[ Site News ] - "Web Site Down" Issues

[James]

You may have noticed over the last few days the site has been un-reachable on a number of occassions.

 

We do have an on-going problem whereby the site just locks up and no one can get on - even I cant log into the box at times. This is basically due to the virtual memory (swapfile) on the box filling up and then failing to recover. We are looking at perhaps adding more memory to the box to help reduce this problem but as the site gets busier and busier we are going to keep hitting this same problem. I'm also installing a really cool monitoring script which will show graphically the peaks in the site access and also let me see exactly which areas of the site are taking up the most resource.

 

The site is almost too popular for its own good!

 

The times the box 'goes down' tends to be about 2pm and 4pm - its busiest periods. The long term solution is to have a much more powerful server but this is v. costly and the advertising we have today on the site today doesnt even cover today's server costs - so there a bigger & better server is still a long way off.

 

Unfortunately we are kinda stuck in a vicious circle at the moment. I can only say please bear with us whilst we a) continue to try and get to the bottom of the memory problems we are having and [censored] out the best way of generating cash to support the new server(s) we want.

 

Please note - the box isnt always down because of a problem on the box, there can be lots of reasons why the site isnt available including...

 

1) Problem on Server (e.g. Swapfile)

2) Router Problems

3) DNS Problems

4) Network Traffic Problems

5) Disk Space Problems (i.e. running out)

6) Power Failure (e.g. at Redbus)

 

Best thing to do if the site is down is to leave it 30 mins or so before you try again - if everyone keeps refreshing the site at the same time it never gets a chance to sort itself out - which leads to having to reboot the server to sort it out.

 

The other major issue I currently have is one of support. I am working 9am-7pm and not always around to get the box/web site sorted out - leaving only evenings to really be able to focus on the web site. For a fully managed server 24/7 we again talking a lot of dosh, and again something which even advertising cant support. We WILL have our ideal solution one day but its a way off i'm afraid so basically again - "just bare with us".

 

cheers!

[Mr_Happy]

james - as a tempory measure i'm willing to hoast some of the site on my server if it will easy teh bandwidth a lil

 

say some of the ctw images?

 

i have about a 10gb bandwidth that never gets used and i'm able to go over that by a £1 per gb of bandwidth per month or sumthin silly like that

[James]

I guess it depends what control you have on software running on there mate. I will PM you mate - its possible we could use it for music/video - but how much disk space do you have ?

[James]

As you may have noticed we've had more problems today. Our hosting company is still looking into this but it looks like we are suffering from yet another hardware failure!

 

Decided to bite-the-bullet as this is now seriously taking the piss - hopefully going to move to an upgraded FULLY MANAGED 24/7 server - with the hope that in 6 months or so I've been able to develop some better solutions for promoters to use which can generate some revenue to support the new hosting costs.

 

I dont believe the money should come from members - unless its in the form of cool merchandise.

[Capn Jack]

Ah I was wondering about the downtime. James have you thought about opening up a site donations scheme (leaves it up to people to contribute or not)?

[Flakey Dove]

quality!

 

Bet all you losers at [censored] were right [censored]!

[CreamyC]

100% correct flakey.

[Tony P]

poofs

[James]

Good news!!! ....

 

We're on a brand spanking new bigger/better/faster/properly managed server (albeit more expensive - eek) - hopefully our problems with the site have now gone - fingers crossed!

 

Sorry about the hassle these past 2 weeks peeps.

[Claire DC]

Nice 1 hun

[James]

Not everyone can see this new box / IP yet due to it still propogating round the net. Some have been on since 8pm, I've just got on at 1am, could be up to 48 hours before everyone is back on.

 

lets hope we dont have to do this ever again !

[Claire DC]

Mines been back on for a good few hours but its been a bit tempremental til recently!!

[James]

Should be ok now hun - on a new box - just waiting for DNS changes...

[CreamyC]

Should be ok now hun - on a new box - just waiting for DNS changes...

 

Whats DNS ?

[Nick G]

Should be ok now hun - on a new box - just waiting for DNS changes...

 

Whats DNS ?

 

Domain Name Server