Planned site downtime this weekend

Author: Tim Smalley
Published: 27th March 2008
Comments (68) Stumble
Planned site downtime this weekend

bit-tech.net will be moving to new servers this Saturday morning (GMT), so you may experience some difficulties getting to the site.

As a result of our hard work, and you reading all of the content we've been publishing, bit-tech has seen some phenomenal growth over the past twelve months - we only have you, our readers, to thank for the success.

I am sure that some of you may have noticed that we have had a few short periods of downtime in the past six to eight weeks - the long of the short is that our traffic, which is at all-time record levels, has outgrown the current server infrastructure.

We've always strived to keep bit-tech as fast as possible with efficient code so that, even during the busiest periods when our servers are being assaulted by the hordes, you're still able to read our content without long delays between page loads.

The good thing is that we're pleased to say that we will be moving bit-tech to a new datacentre this weekend. We're deploying more hardware in order to cope with our projected growth over the next twelve months, and we will be adding more servers as and when they are required.

Things will kick off early on Saturday morning, where we'll be closing the forums for a few hours while we transfer both the site and forum databases to the new servers. During this time, we will also be transferring our DNS records, which will mean that you may not be able to reach any of the bit-tech sites via their respective domains.

If you are unable to reach us via the domain name, the new IP addresses for the site and forums will be as follows:
  • www.bit-tech.net - 91.198.165.67
  • forums.bit-tech.net - 91.198.165.69
We apologise in advance for any problems you might have reaching the site over the next few days, but we hope for normal service to resume by Monday at the latest.

For those wondering where we'll be moving, TSOHost is where we're going. It's owned by Adam Smith - a long-time bit-tech reader who has been reading the site almost since the day we started this craziness back in 2001.

Once again, thank you for your patience and support on behalf of all of us at bit-tech!

Discuss in the forums
Quote DougEdey 27th March 2008, 19:35
Wahey! A UK Server! Does this mean that page loads will be better for us home county folks?
Quote Shadowed_fury 27th March 2008, 19:46
Bit is coming home! :)
Quote specofdust 27th March 2008, 19:58
So which user is Adam Smith? Out of interest.
Quote chicorasia 27th March 2008, 20:04
<CRAVING>must... read.... bit-tech....</CRAVING>
Quote cpemma 27th March 2008, 20:07
Quote:
Originally Posted by TSOHost
Over February we ran a competition offering a year's free hosting to any one that submitted a testimonial or review of Tsohost. All of the entrants were entered into a hat (well, a MySQL database) and a winner was picked at random by using the SQL query ORDER BY RAND() LIMIT 1.

Thanks to all that contributed, we're always interested in listening to your thoughts on how we can make Tsohost better and we value all your opinions. It's great to get fantastic feedback and praise, but it's also great to know what we can do to improve. This month we're pleased to announce that Mr Timothy Smalley and his website bit-tech.net are the recipients of a year's free web hosting.
All is revealed...
Quote specofdust 27th March 2008, 20:12
har har har. Teh funneh. Etc.
Quote Mr T 27th March 2008, 20:26
Come on spill the server specs :)
Quote Tim S 27th March 2008, 20:27
Quote:
Originally Posted by cpemma
Quote:
Originally Posted by TSOHost
Over February we ran a competition offering a year's free hosting to any one that submitted a testimonial or review of Tsohost. All of the entrants were entered into a hat (well, a MySQL database) and a winner was picked at random by using the SQL query ORDER BY RAND() LIMIT 1.

Thanks to all that contributed, we're always interested in listening to your thoughts on how we can make Tsohost better and we value all your opinions. It's great to get fantastic feedback and praise, but it's also great to know what we can do to improve. This month we're pleased to announce that Mr Timothy Smalley and his website bit-tech.net are the recipients of a year's free web hosting.
All is revealed...

