it did for me

 

SPike is a 350z Tech undercover LOL

 

I'm just glad it's back up. Remember a few months ago when it was down for a few days? OMG the agony...

 

If you read my posting, you see that I never said this site "goes down weekly." I was simply asking why the site periodically goes down (the dreaded "This page is not available" IE message). I work in the industry and am interested in problems that administrators encounter when running a forum. There are all sorts of things that can go wrong. Some of it is simply economics (not every day can be Christmas). When a site does go down, restarting can be a nightmare as thousands of users keep hitting "Refresh" as instructed by IE.

I am interested in the problems you face because this site certainly has some unique situations. You have many users accessing the site (registered users and guests), and the registered users can (are encouraged to) link or download graphics. Users are not willing to wait and demand fast displays of messages (even when the posting links to large graphics).

Please forgive me if my posting seemed critical. It wasn't meant to be. It was a question.

--Spike

 

Sometimes it goes down due to items we cant control.
Off and on we had problems with the colo space.. The rack kept tripping a breaker. Well even though we have multiple power outlets coming in we're at due to however the cabinet is set up. Moving the servers from cabinet to cabinet isn't as easy as just doing it.

Another problem, currently our servers are in a totally different state. We use to know the staff at the colospace well but guess what workers move onto new jobs etc. With that in mind we cant just drop in at the colospace and add memory or another hard-drive like we use to be able too.

We could set the servers up at home but then other issues arise. The site makes money but not a crazy amount just to constantly go out and but equipment all the time, nor fly out of state at the drop of a dime.

Also, take into consideration anyone touching the servers or upgrading them, I don't just trust them to anyone, I've been there done that before and never want to go that route again, its like taking your Z in for a tune up and you end up with dings, scratches all over your Z, not to mention crap missing.
Call me ****, but I've had too much crap get messed up in the past.

I constantly talk to other large forum owners and a lot of them say and do the same thing.

Other issues, VB is a well known and used forum software, people are constantly trying to hack into forums. They've already found ways to bypass the image on the registration portion, so we constantly looking for things of that nature.

Could everything be better? Could we improve uptime? sure we are working towards that, but we are only human and do have priorities that pop up.

BTW, if you seen silvrhand's day job you would see why he gets stressed out so much.

Hope this helps explain things a bit.

 

My IP address just got banned because I speak the truths about this site being down.

To the operator who did this: it's very coward what you did.

 

If your IP was banned, then how are you still on the site? Your account would be banned too.

You don't have a fixed IP, your history shows about 250 different ones.

 

I have to agree with Dave on this, if you were going to get banned your username would have been banned not your ip.

 

every complainer just shut up!

this site rocks!

 

I'm not sure you're aware, but, this section is titled "My350Z.com Feedback, Suggestions & Questions...."

That means users and admins/mods can pose feedback, suggestions, or questions.....good or bad.

It's quite an interesting concept.....don't ya think?

 

I'm totally down with feedback good or bad, but when someone posts stuff like this, which isn't really feedback, suggestions or questions...



It just gets frustrating, because some people post under assumption and just lash out with false claims.


Oh and BTW, I turned that feature back on (Users viewing threads) to monitor the impact it has on the server under load. Seems pretty high, 25% increase in load with just 1175 members on

 

Stuff like what......my post....or the OP's post?

I'm assuming the OP....I think it's a legitimate question.....I got the server busy message over a dozen times yesterday.


Edit - I think his question is better than stuff like this:

https://my350z.com/forum/showpost.ph...8&postcount=30

 

Buzzard, I was referring the quote above, not yours, and its not much of a question.

 

Gotcha.....

 

This site goes down more often than Monica Lewinsky . . .

 

i never have had it go down for me, except that one time when it was down for a long long time

 

BECAUSE YOU TOUCH YOURSELF AT NIGHT!

 

compared with other servers i've worked with this one is VERY reliable

 

Kyle,

Thanks for the response. I understand.

I'm the OP, and must say that my original message was too aggressive (and, I regret this since it was not my intention to be critical of the staff at my350z.com). In my original message I deliberately put "Industry Standards" inside quotes because there are no set standards.

I work in this industry and always look at the problems others face. I believe (but have no way of knowing for certain) the administrators here face unique situations/problems. I'm sure there is a degree of predictability (number of users accessing, downloads/links, etc.), but I wonder if this may occasionally "go off the meter." For example you could have a user starting a thread about his great install with 20 pics or links, and than a few hundred uses (or much more) who want to view the pics (and maybe want to add comments, and possibly their own pics). Multiply this a few times going to a scenario where it happens on three or four subforums at nearly the same time, and it gets ugly for the server(s). Add to this the demand clients place upon the system (they are not willing to wait and want nearly instant access/display), and you can see why systems become burdened to the point that they could "go down." And, maybe while this happening, you have an unusual amount of traffic (more than expected users and guests entering the site).

Truthfully, I have learned from how the administrators keep this Forum running. It is no small task. It's obvious to anyone in the industry that my350z.com presents unique and difficult challenges to the administrative staff.

And... I would like to take this opportunity to say that this Forum's real value comes from the members who participate in the threads and postings here. I won't mention names since the list is too long and I would not be able to list the best without leaving someone out. The list of Moderators is much shorter, and I would like to mention DaveZ#3 who consistently provides accurate and useful information. I've done several things to my Z based upon Dave's posts, and always have favorable results following his advice.

--Spike