Server Hard Drive Failure

[RJF]

We have had a hard drive failure on the Zilvia server. We plan on installing the spare sometime tomorrow (Saturday), so there will be some downtime.

Regarding the new server, we are making significant progress and are working on final software configuration and database migration issues.

-Bob

[LB.Motoring]

awww, Im sure you got it bob :D

http://www.elisetalk.com/gallery/files/DTM.gif

[smelly240]

i have a box of green washers and a peice of diamondplate for you !

[sideview_180sx]

you guys possibly bumping up to the 7.3 TB external drives??

[Wykydtron]

I still don't understand the story behind the "Zilvia" server :/ You guys own a hosting company?

[RJF]

No, we don't own a hosting company. We just "rent" space at an ISP and house our own server(s) over there.

We did the financial analysis a few years back and this proved more cost effective, especially with bandwidth and the flexibility on what we can do software-wise on the servers.

you guys possibly bumping up to the 7.3 TB external drives??

Zilvia's not that big yet. But you can send your donation check for those 7.3 TB drives to .... :D

[SimpleS14]

So your using bandwidth from a ISP (T1?) and physically store your own servers at their office?

[Wykydtron]

Zilvia's not that big yet.

NOT THAT BIG YET...:bs:
:cj: you got me there! Zilvia is like... Pretty big for a single website without a network (network like Nico or FreshAlloy).

[SimpleSexy180]

Zilvia's not that big yet. But you can send your donation check for those 7.3 TB drives to .... :D


HAHAHA suuuuure let me get that checkbook.

[fliprayzin240sx]

Time for all you non-premies to chip in for the server and join the few, the proud, the Premies...

[mrmephistopheles]

No, we have rackspace at a hosting service.

Here's the progression of Zilvia's server status:

Originally:
Its on a T1 line and a 600mhz server, with raid 5, 1 gig ram

Then the first major upgrade:
1. We are signing a contract with a Data Center/Co-location facility that will host the Zilvia.net servers. This facility has redundant power, HVAC and multiple connections to the Internet backbone. Zilvia will have 1 MB (burstable to 10MB) to handle peak traffic times with no degradation.

2. We are also ordering a new server for Zilvia. Some of the server features include 2U Rack Server with 2.8GHz Xeon CPU, RAID 5 and 10,000 RPM disks, 1 GB RAM to improve forum and website performance.

http://www.zilvia.net/images/ZilviaServer.jpg

http://www.zilvia.net/images/server/1.jpg

http://www.zilvia.net/images/server/2.jpg

http://www.zilvia.net/images/server/3.jpg

Coming soon:

Dual 3GHz Xeon processors
SuSe Enterprise Server 10
4GB RAM
73.6 GB Hard Disks (Qty 6)

http://www.access-solutions.com/images/server/dsc00105.jpg

http://www.access-solutions.com/images/server/dsc00106.jpg

http://www.access-solutions.com/images/server/dsc00107.jpg

http://www.access-solutions.com/images/server/dsc00108.jpg

http://www.access-solutions.com/images/server/dsc00110.jpg

http://www.access-solutions.com/images/server/dsc00111.jpg

http://www.access-solutions.com/images/server/dsc00112.jpg

It's already in place at the colocation facility.

DB migration coming soon!

[Wykydtron]

You guys are a bunch of geeks. I would never touch a server unless I owned my own data tower! (And I mean a building tower, not a rack tower!!!)

[punxva]

im sure you guys got everything under control, seems like we are soo close to having the new server up and running... Is it just the SQL databases and such that need to be migrated?

[RJF]

Thank you Kevin for that Zilvia history lesson. You are now the official Zilvia Historian. :D

As for the migration, we have the server installed at the co-location and have everything running. What I am now working on is the final MySQL configuration,setup and database migration. We are then doing some testing with an old (11/24) copy of the entire database. When that testing is complete and we are sure there are no bugs, we will do a final database dump off the old server and import over to the new server.

After that we will be up and running. :w00t:

BTW, the 90 minute or so outage today was to replace the failed disk on the old server and rebuild the drive array.

[!Zar!]

Whoop whoop.

Someone has been busy.

[RJF]

Almost forgot, I agree that Zilvia has grown considerably since Mark started the site about 5 years or ago.

Of course we are always working on making the site bigger and better and with this new server we will have the capacity to make those improvements, not only for the users but also for our advertisers.

Right now, our biggest issue is becoming bandwidth charges. The past few months we have been bursting above our committed rate quite a bit, which has resulted in overage charges. We are hoping that with the more efficient operating system (Linux) and a rebuilt database that performance will improve and eliminate some of the data timeouts and data retransmissions that have been happening.

Also, as most of you know, sites on the Internet are constantly being probed or attacked by hackers. As for Spam, just take a look at your own mailboxes. Right now the website is being probed constantly and thousands of Spam emails are trying to be sent. For those with a Zilvia mailbox you realize that alot of Spam is managing to get through, but we are blocking over 200,000 messages a day with our limited filtering. So, our next big push will be to improve the overall security of the site, plus improve our messaging and Spam filtering capabilities.

Of course, this all costs and without the advertisers and Premies, none of this would be possible, so again...Thank You for all the support you all have provided.

-Bob

[SimpleS14]

I know this may sound weird....but would you consider eliminating Zilvia.net e-mail all together?

[CKAMC]

Bob,Kevin NoW tHaTs A sErVeR!1!1!1! :)

[Anto]

"If they've got windows, tell them we're running macs. If they've got mac, tell them we're running windows. If they've got both, tell them we're running linux. If they've got linux, tell them the servers are down"

haha. Well, count another one in to donate after the servers are up. I <3 zilvia!