Discuss: Where did ScubaBoard Go

[SmokeAire]

A very big thanks for not only making the effort to improve the board but the tremendous cost(?) and effort to get the board up and running again.
I must say that my surface interval with out the board is like a deep dive with a short filled tank..no fun.
Great dedication of you all.

Chuck

 

[sapphire]

I deleted cookies and re-booted and it works just fine now... thanks for all the work

 

[Diver0001]

Discuss: Where did ScubaBoard Go -- A brief explanation of the downtime.

http://www.scubaboard.com/t46107.html

First a big thank you. From what I hear the dedication and effort you put into solving this problem is commendable.

Having said that, we have seen an awful lot of downtime and problems lately. Do you think you have found a structural solution now or should we start a betting pool for how long it will last before the next big crash?

Scubaboard just hasn't been right since the installation of the new BBS software. I can't help but to think that I liked it better when it looked like sh*t but it worked.

R..

 

[Ted S]

Well considering that our old server crashed and died last week and our data was corrupting pretty often I'm not sure it was better but it would seem it had some luck. The new vb is well, knew and like any new tool it has a few problems here and there. As for the server, it should be good to go for now, we will be upgrading it with a full intel machine in a few months but for now I don't forsee any problems. Steps are being taken to improve redundancy in a way never before done for this board... we will have an alternative peer site for DNS just incase it goes out and hopefully an alternative install as well.

 

[Walter]

"I can't help but to think that I liked it better when it looked like sh*t but it worked."

Functional is always better, but I think it looked much better before the change.

 

[Genesis]

'Ye have to look at the tools underlying the pretty face. There's an old joke about putting lipstick on a pig in here somewhere...

SQL is a great tool, but the entire concept of a "database" is not just a layer of abstraction on a filesystem. Unfortunately, in the pursuit of performance, the database that underlies the BBS used here (and a bunch of others) has made certain design decisions that, IMHO, are inappropriate. Chief among them are the lack of transaction and referential integrity guarantees.

This can make what would otherwise be relatively minor problems turn into major data corruption nightmares, and its not addressable by the admins, since its inherent in the underlying structure that Vbulletin is built upon.

This has been hashed out in other forums relating to RDBMS choices over and over again, and while the MySQL folks have continued to slap lipstick on over the last few years they're handicapped by the original design goals for the code.

When things are all working fine, none of this matters. When the water turns brown its a different matter entirely.

 

[boney]

Just caught up in all the downtime threads... man that must have been bad!
Thanks for getting it all back up!

From the other thread it sounded like a HW issue, but strange that it persisted when you changed everything out... do they have the board running on a UPS? Maybe they are getting power surges that are frying the little itty bitty diodes, transistors, etc... but what do I know... I just work on the stuff for a living...

Thanks again guys!!!

 

[Ted S]

Just so we're all perfectly clear neither the database nor the forum software caused this downtime, it was a purely unrelated hardware issue. But at the same time Genesis is perfectly right in that mysql has some major questions and flaws both in the current code and their future development.

 

[Genesis]

Yeah, if it sounded like I was saying that MySQL caused this, I apologize - that was not what I was saying at all....

However, once problems HAPPEN, the speed with which the software "figures it out" and how much damage accrues before its caught has a LOT to do with the underlying technology in the software.

This, by the way, is one reason that vB (and its klones) are something that I've looked at many times, but have refused to use myself. I've done a "fits and starts" project to redevelop a conferencing package that originally ran in text mode called "AKCS" on Unix machines for the web - I've toyed with it on and off since the mid 90s when the web went "mainstream", but never have finished it.....

Things nag at me once in a while and a few more hours get spent... some day perhaps it'll be running, and no, it won't be MySQL-based

 

[Ted S]

Since we're on the subject are there any main-stream dbs similar to mysql (not too hard to setup, good interfacing) that you would recommend over mysql? I've seen a lot of debate back and forth from users but almost nothing from an outside point of view.