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Thread: BAUT Outage

  1. 2011-Apr-23, 10:09 PM #1
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    BAUT Outage

    As many of you noticed, BAUT was unavailable for the last 3 days or so. This was caused by a massive failure by Amazon's EC2 hosting service - a system that shouldn't have failed (and the Titanic is unsinkable).

    Anyway, we're back online now, and I suspect Amazon is going to be having some serious soul searching at this point. Their entire business rests on this mistake never happening again.

    I'm sure a bunch of you are wondering if we're going to stick with Amazon after this disaster. And my answer right now is a provisional yes. BAUT had been working great on EC2 until a couple of days ago, and I'm able to provide the service for free on the Universe Today server.

    Anyway, thanks for your support, and let me know if you see any more problems.
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  2. 2011-Apr-23, 10:11 PM #2
    Nereid
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    UT seems to be (still) down ...
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  3. 2011-Apr-23, 10:41 PM #3
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    Yeah, it was back and now it's gone again. We're working on it.
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  4. 2011-Apr-23, 10:41 PM #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Fraser View Post
    As many of you noticed, BAUT was unavailable for the last 3 days or so. This was caused by a massive failure by Amazon's EC2 hosting service - a system that shouldn't have failed (and the Titanic is unsinkable).

    Anyway, we're back online now, and I suspect Amazon is going to be having some serious soul searching at this point. Their entire business rests on this mistake never happening again.

    I'm sure a bunch of you are wondering if we're going to stick with Amazon after this disaster. And my answer right now is a provisional yes. BAUT had been working great on EC2 until a couple of days ago, and I'm able to provide the service for free on the Universe Today server.

    Anyway, thanks for your support, and let me know if you see any more problems.
    Actually, the service hasn't been up to the old standards in a long time and have been seriously degrading toward previous server standards for the last week or two culminating in this final lock-out of the last few days. I understand the difficulties of changing servers, but these types of delays and problems chase off regular posters and readers.
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  5. 2011-Apr-23, 10:57 PM #5
    Jeff Root
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    Where can I learn more about the Amazon problem?

    I didn't see any problems with other websites, so I assumed it
    was specific to BAUT and Universe Today. I Googled "BAUT"
    and looked at Phil's blog on Discovery.com hoping to find news
    elsewhere explaining the problem, but didn't find anything.

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  6. 2011-Apr-23, 11:33 PM #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jeff Root View Post
    Where can I learn more about the Amazon problem?
    There are some links in this ApolloHoax forum thread.
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  7. 2011-Apr-23, 11:43 PM #7
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    By a very weird coincidence, this is the first time I've had time to go on BAUT since Wed., so I guess I missed the whole thing.
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  8. 2011-Apr-23, 11:47 PM #8
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    I'm glad to see BAUT back!

    Quote Originally Posted by Jeff Root View Post
    Where can I learn more about the Amazon problem?
    Google "amazon cloud problems"

    Also, this status page gives some of the technical details (though there is still a lot they haven't explained):

    http://status.aws.amazon.com/
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  9. 2011-Apr-23, 11:47 PM #9
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    Hundreds of thousands of sites were affected:
    http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/0...?ref=amazoninc
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  10. 2011-Apr-24, 01:48 AM #10
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    I'm just glad we're back!!

    BAUT is a wonderful way for me to pass some time in a home office, wherein I work alone 40 hours a week.

    p.s.: The "Universe Today" web page was also down during. You probably know that. Combined, I was a bit worried!
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  11. 2011-Apr-24, 01:50 AM #11
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    I've looked at clouds from both sides now,
    From up and down, but still somehow,
    Its clouds' illusions I recall.
    I really don't know clouds... at all...
    At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)

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  12. 2011-Apr-24, 01:51 AM #12
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    It's back! I'm doing my happy dance! *



    * I do not have a happy dance. Stop picturing me doing one.
    STARGAZING: All I see are the lights of a billion places I'll never go. --Howard Tayler, Schlock Mercenary
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  13. 2011-Apr-24, 01:51 AM #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Swift View Post
    I've looked at clouds from both sides now,
    From up and down, but still somehow,
    Its clouds' illusions I recall.
    I really don't know clouds... at all...
    I want what Swift is having!
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  14. 2011-Apr-24, 01:53 AM #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Noclevername View Post
    It's back! I'm doing my happy dance! *



    * I do not have a happy dance. Stop picturing me doing one.
    At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)

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  15. 2011-Apr-24, 01:59 AM #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Swift View Post
    STARGAZING: All I see are the lights of a billion places I'll never go. --Howard Tayler, Schlock Mercenary
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  16. 2011-Apr-24, 02:03 AM #16
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    I was really astonished at the severity and duration of Amazon's outage -- there were many sites much more popular than BAUT that were also affected. It was annoying; but what can you do.

