[reader50]

This update should have been posted in the previous thread, and I may move it if that thread unfreezes. Ironically, the old thread probably isn't loading because of the team stats sigs that are supposed to come from teamstats.

Anyway, Scott finally got them to return a call, and the servers were shipped to my place. They arrived and were unpacked a few hours ago.



Both the web and database servers arrived intact. They needed some dusting inside, but nothing major. Both booted up during brief testing. So it looks like we'll be in business again. The bad news is it will likely be 2-3 more weeks. My own schedule will keep me occupied for the next 10 days or so.

Beyond that, there are a few things left to do. Install them in their designated room, for which I need to finish a few details. Assorted LAN work to get them running properly. Then have MacNN repoint the teamstats domain.

My current DSL speed is approx 1280 Kbps down, 320 Kbps up. The up is the more limited for a server. Attempts to order faster service aren't going so well, probably because a lot of the phone cables in my area are old. I've yet to get the final answer on if higher speeds can be obtained.

So the short version is that something is finally happening, but we still have a ways to go.

[beadman]

Reader50:

Thanks for the update!

beadman

[BTBlomberg]

Reader50, I understand the old lines. Where I live they struggle to get good phone lines if anyone orders a new line. They spend days picking through the local box up the street. That's why I'm on Cable at 6Mbps/768Kbps, but that is definately not dedicated like DSL.

Good luck Reader50 and thanks for the update.

[reader50]

Yep, it's the forum server trying to preload our sig images. Which it isn't supposed to do, it should just serve us the page. Both you guys use the stats sigs (very good), but as replies got added, this thread was bogging down too. I manually edited each post to uncheck the "show signature" checkbox.

Found this out by going into my UserCP and setting it to not show sigs. Suddenly, the impossible threads all loaded fine. I could "fix" the old thread by doing the same, but instead I'll try to address the root causes. So I'm complaining to management, and I'll get the team servers up again to solve the other end of the problem as soon as possible. Which still works out to several weeks. Sorry guys.

In the meantime, anyone using stats sigs may want to uncheck the "show signature" box on each Advanced reply. This problem will apply to any sig server that returns an image, not just our server. Our current forum software settings will kill a page if any of those image servers stops responding.

[osiris]

Thanks reader50 for the update and for all your work.
Best of luck with servers!

[Microns]

How am I holding up with the Team MacNN stats gone?
I'm fine, no really. Thanks for asking.
.
.
.
AAARRRGGGGHHHHH!
Oh!
Server pictures! Nice, wonder what's inside the boxen?
Still no stats? No problem.
Really I'm fine. Thanks for asking.
.
.
.

[reader50]

There has been some progress. I got them set up where they belong, but there are some loose ends remaining.



The room is a library / secondary computer / movie retreat room. Lower shelf (and desktop) is my old computer, set up as a backup. Top shelf is the media stuff - satellite box, basic amplifier, SVHS VCR. Those are routed into a capture card in the G4. Middle shelf is our team stuff.

Left, old 15" monitor for local server access. The little blue box below-right of it is a KVM, which connects to the familiar USB keyboard in front of the monitor. I didn't have a PS/2 KVM sitting around. Problem: Scott apparently didn't compile the server kernels with USB support, they don't respond to the keyboard. I could connect the one PS/2 keyboard to one of the boxes, and swap it around as needed. More likely, I'll try to con Scott into walking me through a Linux kernel compile and add the missing drivers.

Middle left, webserver. Middle right, database server with internal RAID-1 for the data. Both boxes still boot up ok during testing. I've left plenty of room around them for air flow.

Right, cable area, power strip. Missing ethernet switch, which is needed before we can go any further. They sent the switch the servers had been on, trouble is they forgot the power brick. Newegg has just shipped me a new switch, which cost less than getting a suitable replacement brick.

More updates later in the week, after the newegg box arrives.

[siliconman]

Awesome. Keep up the good work. Stats withdrawal is a killer.

[reader50]

All needed hardware has arrived, especially the new switch. Right now, I'm waiting on my ISP to resolve an issue (multiple IPs available - yes or no) that will affect my network layout. Updates should progress more rapidly once that holdup gets resolved.

[reader50]

ISP holdup resolved - no upgrades available. It's not even my ISP's fault, they can only resell options that AT&T makes available in my area.

