothly. One of the things about AoS is that the forum content is very graphic-intensive, with our large banner (header and footer), including the large and colourful avatars present on 100s of people's profiles and (in some cases) HUGE sticky threads running permanently - all of which continually eats up system resources.
We don't mind that, however, as it's an important part of the identity of AoS, and is what sets us apart from other forums, but there is a price to pay both in terms of the time taken to maintain it all and the financial cost of hosting the content, in terms of bandwidth, so please bear that in mind in future and appreciate the time and effort undertaken by the team in running your favourite audio and music forum! ;)
Marco.
prestonchipfryer
25-07-2014, 18:01
Just got home and the first thing I did was look to see if AoS is back. It is! Hurray :)
Your dedication to the cause has been noted! ;)
Marco.
Eagle owl
25-07-2014, 18:38
Thanks Marco, it's good to be back.
I've just had it confirmed by our server hosts that all should now be well.
We've had to add a considerable amount of disc space to the server, in order to house all the current data and ensure that in future things run smoothly. One of the things about AoS is that the forum content is very graphic-intensive, with our large banner (header and footer), including the large and colourful avatars present on 100s of people's profiles and (in some cases) HUGE sticky threads running permanently - all of which continually eats up system resources.
We don't mind that, however, as it's an important part of the identity of AoS, and is what sets us apart from other forums, but there is a price to pay both in terms of the time taken to maintain it all and the financial cost of hosting the content, in terms of bandwidth, so please bear that in mind in future and appreciate the time and effort undertaken by the team in running your favourite audio and music forum! ;)
Marco.
Oh we do Marco! Both Nick (who seems to work behind the scenes) and yourself do a stirling job in keeping the Forum running smoothly and are to be praised for doing so! :)
You mention that the permanent running of "stickys" is a large demand on system resources - do you think that some of them might be best removed?
I've just had it confirmed by our server hosts that all should now be well.
We've had to add a considerable amount of disc space to the server, in order to house all the current data and ensure that in future things run smoothly. One of the things about AoS is that the forum content is very graphic-intensive, with our large banner (header and footer), including the large and colourful avatars present on 100s of people's profiles and (in some cases) HUGE sticky threads running permanently - all of which continually eats up system resources.
We don't mind that, however, as it's an important part of the identity of AoS, and is what sets us apart from other forums, but there is a price to pay both in terms of the time taken to maintain it all and the financial cost of hosting the content, in terms of bandwidth, so please bear that in mind in future and appreciate the time and effort undertaken by the team in running your favourite audio and music forum! ;)
Marco.
Happy to contribute with a membership if needed...
Ninanina
25-07-2014, 22:11
Well done all those peeps who had a hand in getting AoS back up and running... I know for a fact you have all been working overtime to fix the problem, whatever it was..
:D
Big wheel came out groove in treddle.
Back in though now.
Oi, nutta, did you receive my PM aboot cabelz?
Marco.
Happy to contribute with a membership if needed...
Hi Grant,
I appreciate the gesture, mate, and thanks. However, the annual fee that the trade members pay covers the running costs. We're pretty focussed on AoS always remaining free for non-trade members, including use of the (ever-growing more popular) classifieds section :)
Marco.
Oi, nutta, did you receive my PM aboot cabelz?
Marco.
Yes - got them home, I am trialling them at the moment. More on the appropriate thread, tomorrow now. :)
Hi Barry,
Oh we do Marco! Both Nick (who seems to work behind the scenes) and yourself do a stirling job in keeping the Forum running smoothly and are to be praised for doing so!
You mention that the permanent running of "stickys" is a large demand on system resources - do you think that some of them might be best removed?
Thanks, matey. It would certainly help to archive some of them and start afresh with 'Part 2' versions (or in some cases, 'Part 3')!
The biggest 'culprits', in that respect are the 'Bargains on ebay' thread, in Past Masters, and the 'Spinning Today - What Are You Listening To Right Now' thread, in the music room, each with over half a million 'hits', but there are others too which could do with 'thinning out' somewhat :)
Marco.
Yes - got them home, I am trialling them at the moment. More on the appropriate thread, tomorrow now. :)
Echellenty! :cool:
Marco.
The Grand Wazoo
25-07-2014, 23:18
Three cheers for Nick. I hope you've not been sacked from your day job for this Nick!
Re. some of the big stickies: I don't expect there's much going on in the way of people reading 'back issues' beyond a couple of days. Trim 'em down. Lean, mean and green - it's the new tubby!
Three cheers for Nick. I hope you've not been sacked from your day job for this Nick!
Ahem... I did, erm, 'a wee bit' as well!
Re. some of the big stickies: I don't expect there's much going on in the way of people reading 'back issues' beyond a couple of days. Trim 'em down. Lean, mean and green - it's the new tubby!
Heh heh.... Aye, yer no wrang! :eyebrows:
[So we'll lop 'em accordingly in due course].
Marco.
walpurgis
25-07-2014, 23:25
Three cheers for Nick. I hope you've not been sacked from your day job for this Nick!
Re. some of the big stickies: I don't expect there's much going on in the way of people reading 'back issues' beyond a couple of days. Trim 'em down. Lean, mean and green - it's the new tubby!
I reckon so too. The older stuff will be of limited interest. Isn't there a way of automatically deleting items that attract no visits? I know that sounds a bit ruthless, but it may make sense.
The Grand Wazoo
25-07-2014, 23:25
I'm sure you did, but Nick's not around the place much (for understandable reasons) but when he get's on the job, he pulls the stops out.
Ya, absolutely! :yesbruv:
Marco.
The Grand Wazoo
25-07-2014, 23:28
Ahem.......I seem to remember someone (an utter and absolute genius, in my opinion) noting in the mod area, not so long ago that 'Spinning Today pt.2' was as big as 'Spinning Today pt.1', and was it not time to start a new one.
Can't think who that was....
Was it a daftee with a penchant for Zap and mild cheese obsession?
Marco.
The Grand Wazoo
25-07-2014, 23:43
Could be, could be!
The Grand Wazoo
25-07-2014, 23:44
But there is never an excuse for mild cheese!
Ha - indeed! (Knew you'd interpret it that way) ;)
Marco.
Could be, could be!
Va_Rmpd3PZI
Marco.
The Grand Wazoo
25-07-2014, 23:52
Ha!
Nice to have our quirky little corner of the internet back again. It was missed.
Well done to Marco and all who work to keep it going.
PaulStewart
27-07-2014, 17:30
But there is never an excuse for mild cheese!
Plus 1 to that!
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