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| Server failure notification suggestion; split from http://if.invisionfree.com/topic/5101266/ | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Oct 24 2010, 08:59 AM (1,850 Views) | |
| packmule-ZNS | Oct 24 2010, 08:59 AM Post #1 |
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Resident jackass
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Rather than start a separate topic I'll throw my suggestion in this thread: when a server goes down for reasons other than scheduled maintenance I believe admins of those boards affected should be notified in some way, shape or form as to the nature of the issue. Server 15 was down for some time this past Friday evening, went down again yesterday(Saturday AM) briefly and also last night around 9:40 PM. I have seen nothing thus far at this board as to WHY the server went down. Not posting any explanation why these servers crash IMO makes it look like the support staff doesn't give a damn. I have communicated with several other admins(all Zetaboards sites) who feel likewise: they would like some explanation as to why the server goes down, not just some generalized post acknowledging that "we know the server is down and we're working on it". I can't speak for these other admins obviously but a post like that isn't good enough for me. I understand that info may not always be available when it happens but at the very least a communication of some kind could be sent out to those admins whose boards are affected. My board, which was slower but still averaging between 40-50 posts per day, has dwindled to almost zero posting activity since the server 15 issue began. This effect on posting activity has happened before and I expect it will happen again. Edited by packmule-ZNS, Oct 24 2010, 09:01 AM.
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| Jonathan | Oct 24 2010, 09:30 AM Post #2 |
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We certainly do care if a server goes down; in fact, many of our team have boards on various servers, so we know how it feels when we can't get on a board. You should take into account, however, that our team have no control over server reliability. We are here to provide technical support to board owners and users. At the end of the day, a server might go down for various reasons, and only Brandon will know exactly why that happens. It's much more efficient for him to simply fix the problem, and continue working in his own way, rather than communicating with us every time a small hiccup occurs (And more often than not, they are very small hiccups). If we know of impending downtime, we do generally post an announcement. |
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| packmule-ZNS | Oct 24 2010, 10:35 AM Post #3 |
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Resident jackass
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I have taken that into account. Which means that board admins will continue to be left wondering why the server went down and how long it will be down. You use the word "hiccup", presumably as a reference to a server outage that lasts hours as opposed to days. The last server outage on #15 has squelched essentially all posting activity at my board for the weekend. Do you think a board admin who has labored over four years to generate posting activity would liken this outage to a "hiccup"? In my earlier post I disqualified server downtime because of scheduled maintenance. Just a reminder. You might as well close this thread. It's obvious to me that my perception of this matter is going to significantly differ than yours, Jonathan. Simply telling an admin, after a server crashes, that "we're aware of the problem and working on it" is absolutely unacceptable in my book. It tells me NOTHING I already know. My suggestion was some form of simple communication to affected board admins and your reply would suggest it's too impractical or time consuming. I'm sorry I even bothered making the suggestion to begin with as it's been a total and complete waste of time. Thanks for nothing. Edited by packmule-ZNS, Oct 24 2010, 10:36 AM.
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| Pete B | Oct 24 2010, 11:02 AM Post #4 |
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I am curious as to why you need to know the specific reasons why a server has failed? How does this additional information affect you? |
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| Altered Faith | Oct 24 2010, 11:44 AM Post #5 |
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Im guessing cause it gives them justification. For me, when the serves go down, it sucks. But normally they are down for like 20 minutes max. So its never a huge deal . |
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| Stephen | Oct 24 2010, 04:07 PM Post #6 |
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Twilight is upon me, and soon night must fall.
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It needs to be noted that the servers themselves are in a separate location from the rest of us. No staff member has physical access to the server. We are all scattered across the globe and as Jonathan stated, our support team is trained for technical support. Server troubles go through Brandon and Brian. That said, there is procedures in place when a server goes down. 90% of the time it is a "hiccup" as Jonathan mentioned. These are where something is just a little off for a few minutes to an hour. You've undoubtedly seen these hiccups on other websites and servers. We generally wait on those. Legitimate down time is normally past the 2 hour mark. Normally by then we send a message to Brandon "Server X is down." and see if he acknowledges. If he does and it is something minor, we will make an announcement saying "We're aware that server X is down and we are working on the problem. Thank you for your patience" Those are the normal ones. The abnormal ones are when the server is down 2+ hours and no scheduled maintenance was planned. Once more, we let Brandon know. Sometimes it's emergency maintenance to prevent a problem. But those tend to give you a message. Most times it's something else that Brandon needs to look into. And if you think it is frustrating having no answers from our support team, just imagine how frustrating it is having no answers from the server techs or waiting on them for support. In those abnormal events, we provide as much information as possible about why (Hardware failure, replacement etc.) as we get it. If for whatever reason Brandon is unresponsive, Jonathan, myself or another staff member will call him or Brian to make sure they are aware of the problem and working on it. We then relay any information they have in the announcement or at least acknowledge we are aware of the problem and are working to resolve it. But many times, we do not always know the full reason. Sometimes everything looks good and it just has a hiccup. And sometimes for security reasons we do not divulge exactly why a server goes down. These may be due to malicious attacks or some other reason Brandon does not wish to divulge. You can almost be sure that if it's not in the announcement, the information you have is the information the rest of the staff have. Now, that said, when a server is down, it is easy enough to confirm. Ben set up a Server Status page hosted on his site so that if any server goes down, you can always check that page to see what the status is. That page is located in our header on each theme on this board. |
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| Jonathan | Oct 24 2010, 05:53 PM Post #7 |
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This reminds me of the time the most popular network in the world shut down, and 135 million people panicked. Just because we didn't describe the problem, such as it was a "software flaw" from an "automated system" doesn't mean we don't work on fixing the problem any less. Believe me when I say: if I could provide a reason for every server hiccup, I would. |
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| packmule-ZNS | Oct 24 2010, 06:08 PM Post #8 |
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Resident jackass
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Knowing why means I only have to chug about half as much Pepto Bismol as I would otherwise. So far this weekend good old server #15 has crashed four(4) times: Friday evening(about 8:30 PM), Saturday AM(about 8:30), Saturday night(about 8:30) and just a few moments ago. The last post I saw from a staff member acknowledging this server's issue was dated yesterday. At any rate the replies to this topic have been interesting. |
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| Stephen | Oct 24 2010, 06:29 PM Post #9 |
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Twilight is upon me, and soon night must fall.
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That's it? I say in jest, because you would have been downing a couple bottles of pepto back in April 2003 when the server(single!) went down several times a week. And Brandon was far less reachable. I could have played a drinking game with:
We've come a long way since then. More machines, better machines, more stable machines. But the internet will still hiccup every so often and the database and the servers will still encounter small issues that need to be resolved. Just about every message board goes through it whether it is self hosted or not. Even facebook and google suffer the occasional hiccup. |
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| Bluezone777 | Oct 24 2010, 07:02 PM Post #10 |
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Member
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Besides if you think these hiccups are bad, many of us can flash back to when servers not only were down for days at a time but ended up with you losing data in the process then you have something to complain about. Thankfully it's been a long time since this network had any of that. Many don't really fully appreciate how far things have come if they haven't been for the ride so to speak for as long as someone such as myself or even longer then that tbh. I really don't see the reasons for the problem really being anything you need to work about as it won't change anything nor do anything to calm anyone down tbh. Simply check the server status page if you experience a problem and if it seems to be down for a while then wait for the announcement then sit tight. That's all you really need to do. |
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