In the meantime, the first extended runs of the servers caused the DB server to go down regularly. Symptoms were related to heat, and got traced to the HSF moving around in shipping. Enough to produce poor conduction through the thermal paste patch.

Another newegg order has been placed for Arctic Silver, a new (quieter) HS fan, and another RAM stick. Figured I'd bump the DB box to 1.5 GB, especially since RAM has been getting really cheap again.

[reader50]

Database box HSF cleaned and restored with fresh Arctic Silver 5. HS fan replaced with a new temp-controlled fan. I replaced the case exhaust fan too, and things are quiet now. So far, the DB box has stayed up without issue for several hours. The extra RAM was recognized from first bootup.

The DB box had dual HDs in RAID-1, and a 3rd HD mostly unused. Removing that 3rd HD produced interesting errors on boot, because we'd forgotten it was used for the swap partition. 3rd HD reinstalled.

I've played around with the teamstats config files somewhat, and things seem to be working now. Pages load, and at least some new data is being processed. Both boxes appear stable. We're leaving them on overnight with logging, to see if everything catches up by tomorrow.

Remaining work, assuming everything looks good tomorrow: get MacNN to repoint the teamstats domain to my place. Also, clean up my library room, which got thrashed during all the upgrade & diagnostic work.

[reader50]

We're back up. Team stats sigs are safe again.

It will take a few days for a decent data history to redevelop - the servers were down for two months. My library room needs more cleanup.

[Shaktai]

Thanks Reader 50 for all your support and effort, as usual.

[BTBlomberg]

Thanks for getting this going again reader50. Have been trying to use other Stat Servers but just not the same.

I find you setup interesting. Ever try DVB cards? Sorry off topic.

[reader50]

No, never tried DVB cards. The library room kind of inherited older stuff, like the (free) HP monitor. And I may need to replace a couple more server fans to get the background noise down further.

[BTBlomberg]

Looked at the Stats yesterday and all was fine, but today I get the page can not be displayed message in IE6 on XP (at work :-( ). Just thought you would like to know it seams like something there is down.

As for DVB cards they record directly form the stream so if the signal is digital you get that exact quality (for better or worse). What it looks like you have is a card recording analog output of reciever so there is quality loss there. If it works for you though then no problem. Bad part is I don't think there is much of a Mac Solution for this out there (Software wise) but I don't use my PC for much else.

[beadman]

Originally Posted by BTBlomberg 

Looked at the Stats yesterday and all was fine, but today I get the page can not be displayed message in IE6 on XP (at work :-( ). Just thought you would like to know it seams like something there is down.

....

I get the same thing on Safari - "Safari could not open the page “http://teamstats.macnn.com/” because the server stopped responding."

Not complaining, just letting you know.
beadman

[Shaktai]

I'm getting: "Safari can’t open the page “http://teamstats.macnn.com/” because it could not connect to the server “teamstats.macnn.com”.

[reader50]

Just got DSL back, sorry guys.

A week after giving up on upgrades, AT&T decided to do something after all. My DSL vanished Thursday afternoon, and my ISP didn't know anything was scheduled either. They filed a trouble ticket with AT&T that night, and we both found out Friday morning that AT&T was doing something.

They switched out their router for one that belongs to my ISP. This looks very good for speed upgrades, since the holdup last time was that we couldn't get AT&T to do anything to my line settings. Pity, since the line readings indicated that I could go higher.

I did try to post something Saturday from a public library. But it was a Dell / Windows box, and I couldn't log into anything important from a public comp. Certainly not a Moderator account, nor my email account. I do have a regular forum account used for testing, but couldn't turn up the password anywhere. We'd have been OK back when we allowed unregistered members to post, but the spammers made us turn that off months ago.

Anyway, I'm bringing teamstats back up now. The DNS update will take maybe 20-30 minutes to propagate across the net, and I'll be looking into speed upgrades as the week goes on. And I'll make sure to get that regular-account password, in case they take my line down during any further work.

[arkayn]

Looks like it is up and running now.

[Microns]

Ausgeseichnet! The stats have returned! Thanks reader50!

[osiris]

Sweet.

[BTBlomberg]

Wow. AT&T service is dreaded everywere then. Whenever I had to deal with T1 installs and fixes they were the bottleneck and unpredictable.

Glad to hear you are back up and hopefully moving along faster.

[reader50]

There were a few service interruptions today, caused by my reconfiguring my LAN. This should be over - the remaining work will only affect my personal comps.

