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Recent Downtime

ÄlphämönkëyÄlphämönkëy Registered User regular
Hey Guys!
We just ate a bit of downtime. Given what all died I'm happy with how it all turned out. The story goes like this. We had a planned migration to our new database server tommorow night, as our existing database was pounding on one poor hard drive (a temporary measure). That drive was rumored to die some time in the next 2-6 months by manufacturer specs. It died yesterday morning. :-\ I had to do a little dancing to recover the data, move it to a new server, and configure the new database server. Thankfully about half my configuration work was done in advance so the downtime took about as expected.

I'm going to keep my eyes out for new bugs, but I think this was a fairly solid transition (and I even finished early this time :wink:).

Now unfortunatly, I still have to eat some downtime either tommorow night or wednesday night. We need to move over to our new load balancer, and when that happens there will be much rejoicing.

-Alpha

Älphämönkëy on

Posts

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    KrizKriz Registered User regular
    edited July 2006
    Alpha, you are a computer ninja.

    Kriz on
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    DeusfauxDeusfaux Registered User regular
    edited July 2006
    can you post some photos of all this stuff

    i think PA is a very visual crowd and I for one would appreciate seeing what all this crazy stuff is you talk about.

    seriously! - well if it feels like an extra bother/work then dont - but I'm just curious.

    show me some tangled wires behidn server racks or hard drives on fire

    Deusfaux on
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    ÄlphämönkëyÄlphämönkëy Registered User regular
    edited July 2006
    Oh man, I almost forgot the specs on the new database box.
    Dual AMD 64 Opterons
    RAID 10 - 8 x SATA II Drives
    4GB RAM

    Hotness. :wink:

    Älphämönkëy on
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    ÄlphämönkëyÄlphämönkëy Registered User regular
    edited July 2006
    Deusfaux wrote:
    can you post some photos of all this stuff

    i think PA is a very visual crowd and I for one would appreciate seeing what all this crazy stuff is you talk about.

    seriously! - well if it feels like an extra bother/work then dont - but I'm just curious.

    show me some tangled wires behidn server racks or hard drives on fire
    That's not a bad idea. I'll see if I can get the guys to snap some photos at the colo center.

    Älphämönkëy on
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    DeusfauxDeusfaux Registered User regular
    edited July 2006
    wicked - thanx for all

    Deusfaux on
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    wunderbarwunderbar What Have I Done? Registered User regular
    edited July 2006
    Oh man, I almost forgot the specs on the new database box.
    Dual AMD 64 Opterons
    RAID 10 - 8 x SATA II Drives
    4GB RAM

    Hotness. :wink:

    I'll take 2.

    So....much......everything.

    wunderbar on
    XBL: thewunderbar PSN: thewunderbar NNID: thewunderbar Steam: wunderbar87 Twitter: wunderbar
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    Dyrwen66Dyrwen66 the other's insane Denver CORegistered User regular
    edited July 2006
    <3 always

    Dyrwen66 on
    Just an ancient PA person who doesn't leave the house much.
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    HeirHeir Ausitn, TXRegistered User regular
    edited July 2006
    Oh man, I almost forgot the specs on the new database box.
    Dual AMD 64 Opterons
    RAID 10 - 8 x SATA II Drives
    4GB RAM

    Hotness. :wink:

    Rowr. :winky:

    Me likey. Very nice setup. Thanks for the update Alpha, and I look forward to those pictures.

    Heir on
    camo_sig2.png
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    The GeekThe Geek Oh-Two Crew, Omeganaut Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited July 2006
    Thanks for getting it all taken care of so quickly, Alpha.

    The Geek on
    BLM - ACAB
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    stiliststilist Registered User regular
    edited July 2006
    There's nothing to say other than <3<3<3.

    stilist on
    I poop things on my site and twitter
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    Just_Bri_ThanksJust_Bri_Thanks Seething with rage from a handbasket.Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited July 2006
    I second the motion.

    Just_Bri_Thanks on
    ...and when you are done with that; take a folding
    chair to Creation and then suplex the Void.
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    RankenphileRankenphile Passersby were amazed by the unusually large amounts of blood.Registered User, Moderator mod
    edited July 2006
    You are underappreciated and overworked.

    We love you for it.

    Thanks.

    Rankenphile on
    8406wWN.png
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    DaySleeperDaySleeper regular
    edited July 2006
    Good going, first primate.

    DaySleeper on
    magnum%20pi%20ferrari.jpeg
    Unofficial PA IRC chat: #paforums at irc.slashnet.org
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    SeñorAmorSeñorAmor !!! Registered User regular
    edited July 2006
    It's about fucking time.

    I mean, seriously, this website goes down so goddamn often it's ridiculous. You should re-open ClubPA so you can actually afford to buy some decent hardware.

    It's BS. We shouldn't have to put up with this crap so often. I want a full refund, and I want it immediately. I'm sick of this.














    [spoiler:8212820390]Hehe. Good job, Alpha. Thanks a million![/spoiler:8212820390]

    SeñorAmor on
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    Zodiac BraveZodiac Brave Registered User regular
    edited July 2006
    :winky:<3<3<3<3<3<3<3:winky:



    cheeky-smiley-032.gif

    Zodiac Brave on
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    HalfShadowHalfShadow Registered User regular
    edited July 2006
    It's the giant invisible martian squid!


    I warned you fools they were coming!

    HalfShadow on
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    BiggNifeBiggNife Registered User regular
    edited July 2006
    You are underappreciated and overworked.

    We love you for it.

    Thanks.

    BiggNife on
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    HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    edited July 2006
    That's a solid machine. :shock:

    Thanks much for the work you do Alpha. <3

    Henroid on
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    FalloutFallout GIRL'S DAY WAS PRETTY GOOD WHILE THEY LASTEDRegistered User regular
    edited July 2006
    slurp slurp

    Fallout on
    xcomsig.png
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    MonoxideMonoxide Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited July 2006
    But what he didn't tell you are the specs on the old one.

