Network Outage

[grant]

Hello everyone

I've just had a quick look at the link Joe provided in his recent post and some of the links within that!

Whilst I don't profess to understand much of the technical stuff, what is clear is that there a large number of 'techies' and others working flat out to get things going again, and I for one heartily commend their efforts.

I trust that Roger and/or Dave will give them a well deserved pat on the back on our behalf for their efforts once they are able to do so!

Best wishes
Grant

[admin]

Hi Northern Lights,

Although your theory is correct (6 servers to go until #20), they are not coming back up in order. Numbers 15, 16 and 17 are back up, but 12, 13 and 14 are not. Also, bringing the servers online is only half the battle. They still have to transfer the date from the ProBoards back-up to those new servers. That could take quite a long time yet. If you try to access a forum which is on a server that is back online, all you see is this message:

Seeing this page instead of what you expected?



Due to a fire at our hosting facility, many of our servers were knocked offline. We are working to restore as many forums as possible from backups. Within a few days we expect full data restore to all forums affected.


Click here for details and information about the outage


Click here for detailed information about actions we are taking to restore all data

Thank you for your patience and understanding during this time while we work to bring all forums back to full capacity.

Patrick Clinger
Founder
ProBoards.com

I hope I am wrong but I am not expecting HWI to be up and running today and I am not convinced it will be available tomorrow either.

Anyone want a game of monopoly or something?

Roger

[admin]

Jun 1, 2008 14:22:49 GMT grant said:

I trust that Roger and/or Dave will give them a well deserved pat on the back on our behalf for their efforts once they are able to do so!

Hi Grant,

I already did that this morning but, once the issues are fully resolved, I intend to do so again. It is true that the entire team at ProBoards and at The Planet (ProBoards' host) worked right through the night. I was watching progress until 4am and again from 7:30 onwards and I could see how frequently they were issuing updates. The communication as well as their efforts are commendable.

Roger

[stephany]

In a way, we are fortunate that this happened when the forum was relatively quiet !

Stephany

[grant]

Thanks for that Roger. I know these forums are their 'bread and butter' but with such a disasterous explosion and fire it would have been easier to think "Oh S***" and pop back into bed! ;D

And I agree with Stephany, this would have had a far greater impact on us if it had happened, for arguments sake, in the middle of 'The Brits' coverage.

Best wishes
Grant

[admin]

Hi Stephany,

Yes, you're right there. Imagine how it would have been late last year when we were receiving 120 posts a day or more!

Incidentally, we may well benefit from this eventually because the new servers should be much faster than the old ones.

Roger

[grant]

Hello everyone

Just had a look at HWI Forum. The message Roger quoted is now showing so it would appear that at least our server is back on line.

We're just going to have to be patient until things return to normal.

Best wishes
Grant

[Dave]

UPDATE

The HWI Server (Server 20) is currently showing as "online" on the Proboards Status page so it may be available to some members. It is currently not available to me so I think I (and anyone else who cannot get at least the Proboards status message) am being affected by the following issue posted by Proboards:

As the new servers are in a different physical location, a DNS change was necessary. Some ISP's and computers can cache this old DNS information for longer than they should.

If the server is showing on the status page as online, but you still get the "page cannot be displayed" error, you have been affected by this, and must wait for your internet providers cache to update with the new location.

In some cases restarting your computer can help if it is only your machine which issuing outdated information.

If this does not help, unfortunately you will need to wait for this update to happen.

DNS means Domain Name System (Server) and it needs to be up to date for a website to be accessible on the Internet. If the DNS address changes, it can take several (sometimes many) hours for the new address to become available everywhere on the Internet. In any case, we have been advised that full restoration of all the original forum data may take a few days.

Dave

[Northern_Lights]

It is not up for me, I just checked, but HWI's server (20) is up!

[admin]

Jun 1, 2008 17:35:35 GMT Dave said:

In any case, we have been advised that full restoration of all the original forum data may take a few days.

Following a lngthy telephone conversation with Dave, we now think we understand the sequence of events that will be required before the HWI forum is *fully* restored. Our understanding is this:

ProBoards are currently transferring data from their back-up to the new server. Unfortunately, the back-up only goes up to the end of April. Consequently, when the forum is available, all posts made throughout May will not be included. I also believe that the accounts of members who registered during May will also be missing. This will only be a temporary situation and we are assured that, in time, ALL data will be fully restored.

The next stage is that ProBoards have to transfer all data from the old server to the new one. That cannot begin until power is fully restored to all areas of the Data Centre and we are not aware that that has yet happened. It may, therefore, be several days before the forum is fully restored and up to date.

My concern is that, in any existing thread, we could end up with posts that appear out of sequence, thus:

• Everything up to the end of April (transfered from ProBoards' Back-Up, followed by
  
• new posts made once the forum is restored but before the data for May is transferred from the old server, followed by
  
• all posts made in May once they are transferred.

In other words, April - early June - May, in that order! We also fear that, once everything has been transferred, we could end up with duplicate threads and also duplicate membership (if members who registered in May do so again). Clearly, we need to do all we can to avoid these possibilities. With that in mind, we have agreed that, as soon as we see the forum is available, Dave or I will put it temporarily into Maintenence Mode (when only staff will be able to see it). That will give me time to disable all posting (which could take an hour or so) and registration without the risk that members are posting while I am doing it. Once completed, I will then bring the forum back into view - but it will be to view only. Once we are satisfied that all previous posts and members accounts have been fully restored, I will then enable posting once more.

If any further information suggests that these actions are unnecessary, I will state our revised intentions here.

I hope that all makes sense!

Roger

[Mark]

Hi Roger & everyone

Thanks for the update Roger. Like most others, its been a funny day for me - NO HWI FORUM to look at I do hope it doesnt cause you too much work when back on-line Roger. Obviously, if there is anything any of the rest of us can do to help, you only have to ask As some of you may know, I am a mod at Connie Talbots forum, which like AAI has been uneffected by this.

Hope to see you all back on HWI as usual very soon.

Best regards
Mark.

[thomas]

Hi Roger and Dave!

Thank you for your work to make the forum work again.

Roger, what you've discribed should make sense to avoid duplication.
It was quite unusual seeing HWI offline today. Let's hope that nothing will be lost when everything is restored.

Best wishes,
Thomas

[admin]

Thank you Mark and Thomas. To be honest, we don't really know how much work will be involved once the forum is restored but we will do whatever is necessary.

I have just discovered that the StatsCounters on both main sites have been restored so that has to be a good sign. I will have a clearer indication at midnight as to how many visitors have been missed. I will estimate a figure based on recent averages and make a manual adjustment.

Northern Lights, you're closer to Houston that I am. Go and sort them out, would you?

Roger

[Dave]

Jun 1, 2008 20:36:03 GMT admin said:

Jun 1, 2008 17:35:35 GMT Dave said:

In any case, we have been advised that full restoration of all the original forum data may take a few days.

... My concern is that, in any existing thread, we could end up with posts that appear out of sequence...

I hope that all makes sense!

Hi Roger, well I understood it, anyway! :jester:

Just to add something we subsequently discussed and agreed:

HWI members, when the forum is back online, please do not post any messages there unless you see an announcement from us that it's OK to do so. You may see it online before we do - and anything you post may be lost when all the original data is finally restored - or thread duplication may occur.

Cheers, Dave

[Steve]

Hi fellow HWI'ers

Thanks for keeping us up-to-date Roger and Dave.

I go away for a week and when I come back my favorite site is down I was beginning to think it was just me - I thought you had moved without telling me

I will check back for an update in the morning!

Steve H