LOL
Quote devdevil85 27th March 2008, 20:31
now it all makes sense.....
Quote johnmustrule 27th March 2008, 21:02
NOOOOOOO! must read...
Quote r4tch3t 27th March 2008, 21:21
Yay New servers... Nooo bits going to be down.
Quote antiHero 27th March 2008, 21:58
Wohoo new gear is always good, but should i do all weekend then :(

Who is Adam?
Quote Brett89 27th March 2008, 22:00
Quote:
Originally Posted by r4tch3t
Yay New servers... Nooo bits going to be down.

QFT, what will I do.
Quote samkiller42 27th March 2008, 22:12
Well timed Tim, i'm at work all day Saturday, so i won't notice the down time.
Congrats on the new servers, and good luck on the transfer.

*Note, please remember to move my profile, as at work, my personal information was lost (some of it) after transfering section within the same damn building...Muppets.

Sam
Quote PHILIP1193 27th March 2008, 22:54
we want server specs, we want server specs, we want server specs, we want server specs..... and so the chant continues :P

Phil
Quote Ramble 27th March 2008, 23:02
Moving back to the homeland, wahey.
Good news.
Quote HugoB 27th March 2008, 23:03
Quote:
Originally Posted by PHILIP1193
we want server specs, we want server specs, we want server specs, we want server specs..... and so the chant continues :P

Look no further

Okay, actually that's just the oldest whole system review I could find...
Quote steveo_mcg 27th March 2008, 23:12
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hugo
Look no further

Okay, actually that's just the oldest whole system review I could find...

oi, my machine isn't much better than that now, 3 years later.
Quote [USRF]Obiwan 28th March 2008, 11:12
I always thought the servers where sitting in some rack in the UK. But reading the comments it seems it didnt. But why move? Why dont just make a mirror with the current servers.
Quote Tim S 28th March 2008, 11:26
We wanted to move the servers closer to us - they're going to be just down the road (like 15 minutes drive away) in the new datacentre. The Planet, our current hosts (or should that be previous?), have been fantastic over the years we have been with them and it's sad to change, but we wanted to bring bit home.

Ultimately, we're a UK site and that was one of the major reasons for moving them back to the UK, but we recognise that we have a sizeable North American readership. I don't envisage there being much of a difference though - in fact, it should be faster for everyone as we're putting some pretty serious hardware behind the site.
Quote Bauul 28th March 2008, 13:57
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tim S
I don't envisage there being much of a difference though - in fact, it should be faster for everyone as we're putting some pretty serious hardware behind the site.

Like whole MEGAHERTZ of speed! ROXORS!
Quote DougEdey 28th March 2008, 16:45
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bauul
Like whole MEGAHERTZ of speed! ROXORS!

What'll happen to the small Hampsters that Jamie runs on a wheel with to power the servers? Will they be rehomed or used in a stew?
Quote Glider 28th March 2008, 16:50
Quote:
Originally Posted by DougEdey
What'll happen to the small Hampsters that Jamie runs on a wheel with to power the servers? Will they be rehomed or used in a stew?

I don't think Bindi will make a good stew...
Quote RTT 28th March 2008, 16:56
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr T
Come on spill the server specs :)

I think Jamie muttered something about 8 cores per server
Quote HugoB 28th March 2008, 17:07
Quote:
Originally Posted by RTT
I think Jamie muttered something about 8 cores per server

Pfft, Tim has that in his desktop PC.
Quote Jamie 28th March 2008, 17:34
Just 4 cores per server so we now have twice as many as we previously did.
Quote byronrock 28th March 2008, 21:53
Goog for bit-tech. Im reader of you since 1 year, but i never read the forum until a couple of weeks.
Cheers from Central America
Quote Jamie 29th March 2008, 07:19
The move has gone smoothly.

Until the DNS has completely switched over you will not be able to login on the site for commenting however you can use the forums as normal.

