RAT downtime

[Praefectusclassis]

Hi all,
RAT was down for about 16 hours today, the longest ever, due to problems with one of the nameservers on our host. I can easily contact them and find out what's wrong, but it's a bit harder for me to contact all of you.
So, I'm considering some sort of separate site, independent of this domain & host, where we can have a status update at all times.
Thoughts would be appreciated.

[Et tu brute]

Hmm, a completely new site may be a bit drastic, but I dunno (and it's your decision really) , I suppose it depends how often and how long the downtime happens.

[le Cavalier Invisible]

hm, I agree with dave on this matter, completely new might be complicated, but on the other hand.. I think it's good to know what causes the downtime/problem (like: "oh no, what am I doing wrong!?" and then a few minutes later: "oh wait, it's just the server..") The more I think about it, the more I think it might actually be some kind of.. eh.. a good idea!
good luck! :wink:

greetings,

[Caius Fabius]

hmm, anyway to make a link on RomanArmy so that if the site is down, you automatically bounce over and see a message that says duh the site is down? sort of an if/then if the site is down then redirect?

[Praefectusclassis]

Well, that'll only work IF you can still reach the site. But that wasn't the case today.

[Et tu brute]

Could you not make it so that if the server is down it takes you to a free hosting site or something similar that tells you the problem? I'm no computer genius so i'm not sure whether this is possible

[Robert]

Let's leave the problem where it occurs, namely the host. They should provide a messaging service to inform users they are in default as a host, in my opinion.

[Praefectusclassis]

That's unfair to the host, Robert. They have an obligation to me - and they do communicate with me - not to you.
And Dave, I'm not sure that's possible with the limited resources we do have.

[jvrjenivs]

Could you not make it so that if the server is down it takes you to a free hosting site or something similar that tells you the problem? I'm no computer genius so i'm not sure whether this is possible

I think that's simply not possible. If there is something wrong on the server, but you could reach him (so the internet tells your pc where to find the page) the board (and main-site) system automatically generate an error message, which then have to be solved. The problem here seems to be that you pc didn't get told where to look for the romanarmy.com directory on the entire net. Because you wouldn't guide into the right direction (you wouldn't guide in any direction at all) you simple cannot told to look at an alternative page (if it is a free one or not). Another problem could be that you are directed into the right direction, but that particallary directory isn't online, whatever the reason will be. In this matter it would be possible that you would be redirected to another directory insteat of searching for the page that couldn't be reached, but this would be an expencive system, that I think isn't that common that RomanArmy.com could afford it.

So I don't think a automatically solution could be found. Only thing that you could do is start a kind of error blog somewhere on the net (with an easy to remember URL) where you put actual information, but I don't think there is need of it. I think we could wait some hours and try again later, and then find a topic on the error, and be happy it's solved.

[Praefectusclassis]

Hi Jurjen,
The error blog idea is what I was proposing, but yeah, it occurs very rarely, so may not be worth the trouble.

[Et tu brute]

Ok, like I say I wasn't sure, but yeah, A few hours downtime every now and then isn't the end of the world, but if the problem started to increase in frequency and length of downtime I think a solution could be sought, but for now i'd say just wait and see.

[Praefectusclassis]

I might have to swallow my words, but we've been with this host for well over a year now and they're the best I've ever seen. We've rarely had downtime and it was always for only a very short while.

[jvrjenivs]

but if the problem started to increase in frequency and length of downtime

I think that if that would happen you simple have to consider if you would stay with the company, and maybe want a refund. Some errors are okay, no organisation or company could do without any, but I think they need to make sure their uptime is okay, so I don't think it would go that far.

[Et tu brute]

I only mean if it was getting to a point where it was a real lottery whether the site would be up or not that it would be an idea to consider changing hosts or finding some other solution.

[Praefectusclassis]

No worries Dave. There is no way we would let it come that far. But luckily, it seems that Eleven2 (our host) is of the same opinion. I have come to really appreciate their service which is usually on the spot (via IM) or through quick response time on support tickets.