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Board » General Discussion » Global Challenge downtime - how to cope with server outages

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Posted by
Jeroen


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2007-08-15 09:17:47
2012-11-26 10:59:26 - Global Challenge downtime - how to cope with server outages
Hi all,

As a result of DNS problems sol was down for some time. This always sparks a debate on how to deal wit it, lets see what the views are and come up with a couple of scenario's.

We might be able to implement some standard rules from this so that we have fixed guidelines on how to deal with a situation depending on the time it lasted for example. Keep in mind that the type of race that is affected plays a big part in this as well.

In this case a few where able to access the servers during downtime by using a workaround that they implied or still had after a earlier problem.

Looking forward to read your feedback on this.

I am a ex-admin of SOL who joins in from time to time.
Posted by
NZL_Scotsman


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2008-10-04 07:59:40
2012-11-26 11:32:16 - Re: Global Challenge downtime - how to cope with server outages
We might be able to apply some sort of redress where boats are awarded time if they were delayed due to server outage. One way to review this would be to run a router of optimum route vs actual to evaluate time lost.

Not sure how to do this quickly for the whole fleet. To go through each boat would be time consuming as well as open to argument.
Posted by
NZL_Scotsman


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2012-11-26 11:34:17 - Re: Global Challenge downtime - how to cope with server outages
The situation of the race obviously makes a big difference. Today's outage didn't affect me much as I had dcs set all day. One of the last outages I bbq'd and lost time.

That is why I think review and redress might work.
Posted by
WIN


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2009-07-09 23:32:07
2012-11-26 11:49:32 - Re: Global Challenge downtime - how to cope with server outages
Ciao my friends ;)

I have read the debate in chat , and this is my view :

Lou is right in saying that the Community should know what the rules are in case of internet of server downtime .

I think that Lou has not been affected in this particular case , but that is not dismissing the sentence above.

I am confident that in the not distant future we will have a system in place....my idea is the following :

Group of three judges , trusted by the community .....if a racer believes he/she has been damaged during a race by ANYTHING appeals to the let's call it Race Committee, who will decide based on two out of three votes , and the relevant decision will be published, substantiated and applied .

The good thing about the above idea is that we would work towards seamingless with reality .

IMO in case of failure of contact with still running boat , in open waters , and without massive changes in WX across an update , the impact on racing should be considered very minimal and within limits of acceptability .

As I said , I am confident that we will get there .

Ciao ALL ;)
Posted by
Jeroen


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2012-11-26 12:37:03 - Re: Global Challenge downtime - how to cope with server outages
A number of options came by in the initial chat, repeating them here:
# rollback, reverse the race to the point of outage.
# block all racing for the duration of problems. Addressing the possible split in technical level, problem solving.
# accept this as part of "normal" racing and asses the impact on a individual race level.
I am a ex-admin of SOL who joins in from time to time.
Posted by
ALL_4_Aaron


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2012-09-22 11:10:08
2012-11-26 13:30:23 - Re: Global Challenge downtime - how to cope with server outages
IMO #1 and #2 are not the answer , as we can neither stop , nor rewind the WX , and stopping the racing as if server would halt , would change the complete pic for the remaining 7 days , given different WX on each single moment of remaining sailing ....so ....

#3 is the only way ...assess impact on race if any boats demonstrates to have been highly damaged..... is where my idea above fits ....;)

as to minor damages that can anytime affect anyone we must live with the fact that SOL is internet constrained , as sailing is constrained by unpredictable external factors.

ciao
Posted by
ALL_4_Aaron


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2012-11-26 13:31:47 - Re: Global Challenge downtime - how to cope with server outages
sorry ...the above comment is from me ...WIN ..;)

ciao
Posted by
Svein


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2009-05-04 15:09:20
2012-11-26 14:49:57 - Re: Global Challenge downtime - how to cope with server outages
IMO it should be made crystal-clear to all in conjunction with registration that the present technology is not faultproof and that outages (short or long) may occur. There is NO failsafe version of IRL-sailing either. Question: is there a way to disable WA or to block access via "cleverness" during the time that SOL is inoperative?
Posted by
hmm


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2011-11-03 13:35:22
2012-11-26 15:12:13 - Re: Global Challenge downtime - how to cope with server outages
I must say that my mindset during the DNS problem was not trying to block web access from everyone so that all boats would be treated equally but just the opposite, try to get as many people the ability to access the server.

As for the DNS problem itself. It first manifested by some people not being to access the server, this is because the DNS information is stored to individual DNS servers around the world for each persons internet provider. So how each person was affected depended on when the internet provider server happened to refresh it's data and it's also dependent on the server settings that DNS server happened to have. There is no way of knowing how long the downtime was for each person.

As the admin point of view, my mindset is usually trying to solve the issue as fast as possible. Usually the reason is also initially unclear so you don't really know what are the actions needed to to be "fair" to all users.

Also delayed commands and weather updates were executed during this outage in normal way, so in case you happened to be away and relying on them you were not affected in any way.

In my view the only way to do this is the way Winston suggested, that we'll have an independent race committee which you can request redress from.

As the technical administrator, I would myself like to keep my mind on the technical matters. Of course I will try my best to do the actions which are the most fair to everyone when there is an issue but the technical solution is usually my first concern.

If we choose to have the race committee, I can give the race committee my estimation how each boat was affected by the issue (list of dc's issued, network outages etc). However, as the administration is mostly done on voluntary basis, I must say that too complicated redress handling might increase the administrator's workload quite a bit. Currently there is no ability on the sailonline.org server to give redress to anyone, but it can be probably be added if needed.
Posted by
Lou


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2011-03-03 20:54:54
2012-11-26 18:29:09 - Re: Global Challenge downtime - how to cope with server outages
Hi all,
First off all sorry for making such an argument this morning for something that didn't realy influenced my race, but on other occasions it was, and a lot of boats lost a lot during the server problems.
Is it not possible in case of losing the server to freeze completly the race, all boats remain in the same position and the weather system is also freezed, so until there nobody is dammaged. Then when technical problems are solved, reorganise a start, everybody remains in his position, SOL makes an announcement on the homepage for the restart date and hour, then go on racing without updating the weather, this means using the gribs of the past, so everybody can keep to his plans, If this happens in the first 24 hours of a race i would suggest a complete restart.
I think that Winstons idea is a good one, but a very difficult one that could lead to more arguments.
Still think that it's important to find a solution, as soon as possible, we are underway, some did spend a lot of time on this race and then it can be really frustrating, if that is the case, seeing your race ruined by technical problems.
Ciao, Lou

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