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Server Downtime Discussion Topic
Topic Started: Nov 21 2016, 06:54 PM (10,002 Views)
Apoptosis
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Yes, but complaining doesn't help with anything.
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spiiike
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FYI, this particular forum is titled 'Service Discussion and Feedback'.
Edited by spiiike, Nov 21 2016, 11:20 PM.
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TanyaM
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*steps in to point out just a couple of actual facts so maybe the rudeness will go away or perhaps those who can lock threads can do that too but hey, I'm just going to point out the obvious and then sit back and be patient*

1. Yes, this has been an all day thing ....
2. Yes, forums that tend to be busy are not due to all this downtime.....
3. Yes, people are allowed to voice their thoughts... but that is a two way street.... Good and Bad which often does come with criticism when complaints don't make note of the effort being made as well. (and sometimes even then)
4. This was a hardware issue and I was surprised how fast that part was taken care of. But...
5. It caused another issue which will take time to fix. Too many boards involved and I suppose the best way to see the time being put in is to know just how few are working on it which in my own opinion is better anyway, less to get glitched during a fix.

All that said, can we just let them fix things and hear/read less negative. Making a complaint once is all fine and dandy and most people are impatient at best. none of the rest is necessary. I know if I were those behind the scenes fixing things for others, I would not want to come on and read what amounts to a bashing for providing a service at little to no cost to those making the complaints. I'm fairly certain most involved in the fixing as well as those helping have either had their own forums or do have them and know just how frustrating this kind of thing can be.

Be patient. Be grateful. enough said.
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ERI619
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its the fourth time in two months my forum has been affected by an outrage and the previous one happened three weeks back. It seems that as time increases, the frequency of outrages and their intensity is increasing. My forum is a WWE Wrestling games modding and discussion forum. It has 2000 members and is a very active forum.

http://s15.zetaboards.com/legendsofmodding/index/
Edited by ERI619, Nov 21 2016, 11:43 PM.
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StaticKornSlipX
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ERI619
Nov 21 2016, 11:41 PM
its the fourth time in two months my forum has been affected by an outrage and the previous one happened three weeks back. It seems that as time increases, the frequency of outrages and their intensity is increasing. My forum is a WWE Wrestling games modding and discussion forum. It has 2000 members and is a very active forum.

http://s15.zetaboards.com/legendsofmodding/index/
Yeah, my forum is wrestling related too. First time ever we haven't had a Raw live chat. :cry:
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Stephen
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Twilight is upon me, and soon night must fall.

Hello all,

We apologize for the continued downtime and will do our best to answer your questions in the meantime.


Cory
Nov 21 2016, 08:59 PM
Server happenings is often beyond the developers control and they can only work with the data center to resolve such issues, so you can't always point your finger at Brandon when downtime happens.


Cory is correct. While we do our best to monitor downtime, sometimes it comes out of things beyond our control. And while we would certainly prefer total control, the reality is that at times we, like you, are at the mercy of the server provider.


.Esper
Nov 21 2016, 09:06 PM
Also, you know... you are using this service for free.


While this is true, we have always strove to provide a reliable service. To that end, the servers were recently moved to newer machines. As you have read, one of these machines had to have the hardware replaced and this led to a corruption in the data. However, over the years, we have improved our backups to avoid as much data loss as possible. So while the downtime is upsetting and unexpected, it should result in your boards returning just as you left them and running on more stable hardware as well.


mickawall
Nov 21 2016, 09:07 PM
It's every few weeks! It is five weeks since the last one and about nine since the one before. Who do you blame? It's not my fault! I have asked to buy my forum file so we can move to a more reliable host.


Ultimately, this also happens to bigger companies. For instance Netflix and Sony's PSN frequently encounter downtime for a variety of reasons. The internet when it works is wonderful. But servers are still machines and machines break and need repairs or replacements over time. And unfortunately how and why they break is not something easily foreseeable. While routine maintenance is done at times to prevent such hardware failure, the truth is that a server could suffer a hardware malfunction at any time for any number of reasons and it could happen to any website on the net. While I share your frustration as I too frequent a w11 board, there is little guarantee that this wouldn't happen elsewhere. The machines we use are costly- if you wonder where the ad revenue goes those servers and their maintenance are the largest cost as well as cloudflare. Ultimately, the servers require a lot of attention. And because he is the only full time developer, it takes a lot of Brandon's attention. That is why we cannot grant your request for the files. As I said to you once before, it requires too much of his time to make it cost effective at this juncture. And while we never rule something out, I will say that this is unlikely to change in the next few years unless we can suddenly free up a lot of developer time.

