Connection Problems.

[S1OPP]

The problems with the pages at Sparky Slider failing to load are being investigated by the Webhost.

They have suggested that it could be another domain on the same server causing a problem. Once the give me some feedback I'll let you know what's happening.

[adobiker]

i bet its jason's rewenge !

[vfrooom]

Do they have a current plausible excuse of the hour?

[S1OPP]

I'm not showing any problems on the server for sparkyslider.co.uk at the moment

However, 9 times out of 10 the issue you describe would indicate another domain on the server using too many resources.

Problem domains are removed from the server as quickly as possible, sometimes that means within an hour of them causing a problem. Other times it can take much longer to identify the problem.

Is their current response.

I am investigating the option of a dedicated server

[Auntie Drac]

It's prob where Keith is trying to sort out my Watching TV thing.

:p

[S1OPP]

No, it's not on Keith's servers.

Seems to have got a bit better now, fingers crossed they've fixed it.

If I have to move it, there might be a bit of down time to get everything working.

[Archangel]

No it hasnt, Slopp.

Worse than ever here.

T%his is my fourth attempt to post something...-)

[S1OPP]

If they can't fix it, I'll be moving to a dedicated server.

It's a fair bit of effort so it's not going to happen quickly.

Your patience is appreciated until I can sort it out.

Sorry Guys

[numbskull]

I paid a pound, yes, a WHOLE DAMNED POUND for this service!

Oh, I see...

[Archangel]

It'll be worth waiting for, Sloop.

And worth paying more than a pound for...

[S1OPP]

I'm working on it.

[Archangel]

I know...-)

[S1OPP]

I have mande some changes to the DNS servers that Sparky Slider is using.

It can take up to 72 hours for these changes to fully implement.

fingers crossed.

[vfrooom]

I haven't paid a pound yet but it's not for want of trying.

I'm quite will to pay more than a pound though too.

[vfrooom]

And yes it does seem that it's just as bad if not worse in patches.

[S1OPP]

I have been doing som checking and noticed that the DNS servers for the domain were not setup correctly.

I have added the 3rd name server, but it will take a while for the DNS records to update.

I believe the problem to be caused by a record pointing to ns3, when ns3 was not listed as a name server for the domain.

For info:

CheckDNS.NET is verifying if NS are alive
NS list mismatch: registration authority reports that domain is hosted on the following servers: 'ns2.livedns.co.uk; ns1.livedns.co.uk', but DNS server ns1.livedns.co.uk reports domain to be hosted on 'ns1.livedns.co.uk; ns2.livedns.co.uk; ns3.livedns.co.uk'. Please make sure that you configure the same DNS servers in registrar database and on your DNS

[Archangel]

<Blinks>

Was that English ?

[vfrooom]

Speaky no techy dooyah?

[vfrooom]

So far so good. I haven't had a single connection error. Yesterday it was 1 in 3.

[Archangel]

So far so bad. Every other click nearly...

[vfrooom]

Perhaps my ISP's DNS services are a little faster on the uptake.

[Archangel]

You calling my puter thick ?

[bigredsprint]

you know how they say that pets resemble their owners?..........

[vfrooom]

It's back with gusto now.

[S1OPP]

I'm going to put some pressure on Fasthosts.

I'm not really going to offer to spend more money if they can't sort this out.

[Archangel]

Slopp. Dont know if you'll get this, but it's gone mental now. Almost every click fails to connect.

[vfrooom]

11 in a row this time.

[numbskull]

Seems to be much better this morning, Slopp.

[numbskull]

Spoke too soon.

[S1OPP]

The problem with the disconnection error continues - and continues to get worse.

The only solution being offered by the hosting company so far is to upgrade to a dedicated server.

The problem, they say, is caused by another domain on the shared server using all of the server's resource. So far they have not offered a solution, merely stated that this is one of the downsides of shared hosting.

A dedicated server is 5 times the current monthly cost - which in itself is not a problem, the service I am getting from the webhost is.

