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Attent. Bob and/or Warren [message #37613]

Mon, 27 April 2009 13:15

E. E. Nalley
Messages: 603
Registered: July 2005
Location: Atlanta, GA

Hey guys, dunno if anyone else has noticed this, and it may just be a comcast thing as that's my ISP. But for a couple of weeks now I've noticed that at precisely 1:30AM every night, the RALabs server goes down.

When this occurs it takes down the Forums, Wiki, Stories, everything. It's odd because the server will answer a ping, but even using IP to browse it won't pull up. I can test further with one of you tonight if you'd like.

Has anyone else noticed this?

E

Crying or Very sad

Be a dreamer who DOES, not a dreamer who dreams!

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Re: Attent. Bob and/or Warren [message #37614 is a reply to message #37613 ]

Mon, 27 April 2009 13:22

Abbacor
Messages: 185
Registered: April 2008
Location: Texas

I haven't made notes of the time (CST here), but I have seen access to the WU site and the forums go down late at night too. My ISP is AT&T/sbcglobal.

I also go to bed early during the week due to having to get up early for work so I don't see it happen except on the weekends when I stay up later. I was thinking it was a weekly provider reset/maintenance thing since I saw it happening on Sat. night/Sun. morning times. Didn't realize it was every night.

Misty : “It’s not going to be like this every day, is it?”
“Lord, no,” Jadis replied. “Sometimes, it gets weird.”

Hank Declan shook his head, disbelieving. "Tell me I did not just see them roshambo for victory."

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Re: Attent. Bob and/or Warren [message #37615 is a reply to message #37613 ]

Mon, 27 April 2009 13:27

Faraway
Messages: 1105
Registered: January 2009
Location: Russia

I'm not sure E.E., but I may have noticed something like that a number of times. It's usually somewhere in midday, but due to time lag it's entirely possible to be the same phenomenon. It usually takes at least half an hour to go back to normal, too. However, since my middays nowadays are filled with RL issues, I haven't seen it for a while. HTH.

Never mind, I'm just a guy.

Eldritch: “Details, details, no pokey the cranky bitch.”
Bladedancer: “But Hekate’s not here!”

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Re: Attent. Bob and/or Warren [message #37617 is a reply to message #37613 ]

Mon, 27 April 2009 13:33

Anvildude
Messages: 1931
Registered: November 2008

I have seen that. It's usually right in the middle of my prime posting hours, too.

It's a sad thing when your paraphrase is longer than the original quote. Survivor of the Great Crash of 2011

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Re: Attent. Bob and/or Warren [message #37628 is a reply to message #37617 ]

Mon, 27 April 2009 14:12

oljak.eru
Messages: 1341
Registered: December 2008

Yah, I noticed it, too. Also noticed that it didn't move with the daylight time savings change. What server is RALabs running? I remember that Netscape/Sun/OnePlanet did maintenance stop once every day, usually in the whee hours of the morning in the server's local time zone.

“I am SO level-headed! And anyone who says different is going to have to answer to... The CABBIT OF DOOM!” -Jade

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Re: Attent. Bob and/or Warren [message #37629 is a reply to message #37613 ]

Mon, 27 April 2009 14:14

tensai
Messages: 976
Registered: July 2008

I PMed Warren about this a while back; the server's just running through nightly backup.

"It took her some time to accept that with such wings, her soul would never soar--but the fact that she could kick a man's lungs out through his spine was ultimately some small consolation." -ursulav

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Re: Attent. Bob and/or Warren [message #37630 is a reply to message #37613 ]

Mon, 27 April 2009 14:15

Warren
Messages: 1557
Registered: January 2005
Location: Wet wonderful Washington

I've answered this before in PM's multiple times. Here's the public explanation.

After the loss of the fan wiki the first time we opened it. Bob and I decided to start backing up the server nightly.

So at 1 am or so east coast time the server boxes lock everyone out to back up the servers. I don't know if it actually takes the two hours or so that they are locked down or if it's just a block of time he set aside for it. It is purely to make crash recoveries easier. It offers too much chance for corruption of the backup if people are still posting or adding information to the database.

Sometimes writing with geeks is like eating Jello with a chainsaw. Interesting but painful.

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Re: Attent. Bob and/or Warren [message #37668 is a reply to message #37613 ]

Mon, 27 April 2009 18:39

Bookworm
Messages: 1576
Registered: July 2008
Location: Houston

I simply assumed it was a nightly backup. I may need to do something similar on a couple of my servers as well. I do 'live' backups at the moment, which don't work badly, but you never know.

BW

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Re: Attent. Bob and/or Warren [message #37678 is a reply to message #37668 ]

Mon, 27 April 2009 19:41

RAllen
Messages: 113
Registered: August 2006
Location: There is an R in Texas

If the site is a Apache variant on Linux, a time base URL REWRITE rule could be used to redirect all references to all Wiki/BB content to a static "Under Maintenance" status page during the backups. Not done it myself but I have looked at the reference Doc. It could also become a to interesting learning experience. I would break the backup into two tasks. One using something like MondoRescue to create boot-enable Full system recovery CD/DVD/ISO that can be used in a bare metal (no os) restore. It could be run on a monthly or major change schedule. The second would be a backup only of dynamic content. Using the backend DB tools lock and backup the dynamic content. I have used MondoRescue and found it to be a powerful tool.

Well this is my two cents worth and worth the cost you paid. Wink

I say "That the Glass is neither Half Empty or Half Full, It Exist in Both States Simultaneously".

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Re: Attent. Bob and/or Warren [message #37734 is a reply to message #37613 ]

Tue, 28 April 2009 01:52

James K
Messages: 529
Registered: January 2009
Location: Wellington, New Zealand

It seems to take about 30 minutes to an hour.

First Lesson: Every princess needs a battleaxe

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Re: Attent. Bob and/or Warren [message #37890 is a reply to message #37613 ]

Wed, 29 April 2009 11:28

Goldie_HUnter
Messages: 192
Registered: December 2006

I didn't see Warren's answer until after I posted my message, so I deleted it and left this instead.

Goldie

[Updated on: Wed, 29 April 2009 11:30]

I'm not a complete idiot - - Some parts are just missing.

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Re: Attent. Bob and/or Warren [message #38177 is a reply to message #37613 ]

Fri, 01 May 2009 20:31

Gemma Ethan Whitaker is currently offline

Gemma Ethan Whitaker
Messages: 253
Registered: January 2009
Location: Australia

Just for reference (I think BK might have mentioned this already) I think there is a way to back up the DB's with out taking the whole site down, most likely involving a second DB

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Re: Attent. Bob and/or Warren [message #38182 is a reply to message #38177 ]

Fri, 01 May 2009 20:57

James K
Messages: 529
Registered: January 2009
Location: Wellington, New Zealand

I suspect that's not done for cost reasons. I imagine maintaining the site is expensive enought as it is.

First Lesson: Every princess needs a battleaxe

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