Website problems??

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books1
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Website problems??

#1 Post by books1 »

Jon, has there been another "site down" situation?

There are only a few messages in the "active"list, plus I can see a few of my more recent messages that I posted a few days ago to various topics are missing.

:?: :?: :?: :?:

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Kanzen-Henkei
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Re: Website problems??

#2 Post by Kanzen-Henkei »

books1 wrote:Jon, has there been another "site down" situation?

There are only a few messages in the "active"list, plus I can see a few of my more recent messages that I posted a few days ago to various topics are missing.

:?: :?: :?: :?:
WEird!
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Re: Website problems??

#3 Post by Velecasa »

I always have problems posting and with replies to message
On website and tap a talk

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Re: Website problems??

#4 Post by Garm »

For a short time yesterday, anything posted after April 23 wasn't showing up. Seems ok now.

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Re: Website problems??

#5 Post by books1 »

It's still the same down 'ere!! :cry:

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Re: Website problems??

#6 Post by Garm »

How can it be? You just replied to my post. :lol:

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Re: Website problems??

#7 Post by oldone »

Duh??? I tried yesterday evening to login after drivung 875 miles & could get 7 items that were 7 days old?????? :shock: :? This morning it was fine??? ran some errands & now can get 5 topics to pull up???? Me ,My computer,Or server???? Lost in la la land.
Got the topics to pull up after changing the little box in the center of the page from 7 days to all, but am missing the posts between Apr 23 to Apr 30?????? And after posting some thing it went back to 5 items????

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Re: Website problems??

#8 Post by 2stroketurbo »

oldone wrote:Duh??? I tried yesterday evening to login after drivung 875 miles & could get 7 items that were 7 days old?????? :shock: :? This morning it was fine??? ran some errands & now can get 5 topics to pull up???? Me ,My computer,Or server???? Lost in la la land.
Got the topics to pull up after changing the little box in the center of the page from 7 days to all, but am missing the posts between Apr 23 to Apr 30?????? And after posting some thing it went back to 5 items????


we lost a bunch of posts during those few days
ImageImageImage

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Re: Website problems??

#9 Post by Garm »

I wonder what that means, exactly. Databases don't usually drop data in an organized fashion.

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Re: Website problems??

#10 Post by oldone »

I thought I saw Rod Sterling in the shadow of a street light last night??????? :?

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Re: Website problems??

#11 Post by Garm »

That was Rod Serling. You were in the Twilight Zone. 8)

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Re: Website problems??

#12 Post by oldone »

That's where I stay most of the time :roll: :lol:

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Sigmaz
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Re: Website problems??

#13 Post by Sigmaz »

Its the providers fault.
They have a track record of moving sites around in their infrastructure and applying the wrong backups.

I'm not impressed but when its good, its good.
-Jon
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Re: Website problems??

#14 Post by Garm »

The ISP/hosting provider is in charge of backups??

As the owner of a server, a website guy for 20 years, and a forum owner as well, I can't say how many ways that is wrong.

Should be corrected IMMEDIATELY with daily backups. Not fair to all of us who help build this community to lose valuable information that took time to post up.

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Re: Website problems??

#15 Post by Sigmaz »

No I wasn't saying they are in charge of backups.
We are.

When you capitalized the word IMMEDIATELY who was that supposed to incite?
Because officially, there is no one "in charge" of database maintenance.

But if you should choose to move databases from one server to another it would be a best practice to at least use a current snapshot.
Unscheduled or unannounced changes tend to often cause problems.
We are an active forum but sometimes forums don't always command the care they deserve, especially to an anonymous db grunt changing tapes. We are just another file in the mess that is his daily grind.

I have executed several backups myself and on many occasions the backup tool fails to complete and/or notify me of any error.
Its not until I check for a certain day that I realize its missing.
The service is a rubber stamp tool that comes with the reseller suite, it may or may not be properly configured on thier side.

Note that prior to myself attempting to make backups, they just werent being made.
Read- Not being made, no backups, none.

Now, I'm not suggesting that we jump ship because they don't email us about changes.
In fact they may and probably do. But i don't get them.

My gripe is that there are many names associated with the official keepers of the forum infrastructure.
However, it's only ever been Jamie and myself hard at work on the back end keeping it alive and for the record, I was never officially anointed an admin but I serve the community by request proudly and happily as if I were.

Most of the other names I see I have never met nor even read any threads written by them.
If you aren't going to man your post then why hold it.


I totally agree with you that its not fair that users spend valuable time posting and adding to the community just to have it lost to a glitch or to a mindless mistake.

