Server Problems

[Bob]

Hey guys,

Currently we are experiencing a lot of problems with the server. The server gets overloaded and then reboots, causing the site to appear offline and error messages to be shown on the gallery and forum. So I'm opening the forum up for now, but be warned that you probably will experience problems with it til things get fixed. If you go to post a message, I recommend selecting your text and hitting control-c to copy it before you submit it, this way if there is a problem and the server has crashed during the time you are typing your message, you won't loose it. You can then paste it into a text document program like Word or Notepad. I'm sorry about all this, but we are working hard to solve whatever the problem is and our hosting company is looking into it too. So please bare with us for a bit. Thanks for your patience and understanding with this. Hopefully we'll have it all fixed soon. :57:

[JennyAnn]

Thanks for the warning/info. Hope everything's going to be okay soon!!

[Andr€@]

I'm sooo happy the forum's back again!!!
Ugh these stupid server problems!!! Hope you fix everything soon!! Thanks, Bob!!

[Liron]

aw Thanx for telling us:) and thanx for opening it :) hope the problems will be fixed soon

[rossandrachfan]

aww yeah thanks for sasying n hope things get fixed soon :)

[Monica E Geller]

Thanks for Keeping it up Bob! Many Thanks.

[madme]

thanks hope it is fixed soon

[regan21286]

Keep it up! Thanks for your efforts and good luck on the fixes. I used to work with servers for my school since the administration spent $$$ on the tech but not the tech support. So I know it's a hard thing to do.

[miss.Geller]

Thanks Bob!

[kerfuffle]

hey ho thanks sir bobert, i salute you *salutes dear bobert*
and thanks for using the little :57: guy after every helpful post you make, its cuteeeeeee how you always use it. awwwwwww bobert is so cute and helpful YAY

[pheebster]

Thanks bob. Hope you get better server :) *pats server on the head*

[ross_rachel4life]

thanks to everybody who opened it !! i really missed it since its so great :D

[#1-DJCMLM-fan]

Thanks Bob!! I was real worried when it wouldn't let me log in the other day..... I was like NO!!!! What am I going to do without my "Friends" forum?!?!?!?!, lol!:P :D :D

[Chickie&DuckieGURL]

Hey guys,

Currently we are experiencing a lot of problems with the server. The server gets overloaded and then reboots, causing the site to appear offline and error messages to be shown on the gallery and forum. So I'm opening the forum up for now, but be warned that you probably will experience problems with it til things get fixed. If you go to post a message, I recommend selecting your text and hitting control-c to copy it before you submit it, this way if there is a problem and the server has crashed during the time you are typing your message, you won't loose it. You can then paste it into a text document program like Word or Notepad. I'm sorry about all this, but we are working hard to solve whatever the problem is and our hosting company is looking into it too. So please bare with us for a bit. Thanks for your patience and understanding with this. Hopefully we'll have it all fixed soon. :57:
Thank you for all of your hard work, Bobbie. We're here for anything you need, so if there's anything you might need help with, you know who to consult. Good luck with everything. Thanks for letting us know.:)

[Lumineuse]

Thanks Bob!!;)



Yeah I was like that the other day too!:P

Thanks Bob!! I was real worried when it wouldn't let me log in the other day..... I was like NO!!!! What am I going to do without my "Friends" forum?!?!?!?!, lol!:P :D :D

[Bob]

The server still has some problems, but it's running a lot better. Last week it was worked on a lot and now it holds up and doesn't crash all the time, but it's not where I think it should be. And to top things off, our backup drive recently went bad and had to be replaced a few hours ago, but luckily that's all back up. Thankfully it was the backup drive and not the main drive. And then two days ago a security hole was found in this forum software so I had to get that updated right away. Fun stuff. :P

For now I've opened up the gallery for uploads again, but it's not really official opened and could be closed again if needed until things are running perfectly. We'lll see how it runs this week. I'll keep you updated. Are you guys still occassionally getting a server is too busy message on the forum?

