Seti is down again

[msattler]

Hopefully they get some of the new computers on-line sooner than later.

Well, supposedly bruno is retired now, with bambi taking over upload duties.
I am not sure if they have finalized specs and actually placed the order for Oscar, the brand new powerful server which the Seti folk donated so generously for.  It certainly is not online yet, and probably won't be for a few weeks at best.  So I hope they can get mork stabilized between now and then.

[Gizbar]

Hopefully they get some of the new computers on-line sooner than later.

Well, supposedly bruno is retired now, with bambi taking over upload duties.
I am not sure if they have finalized specs and actually placed the order for Oscar, the brand new powerful server which the Seti folk donated so generously for.  It certainly is not online yet, and probably won't be for a few weeks at best.  So I hope they can get mork stabilized between now and then.

Can't check as the website still says bruno is running...

Just as one thing gets fixed, another rears it's ugly head! Boo! Just got one machine up and running after problems with it crashing over the weekend, now the other has run out of work! Has anybody suggested a flaky power supply possibly for some of the problems besieging mork? I know that Mark said that they're looking at changing out some ram on it today. There must be a reason why it keeps crashing, and it seems to be getting worse and more frequent...

Giz.

[perryjay]

Looks like they are going ahead with the scheduled 3 day outage....

Weekly Outage and Initial Catch Up
Every Tuesday morning (Pacific time) we begin a 3 day data distribution outage to focus on science processing and development plus any needed systems maintenance. The upload/download servers will be offline during this time. The web site (including the forums) will only be offline during the database maintenance and backup portion of the outage. On Friday, you may experience connectivity issues as the servers catch up with demand. 5 Oct 2010 16:34:36 UTC

[msattler]

Looks like they are going ahead with the scheduled 3 day outage....

Weekly Outage and Initial Catch Up
Every Tuesday morning (Pacific time) we begin a 3 day data distribution outage to focus on science processing and development plus any needed systems maintenance. The upload/download servers will be offline during this time. The web site (including the forums) will only be offline during the database maintenance and backup portion of the outage. On Friday, you may experience connectivity issues as the servers catch up with demand. 5 Oct 2010 16:34:36 UTC

That is an automated message........
It is unclear at this time whether they will actually have an extended outage or not.  I suspect if they can get mork back online, they would want to restart data distribution ASAP....due to all the recent downtime.  But that is purely my conjecture.

And Oscar is slated to replace thumper as the master science database....so they really still need to get mork sorted and stable.

[perryjay]

Yeah but every time I look at the server status page it's different. Guess they are playing with everything while trying to get things working.

[Zeus Fab3r]

And Oscar is slated to replace thumper as the master science database....so they really still need to get mork sorted and stable.

I remember that Matt talked about the three problematic server. But I do not remember that Thumper was the one who recently made the most problems. I believe that it was Mork from the beginning, and perhaps it should be replaced first?
OTOH, Mork is their only server capable of handling the mysql database... I can only guess how it's like being in their shoes.

[Geek@Play]

So SETI provided us with more varied ways to search the database.  Badly needed improvements I might add.  Then surprise, surprise..........servers cannot deal with the increased database search requests.

Did anyone actually expect that the increased searches could be handled without problems?  Right now SETI cannot even keep up with uploads and downloads at the same time.  Users are simply overwhelming the system.

So one new server, paid for by some very generous crunchers.  Anyone think that will solve all the problems?

[Gizbar]

And Oscar is slated to replace thumper as the master science database....so they really still need to get mork sorted and stable.

I remember that Matt talked about the three problematic server. But I do not remember that Thumper was the one who recently made the most problems. I believe that it was Mork from the beginning, and perhaps it should be replaced first?
OTOH, Mork is their only server capable of handling the mysql database... I can only guess how it's like being in their shoes.

I think you're right. Mork has been a little unstable on and off since it was installed. The problem is that it is the most powerful server they have at the moment, and as such is relied upon to do much of the heavy work. It seems to be that as time goes on, it's flaws are being revealed more and more. I'm not sure how they can track the fault down on it, Mark said they are going to try to change the ram, and I've mentioned the power supply. I'm assuming that it has a redundant power supply, or the ability to hot swap it.

I know what you mean. 150,000 users all crying out for work, running round like chickens with their heads' cut off. Matt and co must be tearing their hair out trying to sort out the recurrent problems they've got. I've shut a machine down for the moment, as it has no work, and I'm trying to be patient. I don't crunch anything except Seti, and I still haven't been tempted enough to try an additional project.

Let's hope they can crack it, and if they do, maybe open the taps and let a bit of work out.

So SETI provided us with more varied ways to search the database.  Badly needed improvements I might add.  Then surprise, surprise..........servers cannot deal with the increased database search requests.

Did anyone actually expect that the increased searches could be handled without problems?  Right now SETI cannot even keep up with uploads and downloads at the same time.  Users are simply overwhelming the system.

So one new server, paid for by some very generous crunchers.  Anyone think that will solve all the problems?

Maybe not all of the problems, but it will hopefully provide a strong reliable server to start re-organising the rest of the servers and give a stable base to work from. It makes you wonder how they get any science done at all, when they're fire-fighting servers all the time. It might give them some time to pinpoint the most unreliable servers and work from there.


Giz.

[msattler]

Hopefully they get some of the new computers on-line sooner than later.

Well, supposedly bruno is retired now, with bambi taking over upload duties.
I am not sure if they have finalized specs and actually placed the order for Oscar, the brand new powerful server which the Seti folk donated so generously for.  It certainly is not online yet, and probably won't be for a few weeks at best.  So I hope they can get mork stabilized between now and then.

Can't check as the website still says bruno is running...

Just as one thing gets fixed, another rears it's ugly head! Boo! Just got one machine up and running after problems with it crashing over the weekend, now the other has run out of work! Has anybody suggested a flaky power supply possibly for some of the problems besieging mork? I know that Mark said that they're looking at changing out some ram on it today. There must be a reason why it keeps crashing, and it seems to be getting worse and more frequent...

Giz.

Eric says that subbing the power supplies is next on the list if the RAM swap does not make mork happy.  There are 2 power supplies, they would try subbing one, and then the other.  And he says they do have spares.

[VoidPilot]

yep the drought is certainly getting deeper...apart from the conversation above is there any view ecking out on when its going to come back up and, i suppose more importantly, whether they will open the gates to allow the waters to flow to quench our parched fields ??

[msattler]

Not certain.......
It depends on their luck with getting mork sorted.
If I can get any more news tomorrow morning I will post it here.

[VoidPilot]

thnx very much

vp

[Gizbar]

Eric says that subbing the power supplies is next on the list if the RAM swap does not make mork happy.  There are 2 power supplies, they would try subbing one, and then the other.  And he says they do have spares.

Thanks for the info, Mark.

I don't know much about servers to suggest much more. Never come across a faulty cpu after the Pentium IV problem that couldn't add up. Only thing left after that is the motherboard, or the server software. Even the ECC ram I wouldn't have expected to fail, but it's worth swapping if they have some spares. Hardware I know a bit about, server software I know zilch.

Giz.

[msattler]

Eric replied this morning that there was simply too much to do in one day trying to get things up and running.
He says he is hopeful for today......

The kitties are too, as I have rigs going idle one by one as they run out of kibble to crunch on.

[Zeus Fab3r]

Eric replied this morning that there was simply too much to do in one day trying to get things up and running.
He says he is hopeful for today......

The kitties are too, as I have rigs going idle one by one as they run out of kibble to crunch on.

Good news and it's good to know that we have an insider to keep us informed