# FA Unaccessible... again...



## STrRedWolf (Mar 1, 2008)

*pokes the server*  Server kernel panic'ed again?


----------



## codewolf (Mar 1, 2008)

please see http://www.furaffinityforums.net/showthread.php?tid=17956


----------



## Takara_kitsune (Mar 2, 2008)

This is very interesting... very interesting indeed...

This is EXACTLY one week from the time that I posted that I was having issues with FA. 

... Why do I feel there is a connection with the two events...? The time is EXACT!

Either this is a known high-traffic time that was intentionally hit... 

Or perhaps there is a script that is set to trigger at this time that shouldn't be? You know, your standard overbearing CPU-eating maintenance routine. >.> Dunno if FA has a processor-munching maintenance program, but hey, it's always there as a possibility that there's a default one in place someone forgot to shut off... but this timing is TOO WEIRD. 

Before anyone asks... yes, I do like coming up with conspiracy theories. >.> (As well as useful ideas at the same time. For every good idea, there are at least 3 not-useful ideas!)


----------



## leeter (Mar 2, 2008)

They said the web server was down, I'm going to assume something major happened, and by web server they meant The Server, because apache going down would be minor, they could always SSH in and see what was going on. Whereas if something else failed, say MySQL that could be more serious. I already knew FA was having SQL issues based on the number of queries any given page was pulling, and that they had some bunk queries, maybe it was worse than I thought. Mind getting any query to run in a predictable manner can be difficult with an existing DB when previous transactions have produced bunk data.


----------



## vashdragon (Mar 2, 2008)

It be a saturday night.  FA gets hit hard with traffic at this time.  I wouldnt be surprised if the damn thing blew up from the load.

Simply, the community (demand) on the server is growing faster than the server itself.

The website is always gonna experience some slowdown or interuptions on busy days like these.  And about once every few months the server gives and dies, that is untill they press the reset button the next morning.

-Vash Dragon



			
				Takara_kitsune said:
			
		

> This is very interesting... very interesting indeed...
> 
> This is EXACTLY one week from the time that I posted that I was having issues with FA.
> 
> ...


----------



## Bokracroc (Mar 2, 2008)

I blame 7chan (I'm just following procedure)


----------



## Charem (Mar 2, 2008)

> It be a saturday night. FA gets hit hard with traffic at this time. I wouldnt be surprised if the damn thing blew up from the load.



This Saturday seems to have been overly busy in numerous ways...Safeway, where I work, was nearly brought to its knees with all the people that showed up to shop yesterday, and the same problem happened with my roommate's restaurant job...so I'm not surprised if FA was similarly overwhelmed.


----------



## Fara (Mar 2, 2008)

Charem said:
			
		

> This Saturday seems to have been overly busy in numerous ways...Safeway, where I work, was nearly brought to its knees with all the people that showed up to shop yesterday, and the same problem happened with my roommate's restaurant job...so I'm not surprised if FA was similarly overwhelmed.



Too many people in the world, maybe? I blame the artists for being so excellent, and attracting so many people in. Of course, if the downtime really bothers you, and you'd like to see FA being more reliable, there's a very simple way.

Donate.


----------



## Charem (Mar 2, 2008)

Fara said:
			
		

> Too many people in the world, maybe? I blame the artists for being so excellent, and attracting so many people in. Of course, if the downtime really bothers you, and you'd like to see FA being more reliable, there's a very simple way.
> 
> Donate.



  For the first time in my life, I'm actually saving up money, so this is quite possibly doable for me in the near future...would make me feel good anyways; FA's the hub of my online activity.


----------



## Fara (Mar 2, 2008)

As am I. Kind of.
I'm going to set aside the best part any money I make from commissions (which so far is nothing) for FA donations.

I get some money, you get a picture, and FA gets some server petrol. Win-win-win situation for all concerned.
So commission me, what're you waiting for? Ohyeah, the server.

We all break down sometimes.


----------



## NerdyMunk (Mar 2, 2008)

Yes. This has happened before. I remember one time the whole site was down for almost a week. Everyone came to the forum and if to my knowing, most users on here when the site goes down. We all want to know what just happened. That's why there is a Site Status forum


----------



## STrRedWolf (Mar 2, 2008)

*grumbles* Can't we get a second web server to handle the load and fail-over for FA?


----------



## NerdyMunk (Mar 2, 2008)

STrRedWolf said:
			
		

> *grumbles* Can't we get a second web server to handle the load and fail-over for FA?



IDK, maybe.


