Weird error

[Vautrin]

When posting, I often receive the following error:

"Connection closed by remote server

You tried to access the address http://lifesupporters.com/modules.ph...s&file=posting, which is currently unavailable. Please make sure that the Web address (URL) is correctly spelled and punctuated, then try reloading the page."

but it actually did post the message. :?

[Duke]

I've noticed some posting irregularities on this site as well that aren't present on any of the other sites.

I'm starting to wonder if maybe there's too much info., transferring to the db on every click of the mouse and the db server can't handle the requests.

I'll have to address this issue with the webhost and see if they can help us out.

I'm also unimpressed with the load times on these sites so I'd like to find a means on improving speed as well.

Thanks for pointing it out!

[Merika]

Ive tried to post 3 times and keep getting this. I'll wait a bit and try again. I'll email you this post if I can't get it to send.
May 17, 2006 7:48 EST.

Internal Server Error
The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.
Please contact the server administrator, webmaster@lifesupporters.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.

More information about this error may be available in the server error log.


Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Apache/1.3.34 Server at www.lifesupporters.com Port 80

[Paul]

It's been ongoing all day apparently. The webhost has been notified, hopefully they will address this shortly, we don't need to go through this garbage again.

[Merika]

The good part was that I finally got my closet cleaned out because my favorite sites were down. Actually, it was a blessing in disguise.

[Duke]

I've contacted Site 5 technical support today before work and brought some of the known issues (the ones I know about) forward. I've sited slow response times (especially when writing to the db server, posting irregularities within the forums as well as slow and unresponsive websites, both customer and subdomains).

I'm still at work and won't be home for quite some time yet so I'm not sure if I'll be able to update you all on the outcome of this message. Suffice to say, there seems to be a tremendous amount of server activity and its still unclear if this is a client side (us) or server side (Site 5) issue. Unlike Canaca.com, I believe Site 5 to be a responsible and professional webhost so I have confidence they will help me find a resolution to the issue, it just may take some time.

It may very well be that we are on a server that is a bit overtaxed by the sheer size of our combined sites databases. The added security of the new Content Management System has added a minimum of 100,000 instructions written to the database over approx. 5 - 10 extra tables. I am also tracking IP's for a default period of 7 days to make sure everyone who visits this site is doing so with the best of intentions. You may not know this but I have received close to 50 e-mails from this sites security system from IP's wishing to not use this site as it should be. Not all of them are malicious in nature but at least 25% of them are, hence the IP tracking.

If I were running a Webhosting Company, I would put all new accounts on my more busy servers and/or lower end machines, as I'm sure all webhosting companies do. For all a host knows, I may just be a blogger with a photo gallery and perhaps a chat room with a maximum of a few hundred visitors/members visits per day. We are growing at a steady rate due to climbing search results in google, yahoo, msn, etc., and so is our combined traffic. It may very well be that the hardware we're on isn't meant for our type of usage so we may even require a server move. For that matter, we may be on the wrong account entirely; maybe the correct move is a dedicated server with a dedicated and redundant connection to the net.

Whatever the answer, you have my promise to work toward a permanent and reliable solution. I think we're well on our way to becoming an established Network on the Web and there may be bumps on the way but it certainly doesn't make this voyage any less exciting. I can only hope all of you will be with me to make this journey together.

Sincerely,

Ken
Lifesupporters.com Network Founder

[Merika]

Think of when you first started the site Duke. Who would've believed that you would end up with such a big network that this is even a problem?? I don't believe that's called anything but a great success!!! Sure, you've got your share of headaches....but you've come a LONG way and should be very proud. 8)

[Vautrin]

I had a similar problem. I had just logged in and received the same error.
I had to log in anew :?.
That was about 10 minutes ago, in case you are looking at this in more detail.

[Vautrin]

And when I made that post, it happened again, as in the original message.

[Duke]

I've been complaining to our webhost continually over the past few days and apparently they are experiencing some sort of difficulties to many servers (ours included). They didn't go on to state what these issues were but did mention that one of the higher ups will be spilling the beans in a few weeks.

Todays outages were blamed on .dos attacks and are apparently being worked on. What has me worried is this impending official announcement because I'm worried it's a merger or buyout from another webhosting company. If this is the case, we will likely jump ship immediately because these things rarely seem to go smoothly.

[Vautrin]

It is not your fault, and I know you are doing everything in your power in order to solve the problems, Duke.

Hopefully everything gets sorted out soon, and we don't have to bail ship. Come to think of it, that would be a great social thread for the cashpirates .

[Vautrin]

Another strange thing:
sometimes I reply to a few threads. I check if there are any unread threads left, and whether or not new replies have been made. Nothing shows up. Then I sign out.

An hour later (for example) I get an email saying there has been a reply made to this or that thread. When I log in, however, it does not show up in the "new posts" section, but if I do check the thread a new reply has been made.

Which leaves me :?

[Duke]

This could be due to one of two problems:

1. The site is timing out when you login and/or visit the forums and the database treats you as already logged on and active regardless of whether you've seen the new posts or not. This is the most common problem I'm running into.

2. A cookie setting which shouldn't be the case but I'll make a change to the cookie settings just for a test anyway.

Please let me know if it helps.

[Vautrin]

Probably #1 applies, even though I do not receive any errormessage.