Site goes down constantly

[EspeciallyTheLies]

Hi! So I didnt see a thread or announcement about this since the scheduled down time a few weeks ago, but ever since then site access has been pretty sketchy, with the site being down at least once daily for varying periods of time.

Is there any information on what's going on or when this will be resolved?

[Mr. Flay]

It's on FaceBook and the Don't Panic page. Basically we're still mid-transition, so the server is in one place and the database is another. Compound that with the transition meaning Daniel is not directly on site with the hardware anymore, which means problems sometimes take longer to resolve.

The good news is, the end result should be (once everything is sorted) better control by the Reds over the actual hardware and server configuration. But right this second it's growing pains. I still am not sure what happened last night - before that it was replacing a bad piece of hardware.

[mastin2]

It's not just one night.

It's practically every day.

On more days than not, there's outtages that people have been complaining about.

For instance, there was one today, lasting something like 15 minutes or so.

[saulres]

It's on FaceBook and the Don't Panic page.

Not everyone uses Facebook, nor do we have the Don't Panic page bookmarked. I have the Fallout Shelter bookmarked but there were no updates there as to what happened. Posts in this forum with information are most appreciated when the forum is back up.

[Mr. Flay]

I can't give you any further information right now though.

[Tierce]

FYI, site was down again tonight.

[GuyInFreezer]

It was down again for about an hour just now.

[EspeciallyTheLies]

^^ Hour and a half this morning. Last night for I don't even know how long. This is completely disruptive.

Is it a matter of money? Is there a place for me to donate so this stops happening? I'm entirely serious.

Cuz it's pretty frustrating that the only time I am able to actually do anything the site goes down.

[mastin2]

This is a much larger issue than you're portraying it as, Flay.

-People are getting prodded, or even replaced, because every time they try to access the site, it's down, and when the site's up, they're not around. This wouldn't be so bad if it were a one-time thing, but it's happening consistently.
-As a result of the above, games are stalling. Moderators aren't immune to this themselves, forced to push back deadlines, forced to delay flips, delay game's ending, and so on and so forth, because of the downtime.
-These annoyances are causing a lot of frustrations. People are, to put it lightly, ticked off about it. If you ask around, you'll see a LOT of people showing that anger.
-Partially as a result of the above and partially because mafiascum.net's losing its reputation for reliability due to the frequent downtimes that last significant periods of time and strike multiple times a day now...people are talking about

leaving mafiascum.net and going elsewhere

.

Driving away users is NEVER a good thing.

This isn't some temporary problem that got fixed quickly. It's been plaguing the site for, what? A week? Two weeks? And it's getting worse, from what I've seen. More downtimes. Downtimes lasting longer. It's crippling the site. And that's really damn huge issue. I'm not sure how aware you are of it. But know that however bad you think it to be, the users of the site are seeing it far, FAR worse than that, at least as far as I can tell. The only interaction I can see so far is you saying that, essentially, it's not a big problem and that we'll have to deal with it.

But I'm here to tell you...it IS a big problem and people AREN'T dealing with it well. If you're aware of it being such a large issue...then you need to let others know as much. Because right now? Most users are in the dark. They don't know what the

hell

is going on; all they know is that the site they most love playing mafia on is not allowing them to reliably play mafia anymore. And if you can't fix it? You at least need to address it. A couple posts in the "help!" section aren't enough. Announcements in locations that few users even know about won't be enough.

You need to broadcast it everywhere. Make an announcement about the issue, and how serious it actually is. (SERIOUS. For instance, the site was down for over an hour last night. And a large portion of today, too!) Plaster it on the backup forum. Maybe have a disclaimer on the mafiascum.net home page itself that the site is experiencing issues. Because right now, people don't know why the integrity of their gaming experience is being compromised. (And, yes. This site downtime IS compromising a LOT of games! More and more games are piling up with people falling behind and/or replacing SPECIFICALLY because of the downtime.) They just know that it has been. And that's a problem.

