ecbailey
Full time elf
I think he means the bandwidth was 500GB, I'm pretty sure someone mentioned the size of the chat logs is 15mb, but the issue with chat is that it uses a lot of CPU.
"The Great Crash of 2013" a.k.a. The Future of ACL site hosting
- Thread starter AlexB
- Start date
bluzervic
65,768 Channels, 185 Universes
As a Network Admin and a "Retired" Admin for a gaming site, I can understand the needs for site maintenance, availability, storage and other goods hosted sites can offer. I also own several domain names, which do cost some money yearly.
That said, I am willing to help in anyway I can to keep this site stay up for future Light enthusiasts. I would have never been where I am today without this site and the users here.
There are a few Domain register sites that offer free Web Hosting along with the registration, not sure if that applies here, but I am sure it may change the layout of this site, should you need to follow their guidelines.
That said, Its time to vote
-Bluzervic
That said, I am willing to help in anyway I can to keep this site stay up for future Light enthusiasts. I would have never been where I am today without this site and the users here.
There are a few Domain register sites that offer free Web Hosting along with the registration, not sure if that applies here, but I am sure it may change the layout of this site, should you need to follow their guidelines.
That said, Its time to vote
-Bluzervic
Karob
Let there be Light!
I would like to firstly say Thank you to everyone who makes this site what it is, With Ryan's hard work behind the scenes, the hosting by Harrison and also every member who makes this site informative and friendly.
If we can learn anything from the crash is that we may find more people who are willing to chip in with knowledge and maybe money.
I am happy to go with what ever is decided on by the brains trust of this site.
If the back up problems is because of traffic in chat etc, maybe a scheduled time of back up which is posted as a topic would be the way to go. I know the chat room is hardly empty at any time but I am sure if people know it will be closed at certain times of the month we can all handle the down time.
If we can learn anything from the crash is that we may find more people who are willing to chip in with knowledge and maybe money.
I am happy to go with what ever is decided on by the brains trust of this site.
If the back up problems is because of traffic in chat etc, maybe a scheduled time of back up which is posted as a topic would be the way to go. I know the chat room is hardly empty at any time but I am sure if people know it will be closed at certain times of the month we can all handle the down time.
Adam007 said:
IRC has been considered, among other options. The trouble with IRC is the third-party requirement. You either need an IRC client program or Java. Java is pretty clunky and slow.
IRC also opens the door for outsiders to 'partycrash'. Certain modes can try and stop this like secret/private rooms or passwords, but the root cause is the service not being dedicated to the one website. IRC also removes the emoticon support or embedding of images.
And perhaps one of the major issues, being that we have some members here who are minors, is the inability to remove chat messages that cross the line. Kicking/banning the offender doesn't erase their message.
But you are right, an IRC channel would redirect the server load from chatters to a 3rd party IRC server. There's just a lot of compromises that comes with IRC to not consider that the chatting experience would deteriorate.
I'll echo some other posters comments and say a big thanks to all those behind the scenes that help with the day-to-day running of this great site. Whilst a yearly payment/subscription may deter some new users from joining, I think that if it were voluntary those of us that do contribute in some way shape or form would be more than happy to part with a few $$ each year to help keep the site going as strong as it is.
Adam007 said:
Not quite. AJAX Chat uses Javascript, not Java. Javascript is a scripting language built into most browsers and is a different thing to plain Java, which itself is a programming language & only runs when the user has Java installed.
The other downfall of just asking questions in chat is you will only get the answers from those in chat at the time that are willing to answer as apposed to putting that question in a thread and having the resources of all of the ACL active members available to answer in their time not right now.
Sort of like a facebook but even worst because chat is a very here and now tool which is great for socializing and assisting others to diagnose issues or assisting with certain things, but useless for any long term stored info or getting a good variety of answers from varying mambers.
But chat alternatives are being discussed and looked into and this will take some time to decide on the best actions forward to resolve
Sort of like a facebook but even worst because chat is a very here and now tool which is great for socializing and assisting others to diagnose issues or assisting with certain things, but useless for any long term stored info or getting a good variety of answers from varying mambers.
But chat alternatives are being discussed and looked into and this will take some time to decide on the best actions forward to resolve
DeeJai
Is that Magic Smoke?!?
ummm, nope, ive been logged in with no issues
v8manic
New elf
I can still be on the site but going to the next topic I click on takes a fair time.
Cheers Wade
Cheers Wade
At pretty well precisely 10:30 AEDST for a period of almost exactly two minutes the red dot in the corner of chat went red. No ping outs or anything but that is the period in which you tried logging in David.
David_AVD said:
Kaden
Pixels! I need more pixels!
I just finished reading this entire thread and wow, just wow, some people are getting worked up/worried.
On the constructive side: I would be happy to donate money (and/or time) towards a commercial backup solution (and professional installation if required) if it was an option.
Obligatory Futurama reference:
On the constructive side: I would be happy to donate money (and/or time) towards a commercial backup solution (and professional installation if required) if it was an option.
Obligatory Futurama reference:
Well to the old timers it would appear that i only pop up when problems occur and this time obviously quite late.
Firstly a bit of histroy to be very clear about the original move to hosting by Harrison.
At the time the Domain and forum was hosted on my own personal Dell Enterprise class server but at my own house on the end of ADSL.
Now the server was fine for forum duties but again and again as the use of chat increased the chat software would bring the server to it's knees or a ADSL resync would cause short interuptions or even more of an issue the server would loose power..... seems all quaint and diy and it was. Remember the original membership goal for the first 9 months was only 100 people, and chat consisted of me, fasteddy and smartalec as the consistant chatters. We broke 1000 members that first year from memory and what was a nuisance turned into pain and the calls for hosting and donations started then.
