Site/Server Downtime and more...

[Eric]

I will edit this thread for updates, etc. If you have any questions, comments etc please feel free to ask here and I will address them in this thread. Please keep PMs to me as minimal as possible for obvious reasons. Thanks for your patience!

March 16th, 2005 @ 5:00 PM Central

We will be moving over to a different provider (who has been successfully running their company for the past 10 years) within the next day. The current plan is still on for getting solely the basic forums up and running tonight regardless. Will keep updated...

March 16th, 2005 @ 2:00 PM Central

Early yesterday morning the server that the BOTL.org website was running on suffered a 4-disk hard drive failure (on a 6 disk RAID array) due to "physical damange", as stated by the ISP. The data was unrecoverable and the server was restored to the state that the ISP had a last backup of - October 12th, 2004. As BOTL.org wasn't launched until December, everything must now be manually restored.

The bad news is that avatars, smilies and gallery photos are gone. However, the slightly better news is that the forums will be restored to the last local backup of the database which is from March 6th. And the good news is that nearly everything else should be back up by this evening.

All of this will take some time to reinstall the forum and gallery software, modifications and the site as well. Lastly, I want to thank you for your patience, support and brotherhood.

[Eric]

A few things:

Last local backup was on March 6th and the forums were restored like it was at that time. If you registered after then and before today, you will need to register again. Trader Ratings mods and page have to be installed again, however you still have your trades up to the 6th. Smilies and images are not fixed as of this post as well.

[Jwrussell]

Thanks for getting us back up and running Eric! Please keep us posted on the move.

[tripp]

Looks like the basics are working.
Trader comments are not functional yet.

[Ironman]

Are PM's that we saved recently totally lost?

[Eric]

Are PM's that we saved recently totally lost?

All data from March 6th to March 15th was lost, including PMs.

[tripp]

When will the trader comments be back?

[Wasch_24]

I still have an occasional hiccup. My SQL errors and page cannot be found messages.

[Eric]

Not sure why but email keeps going down along with the database server. We have not yet moved to the new server and provider. The plan is to do so this evening. Since parts of the current server are inaccessible to make a nearly invisible transfer over, you may experience up to 72 hours of downtime while the DNS changes over.

[tripp]

I thank you for all the hard work and frustration you are going thru.

[Black Dog]

Thanks Vipe! I know this has been very frustrating for you and your diligence is appreciated.

[56Tweed]

I run the software for another forum and it can be very difficult to resolve problems. We had nearly a month of downtime last fall when we attempted to move providers. :(

Mike

[Wasch_24]

Sounds like a lot of work is going on behind the scenes Eric. Let us know if there is anything we can do to help you out.

[Jwrussell]

Thanks again Eric for all of the hard work. We'll wait patiently...well...almost. ; )

[Eric]

If you are able to read this post then DNS has resolved for you and you are looking at BOTL.org on the new server/provider. Members who are seeing the forum down message haven't yet had the domain resolve to the new location yet. The length of downtime due to DNS propogation is dependant on your isp.

[Wasch_24]

Cool beans, I'm in like flynn.


That was quick! :smt023

[DRL1211]

It's back!

[allanf]

I can't log onto the chat via the java app...And I can't figure out how to configure IRCLE...anyone familiar with OSX IRC apps? PM me with settings please.
Thanks.

[Eric]

I can't log onto the chat via the java app...And I can't figure out how to configure IRCLE...anyone familiar with OSX IRC apps? PM me with settings please.
Thanks.

My recommendation is to download Conversation http://homepage.mac.com/philrobin/conversation/

* Run the app
* File > New
* In the Server tab type in "irc.botl.org" in the Server textfield near the bottom and then click the Connect button
* After the IRC server finds your hostname type "/list" in the bottom pane and a dialog window should show you all channels available
* Double click on #botl and you should be in

[Wasch_24]

Is that Mac only?

[Eric]

Is that Mac only?

Yes. mIRC is the only windows client I've used and it's been at least 3 years since last using it. Dave can get you squared away on how to connect with it if you ask him nicely :P

[allanf]

Impossible to connect to irc.botl.org on port 6667 is the message i'm getting now with the new client and after following the instructions above..Other servers are available(default ones) I think there is something wacky, the java app isn't working either, and i can get onto the CW chat via their java app.

[tubaman]

Thanks for all of the hard work vipe!!!!

[1f1fan]

Thanks for all the hard work getting BOTL back up!

[smokem94]

Thanks again Vipe....it's great to have the site back up!

[tobby4]

thanks vipe..... appreciate all the work....

[Jwrussell]

WooHoo! Took a little longer for me, but glad to see we are back up!

[tripp]

Looks smooth!!!!

smilies and trader comments and we will be unstopable.

[allanf]

Chat app still not working, either via IRC directly or the java interface. Anyone else experiencing problems with it?

[David]

Chat app still not working, either via IRC directly or the java interface. Anyone else experiencing problems with it?

Chat seems to be working in mirc if you use the IP addy instead of the server name. IP addy 64.18.138.212

David

[allanf]

Great, thanks...That worked.

[stogies&hoagies]

I share your frustration Vipe, I had a hard drive failure this week myself, and it was a pain. I can only imagine the fun you are having.

Thanks for keeping on top of things, we'll be here waiting. I'm sure it will be well worth our patience.