If I travelled to work by train, I would put up with the train being crowded or late sometimes - because that's what I expect. If I complained, I wouldn't expect to be told to buy a car, cars don't have that problem.

Anyway, in a nutshell, it's looking more and more likely that Sparky Slider will need to move to a new hosting home, probably on a dedicated server.

The next week or so will be spent by me, testing the process required for the move. I will try and keep any disruption to a minimum during the testing, but when it finally does move there will be some downtime.

thank you once again for your patience

S1OPP

[kelcy1]

spend my pound wisely

[S1OPP]

I've had this from Fasthosts.

Now, to aid there 'investigation' I need to log the problems and report them back.

So, if you could, please post times/dates of when the problem occurs on this thread and I'll feedback to fast hosts.

I know, I know, it happens all the time - but they put the hoops up, I just jump through them.

Hopefully, once they get some feedback, they may take some action.

S1OPP


Dear Stephen,

Thanks for contacting us with your support enquiry.

In order for us to escalate reported problems with services we need to replicate the errors reported.
I am able to view your site and navigate around it without issue at this time.
This is, as you have been advised, most likely a resources issue that is causing intermittent problems to visitors of your site.
We have systems in place that continuously monitor our servers and flag any issues with resources so that the issues can be investigated by our engineers.

If it is found that a particular site is causing issues on the server then we will then investigate why and remove the site from the shared platform onto a probationary server until the owner has taken remedial action
As you can imagine, this is a constant task as we have a great many sites on our servers.

I see that you have already entered discussion regarding the possibility of using a dedicated server for your site.
This would remove the possibility of having sites that are not your own causing a problem with shared resources on your server.
In the meantime if you could monitor your site and, when outages are experienced, keep a note of error messages and times of outages then when you next contact us we can pass further information to our engineers to aid their investigations.


Thanks again for contacting us.

Kind regards,

Tim Andrews
Customer Support
Fasthosts Internet Ltd.

[Doc Strange]

14.12.08 18:00

DS

[chazhead]

14-12-08 18:31

[vfrooom]

14-12-08 18:33

3 successive complete failures preceded by only some page elements not downloading.

[vfrooom]

What virtualisation 'technology' are they using?

It's usually incredibly straightforward to ask a hypervisor what's going on and why.

If they're merely logical partitions then shame on them for not being instantly able to sort it out.

[kelcy1]

18.38 14/12/08 blank page again

[kelcy1]

and again

[Doc Strange]

14.12.08 18:45

DS

[vfrooom]

Ah, it's apache 1.3.41...

what's your ListenBacklog set to?

If it's default, then try setting it to something like 1000

Are any of the KeepAlive options enabled. According to the HTTP response, it seems unlikely.

[Archangel]

Alternative blank pages, between 21.37 and now.

Very, very slow resolution all evening.

[Archangel]

21.56.

Taken 4 attempts to enter site and three more to post this.

Site now almost unuseable.

[adobiker]

started about 15 minutes ago for me....


can't 'we' sue their ass's off for loss of fun and the recurrent resulting nightmares we're all having ?

[Archangel]

Sloppy.

If the move to a dedicated server entails money, I'm sure all on the ND forum would be happy to contribute.

Right guys ?

[Archangel]

22.44.

Every other click results in blank page.

[vfrooom]

I have a monitor retrieving the sparky's login page (but no additional content) every minute. It is failing every minute, sometimes with an unexpected protocol error, other times with a no-response. In other words, the server accepts the connection and either then terminates immediately or sends a few bytes of crap back.

[Archangel]

It's unremitting now.

This post will probably takes several attempts to register.

(4)

[S1OPP]

Thank you all.

I have also been running a HTTP-Ping which consistantly show the site dropping, the results along with the feedback have been forwarded to fasthost.

Hopefully they'll respond with some action

[chazhead]

15/12/08 20:19-20:23

8 attempts to post a reply.

