NOM down for a week? What happened?

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CaptainSalty
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Location: Phoenix

NOM down for a week? What happened?

Post by CaptainSalty » Wed Jun 19, 2019 6:21 pm

Questions about the outage of June 10-19

Was NOM offline for a week?
Yes, totally.

Holy crap! What happened?
The short answer about why is that the website host had a very serious software problem with the hosting program that NOM uses. It was cpanel software which is only marginally relevant to the operation of NOM, but was enough to knock us offline.

Was anyone else offline?
Oh, yes. Lots of other websites hosted on Bluehost were offline if they relied on the same software. We were just one of them.

Did we lose any posts or users?
It does not look like it. I have a full copy of the database and website files.

Couldn't you just rebuild the site?
I actually did rebuild the entire site with all posts and data on a server in my office. This was not something I could simply attach to the internet, partially because it would have disrupted the operation of Netflix by other family members. My wife and daughters are binge watching "Once Upon a Time" and it would not have been skillful disrupt that.

Is the problem fixed?
For NOM, it appears that the problem is fixed. I cannot speak for other websites on Bluehost.

What was Bluehost doing all week?!
Mainly drinking lots of caffeinated beverages and fielding support calls from customers angrier than me. Plus trying out lots of software patches to fix the exploit. Sometimes these things cannot be rushed.

What were you doing all week?
I called Bluehost every single day asking status and actually go to know one of the more helpful tech support guys. I was also exploring the finer points of server hosting including some failed forays into rebuilding NOM on a server owned by another company. It did not work for reasons that deeply annoy me. I also read a translation of the Tao Te Ching and played a bunch of video games. I did not binge watch "Once Upon a Time".

Can I log back in and start posting?
Yes, please do.

Can I ask more questions
Yes

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Journey
Posts: 42
Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2016 8:16 pm

Re: NOM down for a week? What happened?

Post by Journey » Wed Jun 19, 2019 6:37 pm

Thank you very much for getting NOM back online, I’ve missed it!

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Mormorrisey
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Re: NOM down for a week? What happened?

Post by Mormorrisey » Wed Jun 19, 2019 8:14 pm

Thanks for all your work - I really appreciate the email explanation, saved me from hyperventilating that NOM 3.0 needed to be created! Now my life has meaning again.
"And I don't need you...or, your homespun philosophies."
"And when you try to break my spirit, it won't work, because there's nothing left to break."

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DPRoberts
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Re: NOM down for a week? What happened?

Post by DPRoberts » Wed Jun 19, 2019 8:46 pm

Well done, Captain. Thanks for all your efforts to bring it back.
When an honest man discovers he is mistaken, he will either cease to be mistaken or cease to be honest. -anon
The belief that there is only one truth, and that oneself is in possession of it, is the root of all evil in the world. -Max Born

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Just This Guy
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Location: Almost Heaven

Re: NOM down for a week? What happened?

Post by Just This Guy » Thu Jun 20, 2019 6:42 am

Thanks for the status update e-mail that got sent out to everyone on Saturday. It's appreciated. It's was good to know it was a software issue and not the board just up and disappearing like the first one did.

So my thanks for your efforts to mange the site and be transparent on what is going on.
Last edited by Just This Guy on Thu Jun 20, 2019 8:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
"The story so far: In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move." -- Douglas Adams


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wtfluff
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Location: Worshiping Gravity / Pulling Taffy

Re: NOM down for a week? What happened?

Post by wtfluff » Thu Jun 20, 2019 8:58 am

Thanks Cap'n.

That gnawing feeling that another piece of my digital existence had disappeared into the ether is gone. (We live in a weird digital world now, don't we? ;) )
Faith does not give you the answers, it just stops you asking the questions. -Frater Ravus

IDKSAF -RubinHighlander

You can surrender without a prayer...

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Linked
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Re: NOM down for a week? What happened?

Post by Linked » Thu Jun 20, 2019 10:07 am

Thanks Captain! All your work is appreciated.
"I would write about life. Every person would be exactly as important as any other. All facts would also be given equal weightiness. Nothing would be left out. Let others bring order to chaos. I would bring chaos to order" - Kurt Vonnegut

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slavereeno
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Re: NOM down for a week? What happened?

Post by slavereeno » Thu Jun 20, 2019 2:55 pm

Thanks!

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Hagoth
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Re: NOM down for a week? What happened?

Post by Hagoth » Fri Jun 21, 2019 6:20 am

It's disturbing when things like this happen. You think they have redundancies that would prevent it but sometimes that doesn't address the problem.

I used to work for Sony Entertainment. I remember when Sony's Playstation Network went down for a month and a half. It was unbelievable. A huge international company's top priority was getting the network back on line, and it took a month and a half. I can only imagine how much revenue was lost. Sony got sued and fined from all directions. It ended with the top Sony executives publicly bowing seven times; apparently an act of deep humiliation and atonement in their culture.
“The easy confidence with which I know another man's religion is folly teaches me to suspect that my own is also.” -Mark Twain

Jesus: "The Kingdom of God is within you." The Buddha: "Be your own light."

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AllieOop
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Location: Where the sand meets the Sea...

Re: NOM down for a week? What happened?

Post by AllieOop » Fri Jun 21, 2019 10:04 am

Thank you Captain!

You're amazing and I appreciate all your hard work!!! It's great to be back online :)
"There came a time when the desire to know the truth about the church became stronger than the desire to know the church was true."

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2bizE
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Re: NOM down for a week? What happened?

Post by 2bizE » Fri Jun 21, 2019 7:31 pm

Thanks for getting us back up. I do appreciate your hard work on this.
I don’t understand all of the technical aspects. I can only repay by continuing with smart a$$ comments on NOM.
~2bizE

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Lithium Sunset
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Re: NOM down for a week? What happened?

Post by Lithium Sunset » Sat Jul 13, 2019 5:17 pm

I know this is late but thanks for the emails letting us know what was going on!
"The real things haven't changed. It is still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with simple pleasures; and have courage when things go wrong." -Laura Ingalls Wilder

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