The Great Tree

Professor Askew

I usually stop by here a dozen times a day (sad but true) in an effort to keep up with the haps. But lately two thirds of the time I can't get through. Very often it's a critical error - can't connect to database. Brian and MJ...can anything be done about this before it's too late? Sometimes I get booted out while trying to post a response and I can't get back in. By the time I do I can't remember what I wrote. It also logs me off when this happens and when I log back in none of the new posts are lit up. Help!
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Professor Daniel Askew - Securing our reality from the machinations of the Station Masters.

Durin Mephit · Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2007 2:28 pm Post subject:

Marten shakes his magic 8-ball.

The magic 8-ball proclaimeth:
Brian is swamped with homework. Ask again later.

OK, seriously... Brian reset the database last night and for a short while, the website was working better, but whatever caused the problem reared its ugly head again; this morning, the website was unresponsive once more. I sent Brian an e-mail, and he told me he'd send an e-mail to the server's owner, a friend of his. The Great Tree isn't the only service on that server... so for anything more than an occasional reset, the owner is going to have to get involved... until/unless the Great Tree moves to a new hosting solution.
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Durin Mephit * Member of Guild of Messengers - Unless otherwise stated, opinions are mine only and not Guild endorsed.
rel.to | Marten KI: 59474 | Durin M KI: 11883768

Moiety Jean · Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2007 8:24 pm Post subject:

A new hosting service would unfortunately cost us money, or quality. Our hosting is free because Brian has a connection there.
Hopefully Bri's schedule will clear up enough in the next week or so that he can afford the time to take care of it. Until then, all we can do is offer apologies and ask you all to be patient about it. I know it's frustrating. I get the same errors and problems you do.
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~Moiety Jean

KI#44727
"There is a certain beautiful danger when a group of geeks get together to entertain themselves." ~Orin Drake

Professor Askew · Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2007 8:13 pm Post subject:

Okay.

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Professor Daniel Askew - Securing our reality from the machinations of the Station Masters.

Tomala · Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 4:47 am Post subject:

I got the error the other night and just guessed that maybe someone was passed out over the chasis of the server drooling on the motherboard. Laughing

BladeLakem · Great Tree Member Joined: 30 Jul 2006 Posts: 514

Sorry about that! That lake water is strong stuff! Embarassed

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MOULagain KI#27460

brian · Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 10:44 am Post subject:

Here's the story - I have a new host that I can move this forum over to. Unfortunately it's going to take me the good part of a day to do, and it sounds hard to believe but I literally haven't had enough time to do it.

The reason for the problem is that the size of our forum database has gotten too large for its current configuration. I could tune the database but that would take just as much time as moving it - and since I'm effectively borrowing this server from a friend who might be relocating soon, there's only a small amount of time for it to be able to live here anyway, so I might as well move it.

In the mean time I'll try to keep restarting it if needed. I've also cleaned up the size of the DB a bit, so hopefully that will buy us a tad bit more time. Hopefully this weekend I'll have a bit of time to look at it again, but I'm not 100% sure that I will.

You guys are a priority to me, but unfortunately right now I just have too many priorities - my fault, and I'm sorry.
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#Brian Fioca
#KI: 11882331
#KI: 1504111 [disconnected]

BladeLakem · Great Tree Member Joined: 30 Jul 2006 Posts: 514

No need to be sorry, Brian!
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.yahvo kehnehn taigahntahv .taigahntahv bihv

Myst Embassy: http://www.mystembassy.net
Myst Headlines - http://news.mystembassy.net
MOULagain KI#27460

Professor Askew · Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 1:59 pm Post subject:

Well, that was a lot less cryptic than a Cyan post, Brian. It's just nice to be informed. Hopefully things will ease up for you soon.
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Professor Daniel Askew - Securing our reality from the machinations of the Station Masters.

janaba1 · Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 2:05 pm Post subject:

I second that, both (Blade & Prof)...thanks for clarification, Brian Very Happy

brian · Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 3:33 pm Post subject:

I started to move the GT database over to the new host this afternoon, but it got about halfway through after about an hour(!) and encountered an error.

But, instead of fixing the error and trying again, which would've taken longer than I had, I installed a mod which allowed me to tune the database and check for errors. It found several - including (I think) one in the Right now thread. Smile

So I told it to fix the errors and optimize the database - so hopefully this will fix our problems. I'm still going to move the database over, though, I just need to find a time where I can watch it go for 2 or 3 hours and fix any errors that come up. For reference - the database backup file that I need to restore from is 75MB. Smile

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#Brian Fioca
#KI: 11882331
#KI: 1504111 [disconnected]

Professor Askew · Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 8:31 pm Post subject:

Cool. Thanks, Brian.

BTW, I hope you're doing well and that you can generally walk around with a smile on your face.
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Professor Daniel Askew - Securing our reality from the machinations of the Station Masters.

janaba1 · Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 8:44 pm Post subject:

Oh, finally, thank you so much, Brian /cheer Very Happy

And I also hope the same like our Prof ... and I hope you're
doing even much much more good... I hope you're also happy
sometimes... Razz

Durin Mephit · Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 9:44 pm Post subject:

That is interesting, Brian. It just goes to show how much we chat it up here.

If I ever need to set up one of these forums I'll have to ask you about the tools you use...

Thanks for spending the time on this; we all appreciate it.
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Durin Mephit * Member of Guild of Messengers - Unless otherwise stated, opinions are mine only and not Guild endorsed.
rel.to | Marten KI: 59474 | Durin M KI: 11883768

Lord Chaos · Great Tree Member Joined: 13 Aug 2006 Posts: 208

It's definitely working better. I've been able to read a few threads in the last several weeks, but when I try to reply it gets hung up. This is the first reply I've been able to do.

Thank you, Brian.