Database failure

Hi there!
I cannot access the database this morning, only receive message “under construction”. Is the database really under update or something went wrong on my side?
73!
Janos, HA4FY

In reply to HA4FY: Same here so guess some work is taking place,

Same here

Graham G3OHC

Summits on the Air doesn’t work too.
greetings
Stephan, DD6DO

In reply to DD6DO:
I assume SpotSMS in Hungary and Andy FMF’s SOTA SMS spot service will still work, both of which allow you to used a saved draft message, prepared in advance. I assume the database will work once the Icelandic ash cloud has dispersed?
73
David 2E0DAI

PS SpotSMS/SpotAPRS Gateway Log . Texts costs 30p approx from UK. Or it’s back to phone a friend.

Thanks for info. It seems the main SOTA site is under update or has some problem.

Janos, HA4FY

In reply to 2E0DAI:

My SMS gateway is running and trying to post spots but as Spotlite is down it is failing. This will be interesting as I’ll get some good data in the log on how well my server tries to recover from this error.

But until Spotlite and the database come back up then you can’t spot via my gateway.

Andy
MM0FMF

Hi Guys,

Unfortunately the host which carries the SOTA database and also the DNS for the SOTA website has fouled up a server change.

SOTAwatch is unaffected since it is independent from both. The Website is actually still up but unreachable due to the DNS error.

The hosting company has responded and acknowledged the issue but not yet resolved it.

Hopefully it will be sorted soon.

Sorry for the inconvenience and thanks for your patience!

73, Jon

In reply to MM0FMF:

But until Spotlite and the database come back up then you can’t spot
via my gateway.

Same is with our SMS gateway, so better don’t use it until the things are sorted out.
:frowning:

73,
Zoli

Let us hope the the hosting company have not lost all our QSO data…it doesn’t bear thinking about.

73 Phil

Phil,

I was wondering who keeps backups !

I keep a backup CSV of my Chaser Log (3403pts) , but not currently of my Activator Log (15 pts).

Stewart

I see that this hosting problem also affects the RSS Feed !

Stewart G0LGS

In reply to G0LGS:
Hi Stewart

I’ll do that once the database returns…pity I didn’t do it earlier, although I just realised that if needs must I can do my Chaser log from the data in my logbook if necessary using the superb program ADI2SOTA provided By Alain F6ENO. Like you the activator log is not as easy and that would have to be done manually in my case if I need to recover it myself, with almost 100 activations it would take me days.

Thank’s for the tip and 73

Phil

As you’ve probably already noticed, the SOTA website is still down.

The ISP decided to migrate us onto a newer (and hopfeully more powerfull) server, but there were a few problems.

They’ve not given many details about the cause, but one was a DNS problem, which has now been resolved. Due to the way DNS’s work it can take 24-48 hours for changes to get propogated through the internet.

When I spoke to the ISP’s support team yesterday, they said that the remaining problem is still being investigated. I suspect that with the weekend break, and the time difference between europe and the USA, not much will happen until this evening or tomorrow morning.

Until now the company we use (WebHost4Life.com) have provided us with a good service at a very reasonble price. When I contact them, their support team always seem to be helpful and knowledgable, but are probably overwhelmed at the moment.

Rest assured that if it really does come to the worst we have backups of the website and the data, and could move elsewhere if we find it necessary.

Thank you for your continued patience

Gary G0HJQ (SOTA database administrator)

In reply to G0HJQ:
Thank you for the timely information Gary and keeping us informed. It sounds like they are a good company to deal with and sometimes as well as we all know from our own experience these things happen.

73 Phil

Thank you for the information Gary. Most important news is that about database backup. The rest will came in one way or another.

In reply to G0HJQ:
Thank you for keeping us informed, Gary, and very gratefull that there are backups. I sometimes wonder if we rely too heavily on high-tech these days, without a fall-back philosophy.

Regards, Dave, G6DTN/M0DFA

In reply to G0HJQ:

What a relief that there are backups!

I have always been impressed with SOTA’s web presence & database, and this absence has really highlighted fo me just how vital and useful the database is.

Thanks for keeping it running all this time.

73,
Tom, N2YTF

Mirror, mirror on the wall when there’s no service for us all
Giants rise and giants fall when there’s no service for us all
and all the time they take their fees and demonstrate incompetencies
Time I think, if it was me to change or sue the ISP

In reply to GW7AAV:

Having just checked, the main website appears to be back up again. The database is still down, but it looks like progress is being made at last.

73,

Mark G0VOF