Army.ca Status- The History of Outages & Dark Days

[Old Cent Hand]

I would donate some money to this site .It is a good site , and alot of good people , have spent a great deal of time and effort into keeping it running.
PERSEVERANCE!

 

[Gunner]

If you wish to donate money to help run this site, you can do so through the administration tap at that top of the webpage (scroll down to donate).

Or you can click on this link:

Donations

 

[MikeM]

Keep up the hard work Mike!

I‘d be willing to donate a few bucks as well for the betterment of the site.

 

[K. Ash]

Is there either particular amount that would be sufficient, or exceptable..??

 

[Mike Bobbitt]

I‘m still working on getting a handle on what the upcoming expenses are going to be... Seems like $200 to get the connection going, $85/month (which includes all the extra bandwidth) and possibly $250-300 for improved hardware. I don‘t expect all these costs to be covered by the membership; I‘d like to keep this a free (and freely available) site.

I would never try to put a figure to a donation. Any amount is appreciated, and in lieu of a donation, simple encouragement also helps me know I‘m on the right track.


Thanks

 

[Army_Deej]

I just want to know what price of stamps it takes to mail something from British Columbia to Ontario for the donations. And I just want to make a special thanks to Mike for getting this site back up, and trying to make it better. It must have took alot of time.

 

[karpovage]

Mike, thanks for all your hardwork.

 

[Deleted member 585]

Sorry about the setback, Mike, and thanks for staying online.

 

[dano]

I‘ll do what I can to help out.

I don‘t know what I would do without you guys...

 

[Mike Bobbitt]

The hard drive from the "primary" system showed up today, so at some point tonight I‘m likely going to take the site down so I can diagnose the problem. I‘m hoping it will be under an hour, but it depends on how "interesting" the problem is.

Sorry for the short notice...


Cheers
Mike

 

[rcr]

I have no problem waiting. Good luck with it and thanks!

 

[Mike Bobbitt]

Here‘s the latest update...

I received the hard drive from the primary hardware today, and took a look at it. Turns out the problem was a simple one, and took less than 5 mins to diagnose and fix.

This now reaffirms that running the site remotely is not practical. (This minor problem caused an outage of almost a week and a whole lot of scrambling. All of which would have been avoided if I‘d hosted it locally.)

Don‘t get me wrong, since we were being hosted for free in BC, I‘m not complaining. However I think there‘s a better way.

Here‘s my plan:

1. Purchase a new connection that can handle our traffic requirements. I‘ve already started the ball rolling on this. Cost: $286.76 initial and $80/month.

2. Purchase new hardware and re-install Army.ca from scratch. This will do a few things. First, it‘ll get us on hardware that can handle our increasing load. (The current hardware is starting to strain.) It‘ll also get us off the "used" hardware that has been fairly problematic to date. (I‘d previously been a bit cheap on the hardware side, buying used gear... That doesn‘t seem to pay off.) It will also clean up some of the errors and misconfigurations that compound over time. I have not started on this step yet - it‘s a biggie. Cost: around $400.

My plan is to do this incrementally. Get the new connection up and running first, then tackle the new hardware. The timeline is fairly long, the new connection to be installed in 2-3 weeks, the new hardware in 1-2 months.

The success of this plan relies, at least in part, on donations. I grit my teeth at the thought, but raising a few bucks will sure make life easier. I‘m nearly sold out of shirts, or I‘d propose that as a reasonable fund raiser. Maybe there‘s a better way...?

In the end, I know we‘ll have a faster, more capable and more stable web site to enjoy.

I‘m open to feedback on this plan, and if anyone has questions or concerns, please let me know.

For everyone who has already donated, recently and previously, I am grateful for your support.


Cheers
Mike

 

[ZipperHead]

I think the PayPal route is the easiest (for the people that have accounts..... it‘s free to sign up for those that don‘t). The only downside is that there is a fee charged to the person receiving (3% I think, plus $.30 USD), so keep that in mind if you send in 25 cents ( ).

I enjoy "using" this forum (I‘ll wipe it off when I‘m done with it...), and I‘ll kick in a few bucks to keep it going.

Al

 

[Michael Dorosh]

There is also a fee to move the money from your Paypal account to your bank account, but I think it is only a dollar per transaction.

 

[K. Ash]

So how about those of use who do not have pay pal accounts?

 

[Burrows]

Good luck and thanks for all your hard work.

 

[Mike Bobbitt]

I‘m not one to turn away donations... Have a look at this page to see alternate methods.

So what‘s the general concensus on The Plan? Good idea? Bad idea? Too ambitious?


Thanks

 

[jrhume]

Let‘s do it!

The check is in the mail.

I love saying that.

Jim

 

[sdimock]

Mike,

Good job on the site.

Maybe you could talk to Canadian Peacekeepers, since they have an online site and I‘ve seen there adds here on occasion perhaps they could throw some space on their server your way.

Another option is they make a one time donation that they could write off.

I know they have contests/promotions at times and if presented in the right light they might be able to help.

Chimo

 

[Mike Bobbitt]

Update: The new connection has been purchased, and will be activated on 15 June. I'm out of town then, so I probably won't be able to cut us over for a week or so.

Will provide additional details as I know them.


Cheers
Mike