An update:
Added 2018-10-02 18:55:29 +0000 UTCAn update: I called again this morning- I was polite, I know the phone jockeys likely don't have any real say in what's going on :D - and got an update.
The story is, supposedly they found some malware on the system somewhere, and had to take part of it offline to clear it out. That also meant that all the backups had to be scanned or analyzed or whatever as well, and that took time.
Also, while all this was going on, it either caused or led to the discovery of apparently a pretty serious [i]hardware[/i] failure that then had to be addressed- which could mean they had to order replacements from the States or even Asia, but that's guesswork on my part.
Anyway, they've been working pretty much 24-7, making sure backups are clear of malware, installing the new servers (or parts thereof, whatever) and getting everything back up and running.
I'm told that they're hoping for tomorrow, Wednesday the 3rd, to have it back online, but of course there's no promises. We all know how unexpected issues can crop up.
All I can say is thanks for your patience, and ask that, once it's back up for good, do me a favor and spread the word. I have no doubt that more than a few readers, who aren't Guilders, MCB'ers or Patreon members, have no idea what happened, and may have bailed after a full week of no-shows.
I'd appreciate it. :D
Doc.
Comments
2nd the votes to find a new host - *especially* if you've really been there 20 years, all the Plesk-based hosts I know of that have been around that long are overpriced (sometimes 5-10x mainstream cloud cost), have high failure rates (compared to the rest of the industry), and their tools are awful to work with.
2018-10-12 22:50:35 +0000 UTCI wonder if their servers are from SuperMicro and the 'hardware failure' is that they found an errant chip on the motherboard... :/
Joe Johnson
2018-10-05 16:08:02 +0000 UTCI figured something major had happened when it hadn't come back and then ISP & hosting site hold pages started to show up. I remembered a client site that went down. When we investigated, the substation that was in a part of the building, and which powered the provider had burnt out/exploded. That took a while to come back up...
2018-10-04 08:00:38 +0000 UTCYeah, showing "this website no longer exists" isn't just bad programming. It's bad business. Many loyal readers could leave and never come back because they believe the comic has ended for good.
Raaky
2018-10-03 13:27:37 +0000 UTCHave you tried switching hosting services? Your current provider honestly sounds like total shit. For a site as simple as yours, there's no excuse for a full WEEK of downtime. If I were you, I'd check out AWS or DigitalOcean (I've had pretty good experience with digitalocean in particular).
Raaky
2018-10-03 12:33:05 +0000 UTCKudos for keeping the comic going and not just taking a hiatus. Any chance you can create an RSS feed when things are going again?
Aaron Gullison
2018-10-03 11:16:55 +0000 UTCNo problem Doc, I just became a Patreon and will keep up here AND see the other goodies! BTW: Thanks SO much for the artwork of the drum kit and Doc (the bear) in the back of my book! We love it!
Herohog
2018-10-03 05:34:25 +0000 UTCPlus I'm content to wait out the melodrama the site's going through too :D
2018-10-03 03:54:51 +0000 UTChaven't been able to send Dew $ your way in a while, but I'm waiting... all will come right, and then the Dew shall flow once more, and the steaks will be O2 BBQ'd once more.
2018-10-03 03:53:39 +0000 UTCNext time something like that happens, get them to at least redirect your url to another server with a proper temporary unavailable page on it. it's like five minutes of work for an admin.
drdeath
2018-10-02 20:27:56 +0000 UTCWhat tends to happen with machines that never get restarted is that there's often a backlog of updates and patches that have to be installed, and, "as long as the machine is going to be down for a few minutes anyway, let's ......" You can do a story just on this experience (and you prolly will).
Curt - Piper
2018-10-02 20:16:27 +0000 UTCAh, yes ... the classic "when it rains it pours" family of IT problems. Of course, these days that's going to be most of the visible problems, because singular failures are well guarded against.
Peter Jensen
2018-10-02 19:52:17 +0000 UTCWe can't completely rule that out. :)
Doc Nickel
2018-10-02 19:35:30 +0000 UTCAre you quite sure this didn't involve a platoon of six-foot high red robots firing death rays?
Sturzkampf
2018-10-02 19:27:41 +0000 UTC
