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View Full Version : Forum Downtime and functionality



essexman
September 26th, 2005, 06:37 PM
There has been an apology http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=370978#post370978 about the 13 downtime for the server.

The server seems to have been down quite a bit in the past three months, I'm pretty sure it has not made 99% uptime, maybe not even 98%. For those of you in the server business, you may correct me and say that 98% is excellent. I would be interested to know. But it doesn't seem good to me, and it doesn't seem like a good advert for Linux or Ubuntu.

My Questions are:
1. Can the uptime of the Ubuntu servers be improved?
2. Why don't the tool bar functions work anymore?

ubuntu-geek
September 26th, 2005, 06:41 PM
Hey, let me see if I can touch on a few things..

1. Sure can! Thats why we added more hardware last night. The server is very busy and needed some extra power to handle the loads. At some point in the future we will begin to break the server into a cluster configuration to handle outages better.

2. Which functions are not working? And also what browser are you using?

majikstreet
September 26th, 2005, 11:10 PM
First of all, the Ubuntu forums are seperate from Ubuntu.
As far as I know, these forums DO NOT get funding from Ubuntu.

If you want to help UF have a higher uptime, I would suggest donating to ubuntu-geek or whatever.

YourSurrogateGod
September 26th, 2005, 11:13 PM
That and Ubuntu isn't made for servers specifically (and I'm guessing that the current forums don't run on ubuntu), so if there is a software (as opposed to a hardware) problem with the server, it's more likely to be some other OS.

kleeman
September 26th, 2005, 11:14 PM
:cool: :cool: Well I'll be I was just going to report the non-functionality of the smileys (emoticons) but they now seem operational :p :p :p

DJ_Max
September 26th, 2005, 11:19 PM
That and Ubuntu isn't made for servers specifically (and I'm guessing that the current forums don't run on ubuntu), so if there is a software (as opposed to a hardware) problem with the server, it's more likely to be some other OS.

I would be interested to know. But it doesn't seem good to me, and it doesn't seem like a good advert for Linux or Ubuntu.
The recent problems, to my understanding have been relating to vBulletin, and hardware related. Nothing to do with the OS. Besides, these forums don't run Linux.

macgyver2
September 26th, 2005, 11:31 PM
As far as I know, these forums DO NOT get funding from Ubuntu.
And the question I've been harboring for some time is why not? If these are going to be the official forums my opinion is that they should be funded by an official source.

majikstreet
September 26th, 2005, 11:38 PM
That and Ubuntu isn't made for servers specifically (and I'm guessing that the current forums don't run on ubuntu), so if there is a software (as opposed to a hardware) problem with the server, it's more likely to be some other OS.
I'm going to take an educated guess and say that the forums don't run on ubuntu..
http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://ubuntuforums.org

DJ_Max
September 26th, 2005, 11:45 PM
I'm going to take an educated guess and say that the forums don't run on ubuntu..
http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://ubuntuforums.org
Well, yeah, but thats beside the point. The problems have been hardware related. Ubuntu forums are growing everyday, so better hardware is needed. Such as the recent upgrade.


If these are going to be the official forums my opinion is that they should be funded by an official source.
Last time I checked there were no official forums.

majikstreet
September 26th, 2005, 11:48 PM
Well, yeah, but thats beside the point. The problems have been hardware related. Ubuntu forums are growing everyday, so better hardware is needed. Such as the recent upgrade.


Last time I checked there were no official forums.
you're right..

macgyver2
September 26th, 2005, 11:49 PM
Last time I checked there were no official forums.
Check the very bottom of the page. ;-)

DJ_Max
September 26th, 2005, 11:49 PM
you're right..
Yeah, I knew I haven't been gone that long.... :)


Check the very bottom of the page. ;-)
WHat the?? Maybe I have. Is that correct ubuntu-geek?

jdong
September 27th, 2005, 01:08 AM
1) We are the official Ubuntu forums, but there seems to be developer denial of our existence

2) Ryan pays for most of the forum out of his own pockets -- Canonical has donated money to us, but in no way does it completely covers regular operational costs, much less upgrades like what we just went through

3) Downtime is really out of our control. We've enlisted with what we considered to be a reliable hosting company (NAC.Net), but time after time we've ran into unexpected network or hardware issues. The most recent one is just 24 hours ago, when a "RAM Upgrade" happened to take over 15 hours to complete!

macgyver2
September 27th, 2005, 01:19 AM
1) We are the official Ubuntu forums, but there seems to be developer denial of our existence
Is there anything being done to change this?


