As many of you may have noticed, Simple Machines experienced downtime for approximately 8 hours today.
This stemmed from some important files being accidentally overwritten. Because of this, it caused the server to become unresponsive.
There is no evidence that any data was compromised.
We have restored the files from backups and are back up and running. If you notice any issues that didn't exist previously, please let us know in this topic.
We apologize for any inconveniences this has caused.
metallica48423
Project Manager
Yeah, I didn't have anything to do for 8 hours ;)
Just as a note -- Fixed the missing smileys :)
How did the files get overwritten? Why did it take 8 hours to recover? No backup?
Just curious.
Quote from: akyhne on December 17, 2008, 07:40:17 PM
Yeah, I didn't have anything to do for 8 hours ;)
Tell me about it. :P LOL
very strange overwriting... :-\
how could it be done?
Nice to see we're back up and running now though. :)
Quote from: weightman on December 17, 2008, 08:04:13 PM
How did the files get overwritten?
We are investigating this. Also, there is an ongoing plan to streamline the way files are updated to prevent this kind of thing from happening easily in the future, and to keep site upgrades from being as rough as they have been in the past.
Quote from: weightman on December 17, 2008, 08:04:13 PM
Why did it take 8 hours to recover? No backup?
Our main server admin was out of contact range, and I (as backup) was dealing with my own issues at the office. I was unable to get to things until I did, and it took some time to determine the cause and the extent of the problem before recovering. The last thing I wanted to do was cause further damage and lengthen the outage.
QuoteWe are investigating this. Also, there is an ongoing plan to streamline the way files are updated to prevent this kind of thing from happening easily in the future, and to keep site upgrades from being as rough as they have been in the past.
Sounds good. I have always wondered how many people SMF allows access to the server running this site. I sort of envisioned a problem in that regard. I also noticed upgrades seemed a little slow and unorganized. Glad to see you are on top of it! It was a long day without SMF! Also, FYI, once I was able to access the SMF web install page. I don't know if that is a security risk or anything but it was definitely a surprise!
QuoteOur main server admin was out of contact range, and I (as backup) was dealing with my own issues at the office. I was unable to get to things until I did, and it took some time to determine the cause and the extent of the problem before recovering. The last thing I wanted to do was cause further damage and lengthen the outage.
Totally understandable.
I get this error randomly:
Quote
Fatal error: Call to undefined function smf_seed_generator() in /home/simple/public_html/community/index.php on line 87
Glad to see the site is back up, either way.
In reference to that error, did Subs.php get restored to a Beta 4 file instead of Beta 4 Public? IIRC, that's when smf_seed_generator was added.
Quote from: lax.slash on December 17, 2008, 09:38:52 PM
I get this error randomly:
Quote
Fatal error: Call to undefined function smf_seed_generator() in /home/simple/public_html/community/index.php on line 87
Glad to see the site is back up, either way.
i confirm that bug. i had it too randomly...
It is occuring randomly.
The code *is* in Subs.php.
I believe it may be an SMF bug but we need to track down why it only occurs randomly
Because it only gets re-seeded randomly. I'm 95% certain that's the problem.
// Seed the random generator.
if (empty($modSettings['rand_seed']) || mt_rand(1, 250) == 69)
smf_seed_generator();
Yes, but that function is defined, and Subs.php is included with every page view in SMF, so there's no reason for that error to occur.
ooo... debug mode! Yahtzee! Winner gets to take the unneeded blame!
I was wondering what was up. I was hoping you were upgrading to smf 2.0 RC1 or something ;)
Quote from: Motoko-chan on December 17, 2008, 09:25:27 PM
Quote from: weightman on December 17, 2008, 08:04:13 PM
How did the files get overwritten?
We are investigating this. Also, there is an ongoing plan to streamline the way files are updated to prevent this kind of thing from happening easily in the future, and to keep site upgrades from being as rough as they have been in the past.
Quote from: weightman on December 17, 2008, 08:04:13 PM
Why did it take 8 hours to recover? No backup?