That is why l'ill be revisiting and revising the backup strategy in an attempt to avoid this conversation in the future.

I've been an I.T. professional since 1990 so I get how it works when it comes time for finger pointing.

As a side note you may see an interesting message in the following screen cap of the backup tool.
Perhaps this is a hint as to why it doesn't always work.
BTW, love you man. :D

Image
-Jon
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Re: Website problems??

#16 Post by Garm »

Sure glad we have you Jon. Can you get server-related emails changed to come to you, since you are doing that work? Seems like if you have access to that point, you could make the change.

And yeah...umm... trial version.

Do backups have to be manually initiated?

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Re: Website problems??

#17 Post by Garm »

When you capitalized the word IMMEDIATELY who was that supposed to incite?
Because officially, there is no one "in charge" of database maintenance.
If you have access the the screen you captured, you're hired. Someone has to be on top of that sort of thing. What if a year's data was lost instead of a few days? In my opinion, whatever needs to be done should be to avoid that nightmare scenario.

My comment was meant to incite whoever runs the forums. My sentiment is borne of my deep gratefulness for this place; I hope I don't come off any other way.

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Re: Website problems??

#18 Post by Sigmaz »

To use the out of the box tool yes.
However I should be able to run a script to do a database export with cron.
I'll need to check the limitations on what we can and can't execute in the shell.

I'll have to search the site to see if and where that email address change is made.
But if I can cron a script I'll build in my own notification call for backup issues.
Site changes I may never know about until they happen.

I'm on here quite a bit but this stuff always seems to happen when I'm away for a day or two.


We'll get this figured out.
And maybe I'll even get my name on the homepage. :D
-Jon
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Re: Website problems??

#19 Post by Sigmaz »

Sigmaz wrote:No I wasn't saying they are in charge of backups.
We are.

When you capitalized the word IMMEDIATELY who was that supposed to incite?
Because officially, there is no one "in charge" of database maintenance.

But if you should choose to move databases from one server to another it would be a best practice to at least use a current snapshot.
Unscheduled or unannounced changes tend to often cause problems.
We are an active forum but sometimes forums don't always command the care they deserve, especially to an anonymous db grunt changing tapes. We are just another file in the mess that is his daily grind.

I have executed several backups myself and on many occasions the backup tool fails to complete and/or notify me of any error.
Its not until I check for a certain day that I realize its missing.
The service is a rubber stamp tool that comes with the reseller suite, it may or may not be properly configured on thier side.

Note that prior to myself attempting to make backups, they just werent being made.
Read- Not being made, no backups, none.

Now, I'm not suggesting that we jump ship because they don't email us about changes.
In fact they may and probably do. But i don't get them.

My gripe is that there are many names associated with the official keepers of the forum infrastructure.
However, it's only ever been Jamie and myself hard at work on the back end keeping it alive and for the record, I was never officially anointed an admin but I serve the community by request proudly and happily as if I were.

Most of the other names I see I have never met nor even read any threads written by them.
If you aren't going to man your post then why hold it.


I totally agree with you that its not fair that users spend valuable time posting and adding to the community just to have it lost to a glitch or to a mindless mistake.

That is why l'ill be revisiting and revising the backup strategy in an attempt to avoid this conversation in the future.

I've been an I.T. professional since 1990 so I get how it works when it comes time for finger pointing.

As a side note you may see an interesting message in the following screen cap of the backup tool.
Perhaps this is a hint as to why it doesn't always work.
BTW, love you man. :D

Image
Man.. I kinda went off there...sorry about that.
I'm actually working on it right now. something like...

Code: Select all

#!/usr/bin/perl
use warnings;
use strict;

# Set connection values
my $DATABASE   = 'database_name';
my $DUMP_DIR   = '/path/to/backup_folder/';
my $MYSQLADMIN = '/usr/bin/mysqldump';
my ($DUMP_FILE,$DUMP_SCRIPT);
######################################

  $DUMP_FILE = $DUMP_DIR . $DATABASE . ".sql";
  if(-e "$DUMP_FILE") { unlink("$DUMP_FILE"); }
  $DUMP_SCRIPT = $MYSQLADMIN . " --defaults-file=/home/<username>/.my.cnf" . ' --opt' . " $DATABASE > $DUMP_FILE";
  system("$DUMP_SCRIPT");

  exit(0);
or

Code: Select all

#! /usr/bin/env python2

import os
import sys
import time

database = sys.argv[1]
location = sys.argv[2]

location = location.replace("DAY", time.strftime("%d"))
location = location.replace("MONTH", time.strftime("%m"))
location = location.replace("YEAR", time.strftime("%y"))
location = location.replace("HOUR", time.strftime("%H"))
location = location.replace("MIN", time.strftime("%M"))
location = location.replace("SEC", time.strftime("%S"))

command = "mysqldump "+database+" > "+location+".sql"
print command
os.system(command)
command = "tar -czvf "+location+" "+location+".sql"
print command
os.system(command)
command = "rm -f "+location+".sql"
print command
os.system(command)