2) Ryan pays for most of the forum out of his own pockets -- Canonical has donated money to us, but in no way does it completely covers regular operational costs, much less upgrades like what we just went through
I figure this is up to ubuntu-geek whether or not he wants to reveal this...but how much are we talking about? (I'm just curious to know the number.) Regardless, I strongly feel Canonical/the Ubuntu Foundation should cover the costs. The forums are an integral part of the whole Ubuntu thing. The official forums should be funded by an official source. If this requires a lobbying effort to be undertaken to convince the Foundation then we should put one together.


3) Downtime is really out of our control. We've enlisted with what we considered to be a reliable hosting company (NAC.Net), but time after time we've ran into unexpected network or hardware issues. The most recent one is just 24 hours ago, when a "RAM Upgrade" happened to take over 15 hours to complete!
Did someone eat the new sticks or something? :)

xequence
September 27th, 2005, 01:34 AM
I dont think they are down that often. Yea, every once and a while, but its no biggie :P


2) Ryan pays for most of the forum out of his own pockets -- Canonical has donated money to us, but in no way does it completely covers regular operational costs, much less upgrades like what we just went through

My guess is ubuntu-geek is ryan?

Its amazing, this site has 40,000+ members. I know people who run websites and hosting is ALOT, and they have under 40k :P

Every ubuntu review talks about the greatness of the ubuntu forums... Good job ubuntu-geek ;)

DJ_Max
September 27th, 2005, 01:37 AM
I dont think they are down that often. Yea, every once and a while, but its no biggie :P



My guess is ubuntu-geek is ryan?

Its amazing, this site has 40,000+ members. I know people who run websites and hosting is ALOT, and they have under 40k :P

Every ubuntu review talks about the greatness of the ubuntu forums... Good job ubuntu-geek ;)
From Ryan, it's said to cost around $400 per month. Now thats dedication.

ubuntu-geek
September 27th, 2005, 01:42 AM
From Ryan, it's said to cost around $400 per month. Now thats dedication.
What can I say, I love these forums and ubuntu! in just over 2 weeks we'll be running for a year :) w00

ubuntu-geek
September 27th, 2005, 01:45 AM
Is there anything being done to change this?

I think he is reffering to the recent complaint filed by some old staff members, hopefully that will be cleared up tomorrow in the CC meeting. So we don't need to go into discussions on that here :)



I figure this is up to ubuntu-geek whether or not he wants to reveal this...but how much are we talking about? (I'm just curious to know the number.) Regardless, I strongly feel Canonical/the Ubuntu Foundation should cover the costs. The forums are an integral part of the whole Ubuntu thing. The official forums should be funded by an official source. If this requires a lobbying effort to be undertaken to convince the Foundation then we should put one together.

Like, Jdong said canonical donated about $900 to cover some costs. The money is well used in upgrades and and bandwidth fee's.



Did someone eat the new sticks or something? :)

I tell ya I was wondering the same thing when I woke up this morning and it was still offline. I think what happened was the shifts rolled over or something at the provider and our server got left plugged into the test network and not back into the real one. I hope it doesnt happen again.

macgyver2
September 27th, 2005, 02:03 AM
Like, Jdong said canonical donated about $900 to cover some costs. The money is well used in upgrades and and bandwidth fee's.
Yeah, that "some costs" part is what bothers me. For what the forum does for the users, the Ubuntu community...I would like to see Canonical donate enough for "all costs". Why shouldn't they be expected to provide that funding?

ubuntu-geek
September 27th, 2005, 02:18 AM
It's not a big deal :) I enjoy providing these forums for people! I can see your point of view though..

macgyver2
September 27th, 2005, 02:34 AM
It's not a big deal :) I enjoy providing these forums for people!
Well, the people enjoy using them. :) While we're on the financing subject, though...I noticed the donation buttons/info have disappeared. Will that be coming back?

ubuntu-geek
September 27th, 2005, 02:48 AM
Well, the people enjoy using them. :) While we're on the financing subject, though...I noticed the donation buttons/info have disappeared. Will that be coming back?
Yeah in the future.. :)

benplaut
September 27th, 2005, 02:51 AM
whadya know! it appears smilies finally work! :o

lets see if the edit post dialog is still b0rked :rolleyes:

<edit>

yes, still b0rked... try to edit one of your posts in quick-reply style, and then run your mouse over any of the formating buttons... it makes the box go wider and wider...

ubuntu-geek
September 27th, 2005, 03:02 AM
whadya know! it appears smilies finally work! :o

lets see if the edit post dialog is still b0rked :rolleyes:

<edit>

yes, still b0rked... try to edit one of your posts in quick-reply style, and then run your mouse over any of the formating buttons... it makes the box go wider and wider...
Hmm Firefox 1.0.7 in breezy ?

essexman
September 27th, 2005, 06:16 PM
Hey, let me see if I can touch on a few things..

