Site News – New Server Almost Complete

Chris McClelland | RSS | Mon, Jun 08 2009 | 4 Comments

We are almost done with the upgrade to the new server. We still have some bugs to work out but wanted to get the site back up ASAP for everyone. Chris McClelland should get some love because he started the migration last night around 7pm and worked until 4:30am, then went into work at 7am today. Also there are some other people we would like to thank and some we would like to, well express our distaste for.

Thanks

A big thanks to the guys on the graveyard shift on the dedicated support line. We know that you think that you were just doing your job. However doing your job well helps us do our job even better. A big thanks goes out to Aplus.net

Special thanks to Robert McClelland

We would like to formally not thank

Every once and a while when a person plans a project and lays out a plan the most overlooked part of the overall project can be the problem. However, last night we experienced something that even we were seriously shocked about.

In the midst of migrating the files to the new server we where informed that the ISP in the area that we where in(We where on the road), had an file packet system limiting p2p file size transfers and capping the max upload and download speeds at around 30kb. Now normally a system like this wouldn’t affect us, but in this case it did.

The ISP At&T which people are paying $29.95 a month for is basically an extremely light dsl line with speeds of around 527kbs. The problem is it limits heavy users as “ourselves” because we are bandwidth hogs. I find it extremely ridiculous on their part to do this.

First off we weren’t trying to download/upload a stolen mp3 or movie or software of any kind. We where just trying to upload 184MB of backed up files to the new server. Estimated upload time 13hrs, at home we can do this within 20 minutes on our cable line for only $49.99 a month. After searching on the forums(because we had plenty of time) we saw a lot of people were having the same issue from ComCast as well.

Why are these systems bad? Well what if you want to do online gaming, listen to pandora, watch hulu, send a picture to your friend, online chat, or anything that basically requires a speed faster than dialup. Then you are considered a bandwidth hog, even though you are paying a premium for the “bandwidth” that you can’t access.

The point is, we could of had the site uploaded resolved and back online within 4hrs tops. Because of AT&T, we ended up watching X-Men on our laptop while we waited for the ftp to finish uploading the files. Total upload time 4:47hrs vs 20 minutes and alot more sleep.

Related posts:
Site News – Database Upgrade Complete
Site News – Site Upgrade, Features Unavailable, Changes

Tags: graveyard shift, packet system, distaste