[Archangel]

1 in two clicks failing.

[vfrooom]

I can generate the same effect on an HP-UX 11i box running apache with a small listen queue depth and keep-alives switched off.

[adobiker]

I can generate the same effect on an HP-UX 11i box running apache with a small listen queue depth and keep-alives switched off.


you sick, perverted individual.....

[Archangel]

This fault is killing Sparkies, just when it was about to take-off.

I do hope it can be sorted, Slopp.

[adobiker]

hasn't been too bad tonight up til now.... jolly difficult to keep a flow going with all the interuptus....

Slopp, Sparkies is fantastic and way betterer than ND1.0, but it might be time for us all to chip in and chuck money at it to find another hosterer that can deliver !

[Archangel]

Ado...it's been appalling here. Can't get more than 1 in 4 clicks.

[S1OPP]

dedicated server is on its way.

should have it transferred over within a week.

fingers crossed

[Archangel]

Huzzah !

Um...what does it look like ? Is it a box ?

[kelcy1]

which bit did my pound buy?

[S1OPP]

I have no idea what it looks like.

It will be a non-descript rack mounted box, with a couple of flashing LEDs on the front.

[Auntie Drac]

I do need to send over my euro. Pretty soon it'll be worth more than the pound.

[bigredsprint]

imagines it will be

http://www.mailbag.com/users/stahmer/fest/images/warpcore.gif


in reality more likely to be

http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/Pics/BBCDE1.JPG

[Archangel]

Oh. So it isn't a huge big machine, buried deep under your house and protected by 20ft thick concrete walls, like I imagined ?

[S1OPP]

Unfortunately it's not possible to host it at home. I have a server I couold use for that already (this will be the test box)

Home broadband download speeds are good, but the upload speeds are much much slower.

It will be a dedicated server in a hosted data centre, with a big fat internet connection that should never be slow.

I hope.

They look a little like this.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c3/My_Opera_Server.jpg/400px-My_Opera_Server.jpg

[Archangel]

Oooooooh. So the bunker is a secret location, guarded by MI5 and Section 4 ?

Cool.

[vfrooom]

It'll look like a sequined pineapple with a fried egg on top.

[Archangel]

Ooooooooooooooh ! Shiny ! I bet Uncle wants one.

[S1OPP]

Ok kids.

The new server has been activated.

I need a couple of days to test moving what is here to there.

Fingers crossed it should be ok.

[bigredsprint]

skynet will become sentient in 72 hours

[S1OPP]

The new server is now online, but it's very very empty right now.

I'm working on getting things moved.

[bigredsprint]

dont forget Kennys painting by numbers section.

[Archangel]

When you move things, does that mean the site goes down for a time ?

[S1OPP]

In theory, it goes like this.

I take a backup of the 'site' (all the files, images and structure of the current site)

The backup gets transferred to the new server.

Some files need to be modified to reflect the new server settings.

I then take a backup copy of the database and transfer it to the new server.

I create a new database on the new servers and restore the backup into it.

At that point the new server can be tested for a few days.

Once everything is verified as working, and depending on how long it takes, I will either close the old forum (or post a message saying that anything new will not be tranferred)

backup the database again, tansfer it, restore it and open the site on the new server.

I'll then get the DNS records changed and put a redirect on the old site, pointing at the new one.

Job jobbed.

[Archangel]

Cool. Sounds like a lot of work..

[S1OPP]

It's a fair amount of copying and a few bits of changing, and a lot of testing.

It shouldn't be too much of a problem.

[Archangel]

And cost...?

[S1OPP]

yes, there are some costs associated.

Which is not a problem, Amazon are paying so far! lol

[Archangel]

Huzzah !

[skickoccanO]

After several days without connection problems, I thought the issue has been resolved.
Unfortunately, i got disconnected today and lost my chips.
==============

Edit: They gave me back my chips. Thank you playfish.

[Archangel]

And you are.....?