Code: Select all

crontab


0 4 * * * path to above file dbtoback /home/dbtobackbackup_DAY-MONTH-YEAR.tar.gz 
But I don't know if we have access to the crontab.
We'll see soon enough.
-Jon
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'The little su-BAR-u... Wow.'

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Re: Website problems??

#20 Post by Garm »

1. Do you know the size of the database currently?
2. Does the server GUI allow you to do this without writing a script?
3. Any idea how much the "hosting" costs are for this forum?

Just curious, and probably mostly none of my business.

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Re: Website problems??

#21 Post by Sigmaz »

The database is currently ~100Mb Full site backup is ~300Mb it's extremely manageable in size.
The cpanel tool set is a minimal array of useless and nonfunctional junk.

one of the most common tools is phpmyadmin which makes database editing a snap... well, it doesn't work....
I enter my credentials and it white screens out.

To make backups there are two tools, one allows you to select the databases to back up and the other assumes the correct choices for you, they are basically the same tool.

Most likely just two scripts to the same tool...
backuptools.jpg
backuptools.jpg (2.83 KiB) Viewed 31637 times
without a cron triggered script someone would have to manually start the backup every day.
my scrips are returning a permission denied error. since we dont have access to the shell I cant see whats going on.
all I can assume is that they don't want anyone running direct shell commands.
I'm going to see if I can utilize the forums ability to produce backups albeit not the most reliable solution either.

I have no idea of the cost to host this forum. I know the EhostPros company changed its name to fastweb or something like that and they tout that they have a 3.99/mo unlimited plan..

But you get what you pay for I guess.. Oh and BTW, don't bother trying to contact support via email either.. that's broken too.
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-Jon
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Re: Website problems??

#22 Post by Garm »

Yes, the host is http://www.fastwebhost.com/

Who has access to the account?
I think some answers are in order. I'm tenacious about this kind of thing, and always get the result I want -- but I don't have the authority. :'(

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Re: Website problems??

#23 Post by Sigmaz »

Well hopefully this is one answer we've all been looking for.

I was able to install an auto backup mod into the forum itself.

I'm still testing to see if it can save files properly without permission errors, but this looks good so far and it integrates into the admin control panel quite nicely.
autobackup.jpg

UPDATE- 5-2-14
Auto Backup ran last night no issue.
-Jon
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'The little su-BAR-u... Wow.'

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Re: Website problems??

#24 Post by Beezaplex »

Is there any chance of recovering the posts between April 23 and the 30th? Thanks for your efforts!

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Re: Website problems??

#25 Post by Sigmaz »

Sorry, there was no backup at that time.
Moving forward we now have daily backups.
-Jon
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'The little su-BAR-u... Wow.'

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Re: Website problems??

#26 Post by oldone »

Guy's there is enough double talk in this thread for this old guy as for all the next presidential candidates combined???? :shock: :lol: :lol: But thanks for fixing it. :wink:

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Re: Website problems??

#27 Post by Sigmaz »

Hah!
You're welcome.
-Jon
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Re: Website problems??

#28 Post by Garm »

If Jon is elected......."a chicken in every pot and TWO 360's in every garage!"

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Re: Website problems??

#29 Post by Sigmaz »

Haha..

Well, I'm pleased to announce that we now have accumulated 7 complete database backups.

Since the actual site itself doesn't change much there are only 2 master site backups, which at the current rate of update should pretty much suffice for the foreseeable future.
-Jon
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Re: Website problems??

#30 Post by Garm »

Do they roll over, or do you have to manually delete old ones?

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Re: Website problems??

#31 Post by Sigmaz »

It'll keep the last 30 and delete as needed.
-Jon
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Re: Website problems??

#32 Post by Subie Gal »

Micro Image wrote:Yes, the host is http://www.fastwebhost.com/

Who has access to the account?
I think some answers are in order. I'm tenacious about this kind of thing, and always get the result I want -- but I don't have the authority. :'(
Sorry guys I've been off the site for about a week. work. racing. work. racing. mostly work :(
I do apologize
I have access to the hosting crap... (yes crap)

what's going on? do we need to move the site? find a new host?
if so just contact me for the details to do what ever it is we need to do. I'm 100% behind whatever you guys decide

when the site was hosted originally it was with a different company with good support (for that date and time)
but they were bought out a few years ago and it's not as great.

whatever we need to do - email is best as I'm so friggin buried right now :( (subiegal at gmail.com)
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Re: Website problems??