    Now I have to go check to see if the PSN (Playstation Network) outage has also been resolved -- as it seems very odd to me that two such major networks would have gone down on the same day and yet be totally unrelated . . .
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  17. 2011-Apr-24, 02:09 AM #17
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    Welcome back BAUTForum!
    Solfe

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  18. 2011-Apr-24, 02:34 AM #18
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    I just clicked off BAUT and then back onto it again, just for the sheer joy of knowing I could.
    STARGAZING: All I see are the lights of a billion places I'll never go. --Howard Tayler, Schlock Mercenary
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  19. 2011-Apr-24, 02:44 AM #19
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    I dunno. It never seems like a good idea to place all of your IT infrastructure in the hands of someone else.

    For example, if they unexpectedly go belly up then you could permanently lose access to your data. I guess I'm an old-school Internet 2.0 guy.
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  20. 2011-Apr-24, 02:58 AM #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Fraser View Post
    This was caused by a massive failure by Amazon's EC2 hosting service - a system that shouldn't have failed (and the Titanic is unsinkable.
    I wonder if this will be a major setback in the acceptance of cloud computing?
    A three day loss of service is an annoyance for BAUT, but if your business depended on it, the results could be a whole lot worse.

    On the bright side, think of all the "papers" this incident will generate for computer science conferences.
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  21. 2011-Apr-24, 03:12 AM #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by Extravoice View Post
    I wonder if this will be a major setback in the acceptance of cloud computing?
    Doubtful. Cloud computing is just a fancy marketing term for outsourcing your IT services. If it really took a PR hit from this, they'd just invent a new term.
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  22. 2011-Apr-24, 04:19 AM #22
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    thought it was just me - done a system restore and paid several visits to major geeks....

    thank goodness!
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  23. 2011-Apr-24, 04:26 AM #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by Extravoice View Post
    I wonder if this will be a major setback in the acceptance of cloud computing?
    I think this has been an eye opener for a lot of people. At my job, we're looking at some major moves into using cloud computing, so I've been very interested in this. It would be a disaster for some of our systems to be out of service for this long. I'm sure it won't stop our use of cloud computing, but it will be a great example for some of the folks that have gotten a bit too enthusiastic about it.

    A three day loss of service is an annoyance for BAUT, but if your business depended on it, the results could be a whole lot worse.
    I have seen some scary stories related to this. In the Amazon developer forum there was a post by a company pleading for help, claiming that they used cloud computing for at-home EKG monitoring for people at risk of heart attacks, and they apparently hadn't planned on non-Amazon backup. Apparently they had assumed Amazon already provided sufficient backup, an extremely poor assumption, but it probably wasn't helped by marketing hype. Hopefully, this will stop others from making the same kind of mistake.
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  24. 2011-Apr-24, 06:22 AM #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by Fazor
    Now I have to go check to see if the PSN (Playstation Network) outage has also been resolved
    I can tell you that as of about 2 minutes ago, it isn't. They have the "undergoing maintenance" screen still up. Glad I haven't been in the mood to play online lately.
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  25. 2011-Apr-24, 06:59 AM #25
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    It was the start of the Skynet attack.

    Thursday marked Judgement Day.

    The day, according to the Terminator franchise, that military computer Skynet would become self-aware and turn the machines against mankind. While killer robots do not, as yet, appear to be travelling back in time, 21 April was marked by a few computer glitches, including problems at Amazon's web hosting service. On the company's web forum someone asked if it was Skynet's fault. In an outbreak of humour one representative apologised for the issues, before adding: "Skynet did not have anything to do with the service event at this time."
    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/bu...n-2273788.html
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  26. 2011-Apr-24, 07:48 AM #26
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    so glad BAUT is back, i was getting a bit frustrated, felt like i was getting withdrawals from it

    i like your penguin dance swift, very cool
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  27. 2011-Apr-24, 12:19 PM #27
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    I too wondered on Thursday if it was local. I felt cut off from the world, literally. I also realized how few members emails that I have that I would normally converse with. (Cold and alone in a cave by myself.) Well, I got some reading done.
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  28. 2011-Apr-24, 03:03 PM #28
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    Last Wednesday I left a note for the other Mods saying I would be gone Thursday through Saturday.

    It's not my fault! I did not mean to take BAUT with me!
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  29. 2011-Apr-24, 03:09 PM #29
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    BAUTages are terrible!
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  30. 2011-Apr-24, 03:14 PM #30
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim View Post
    Last Wednesday I left a note for the other Mods saying I would be gone Thursday through Saturday.

    It's not my fault! I did not mean to take BAUT with me!
    Is so, you shoulda left the keys by the door when you left.

    I was wondering on Thursday, then figured BAUT was on Amazon when I heard about the outage Thursday evening.
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