As we looked around for solutions the level of donations in no way at the time would fund a commercial hosted solution that carried sufficient bandwidth and server resource allowances. The Chat software was and to this day remains an issue as it is server intensive.
At the same time Harrison came onto the forum with an offer to host the site and chat without charge and as a donation to the site. Many may call this free hosting but it is the same as any other donated hosting.
For two years this has worked though the great crash as i see it called has revealed some issues that need to be worked though, firstly with the existing host (Harrison) and if lessons have not been earnt then options will be investigated.
ACL is not the only forum to suffer major issues due to server failures and i'm sure that the lessons learnt can be positively dealt with.
Existing donations have accumulated in paypal in anticipation of a future need to improve server hosting but have not been required to this point.
I personally do not have financial resources of planet christmas or lor nor have i ever wanted to impose a membership fee to access services so there is always a reliance on generousity.
Now if people have positive recomendations for professional hosting that can deal with the traffic volume and chat resource demands please add them to this thread as a recommendation and they will be investigated. These are not the only criteria but lets start there as without the capacity needed nothing else matters.
Oh and any rumours of the Domain being pulled. not renewed, sold etc are just that, the Name and Domain are both active and will continue to be so indefinately. AusChristmasLighting is a register business name in Australia for people who did not know.
Regards
Phil
Firstly a bit of histroy to be very clear about the original move to hosting by Harrison.
At the time the Domain and forum was hosted on my own personal Dell Enterprise class server but at my own house on the end of ADSL.
Now the server was fine for forum duties but again and again as the use of chat increased the chat software would bring the server to it's knees or a ADSL resync would cause short interuptions or even more of an issue the server would loose power..... seems all quaint and diy and it was. Remember the original membership goal for the first 9 months was only 100 people, and chat consisted of me, fasteddy and smartalec as the consistant chatters. We broke 1000 members that first year from memory and what was a nuisance turned into pain and the calls for hosting and donations started then.
As we looked around for solutions the level of donations in no way at the time would fund a commercial hosted solution that carried sufficient bandwidth and server resource allowances. The Chat software was and to this day remains an issue as it is server intensive.
At the same time Harrison came onto the forum with an offer to host the site and chat without charge and as a donation to the site. Many may call this free hosting but it is the same as any other donated hosting.
For two years this has worked though the great crash as i see it called has revealed some issues that need to be worked though, firstly with the existing host (Harrison) and if lessons have not been earnt then options will be investigated.
ACL is not the only forum to suffer major issues due to server failures and i'm sure that the lessons learnt can be positively dealt with.
Existing donations have accumulated in paypal in anticipation of a future need to improve server hosting but have not been required to this point.
I personally do not have financial resources of planet christmas or lor nor have i ever wanted to impose a membership fee to access services so there is always a reliance on generousity.
Now if people have positive recomendations for professional hosting that can deal with the traffic volume and chat resource demands please add them to this thread as a recommendation and they will be investigated. These are not the only criteria but lets start there as without the capacity needed nothing else matters.
Oh and any rumours of the Domain being pulled. not renewed, sold etc are just that, the Name and Domain are both active and will continue to be so indefinately. AusChristmasLighting is a register business name in Australia for people who did not know.
Regards
Phil
caffeine
Full time elf
Phil,
I'm a newby to these boards so I've been getting up to speed with the history, I think I've pieced it together.
Firstly as always appreciated to EVERYONE who has contributed to this forum, and obviously especially those who started it.
You posting makes a significant difference. I think there was a certain element of concern not for people's intentions but rather their capacity. It appears ACL has never really been a $ thing (which is GOOD) rather it has relied on two things, generosity and time.
I think some nervousness existed that people such as yourself have potentially not run out of interest or generosity, but rather legitimately struggle for the capacity to invest time as much as they would like.
The net result of that was a bunch of people here all the time wanting to help but not being able, and people theoretically able but not here for various reasons.
Harrison and Ryan have been, and continue to be, great. There was somewhat a little worry that some of the oversight was lacking to provide them support and to interact with the community from an official perspective as well as ensure back-ups (in people terms) so the weight of the world wasn't sitting on poor individuals.
Most of this, I feel, is concern of the growing requirements placed on a few (yourself included) as this site has grown and whether there is a risk that might push things to breaking point. To that end there are plenty here who are willing to help in whatever way is required IF those whose shoulders this all rests on WANT or NEED it.
If not the simple post of 'that wasn't great, but it''s all under control. Don't stress' suffices
Welcome to 2014, and remember pics or 2013 didn't happen
I'm a newby to these boards so I've been getting up to speed with the history, I think I've pieced it together.
Firstly as always appreciated to EVERYONE who has contributed to this forum, and obviously especially those who started it.
You posting makes a significant difference. I think there was a certain element of concern not for people's intentions but rather their capacity. It appears ACL has never really been a $ thing (which is GOOD) rather it has relied on two things, generosity and time.
I think some nervousness existed that people such as yourself have potentially not run out of interest or generosity, but rather legitimately struggle for the capacity to invest time as much as they would like.
The net result of that was a bunch of people here all the time wanting to help but not being able, and people theoretically able but not here for various reasons.
Harrison and Ryan have been, and continue to be, great. There was somewhat a little worry that some of the oversight was lacking to provide them support and to interact with the community from an official perspective as well as ensure back-ups (in people terms) so the weight of the world wasn't sitting on poor individuals.
Most of this, I feel, is concern of the growing requirements placed on a few (yourself included) as this site has grown and whether there is a risk that might push things to breaking point. To that end there are plenty here who are willing to help in whatever way is required IF those whose shoulders this all rests on WANT or NEED it.
If not the simple post of 'that wasn't great, but it''s all under control. Don't stress' suffices
Welcome to 2014, and remember pics or 2013 didn't happen