[hohum]

Mastin,

I don't remember reading anywhere that anyone is saying this isn't a big issue. Everyone in the picture dealing with the problem is keenly aware that we cannot continue like this.

I'm trying to address the issue as best I can. We're mid-transition. Unfortunately, the old hosting arrangements are no longer a viable option because the facility is being dismantled so I have no choice but to continue moving forward until we have a final resolution. The crux of the situation is we've been sold some bad hardware. The server goes down under any kind of network load. I'm in touch with the guys that run the facility on a daily basis.

This is going to continue until one of two things happens: I'm able to convince the facilities guys to replace the server at their cost or Kison and Mith are able to find alternative hosting arrangements. With a bit of luck, the former is an exercise which will be concluded by Christmas. The latter is something someone else will have to speak for.

[EspeciallyTheLies]

Can I give you guys money to fix it?

The problem is that until I made this post, no one had a clue what was going on.

And to support what mastin is saying - yesterday mtgs had nearly 100 users online in the mafia subforum (the average is 20). People are leaving because there has been no explanation and no promise of resolution.

And it has been going on for a month now.

Can you please set up a donation button somewhere? I will happily provide funds if it will help. I know that others would too as they have told me as much.

Let us help you.

[Xalxe]

I don't believe money is the issue because we get hosting for free(?). I think the issue is that the transition is not going nearly as well as expected, meaning that we're getting periodic ability to use the site.

[hohum]

Can you please set up a donation button somewhere?

http://forum.mafiascum.net/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=5191

Let us help you.

I know you guys are frustrated. The site has seen some pretty dark times recently under my technical stewardship. But I'm just as frustrated as you guys are. MS isn't the only project that's ground to a halt as a result of the total disaster that this migration has turned into. Be patient with me. I'm trying to figure out the best path forward.

Your donations are of course welcome. They'll certainly go a long way towards helping mith and Kison find alternative hosting arrangements in the unlikely event that I cannot get these issues resolved.

[EspeciallyTheLies]

Thanks ho hum. I know its just a frustrating on your end too.

I just love this site so much.

[Mr. Flay]

I don't believe money is the issue because we get hosting for free(?). I think the issue is that the transition is not going nearly as well as expected, meaning that we're getting periodic ability to use the site.

Correct. The transition saddled us with some dodgy hardware, but we didn't realize HOW dodgy at first (you'll notice that at first it might go down for a minute or two). hohum is working on the short-to-mid-range solutions, and Reds are looking at what can be done longer-range. It's been the plan for a while to get Reds more direct server control so we don't have to rely on hohum's busy schedule all the time.

That part MAY involve more money, yes.

[talah]

I think throw a sitrep up and pinned and make the donation link more prominent and with options other than paypal if possible. I know it seems like work unrelated to fixing the immediate issue but a server drive would be well received imo. It's not like mafiascum fans are paupers, and it's not a small base of people willing to pitch in, especially if there's a goal.

[hohum]

Hey guys,

I'm reasonably confident at this juncture that we can put this ugly mess behind us. I've been transferring files to the new server for about 3 hours now and it's staying pretty stable.

[hohum]

24 hours of uptime

[JacobSavage]

Actualy I was getting a couple of 504's earlier, but that might just be my connenction

[Mr. Flay]

Any particular page/action?

[hohum]

I gave the mysql server a restart. Could you plop another post down if that happens again?

[JacobSavage]

It was doing something with PM's I remember that much, will tell you if I see it again.

[CooLDoG]

Recently I have been unable to access the forums at random times. It would go to the home page but not the forum. I tried on multiple machines same result.

[AbboTT]

I work for a web hosting company. Is there anything I can do to help?

This is a bigger problem than I think you realize. It happens every day at various intervals for varying lengths of time. It's been this way since before Christmas.

[Mr. Flay]

We're quite aware of the problem, thanks. It stems from a server move that is in progress, paired with some dodgy hardware that we were sold.