If you spot any missing images or have trouble accessing something, please let us know.
Quote The_Pope 29th March 2008, 09:27
All seems f.quick from here - ggwp

UPDATE - fast isn't the word. These servers are FLYING!
Quote Spaceraver 29th March 2008, 09:35
Thank god Jamie it went smoothly.. When the site went blackout this morning.. Sadness in my eyes..
After an hour or so.. Dispair.. I could not even sleep before i was sure i could access Bit again.
(And I am not even lying, been up since 4 pm) :o

Mother.. Is that you?
Quote DougEdey 29th March 2008, 09:50
Well done lads. Hopefully the next time we get a superb mod (this week plz) we won't get "Server is too busy, Jamies gone for a poo" messages.
Quote lamboman 29th March 2008, 12:46
Much faster than before.
Quote Glider 29th March 2008, 12:57
Can't say I notice a difference... But then again for me the site has always been quite fast, or not working due to overload.
Quote Adam 29th March 2008, 14:00
I'm glad you're all enjoying the speed. The guys at Bit have invested in some very high end hardware and bandwidth to improve the experience for you guys.

We're of course very proud to be hosting such a large community of fellow nerds 'tech enthusiasts' ;) and look forward to doing so for years to come. It's a bit of a milestone for me since I originally joined this forum long before I founded UK Web and long before we bought Tsohost back in 06.

I've not posted much recently due to a lack of spare time (the life of a small business owner is a hectic one) but I've resurrected my old forum account and my colleague Darren (user daz) has done the same. We're both intending to be active members here... especially since Bit is now the fastest forum around :D.
Quote specofdust 29th March 2008, 14:07
And on the brightside, you can do pretty much whatever you want without fear of being banned :D
Quote badders 29th March 2008, 14:18
The speed hasn't changed. Thoughg I think I'm limited by my shitty internet connection.
Quote Adam 29th March 2008, 14:22
Quote:
Originally Posted by badders
The speed hasn't changed. Thoughg I think I'm limited by my shitty internet connection.

This site does take a little while to render too, especially on a slower machine like a laptop. This is due to the extra menus + banners + graphics which a standard vBulletin forum doesn't have.
Quote Yotta 29th March 2008, 16:31
Would the move be causing thread subscription to stop working? I haven't had any through since yesterday. It's not my email, just sent one to myself. Checked UserCP as well.

Is this effecting anyone else?
Quote Jamie 29th March 2008, 17:04
Quote:
Originally Posted by Yotta
Would the move be causing thread subscription to stop working? I haven't had any through since yesterday. It's not my email, just sent one to myself. Checked UserCP as well.

Is this effecting anyone else?

I've noticed that some strict mail servers are rejecting emails from the server. I think Adam has resolved this now so let us know if they are getting through now.
Quote MrWillyWonka 29th March 2008, 17:12
I think I have noticed an increase but not significant for me to be overjoyed because it was already fast enough for me in the first place.

Wait till we get 2000 users online, then we'll be testing the server!
Quote wuyanxu 29th March 2008, 17:17
Quote:
Originally Posted by Adam

We're of course very proud to be hosting such a large community of fellow nerds 'tech enthusiasts' ;)

that's right, get it right!

feels faster, yay.
Quote notatoad 29th March 2008, 17:24
definitely much quicker here. and that's pretty impressive, considering that the server has actually moved *away* from me.
Quote zoom314 29th March 2008, 17:41
Nice server, No I had no tribble at all in finding the Klingon engine room from here. :D
Quote TomH 29th March 2008, 18:37
Shall we play a game of 'Slashdot Bit' and see how far the new servers get? :D
Quote cpemma 29th March 2008, 20:57
I'm getting a heck of a lot of "The connection was reset" messages, making things very slow. Tried a dns flush and a cache empty, not helping. Let's hope it goes away soon. :(
Quote DougEdey 29th March 2008, 21:53
Could be your DNS server updating.
Quote Adam 29th March 2008, 22:27
I don't see how this could be related to DNS caching.

If you'd like to PM me with your IP address and a traceroute I'll look into it for you.

Have you tried a different browser/PC on the same network?
Quote Tim S 30th March 2008, 05:04
DNS is propagating well it seems - the site works great (and is very fast) here in China.
Quote r4tch3t 30th March 2008, 05:25
I have noticed a speed increase here, lucky for me the Bit down time landed on a Saturday night here.
Quote Woodstock 30th March 2008, 06:13
Quote:
Originally Posted by r4tch3t
I have noticed a speed increase here, lucky for me the Bit down time landed on a Saturday night here.

its kinda sad that i noticed it happen
Quote RTT 30th March 2008, 10:23
Good job guys :)
Quote DougEdey 30th March 2008, 23:54
It's gone amazingly slow for me, almost as bad as Digg.
Quote m0o0oeh 31st March 2008, 00:02
Took me ages to get from frontpage to forum, but now I'm here it doesn't seem too bad...