Our main server admin was out of contact range, and I (as backup) was dealing with my own issues at the office. I was unable to get to things until I did, and it took some time to determine the cause and the extent of the problem before recovering. The last thing I wanted to do was cause further damage and lengthen the outage.
out of contact range???
you need a longer string methinks!
(http://wwwdelivery.superstock.com/WI/223/1439/PreviewComp/SuperStock_1439R-1079934.jpg)
Just trust the experts. They knew what they are doing and there's no reason for them to just let this downtime happen without any significant corrections and fixing. Let the experts do their job.
Season's greetings to all.
I *may* have fixed the smf_seed_generator issue.
Please let me/us know if this error happens to anyone again.
For what its worth...
I am here A LOT and have not had this error.
I can't do any action in Profile. And Recent.php is broken.
Yağız, do you mean ?action=recent?
Error messages are handy :) What happens when you do them?
Edit: Hm. It looks like we don't have any of the non-english language files present. I found a package of them on the server. Please bear with me... i will put them back
All actions with Recent.php are broken. It gives a parse error.
Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '$' in /home/simple/public_html/community/Themes/default/Recent.template.php on line 399
And my Profile:
(http://img357.imageshack.us/img357/5720/75369662ld1.png)
Quote from: yollyp on December 18, 2008, 02:01:50 AM
Just trust the experts. They knew what they are doing and there's no reason for them to just let this downtime happen without any significant corrections and fixing. Let the experts do their job.
Season's greetings to all.
^^ lol!
It should be fixed now. It will take a bit for the file cache to cycle for you to get good files.
I have restored all of the language files. Sorry about that :)
yeah.. I missed SMF (http://www.bimeiden.nl/Smileys/default/smiley_bored.gif)
The stranged thing... when SMF went down.. also my forum was down.. as a noob that i am.. i even started to wonder if it was a global attack on SMF forums (http://www.bimeiden.nl/Smileys/default/idiot2.gif) (http://www.bimeiden.nl/Smileys/default/haha.gif)
Now.. my site is up and running again.. seemed there was a shutdown in some rack where my server stands in Amsterdam....
Glad to see SMF is up and running also (http://www.bimeiden.nl/Smileys/default/cheer.gif)
@metallica;
Profile page is still bugged.
Profile works for me.
Quote from: IchBin™ on December 18, 2008, 10:20:42 AM
Profile works for me.
I posted a picture in this (http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=280853.msg1843516#msg1843516) post.
Profile template on the default theme should be fixed once cache expires
Yes, it's now fixed :)
Thanks.
Sorry to bring this up ... was this forum down today or am I just imagining things ? I couldn't access it at all for a few minutes ...
I haven't noticed any issues.
Quote from: Motoko-chan on December 22, 2008, 02:46:47 PM
I haven't noticed any issues.
That's weird :-\ I couldn't access simplemachines.org at all for a few minutes ... couldn't get to it through the Admin Cp of my forum either ... maybe it was just an ISP issue here. Glad to see everything's fine :)
No, I had the same problem. No ACP or anything.
i've been on SMF for about 3 hours now and have experienced no issues thusfar
Quote from: Relyana on December 22, 2008, 02:45:06 PM
Sorry to bring this up ... was this forum down today or am I just imagining things ? I couldn't access it at all for a few minutes ...
I had the same thing, but not for long though.
Yep had the problem for just a few minutes. Not long though...
It is possible that a connection through one of the backbone networks was having some issues, resulting in a lose of connection to the site.
It may be partly to do with them severed cables in the sea being reconnected and traffic rerouted again.
Quote from: nightbre on December 28, 2008, 02:24:45 PM
It may be partly to do with them severed cables in the sea being reconnected and traffic rerouted again.
Huh ? If that's the case they were all faster than Santa to fix the issue ;D
QuoteHuh ? If that's the case they were all faster than Santa to fix the issue (http://smileys/alienine/grin.gif)
Well since they estimated 'days' to repair them and a ship was already there santa will still be playing with his sack.... :P