#33 Post by Sigmaz »

I think we've got a solution in place now.
For the price you can't expect great support.

We have a pretty decent uptime and other than losing posts we haven't had any trouble.

Now with the auto backup running if they drop our db we can just restore it ourselves.
-Jon
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Re: Website problems??

#34 Post by Garm »

^ That's the most critical and important thing, thanks so much for getting that done.

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Re: Website problems??

#35 Post by Subie Gal »

oh wow.. thanks so much for doing this for us.

just say the word if we need to move hosts, I know the support is not great.

It used to be awesome... back before the company changed hands.
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1970 360 Sedan - yet to be named.
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Re: Website problems??

#36 Post by Sigmaz »

Not a problem.
No need to move. The only problem we have now is lack of support.

But we dont really need it.
If anything happens where we need them, we'll get in touch with them somehow.

Until then, 'we got this'.
-Jon
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'The little su-BAR-u... Wow.'

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Re: Website problems??

#37 Post by Velecasa »

I beg to differ my messages never go through get message flood error
sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't
Plus on most apple devices request you to use tap a talk so don't know if that compounds problem

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Re: Website problems??

#38 Post by Garm »

^ I get your messages. Send me one now, let's test it.

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Re: Website problems??

#39 Post by Sigmaz »

This forum is Tapatalk enabled, If you prefer to go that route.
I use it all the time on my Tablets (Samsung Galaxy 7 and HP Touchpad running CM11) and on my Phone (Samsung Galaxy S3).

I'm not a subscriber of the 'i' lifestyle.
I have been irritated far too many times by it's corporate grasp.

Being a developer I have a real problem with restriction.
Being a little ADHD, I have a real problem with having to be told I can or cannot do something I paid for.

I think when Steve Jobs died so did my interest in Apple products.
-Jon
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'The little su-BAR-u... Wow.'

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Re: Website problems??

#40 Post by Velecasa »

Ok micro image sent message


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Re: Website problems??

#42 Post by Velecasa »

Image

Velecasa
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Re: Website problems??

#43 Post by Velecasa »

Got that message when sent email now if you did get message why do i get that message ?

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Re: Website problems??

#44 Post by Velecasa »

Image

Then posted that i sent you message and got this message but it went through
Really frustrating !

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Re: Website problems??

#45 Post by Sigmaz »

I'm posting this with tapatalk.

Sometimes I get random failure errors as well.

That's where my famous double posts come from.

I haven't put too much time into figuring out why just yet because the reports show that tapatalk is the least popular way of posting to the forum.

The users of those reported in the least popular posting tool category show up at a higher percentage using web browsers.

I had back burnered the project and considered it about as important as making the site Netscape compatible.
Evidently that isnt the case.

Eventually it will be fixed but for now all I can do is suggest that if you continue to have trouble you may want to use the browser in your phone when posting.

Sorry about that butn I've only got the same 24 hrs as everyone else.

:grin:
-Jon
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Re: Website problems??

#46 Post by Velecasa »

Well now i know it's not just me
I have more problems with the regular site

But for 8.00 year what can u expect

Steve

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books1
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Slow website

#47 Post by books1 »

Blimey! ...... "Users browsing this forum: books1 and 0 guests"

So why does it feel like I've slipped through a crack in the Space-Time Continuum and gone back to dial-up days of olde
(alternatively, like I am visiting ye oldone and trying to send an email back home) ?

Is all that water between us getting in the wires? :( :cry:

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Re: Slow website

#48 Post by oldone »

books1 wrote:Blimey! ...... "Users browsing this forum: books1 and 0 guests"

So why does it feel like I've slipped through a crack in the Space-Time Continuum and gone back to dial-up days of olde
(alternatively, like I am visiting ye oldone and trying to send an email back home) ?

Is all that water between us getting in the wires? :( :cry:
Nah!! :wink: Not the water, We are in a drought here?? :roll: It's sometimes really slow & or I get Oh! Snap! :shock: Other times it's very fast!! I have no clue how to tapatalk or text message :lol: :lol:

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Re: Website problems??

#49 Post by 2stroketurbo »

The website has been really, painfully, slow lately for me.
ImageImageImage

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Re: Website problems??

#50 Post by Garm »

Same for me, across multiple computers and two broadband internet connections.

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