----------



## Fara (Mar 2, 2008)

Two servers may serve up twice as much, but realistically you'd also get twice the problems. Also, I think that the spare server would be used for more and more things over time, and eventually there would be two servers working flat-out, and we'd need yet another as a reserve. And where would that stop?
I think downtime is important every now and then, as long as no data is lost, and there's no harm done.


----------



## Petrock (Mar 2, 2008)

Too many people on at the same time = accidental DDoS I guess. XDD

Neh. I'd say get a mirror set up or something to absorb some of the workload. Maybe have the backup server take some load on saturdays, then go back to just being backup on other days?


----------



## tsawolf (Mar 2, 2008)

Petrock said:
			
		

> Too many people on at the same time = accidental DDoS I guess. XDD
> 
> Neh. I'd say get a mirror set up or something to absorb some of the workload. Maybe have the backup server take some load on saturdays, then go back to just being backup on other days?



To be honest, in the log samples that we took a few weeks ago, there wasn't an appreciable increase on the weekend.  Load was pretty much constant across the week.

Another server could certainly be setup as a master/slave webserver, but we'd need some way to keep the images constant across the two servers.  That would mean some tricky footing, but certainly wouldn't be impossible.

Only problem: Servers are expensive. Very expensive.  And if you want to do things right, you can't skimp on the money.  Part of our problems are generated by not using the best hardware out there (this particular downtime, I don't think is related).

If someone has a few spare thousand dollars they want to donate... :twisted:


----------



## guyver47 (Mar 2, 2008)

I start to get frustrated when I have to modify or code my _own_ personal site HTML. I can't fathom the amount of work required to create and maintain one used by more than 1,000 people, especially when it goes down and they're all looking for answers.  It makes my eyes spin.

As long as my notes and everything in the message center remains as it was before the downtime, I'm satisfied.

The only thing we can do is to remain patient 
I can't think of anything else to suggest.


----------



## tsawolf (Mar 2, 2008)

guyver47 said:
			
		

> ...
> As long as my notes and everything in the message center remains as it was before the downtime, I'm satisfied.
> ...



Theoretically speaking, the only data that could possibly be lost would be artwork.

Notes, everything like that, it's all stored on the database server, which is still chugging along happily (much more happily than usual, since it has a total of 0 requests to fill).

I am *not* saying that there was data loss.  Just that it wouldn't even be possible to have that kind of data loss in this scenario.


----------



## SoreThumb (Mar 2, 2008)

Speaking of a few thousand dollars to donate, somebody could donate a KVM machine: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KVM_switch#KVM_over_IP ... something that could allow FA to reboot the server remotely, without looking for their webhost to do it.  Unfortunately, it IS over IP, so somebody else malicious could do so as well 8);;;;

Hm. <:3


----------



## guyver47 (Mar 2, 2008)

tsawolf said:
			
		

> guyver47 said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...




I figured that it was nothing like that or something would have been mentioned in the initial site status post.


----------



## kamperkiller (Mar 2, 2008)

I think I found a fix for the mass overload. hook up like 200 of these
http://www.dvd-recordable.org/Article2811.phtml
http://www.getusb.info/50-terabyte-flash-drive-made-of-bug-protein/


----------



## vashdragon (Mar 2, 2008)

Maybe you can work out a deal with Nek0gami to do an auction as a donation to the site.  Hehe.

(Man i should let that die already.  Hehe but a donation based auction with some artist/s isnt that bad an idea.)

-Vash Dragon



			
				tsawolf said:
			
		

> To be honest, in the log samples that we took a few weeks ago, there wasn't an appreciable increase on the weekend.  Load was pretty much constant across the week.
> 
> Another server could certainly be setup as a master/slave webserver, but we'd need some way to keep the images constant across the two servers.  That would mean some tricky footing, but certainly wouldn't be impossible.
> 
> ...


----------



## Fara (Mar 2, 2008)

Or upload all the non-adult stuff to Imageshack, and let those c**ts deal with it.


----------



## vashdragon (Mar 2, 2008)

Ok, this timeing out thing is really annoying.  I guess the forums are getting bogged down by tons of people trying to figure out whats going on.  Either that, or it just likes being a pain in the ass to the computers i use.