1. Sure can! Thats why we added more hardware last night. The server is very busy and needed some extra power to handle the loads. At some point in the future we will begin to break the server into a cluster configuration to handle outages better.

2. Which functions are not working? And also what browser are you using?

Thanks for the reply. Many are questioning costs and maybe ubuntu could be persuaded to cover $400 pm? Or, if 1 in 10 forum members would give $5 every 3-4 years. Most important is that you are clearly taking care of things and looking to the future, to which end you should be praised to the sky.

My browser is 1.07 firefox on 5.04 hoary. I have also tried 1.7.12 Mozilla. I believe these are both backports.

I am writing this on Epiphany 1.6.1:smile: and is working fine with quotes and bullets and everthing.

So this is a firefox problem and I will take it to the software forums.

Thanks again

Essexman

UbuWu
September 27th, 2005, 06:27 PM
Yeah, that "some costs" part is what bothers me. For what the forum does for the users, the Ubuntu community...I would like to see Canonical donate enough for "all costs". Why shouldn't they be expected to provide that funding?

And it would be nice to have an forum(s).ubuntu.com url and a tab on the ubuntu.com website.

DJ_Max
September 27th, 2005, 08:47 PM
It works in Firefox for me now. :eek:

a-nubi-s
September 28th, 2005, 09:58 AM
Originally Posted by DJ_Max
these forums don't run Linux.

Ok that got me curious. Why is Ubuntu Forums powered by FreeBSD? Doesn't that seem ironic, inconsistent or even a little hypocritical? Not trying to bash, be a zealot or anything, just looks strange. I don't see any other major Linux distro forums run on BSD.

kassetra
September 28th, 2005, 11:15 AM
Ok that got me curious. Why is Ubuntu Forums powered by FreeBSD? Doesn't that seem ironic, inconsistent or even a little hypocritical? Not trying to bash, be a zealot or anything, just looks strange. I don't see any other major Linux distro forums run on BSD.

Ok, so you want to know why these forums are on BSD? Pretty simple, great hosting features & rates. Great service.

Will we be here forever? No. We used to be on RedHat. (Not as great a hosting provider, so we moved.)

If you don't see any other Linux distros running on BSD, then we're starting a trend. heh. Seriously, as long as it's on the OSS side of the server world, isn't it all ok?

primeirocrime
September 28th, 2005, 03:16 PM
I just love the new search box, and although at first I was not convinced with the revamp I am now! Great work you all, thank you.

Kyral
September 28th, 2005, 03:26 PM
Whoa....I just noticed a new feature thats pretty damn cool. Edit a post and instead of loading a version of the "New Post" window, it loads up the editor right inline with the rest of the posts. Very cool

essexman
September 28th, 2005, 06:20 PM
It works in Firefox for me now. :eek: But not for me. What did you do? What changed? Please?

jdong
September 28th, 2005, 07:49 PM
Ok that got me curious. Why is Ubuntu Forums powered by FreeBSD? Doesn't that seem ironic, inconsistent or even a little hypocritical? Not trying to bash, be a zealot or anything, just looks strange. I don't see any other major Linux distro forums run on BSD.

Hosting on Ubuntu would require additional setup fees, not to mention a bigger hassle when opening support tickets (we don't expect our providers to have any Debian experience). Other choice was FC3, which was absolutely wacky.

FreeBSD is a very stable and responsive OS, holding up well against load. Ports lets us tune our packages to optimal performance.

DJ_Max
September 28th, 2005, 09:54 PM
Ok that got me curious. Why is Ubuntu Forums powered by FreeBSD? Doesn't that seem ironic, inconsistent or even a little hypocritical? Not trying to bash, be a zealot or anything, just looks strange. I don't see any other major Linux distro forums run on BSD.
I don't blame them, I would use FreeBSD for a site like this as well. To be honest, I really wouldn't use Linux for a server anymore.... *ducks & runs*.

But not for me. What did you do? What changed? Please?

Nothing at all. Still running the same Firefox 1.0.6.

essexman
October 1st, 2005, 04:09 PM
But not for me. What did you do? What changed? Please?

Found it http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=381030
it was a backports problem

ubuntu-geek
October 4th, 2005, 09:26 PM
Blue kubuntu theme is now being brought to life. You can select it in the bottom left corner of the forums.. Its still a work in progress..