    Dual Cyrix II processors
    RAID 0/1 - 12x10mb SCSI drives inside a Compaq Proliant RAID array.
    4x 32MB PC100

    The good part is the raid array had wheels, so they didn't have to get 6 guys together to take it off of the rack when the new one came.

    Monoxide on
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    EinhanderEinhander __BANNED USERS regular
    edited July 2006
    PA has the largest forum on the web, doesn't it?

    All the more hearts and blinkies to the one responsible for keeping it up and running smoothly.

    I was set to send off an e-mail during our last outage telling Alpha and anyone else involved with the forum's upkeep how appreciative I was, but I figured I would just make post instead.

    Einhander on
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    MonoxideMonoxide Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited July 2006
    Einhander wrote:
    PA has the largest forum on the web, doesn't it?

    All the more hearts and blinkies to the one responsible for keeping it up and running smoothly.

    I was set to send off an e-mail during our last outage telling Alpha and anyone else involved with the forum's upkeep how appreciative I was, but I figured I would just make post instead.

    No where near it.

    We're still relatively big, though.

    If you check the PA forum page on there, and look at the sort by page views or online users, we're in the top 30.

    Monoxide on
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    OrikaeshigitaeOrikaeshigitae Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited July 2006
    Monoxide wrote:
    Einhander wrote:
    PA has the largest forum on the web, doesn't it?

    All the more hearts and blinkies to the one responsible for keeping it up and running smoothly.

    I was set to send off an e-mail during our last outage telling Alpha and anyone else involved with the forum's upkeep how appreciative I was, but I figured I would just make post instead.

    No where near it.

    We're still relatively big, though.

    If you check the PA forum page on there, and look at the sort by page views or online users, we're in the top 30.

    well, if i remember right we don't have the bigboards stattracker activated anyway, so who knows

    Orikaeshigitae on
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    LinksvilleLinksville Registered User regular
    edited July 2006
    We do.

    Linksville on
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    MonoxideMonoxide Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited July 2006
    Actually what's fucking it up is how long registration has been off. Look at the users graph.

    Plus we prune pretty frequently.

    Monoxide on
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    ÄlphämönkëyÄlphämönkëy Registered User regular
    edited July 2006
    Monoxide wrote:
    Einhander wrote:
    PA has the largest forum on the web, doesn't it?

    All the more hearts and blinkies to the one responsible for keeping it up and running smoothly.

    I was set to send off an e-mail during our last outage telling Alpha and anyone else involved with the forum's upkeep how appreciative I was, but I figured I would just make post instead.

    No where near it.

    We're still relatively big, though.

    If you check the PA forum page on there, and look at the sort by page views or online users, we're in the top 30.
    Yeah. Those numbers are a bit skewed because we don't play well with their scripts. I have some anti-spamming things enabled which messes with their numbers. I'm supposed to talk to Quentin @ big-boards about it, but I'm lazy.

    All that being said, we are no where near the largest, and I'm fine with that. #1 is GaiaOnline, and there is a special circle of hell that Lanzer and the tech guys over there have entered into. I was invited to join that a while back, but I like the feel and size of our boards.

    Älphämönkëy on
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    AshcroftAshcroft LOL The PayloadRegistered User regular
    edited July 2006
    Plus, we wouldn't let you leave. Go ahead and try, you won't get far.

    Ashcroft on
    ZD98Zka.png
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    JoeslopJoeslop Registered User regular
    edited July 2006
    We may not be the biggest, but we're one of the most fun and mature.

    By mature I mean grammar and spelling usage, not "cox dix lol" of course.

    Joeslop on
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    EinhanderEinhander __BANNED USERS regular
    edited July 2006
    Joeslop wrote:
    We may not be the biggest, but we're one of the most fun and mature.

    By mature I mean grammar and spelling usage, not "cox dix lol" of course.

    Very true. And for the most part, "cox dix lol" just adds to our already immeasurable charm. That and the pictures of SHARKS and BEARS.

    Yeah, I should have figured that GameFaqs (with it's siren call to twelve year olds the world over) would have a larger userbase. I was surprised to see that SA was number seven, though. Unless I'm mistaken, don't Goons have to pay to register? I thought anytime you asked people for money for anything on the net (that wasn't porn) you were doomed to failure.

    Anyway, I like that fact that while we have a large userbase, the threads still stay mature and don't degrade into GF style "pwnfests". I guess we can thank both Alpha and the mods for that.

    Einhander on
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    TubeTube Registered User admin
    edited July 2006
    Something Awful forums are very, very well run.

    Tube on
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    MonoxideMonoxide Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited July 2006
    Something Awful forums are very, very well run.

    Definitely. They do a great job of keeping order on such a huge forum, through really good mods and custom VBulletin stuff. Plus making people pay a paltry amount to register makes them value their accounts a little more than usual.

    Monoxide on
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    EinhanderEinhander __BANNED USERS regular
    edited July 2006
    Monoxide wrote:
    Something Awful forums are very, very well run.

    Definitely. They do a great job of keeping order on such a huge forum, through really good mods and custom VBulletin stuff. Plus making people pay a paltry amount to register makes them value their accounts a little more than usual.

    That makes sense. I could see people being much more hesitant to get jailed or banned (or create an alt) if each account cost money.

    Speaking of money, how much does it cost to keep these forums up and running? I know we've had some hardware issues lately, so equipment upkeep/replacement costs plus bandwith plus man hours must add up. I'm assuming ad revenue from the main page pays for it? I've always been kind of curious about the complexities of running a gargantuan website or webforum.

    Einhander on
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