----------



## foxystallion (Mar 2, 2008)

[/quote]
To be honest, in the log samples that we took a few weeks ago, there wasn't an appreciable increase on the weekend.  Load was pretty much constant across the week.
[/quote]

That surprises me!  Is there any URL where I could view FA's traffic stats?  I'd love to watch FA's growth with greater accuracy and in more detail than what is available on:
http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/furaffinity.net
http://www.quantcast.com/search/furaffinity.net

I watch about 150 artists, and I see a pronounced peak in Submissions and Journals from Friday night through Saturday.  There are a few hundred folks watching me, and Comments on my Submissions and Journals seem to be concentrated from Friday evening through Sunday.  I realize that neither my Watch list nor those who watch me are random.  I suspect that the artists that I watch are disproportionately older, and hence they are more likely to work regular weekday hours, but I didn't realize that the activity that I see is skewed so strongly.  Anyway, I'm glad that FA has a more even load than I realized; serving big peak loads is extra expensive.  Thank you very much for all your work to keep this community alive!


----------



## foxystallion (Mar 2, 2008)

O-o!  WTF?  The fourth line under my Forum icon on the post that I just made says "Status: Offline" but I am online.  I hope that the Forum database isn't getting corrupted...


----------



## foxystallion (Mar 2, 2008)

Now it says that I am online, but that little post immediately above took about three minutes from clicking "Post Reply" to the posting.  Something is barely working...


----------



## Martyr (Mar 2, 2008)

OMG! im dying! need FA lol! ^.-.^ i really want to help, so i cam currently gonna donate 75%% of all the money that i make from commissions directly fo FA
(id donate everything, but u have to pay for my books!)
well, since FA is down, you cant see my gallery, but you can go here: http://martyrwerewolf.deviantart.com/ that has samples of my art!

all hail FA, as soon as its back up, im donating!


----------



## Fara (Mar 2, 2008)

I'm not the only one having problems with the *forum*?

It takes about 6 - 8 minutes to load a page. More than 20 minutes, just to get this one message in. Is it slow for anyone else? While it's up, I might as well rabbit on a bit, make it worthwhile. It's getting slower and slower, possibly grinding to a halt.

Or is it my end of things?

10 minutes later, it's still posting this message. So I'm going to add to it.

It's the *forum*


----------



## Martyr (Mar 2, 2008)

Hey everyone! i am currently going to donate 75% of all the money i get from commissions to FA. Please help so we dont have to deal with this in the future!
My adult gallery is on FA so you cant really get to it right now, but you can se my family friendly art here http://martyrwerewolf.deviantart.com/

^.-.^ Lets help FA!


Other artists should do this to!!! c'mon!
you can reach me at Martyrwerewolf@aol.com


----------



## Fara (Mar 2, 2008)

Apparently my messages are going in.
Now that the page finally loads. After 10 f**king minutes.

Now, the main FA site going down was a pain in the arse, but these things happen.

The forum going down too?

Edit: Looks like it's speeding up again. We made a mess of this thread!


----------



## Lt_Havoc (Mar 2, 2008)

We have triple posts and more now.


----------



## kamperkiller (Mar 2, 2008)

Could this be a breach attack? I'm on a T3 connection and it takes forever to load.


----------



## Fara (Mar 2, 2008)

Well, at least I know I'm not the only one.


----------



## Fara (Mar 2, 2008)

kamperkiller said:
			
		

> Could this be a breach attack? I'm on a T3 connection and it takes forever to load.
> 
> 6 minuets later and post



Does seems like an attack, doesn't it?
Maybe I pissed someone off.


----------



## Eevee (Mar 2, 2008)

Or it could be the flood of people mashing F5 to get their FA fix?


----------



## kamperkiller (Mar 2, 2008)

you kidding me? there are a number of people that don't like us because we are furry. more than half of us are gay, and 3/4 of use are far from Christian. I wonder who would attack us?


----------



## icehawk (Mar 2, 2008)

Eevee said:
			
		

> Or it could be the flood of people mashing F5 to get their FA fix?



Considering the number of multiple posts in the thread, I'd not be suprised.


----------



## tsawolf (Mar 2, 2008)

Eevee said:
			
		

> Or it could be the flood of people mashing F5 to get their FA fix?


NO, IT"S THE JEWS! JEWS DID 9/11! NEVAR FORGETTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTt


----------



## Fara (Mar 2, 2008)

and I suppose the Jews faked the Third Reich, and pretended that Hitler killed six million Jewish people, in an attempt to drum up some world-wide sympathy for their cause..?

Worked like a dream.


----------



## Eevee (Mar 2, 2008)

tsawolf said:
			
		

> NO, IT"S THE JEWS! JEWS DID 9/11! NEVAR FORGETTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTt


oh god you're channeling the spirit of paul revere

be there an exorcist in the house


----------



## codewolf (Mar 2, 2008)

dunno about that but we need an exorcist on these forums with ghost pages popping up here and there


----------

