Brief outage, forum and other websites - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

Paul Stenning · 9th Sep 2014, 4:20 pm

Due to the hosting company connecting the server to a Gigabit port (as I ordered) instead of the current 100Mbit one, it will be offline for up to a minute at around 11pm UK time (GMT+1) this evening.

This will affect all my websites such as this forum and my service data site, as well as BVWS, NVCF and some other clients who I've already moved across.

If you are posting or replying to a thread at around that time please copy/paste the text to Notepad or something before clicking the Submit button, just in case you happen to submit it during that minute, so you don't lose what you typed.

lesmw0sec · 9th Sep 2014, 4:42 pm

Only a minute or two - that's pretty efficient work!

paulsherwin · 9th Sep 2014, 7:33 pm

They only have to move a patch cord.

Paul Stenning · 9th Sep 2014, 8:14 pm

Exactly, and then possibly update some routing tables. The network adaptor in the server is Gigabit, it's just connected to a 100Mb port on the network switch currently.

The network switch and port are recorded in my account against the service too, probably for bandwidth usage monitoring (I have 10TB/month allocation), so that'll need to be updated after the change-over is done too.

The main benefit of the port speed change will be reducing the time the overnight network backups take. I doubt it will noticeably affect the speed of the websites.

Paul Stenning · 9th Sep 2014, 11:12 pm

I received an email at 23:05 saying it has been completed.

I wasn't on here at the time so didn't notice if the outage was significant or not. Hopefully it went unnoticed.

Glowing Bits! · 9th Sep 2014, 11:24 pm

I was on here throughout and nothing happened, the site seemed to work as normal.

Thanks for all the hard work you put in to this forum to keep it working.

paulsherwin · 10th Sep 2014, 12:46 am

Although they quoted a minute, the site was probably unavailable for just a few seconds while the cable was physically moved. The ethernet hardware address won't have changed so there is very little to dynamically reconfigure. Some of the LAN switches may have had to learn a new hardware address, but that takes milliseconds.

9th Sep 2014, 4:20 pm	#1
Paul Stenning Administrator Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Cardiff Posts: 9,071	Brief outage, forum and other websites Due to the hosting company connecting the server to a Gigabit port (as I ordered) instead of the current 100Mbit one, it will be offline for up to a minute at around 11pm UK time (GMT+1) this evening. This will affect all my websites such as this forum and my service data site, as well as BVWS, NVCF and some other clients who I've already moved across. If you are posting or replying to a thread at around that time please copy/paste the text to Notepad or something before clicking the Submit button, just in case you happen to submit it during that minute, so you don't lose what you typed. __________________ Paul Stenning Forum Admin/Owner and BVWS Webmaster

9th Sep 2014, 4:42 pm	#2
lesmw0sec Octode Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Carmel, Llannerchymedd, Anglesey, UK. Posts: 1,507	Re: Brief outage, forum and other websites Only a minute or two - that's pretty efficient work!

9th Sep 2014, 7:33 pm	#3
paulsherwin Moderator Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Oxford, UK Posts: 27,943	Re: Brief outage, forum and other websites They only have to move a patch cord.

9th Sep 2014, 8:14 pm	#4
Paul Stenning Administrator Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Cardiff Posts: 9,071	Re: Brief outage, forum and other websites Exactly, and then possibly update some routing tables. The network adaptor in the server is Gigabit, it's just connected to a 100Mb port on the network switch currently. The network switch and port are recorded in my account against the service too, probably for bandwidth usage monitoring (I have 10TB/month allocation), so that'll need to be updated after the change-over is done too. The main benefit of the port speed change will be reducing the time the overnight network backups take. I doubt it will noticeably affect the speed of the websites. __________________ Paul Stenning Forum Admin/Owner and BVWS Webmaster

9th Sep 2014, 11:12 pm	#5
Paul Stenning Administrator Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Cardiff Posts: 9,071	Re: Brief outage, forum and other websites I received an email at 23:05 saying it has been completed. I wasn't on here at the time so didn't notice if the outage was significant or not. Hopefully it went unnoticed. __________________ Paul Stenning Forum Admin/Owner and BVWS Webmaster

9th Sep 2014, 11:24 pm	#6
Glowing Bits! Octode Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Wrexham, North Wales, UK. Posts: 1,457	Re: Brief outage, forum and other websites I was on here throughout and nothing happened, the site seemed to work as normal. Thanks for all the hard work you put in to this forum to keep it working.

10th Sep 2014, 12:46 am	#7
paulsherwin Moderator Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Oxford, UK Posts: 27,943	Re: Brief outage, forum and other websites Although they quoted a minute, the site was probably unavailable for just a few seconds while the cable was physically moved. The ethernet hardware address won't have changed so there is very little to dynamically reconfigure. Some of the LAN switches may have had to learn a new hardware address, but that takes milliseconds.