Posted on 11/18/2008 12:34:29 PM PST by Centurion2000
Nothing here. Thank God FR is back. Anyone feel this way? Do we have any idea what caused it???
It’s probably a malfunctioning board on one of the servers.
I’m not the most knowledgeable systems guru around, but I do know that when FR goes down, the first thing I do is a traceroute from MY server to find out where the problem lies along the chain.
This morning the traceroute showed that the complete /23 block of IP addresses (209.157.63.0-209.157.64.255) was not accessible. Now, having had servers in server farms for a few years, I know that there are only a few IP addresses (typically 1 to 8) allocated to any particular client... more depending upon size and needs, but generally you’re not gonna get a /23 (512 discreet IP addresses) unless you’re THE server farm.
So everyone who is yelling and screaming about FR servers being down needs to shut the F### up unless they have more knowledge of the situation than the average server admin. When a complete /23 or /24 block is down, there are hundreds of servers that are inaccessible, not just FR’s. Did anyone think to run a traceroute or ping on the whole /23 or /24 CIDR block? Just ‘cuz the traceroute fails to one IP address doesn’t mean it’s the server at THAT IP address that’s the problem.
Because of this, no matter what kind of high end server box or multiple boxes, or software or spiffy routers you have, if a mainstream router or router(s) above the server farm level is/are down, **nobody** is going to get access to the severs behind those routers. Sorry, that’s just a fact of life.
The only solution would be to have multiple redundant servers at multiple geographic locations fed by multiple backbone connections from different bandwidth providers and all interconnected... not something that is economically feasible except for the largest of companies [viz. Google, Yahoo, Amazon, etc.]
I am continually amazed and humbled that the hardware *and* software of FR is up and running as much and as well as it is. For the smart@$$es who continually smear FR and say that they could do a better job, with less money, I can only say- “put your money where your alligator mouth is because it’s overloading your hummingbird @$$ bigtime!” If it’s so easy, why aren’t YOU doing it?
Again, I can’t see where this current downtime was FR’s, JR’s or JohnRob’s fault. Trying to reboot the server, remotely, can’t be done if the whole /23 network is not accessible. Manual cycling of the power switch won’t do any good either, because it’s the access on the network that is the problem, not a database corruption or OS hangup. Physically driving to the NOC won’t do any good if the NOC has lost all of it’s connectivity - for whatever reason.
Mainline routers going down can be from many various causes: physical/electrical non-functional (fried components), software corruption, or DOS by overload. If today’s and the previous downtime was from the whole /23 network being DDOS’d, the least of our problems is FR withdrawal.
So people who think they know all about networks, servers, server admin, routing and the like just because they can operate a Windoze computer by turning on the power button and fiddling with a mouse should STFU until someone who actually DOES know something posts that information (this is not referring to you, jv & C2K, but to others I have read).
Thanks again, JimRob and JohnRob for what you have given and keep giving us!! Knowing what little I do about server admin still keeps me humbled.
#8^D
just my unasked for $0.02
A DU blog was hoping that the FBI arrested Jim and got all the freeper info to arrest us for being so mean and nasty towards Obama. Claimig we are committing crimes against BO. Only some animals are more equal than others.
Had you checked Jim’s comments, you would know that the server couldn’t be rebooted, neither remotely, nor by the “server farm’s” staff.
It was an equipment problem.
It’s so scary out there in the world.
I’m glad the site is back.
Thank you !!!!!!!!!!!!
Don't thank me. Thank Jim and John.
Believe me, I did check the comments on two different backup boards.
...you would know that the server couldn’t be rebooted, neither remotely...
Did you even read what I wrote??
...nor by the “server farm’s” staff.
I didn't read that, nor do I believe it, unless the "server farm's staff" was trying to remotely boot it from a different IP block. The server farm's staff can physically walk over to the rack that holds the server and toggle what we used to laughingly call "the real non-maskable interrupt", a.k.a. the power switch.
So I find it difficult to believe they couldn't, although I can fully believe that they wouldn't (lazy), although that tends to lose the data center some customers with that kind of attitude. Unless they were just too d@mn busy with the whole /23 block down, trying to fix it. Now that I can believe.
But the fact is that turning the power off and on to reboot the specific machine won't do anything if the whole /23 or /24 CIDR block is offline for some other reason. And I can assure you that my traceroutes all ended at the router with the address of mg-1.a01.mlpsca01.us.da.verio.net (129.250.24.195). That includes traceroutes to 209.157.64.201,209.157.64.224,209.157.64.8. Well, the traceroute to 209.157.63.254 didn't even get that far: 208.175.175.26 (208.175.175.26)
So what I'm saying is that literally hundreds of IP addresses were inaccessible, not just FR's.
But I will, of course, defer completely to John Robinson's opinions and thoughts on the matter.
If the whole Class C range was down it probably points to a router or firewall NAT issue at the hosting company.
If that’s the case, the hosting company should own up.
So I guess Jim lied, huh?
I love these “authorities” here.
From Freerepublic2 this AM:
“We have a remote reboot. No luck. We also called the provider and asked
them to restart our system. Also no luck. It’s going to require hands
on.”
Jim
Trying not to get too paranoid, in the times that are coming, I would not be surprised at some Lefty creating a conservative site under a false flag, just to get identifying info on outspoken conservatives in order to harass them later.
They never do.
I was going thru FR withdrawal, man — getting the shakes...
That is another thought......Seriously though, didn't realize that clogging was a big prob on that page, but who knew!
On days when fully half of the threads that appear on latest posts are vanities, that is a problem to me. The other day I clicked on 5 threads in a row that were useless vanities. Just before the election it was worse. While many folks may have hours to sit around and sift to find actual, sourced news, I don’t. Your mileage may vary.
Well I defer to your time constraints, I guess I just have more time on my hand than I realized.
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