[Penguicon-Concom] did anyone notice?

[Ron Blanchett]

Well as everyone noticed our website was down for a good period of time today.

Why?
We had a DNS failure, we host our own DNS server now with Secondary
DNS hosted by a free DNS provider.

What happened?
I made the mistake of only listing the free DNS providers DNS servers
in our domain account with godaddy, this was my mistake I take
responsibility for it and should have corrected it sooner. The free
DNS providers server when down last night or this morning resulting in
cached DNS entries expiring and our site being unavailable

How will we avoid this in the future?
I have now created two more account with two additional free DNS
providers and I have added our DNS servers host name to our godaddy
account so we don't have this problem in the future.

side note, we would have been up sooner if Domain Registrars  would
let you use and IP address instead of host names for your dns server
listings, if you don't have dns yet how are you supposed to add DNS
server entries or if your dns server is down how do you update your
records.


-Ron
Penguicon WebDude


On 1/2/08, LadySarah <ladysarahmarie at gmail.com> wrote:
> "the website is down" = "my car won't start"
>
> Not being an IT person and not seeing anything other than a 404 means I
> can't tell you anything else.  If I knew something else don't you think I
> would have said so??
>
> Sarah
> (I'm blonde, not dumb)
>
>
> On Jan 2, 2008 8:50 PM, Jer Lance <jer.lance at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > *sigh*
> >
> > Let me reiterate... A description of the problem would be just lovely.
> "The website is down", aside from untrue, describes nothing. It is "my car
> is broken" in quality. I gave a nifty list of examples of real problem
> descriptions.
> >
> > That said, my guess is that the page was temporarily white screening
> because backups were being run. Of course, sans problem description, I can
> only guess blindly.
> >
> >
> > --
> > (this was sent from my mobile, so please forgive my typos)
> > jer
> > jer.lance at gmail.com
> > http://www.ibloviate.org
> >
> >
> > ________________________________
>  From: LadySarah <ladysarahmarie at gmail.com>
> > Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2008 20:40
> >
> >
> >
> > To: Penguicon Concom Discussion List <concom at penguicon.org>
> > Subject: Re: [Penguicon-Concom] did anyone notice?
> >
> > I did state the problem, the website wasn't up.  You just couldn't get
> there and I hadn't seen it mentioned that anyone else knew about it.  Turns
> out they did and were working on it.  Problem solved now.  :)
> >
> >
> > On Jan 2, 2008 8:36 PM, Jer Lance <jer.lance at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > For future reference... When reporting a "problem", it would help to
> describe the problem. For example, when I take my car to the shop, I don't
> say "It's broken", instead I say "It won't start, instead it makes a click
> when I try to start it". This facilitates a quicker resolution.
> > >
> > > In this example... An email to webmaster at penguicon.org (cc: the list if
> you feel you need) describing your error (DNS failure, white space, 404
> error, apache message, etc) would be your best bet. I know I (and I'm sure
> Ron) often ignore list emails until l get time... Whereas emails directed to
> my accounts get immediate attention.
> > >
> > > Just some thoughts.
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > (this was sent from my mobile, so please forgive my typos)
> > > jer
> > > jer.lance at gmail.com
> > > http://www.ibloviate.org
> > >
> > >
> > > ________________________________
> From: LadySarah < ladysarahmarie at gmail.com>
> > > Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2008 20:27
> > >
> > > To: Penguicon Concom Discussion List < concom at penguicon.org>
> > > Subject: Re: [Penguicon-Concom] did anyone notice?
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > That could be because it appears to be back up now??  :)
> > >
> > > Sarah
> > >
> > >
> > > On Jan 2, 2008 8:24 PM, Jer Lance < jer.lance at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > >
> > > > Not from my phone its not.
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > (this was sent from my mobile, so please forgive my typos)
> > > > jer
> > > > jer.lance at gmail.com
> > > > http://www.ibloviate.org
> > > >
> > > > ________________________________
> From: LadySarah < ladysarahmarie at gmail.com>
> > > > Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2008 13:49
> > > > To: Penguicon Concom Discussion List < concom at penguicon.org>
> > > > Cc: Eoghnved Mmrkuudnen < Eoghnved at gmail.com>
> > > > Subject: [Penguicon-Concom] did anyone notice?
> > > >
> > > > Did y'all notice that penguicon.org is down??
> > > >
> > > > Sarah
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > Lady Sarah, que_sara_sara
> > > > "I don't know man, I didn't do it." ~~Mal2
> > > > Programming Driver, Penguicon 6.0
> > > > The Chocolate Goddess, coming soon to a con near you
> > > > Warrior Princess of the Clan of the Lonely Goatherd
> > > > IWG Wench #539 MCL, Local 69
> > > > Scarlet B. Harlot, Figure Head for the Scarlet Harlot -- Privateer #36
> > > > W3NCH, the HAM Radio Wench
> > > > "...because you can't spell Wench with an 8!"
> > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > concom mailing list
> > > > concom at penguicon.org
> > > > http://penguicon.org/mailman/listinfo/concom
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > Lady Sarah, que_sara_sara
> > > "I don't know man, I didn't do it." ~~Mal2
> > > Programming Driver, Penguicon 6.0
> > > The Chocolate Goddess, coming soon to a con near you
> > > Warrior Princess of the Clan of the Lonely Goatherd
> > > IWG Wench #539 MCL, Local 69
> > > Scarlet B. Harlot, Figure Head for the Scarlet Harlot -- Privateer #36
> > > W3NCH, the HAM Radio Wench
> > > "...because you can't spell Wench with an 8!"
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > concom mailing list
> > > concom at penguicon.org
> > > http://penguicon.org/mailman/listinfo/concom
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Lady Sarah, que_sara_sara
> > "I don't know man, I didn't do it." ~~Mal2
> > Programming Driver, Penguicon 6.0
> > The Chocolate Goddess, coming soon to a con near you
> > Warrior Princess of the Clan of the Lonely Goatherd
> > IWG Wench #539 MCL, Local 69
> > Scarlet B. Harlot, Figure Head for the Scarlet Harlot -- Privateer #36
> > W3NCH, the HAM Radio Wench
> > "...because you can't spell Wench with an 8!"
> > _______________________________________________
> > concom mailing list
> > concom at penguicon.org
> > http://penguicon.org/mailman/listinfo/concom
> >
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Lady Sarah, que_sara_sara
> "I don't know man, I didn't do it." ~~Mal2
> Programming Driver, Penguicon 6.0
> The Chocolate Goddess, coming soon to a con near you
> Warrior Princess of the Clan of the Lonely Goatherd
> IWG Wench #539 MCL, Local 69
> Scarlet B. Harlot, Figure Head for the Scarlet Harlot -- Privateer #36
>  W3NCH, the HAM Radio Wench
> "...because you can't spell Wench with an 8!"
> _______________________________________________
> concom mailing list
> concom at penguicon.org
> http://penguicon.org/mailman/listinfo/concom
>
>