Previously, the modem & router were beside my G5 in another room. This was OK because I wouldn't be using them separately. With the servers (and the spare G4) in the library room, the network gear is now expected to run 24/7, in a room that isn't always cooled. The networking gear needed to move into the library room.

Also, my DSL speed upgrade came through. Besides multiple IPs, speed went from 1290 -> 2520 down / 323 -> 430 up. The line readings look good enough for the max upgrade (6000 / 768) which would probably yield 5000 / 640 in practice. However, they want an extra $10 per month for that jump. I'll think about it.

My initial setup worked fine, before the servers arrived.

Code:
..................+-- Backup G4
Modem -- Router --+-- Personal G5
..................+-- Guest room

The old layout got modified to this after the servers were added. It worked with the single IP that my old plan offered, but the modem & router remained in a room that was often hot while I was out.

Code:
...............................+-- Web Server
...............................+-- DB Server
..................+-- Switch --+-- Backup G4
Modem -- Router --+ 
..................+-- Personal G5
..................+-- Guest room

Today, I wired up some more wall ports, and reconfigured to this layout:

Code:
.................................+-- Web Server
..................+-- Router 1 --+-- DB Server
Modem -- Switch --|
..................+-- Router 2 --+-- Personal G5
.................................+-- Backup G4
.................................+-- Guest room

Each router logs into my DSL service via PPPoE, obtaining a separate IP address. So the servers end up on one router, with tight security settings. My personal computers are on the other router, behind their own IP address, and can have more open ports.

Any lowlifes that try portscans, based on the very visible servers IP address, will get nowhere. Router 2 is a wireless router. If I turn the wireless on, that will not be exposed on the more-visible IP either. And finally, all 4 networking boxes ended up in the library with temperature control. Before, only the switch had been in there.

Router 2 hasn't arrived from ebay yet, so for now all comps are plugged into Router 1. Once it arrives, I'll move the personal comp cables over to it. Teamstats won't be interrupted by this exercise. I'll take a pic afterwards, the cable mess is getting more impressive.

[reader50]

Oops, the dyndns update client had quit sometime during all the fun.

Teamstats is resolving again. For real this time.

[DrBoar]

Member 50 thanks a lot for your efforts with the stats

1. Were are the teamstats?

2. Why is there no link to it from the front page or at least a sticky on the Team MacNN forum?

[BTBlomberg]

The team stats are here:

Team MacNN : Stats Root

But there seams to be a database connection issue with the stats themselves.

ERROR DISPLAYED:
Warning: mysql_connect(): Lost connection to MySQL server during query in /webserver/teamstats.macnn.com/includes/page_base.php on line 16

[zombie67]

Originally Posted by DrBoar 

Member 50 thanks a lot for your efforts with the stats

1. Were are the teamstats?

2. Why is there no link to it from the front page or at least a sticky on the Team MacNN forum?

I agree. There appears to be no link to the Team MacNN site from here (the Team MacNN Forum).

[reader50]

I've been having afternoon lightning around here, accompanied by random power shutdowns. The web server came back up each time, but the DB box ran into a drive inconsistency error somewhere along the way. Which I didn't see because I'd stopped after making sure Web was up. I did check the DB box for the first 5-7 times, then abbreviated to checking Web and making sure the dyndns update client was working.

Considering it's a RAID config, I'll wait for Scott to come online rather than try to experiment. The lack of an optical drive contributes to the disinclination to experiment, in case I messed it up too badly to reach single user mode anymore.

I'll leave the DB server down until Scott shows online.

Teamstats is linked from the team site, which itself is linked from our forum description here. I could ask the staff to link both from our forum discription if you like, after it's working again.

[zombie67]

Ah, I see now. You have to go up one level above this forum to see the link to the team site. It seems to me that isn't very intuitive. Not everyone gets to this forum by drilling down from the top. Some people come directly here from search engines, or links from other discussions/forums.

The link should be at the top and bottom of the page for this forum level, IMO.

[reader50]

We're back up. Maybe I can lay in a UPS before the end of the year - my spending budget has been shot for a bit. In the meantime, I can now deal with the same problem if it happens again.

I'll poke at the admins over the next few days, see if we can add something above or below the team forum. Seems to me that one or another forum had such a thing up, but that was quite a few forum upgrades back.