------------

Keep it up! Thanks for your efforts and good luck on the fixes. I used to work with servers for my school since the administration spent $$$ on the tech but not the tech support. So I know it's a hard thing to do.
Did you work on Linux servers?

hey ho thanks sir bobert, i salute you *salutes dear bobert*
and thanks for using the little :57: guy after every helpful post you make, its cuteeeeeee how you always use it. awwwwwww bobert is so cute and helpful YAY
Glad you like that. He's my fav smilie. I like to think he's giving the peace sign, but yahoo actually says he's crossing his fingers. Ah well. :P


Thanks for your support everybody. :57:

[regan21286]

Did you work on Linux servers?



Nope, my former school ran Windows Server 2003 Standard on a very poorly made HP server. I think was on Linux before I was in my school's unofficial technical support class.

[Bob]

So just an update. The hosting company seems to think it's the forum that causes the problems, too many sql queries and stuff. They said to go in and examine it closer is $75 an hour, so I dunno what we are going to do cos that can add up really fast and we definitely don't take in that kind of money. So we are exploring the options right now, but for now the problem still exists. Sorry...please try to bare with it for a while more.

[Bob]

After further examination of today's and yesterday's crashes, it seems it was the result of attacks against this forum. Hopefully it will hold up better now that we know what we are dealing with. Please don't attack us.

[gimpy]

thanks for the info bob

[Regina Phalangie]

sorry for being so ignorent but what does that mean that someone attacked the forum??

[Bob]

There are serveral ways to attack, one way would be to just overload the system. I'd rather not going into details.

So it seems the forum is just too much for the server, so we're upgrading to a different server that will hopefully be enough to handle it. This also comes with an increased monthly cost of $70, so if you guys can donate or allow popups from us, that would be nice. :P Over the next two weeks I'll be moving the site and forum and since we'll be located in a new spot, the forum will have to go offline for a bit. There can be a 48-72 hour period where you may not be able to access the forum. I'll keep you updated on when the change is going to take place and I'll probably setup an alternative url for you guys to use to access the forum during that 48-72 hour period. So you'll have to pass on the info to your friends. Cross your fingers that this is the last of our problems. :57:

[gimpy]

ok thanks bob for the info!

[regan21286]

I'm cool with popups since I have a popup blocker.:P Can't believe someone would want to attack the forum. I can understand it if some disgruntled student does that to my old school's server (which really isn't hard. Just having every single port on campus accessing the school web page at the same time is enough. but still a pain in the butt for me, lol).

[friendsfanatic123]

Thanks for the hard work and effort you've put in to the forum; I'd love to donate but I don't have a credit card :(

[madme]

ok thank you bob

[Bob]

The transfer is pretty much complete. If you're reading this message, you're on the new server. It takes 2 or 3 days before everyone is able to see the new server since it relies on when your internet service provider updates their info. Anyway, hopefully everything will work better for us here. It will take me a few days to go through and double check everything so if you come across any broken images or anything in the gallery or the rest of the site, please let me know. If you know anyone still having problems visiting the forum, tell them to use this url for a bit: http://70.84.187.206/~friends/forum/ I'm actually still using that one now. People who use that url won't really be able to use the forum since they might find they get bounced back to the official url, but all you have to do if that occurs is come back using the url above. Like I said though, it will only be for some users for the next 24-72 hours. After that everyone should be able to access the forum normally. :57:

[Erwin]

works fine here (Y)

and maybe its just me but it seems a bit faster..

[gimpy]

oh ok thanks for the info.!

[madme]

ok thanks bob

and everything is working ok here

[McB]

everytime I leave the forum, the next time I come back I have to log in, even if I check the remember me button. what's going on?

[Aros]

everytime I leave the forum, the next time I come back I have to log in, even if I check the remember me button. what's going on?
Try clearing your cookies and do a hard refresh (ctrl + F5) of this forum, then try logging in again.

[Bob]

everytime I leave the forum, the next time I come back I have to log in, even if I check the remember me button. what's going on?

You're probably in the situation I explained where you aren't seeing it at it's normal url yet. It takes 24 to 72 hours for most people and it's only been 22 at the time of this post. I'm guessing you see the numbers on top and then you login, but since the cookie is set for the domain, when you click up top it takes you to the ip for the forum, not the domain, so your cookie isn't good and therefore it won't have you logged in. Just avoid clicking it for a few days til you see the domain up top instead of the numbers... :57: