Saturday, November 27, 2010

Servers Decommissioned - Now Using Email Service

What Happened?

Well, the primary server (host to all the virtual servers within) had a glitch in it's drive array.


Some Background First...

To explain, there's a drive array module which controls the computer's access to the hard drives. With this card, I can pair a number of drives together to logically so they appear to the operating system (i.e. Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS, VMware ESX/vSphere, Novell Netware, etc.) as one big drive or a couple of big drives.

When a drive array spans 3 or more drives, the drive array starts to use parity technology for redundancy. This is, in short, a mathematical calculation where a block of data is stored on any of the drives and it's mathematical checksum is stored on the other drives. What this does is provide a high level of redundancy in the event a hard drive within the array of drives goes bad. Very cool so long as fewer than half of the drives in the array go bad at one time.


Back to the Issue...

None of my drives are reporting any issues.

In my case the array glitched (similar to losing power or power spike) and lost the drive configuration. In higher end array modules (and even in this one) I'm supposed to be able to pull the array configuration from the drive back to the card. That failed due to something with the glitch.


What About Backups?

I very likely could have restored from backup if I had backups of each virtual machine - remember though, each virtual machine is essentially a complete computer in and of itself (and I have - correction, had - quite a few). So, unfortunately, I do not have the resources (technically or financially) to do backups of these systems on that level. And I learned long ago with email and database systems, if you don't go all the way with backups (and backup everything) it's best to just do what you can to minimize your losses and downtime.


You did maintenance on the servers the other day. Did that have a play or possibly cause this issue?

Short answer, No. I was done with maintenance on Saturday and the server crashed while I was out buying presents on Tuesday around noon. Plus, what I did had no relation to the drive array system.


My Analogy of the Issue...

Probably the best way to explain this is, if you drive a full stretch Cadillac and go to the grocery store and fill up that huge trunk with groceries, and then 30 miles down the road simultaneously all four tires blow and the transmission breaks, do you think it's because the trunk is full of groceries or is it possible something else which may have happened (like running over glass in the roadway)? :-)

As for backing it up, we could probably have four spare tires in the trunk as well as a spare transmission - but it's unlikely anyone would go to that length of protection on a personal basis.


What Now?

For anyone using my email server, I've transferred it out to a service (provided by No-IP.com) so it will no longer go down (at least - not because of something I've done, or my Internet connection, or my server glitching). I've gone ahead and paid the first year service fees to get the transfer going and email is already flowing in. This service was already providing basic anti-spam services (I didn't have them set too high) so it will continue to do that - and we can also increase the spam protection services as well as the settings for individuals. I will also be re-setting up the reflection addresses which existed in my own server (things like group addresses which forward/reflect email to all members of the group).



What are the differences?

Here are the differences which you'll notice:

  • No server based calendar. Personal calendar within your email client (i.e. Outlook, Apple Calendar, etc.) will be useable.
  • No server based address book. I think everyone had their own address book on their computer anyways. This will still work the same.
  • Web Email will have a different look and feel.

If you wish to use another email service (such as Comcast or Verizon) and want your "@flaming.ws" or "@feely.ws" email forwarded to it, please let me know.

Also, the reverse is true - if you wish to use the "@flaming.ws" or "@feely.ws" email service and currently have another service, please let me know. Either way can be accommodated and this email service is guaranteed to be up 99.99% of the time.


What Else?

For those of you who are using my Corporate Antivirus license, that server is also gone. Your Antivirus client will be fine for a couple of weeks if you wish to buy another (I would highly recommend it). I would recommend Trend Micro or AVG. I've not used AVG but have heard it is good from others. For those who have multiple computers (I think everyone does) and want to purchase Trend Micro, I've provided a link to the online store which allows you to purchase Trend Micro for multiple computers.

A couple little tricks on purchasing Antivirus software - specifically Trend Micro

  1. Purchase it ONLINE from Trend Micro. Don't go to the store! You'll pay more at the store!!

  2. Buy the best one. It's worth it!

  3. Trend Micro

  4. I really like Trend Micro, but when purchasing Trend Micro or any other software, be aware of the "Download Protection Service". It's a waste of money! You'll always be able to download a copy of Trend Micro's software - no matter the situation!

  5. Download Protection Service

    Hit the "Trash Can" icon to remove the "Download Protection Service" and save yourselves about $8.

  6. Don't skimp on virus protection! Remember everything you have on your computer - and what a malicious person could do with it. Trend Micro is having a serious sale right now so now's the time to purchase for your Windows pc.

Is that everything?

Surprisingly, that's about it. Amazing how a complete system wipe can bring you back to a clean slate.

The only other thing is an apology for any inconvenience or issues this may have caused to anyone. Know that your email is now in better hands now and will not go down.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Server Down....Unknown Reason

Well this really irritates me. After brining it up the other day from the configuration changes, everything has been running fine until today (and I've left it alone since). Apparently sometime after noon today (Tuesday) the virtual machine host server just stopped working. Technically, the Logical Disk Array (I have 4 large drives acting as one in case of a drive failure) dropped all of it's configurations and none of the drives are reporting valid drive configuration including the disk controller. So 5 sets of drive configuration information are all gone in an instant (that was the backup too).

Talk about a disaster.... That scream of frustration you heard was me.

Still troubleshooting and attempting to figure out how to proceed for now.


ARGH!!!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Monday, November 22, 2010

Seattle with Snow

It snows in Seattle!!?

Yes! On occasion the white stuff does fall here in and around the Emerald City.

Unfortunately, most people around Western Washington State do not know how to act, let alone drive, in the frozen H2O.

Yesterday, and last night especially, it dipped well below freezing so the ground was well suited for the stuff. As of around 8am this morning (the 22nd of Nov) it started lightly snowing and and stopped in my area just about an hour ago as it cleared up and the temp dropped even further (19 deg F right now). While we only have about 4" on the ground (most has blown away in the 30Mph winds), the snow on the streets started sticking and freezing solid early on.

My back yard as of 4pm.





Did I mention Washingtonians don't know how to drive in it? Here's a screen shot of the Seattle Area Traffic map from the Seattle Freeways app on my iPad.

Note: That's a bus turned sideways on the freeway in the smaller inset image.





Yes, people have been stuck on the freeways for hours....and hours. Did I mention people don't know how to drive in snow here? Thank goodness I work from home! :-)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Intermittent Outages This Week

Just a reminder....All servers are back online (flaming.ws and feely.ws email as well as other - FTP, etc.)! Currently I'm trying to fix the Antivirus server for those of you who use my corporate AV license for your Windows systems.

However, please don't be surprised if there are temporary outages this week while I fix issues (the AV issue and others), perform maintenance and cleanup. And if my new server arrives this weeks, there will be some longer outages while I install it and move systems around to it.

So for now, all is well. As always, I will keep the Flaming Family web site updated so you can always go to www.flaming.ws for any updates and post a comment if you need anything.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

All Servers Are Up

All servers are back online!

Turns out the new Intel PRO/1000 Dual Port Network Adapter
was not the correct item needed for the additional capacity necessary to support the move of the firewall. I ended up reconfiguring my VMware ESX virtual host server to accommodate the virtual appliance firewall with the hardware configuration I was already running. In the process, I also upgraded the firewall to a newer system as well.

I won't be able to fully load it until I get the new server in to offload a few things to it, but the new virtual firewall does run better than my old Dell Dimension (a Pentium Pro 400Mhz system with 650MB of RAM and about 10GB in hard drive space - archaic by today's standards).

So for now, all is well. As always, I will keep the Flaming Family web site updated so you can always go to www.flaming.ws for any updates and post a comment if you need anything.

Servers are Down for Hardware Updates

I am bringing the servers down at this time (email) to update hardware in preparations for the firewall migration from the physical white-box firewall into a virtual appliance firewall.

In case anyone is interested, I will be installing a new Intel PRO/1000 Dual Port Server Adapter
network adapter for the additional capacity necessary to support the virtual appliance firewall.

During this time, I will keep the Flaming Family web site updated so you can always go to www.flaming.ws for any updates and post a comment if you need anything.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Computer Updates for Thanksgiving Week

Just a reminder, during the week of Thanksgiving, there will be some server outages to those of you using my email server (@flaming.ws and @feely.ws).

I will be conducting at least one upgrade if not more on the following:

Firewall Move:

Additional maintenance may also occur.

  1. Server Operating System Updates.
  2. Server Reboots.
  3. Service Migrations (License Servers, Log Servers, Web Servers) to other systems.
  4. Service Maintenance (cleanup of aforementioned services and logs).

During this time, I will keep the Flaming Family web site updated so you can always go to www.flaming.ws for any updates and post a comment if you need anything.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Bad Drive?

So my very first laptop has finally died - or, at least, the hard drive within it died (my Dell Inspiron 8600 I bought 6 or 7 years ago). I only had it running a web cam, a license server, and a network attached drive which was backup to some other things so no huge loss (had all the data copied off elsewhere too). Still...annoying as I now have to recreate the services elsewhere.

Anyways...I thought I'd share this picture as even my diagnostic tools are indicating a "bad drive".

Click picture for larger image.



To help interpret this screen, in 27 hours, 21 minutes, and 42 seconds, it's only scanned two sectors of the drive and the second is not only bad but unrecoverable. It's working on the third segment - so less than 0.3% complete. To bring perspective here, this tool should only take about 30 minutes to scan a 350GB drive (the size of drive here). It's estimating another 11,142 hours, 37 minutes, and 4 seconds. In case you can't do math that quickly, that's 464 days (or 1 year and 99 days), 6 hours, 37 minutes, and 4 seconds. So...yeah...bad drive. :-)

Oh well....that's why we have a technology called "Backup".

I.T. Rule #1 - Backup, Backup, Backup!
I.T. Rule #2 - When all else fails, revert back to rule #1.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Upcoming Server Outages

Just a forewarning, during the week of Thanksgiving, there will be some server outages to those of you using my email server (@flaming.ws and @feely.ws).

I will be conducting at least one upgrade if not more on the following:
Firewall Move:
a. Migration of the physical white-box firewall into a virtual appliance.
b. Physically installing a couple of Network Ports.

Additional maintenance may also occur.

1. Server Operating System Updates.
2. Server Reboots.
3. Service Migrations (License Servers, Log Servers, Web Servers) to other systems.
4. Service Maintenance (cleanup of aforementioned services and logs).

During this time, I will keep the Flaming Family web site updated so you can always go to www.flaming.ws for any updates and post a comment if you need anything.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Veterans Day Salute

Well, it's Veteran's Day - the day we honor all who have and are serving our fine country. For a history of how Veterans Day came into existence, check out the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs - History of Veterans Day. Did you know Veterans Day was originally known as "Armistice Day"?

In honor of my family's Veterans, here is a picture of my Grandfather during WWII.



Grandpa, Thanks for your service. You will always be remembered.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Monday, November 1, 2010

Cortona Countryside - Follow-up Posting

Terrie and Celeste went hiking around Cortona one afternoon (I think Terrie was secretly looking for places to buy but can't be certain) and they took some really neat shots which I thought I'd share here.

This first one is a neat view from up near the top parts of Cortona.



This was from the same vantage point as the above picture, except looking off to the right.



This was looking in the same direction as the above picture, however completely zoomed out.



These next couple are of some really neat little courtyards and entry ways.













Another nice view from atop Cortona.





Just an awesome entry way. Check out how steep the street is.