But that may just be a crappy laptop and wireless connection.

Joe
Quote Adam 31st March 2008, 00:06
Everything looks normal here. Load is virtually zero, requests per second are normal, nothing in the error logs. Is anyone else finding the forums or the main website slow?
Quote hitman012 31st March 2008, 01:36
It's definitely faster than it was before for me ;)
Quote completemadness 31st March 2008, 04:02
seems PDQ to me
Quote r4tch3t 31st March 2008, 07:05
Quote:
Originally Posted by m0o0oeh
Took me ages to get from frontpage to forum, but now I'm here it doesn't seem too bad...

But that may just be a crappy laptop and wireless connection.

Joe
Have you tried again, the first time I went to the forums it took a little longer to load but now its much faster.
Quote CardJoe 31st March 2008, 07:39
Quote:
Originally Posted by m0o0oeh
Took me ages to get from frontpage to forum, but now I'm here it doesn't seem too bad...

But that may just be a crappy laptop and wireless connection.

Joe

Same here (my home) on a wired connection...
Quote DougEdey 31st March 2008, 10:38
Seems to be back up to speed nw
Quote cpemma 31st March 2008, 18:45
Quote:
Originally Posted by Adam
Quote:
Originally Posted by cpemma
I'm getting a heck of a lot of "The connection was reset" messages, making things very slow. Tried a dns flush and a cache empty, not helping. Let's hope it goes away soon. :(

I don't see how this could be related to DNS caching.

If you'd like to PM me with your IP address and a traceroute I'll look into it for you.

Have you tried a different browser/PC on the same network?
Pings and Tracert looked good, 30/31mS to both sites.

I was having the same trouble in IE and FF, think I've cracked it reducing MTU from Vista default 1500 to 1430. Apparently Vista can't auto-adjust my MTU to suit as I'm un-pingable. Does that make any sense re your servers? :?

Whatever, seems to work OK now. :)
Quote Glider 31st March 2008, 19:13
I tought 1500 was standard (it surely is on Linux) but Windows uses an other calculation method so that 1500 on Linux is 14XX on Windows. Not sure tough.
Quote cpemma 31st March 2008, 19:50
Quote:
Originally Posted by Glider
I thought 1500 was standard (it surely is on Linux) but Windows uses an other calculation method so that 1500 on Linux is 14XX on Windows. Not sure though.
1500 is the maximum and common, but some servers transmit smaller packets. AOL use 1400 IIRC, at one time the BT network was using 1458 or some such figure.
Quote dom_ 31st March 2008, 20:20
I have a slight problem. Since the fix i keep having to sign in when i come back to the site. The box is ticked and all that, but it still wont auto sign in.
Quote cpemma 31st March 2008, 20:24
Quote:
Originally Posted by dom_
Since the fix i keep having to sign in when i come back to the site...
Try clearing the old cookies.
Quote DougEdey 31st March 2008, 20:59
Dunno why but every time I view any thread or forum at the moment all the images refresh, even the ones that are cached
Quote Glider 31st March 2008, 21:01
Quote:
Originally Posted by cpemma
1500 is the maximum and common, but some servers transmit smaller packets. AOL use 1400 IIRC, at one time the BT network was using 1458 or some such figure.

1500 certainly isn't the maximum... look at jumbo frames in switches...
Quote completemadness 31st March 2008, 22:06
I think it depends on your ISP, auto adjust is supposed to deal with this, but i guess not in this case

I believe my connection to BT is around 1450 or something, but i haven't looked at the modem in a long time
Quote dom_ 1st April 2008, 08:51
Quote:
Originally Posted by cpemma
Try clearing the old cookies.

Done that but it has not helped.
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