Gaomon274
Nov 21 2016, 09:15 PM

It's certainly not as bad as the sporadic outages we had in late 2014 when S11 was being attacked.


Just to touch on this. The recent move and the cloudflare protection are all related to our goal of keeping servers up. While this hardware failure is unfortunate, the resulting maintenance should result in more reliable service going forward.

Sree
Nov 21 2016, 09:25 PM
Actually that is not a good excuse since zeta didn't give us the warning that free service = often poor service.


As mentioned, the servers are new. Cloudflare is not cheap. We spend the majority of our revenue on providing a reliable service. It is this constant goal in fact that prevents Brandon from dedicating more time to development. However, the result is more server up time and less chance of data loss thanks to the backups that are automatically done.

Heaven is a Halfpipe
Nov 21 2016, 09:40 PM
Very frustrating, namely as it always feels like it's Z11, where my board is based.

I wouldn't call it "free", perse, for one we pay for Premium but even if you don't, ZB provides you with the forum and in turn they place ads marketed at our communities and make money there. There's a reason if you bypass the ads and remove them from your forum, your board will get deleted. Also, I'm aware Premium isn't for a better or more stable experience, just saying.

As for letting us have the database, I also wish they would. Not saying I would move my community elsewhere but the option completely denied without questions I don't feel is particularly consumer friendly, when so many of the other softwares do allow it.

Hopefully the problem will be remedied soon, can't be helped I guess, and advanced thanks to Brian and Brandon for working on getting things running smoothly again.


Just to clear this one up since it's part of several things that were asked:
1) While w11 is affected, it's not just w11 that's been affected by this malfunction. A large part of our increased security and move to new servers was due to the issues w11 communities suffered in 2014. So please realize how seriously we take that.
2) As mentioned, the bulk of that revenue goes right back into paying bills and improving hardware for the service and for paying the developer. As is well known the staff are volunteers. Ultimately if everyone wants more, more revenue is needed to afford another full time developer for instance. Our goal is keeping things free. But to do that, the ads are necessary. We still do our best to work with companies to keep them as non-intrusive as possible and disable any problem ads that users report.



Once again, we appreciate your patience as we work to resolve this issue.
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robert stout
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The Russians did it....If you don't feel safe since the election, just click your heals together and say, "PRESIDENT Trump"......... :shock:
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Spiral Winds
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I saw that 4, 7, 11, and 15 are all down right now. The same servers were upgraded not too long ago. Is this related or is it just coincidental?
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Jayallen
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Spiral Winds
Nov 22 2016, 12:55 AM
I saw that 4, 7, 11, and 15 are all down right now. The same servers were upgraded not too long ago. Is this related or is it just coincidental?
There was a hardware failure on that server. They repaired the hardware problem, but it resulted in a corrupt database, so now they're restoring the data to the websites on all of those servers. It's a time consuming job.
You can get more info on the update here: http://support.zathyus.com/topic/7003293/

I appreciate all the work Brandon and the gang does every day so I can get together with my friends in our cozy little community. All they ask is that I don't remove the ads, so that they can pay for all of those servers.
In short, I can wait. :)
Edited by Jayallen, Nov 22 2016, 01:31 AM.
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skyfallzeus
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Farewell zb thx for the memories
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as of tonight I cant access atrium forum. I will just have to monitor any developments as they come
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Gaomon274
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Atrium is on server 11 so that'd be why.
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skyfallzeus
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Farewell zb thx for the memories
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Gaomon274
Nov 22 2016, 02:43 AM
Atrium is on server 11 so that'd be why.
ok. at first I though it was shut. silly me :puppyeyes:
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ERI619
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is there any possibility of moving my forum to server one replacing my old forum?
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Cory
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ERI619
Nov 22 2016, 02:58 AM
is there any possibility of moving my forum to server one replacing my old forum?
Switching your forum to a different server is not possible.
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Cenz
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ERI619
Nov 22 2016, 02:58 AM
is there any possibility of moving my forum to server one replacing my old forum?
You are being a little impatient to be honest "Sir"
ERI619
Nov 21 2016, 11:41 PM
its the fourth time in two months my forum has been affected by an outrage and the previous one happened three weeks back. It seems that as time increases, the frequency of outrages and their intensity is increasing. My forum is a WWE Wrestling games modding and discussion forum. It has 2000 members and is a very active forum.

http://s15.zetaboards.com/legendsofmodding/index/
Yes but you need to be patient, why don't you try and fix it yourself then if you think it should be perfect...
Edited by Cenz, Nov 22 2016, 03:29 AM.
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