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Author Topic: Server Maintenance Tonight  (Read 5153 times)

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Offline Manny

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Server Maintenance Tonight
« on: October 26, 2014, 07:07:43 AM »
The site will be off air after midnight in the UK for a little while tonight (evening in the US) while the host does some server maintenance. It shouldn't take very long and there should be minimal disruption.
Read a trip report from North Korea >>here<< - Read a trip report from South Korea, China and Hong Kong >>here<<

Look what the American media makes some people believe:
Putin often threatens to strike US with nuclear weapons.

Offline Manny

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Re: Server Maintenance Tonight
« Reply #1 on: November 03, 2014, 02:42:57 PM »
It came to my attention that during the recent server maintenance, the spell check function vanished. This has now been resolved.
Read a trip report from North Korea >>here<< - Read a trip report from South Korea, China and Hong Kong >>here<<

Look what the American media makes some people believe:
Putin often threatens to strike US with nuclear weapons.

Offline WestCoast

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Re: Server Maintenance Tonight
« Reply #2 on: November 03, 2014, 03:48:44 PM »
What a few days ago when RUA went kaput for at least 5 or 6 hours? This seems to be happening more and more.
andrewfi says ''Proximity is almost no guarantee of authority" and "in many cases, distance gives a better picture with less emotional and subjective input."

That means I'm a subject matter expert on all things Russia, Ukraine and UK.


Offline Manny

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Re: Server Maintenance Tonight
« Reply #3 on: November 03, 2014, 05:01:33 PM »
What a few days ago when RUA went kaput for at least 5 or 6 hours? This seems to be happening more and more.

Good question.

This is quite a big site now, the DB is getting bigger and bigger. The image files especially are huge (slowly being reduced as time allows). The server was almost at capacity with daily backups and such recently. The host we use now is actually very good (and not cheap). They changed our server a few days ago (for reasons I wont bore you with and not connected to RUA) and reallocated the old IP number to minimise disruption. However, with such a task, a few gremlins will always remain for a few days. They fixed two today, one of which was the server function that enables the spell check here for those on grim browsers like IE, and one unconnected to this site.

Also, we get quite a few hack attempts and a lot of automated spam attempts most of which does not get through. The host takes care of most of that with the tools they have. But with something like a DDoS attack, they will disable the site while they get it in hand. If that means going offline for a few hours, it is better than what we had a few years ago on Valentine's day with a lesser host: A Muslim extremist attack where the hackers replaced the homepage with some Praise Allah bullsh!t in squiggly font.

Really, there is much that goes on behind the scenes with a site like this that people who dip in and out each day don't see. But on the rare occasions the site is offline, there is generally a good reason why that is so. Usually someone sends me an SMS or a Skype message when it happens, so I can get on it pretty fast. Why we have a host where I don't open a ticket and someone in India answers it two days later with copy and paste rubbish. With our host I can call them 24/7/365, speak to a chap called Jeremy or Gareth who usually fixes it pretty lively.
Read a trip report from North Korea >>here<< - Read a trip report from South Korea, China and Hong Kong >>here<<

Look what the American media makes some people believe:
Putin often threatens to strike US with nuclear weapons.

Offline Orchid

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Re: Server Maintenance Tonight
« Reply #4 on: November 03, 2014, 09:23:29 PM »
It came to my attention that during the recent server maintenance, the spell check function vanished. This has now been resolved.

No, it is not resolved.
The button is present, but does not function.  :(

Offline Manny

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Re: Server Maintenance Tonight
« Reply #5 on: November 04, 2014, 12:11:07 AM »
It came to my attention that during the recent server maintenance, the spell check function vanished. This has now been resolved.

No, it is not resolved.
The button is present, but does not function.  :(

I'm on it. I didn't test it.  :hidechair:
Read a trip report from North Korea >>here<< - Read a trip report from South Korea, China and Hong Kong >>here<<

Look what the American media makes some people believe:
Putin often threatens to strike US with nuclear weapons.

Offline Orchid

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Re: Server Maintenance Tonight
« Reply #6 on: November 04, 2014, 07:50:51 AM »
It came to my attention that during the recent server maintenance, the spell check function vanished. This has now been resolved.

No, it is not resolved.
The button is present, but does not function.  :(

I'm on it.

Thank you.

Offline Manny

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Re: Server Maintenance Tonight
« Reply #7 on: November 05, 2014, 10:13:26 AM »
It seems the software that runs the spell checker is not compatible with the new server software. The spellchecker programmes will not be updated by the maker as they think its obsolete now many people use browser spell check. >Geeky version here<

Google Chrome or Yandex browser is the answer - the old spell check button will not return.
Read a trip report from North Korea >>here<< - Read a trip report from South Korea, China and Hong Kong >>here<<

Look what the American media makes some people believe:
Putin often threatens to strike US with nuclear weapons.

Offline WestCoast

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Re: Server Maintenance Tonight
« Reply #8 on: November 05, 2014, 10:15:56 AM »
It seems the software that runs the spell checker is not compatible with the new server software. The spellchecker programmes will not be updated by the maker as they think its obsolete now many people use browser spell check. >Geeky version here<

Google Chrome or Yandex browser is the answer - the old spell check button will not return.

Firefox spell checker works great on RUA.
andrewfi says ''Proximity is almost no guarantee of authority" and "in many cases, distance gives a better picture with less emotional and subjective input."

That means I'm a subject matter expert on all things Russia, Ukraine and UK.

Offline d672

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Re: Server Maintenance Tonight
« Reply #9 on: November 05, 2014, 05:26:05 PM »
Thu won I yuse wurks gud to

Offline NS1

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Re: Server Maintenance Tonight
« Reply #10 on: November 05, 2014, 06:12:11 PM »
since the  last server service, I have had more lock ups, than I can remember.
It reacts much slower than ever before.
There is nothing permanent except change.

Offline GreyScales

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Re: Server Maintenance Tonight
« Reply #11 on: November 07, 2014, 10:34:32 AM »
Given the size of the site, what do you guys think of "archiving" some really "old" stuff?

GS

Offline Larry

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Re: Server Maintenance Tonight
« Reply #12 on: November 07, 2014, 10:39:50 AM »
Given the size of the site, what do you guys think of "archiving" some really "old" stuff?

GS

One question occurs to me: Would it be possible to keep all the stickies front and center?  Most of them are old but still useful, especially to new members.