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[WarHorse47]

Any detail on why the server was too busy today around noon Pacific Time?

Just came back from taking my wife to the Cancer Clinic and couldn't get into the forums for 20 minutes (11:56 am to 12:10 pm) which was unusual. I know that server and software updates sometimes cause this, but mid-day seems unusual unless it's some kind of denial-of-service attack. Just wondering.

[MrZippy]

Odd! I was on at that time with no problems noted on the site. Just like now....12:57 PM Pacific time.

[Dangerousdave26]

PRB sent me a text message a couple of days ago that the website was down. We couldn't even access the control panel to see what it was doing. I opened a ticket with the datacenter but before they could look at it the server magically became active. Looking at the logs the system was running, it was just getting hit hard with downloads from the library to the point it could no longer function.

That is not the first time that has happened and it is the reason I had to slow down the download speeds for everyone.

Three times today we have been hit with High Server loads outside the normal maintenance window.

The logs are not conclusive on what caused those ones.

There is a range of IP Addresses I have to block in the firewall every so often because someone is using them to index the site. That in of its self would not be a bad thing if they didn't use over a 1000 IP Addresses to do it. When that happens they bring the server to its knees. I just blocked them again lets see if that helps. Prior to blocking it we were only showing 200+ guests on the forum. Normally if it is them I see 1000s of guests.

[Tom Clayton]

Looking at the logs the system was running, it was just getting hit hard with downloads from the library to the point it could no longer function.

That sounds a bit too much like bots to me. I haven't been to the library here in years (literally), but if you don't have it already, I'd suggest implementing a reCAPTCHA filter to keep at least some of them out. If that's possible...

[stansdds]

For me this morning, either I could not even connect or I got the too busy message from 05:35 to 05:50 EDT. 199 users online at 05:55, 156 of them were guests.

[WarHorse47]

Here we go again...

I pop in and out of the forum throughout the day to see what's new, added comments on posts, and possibly new downloads. About fifteen minutes ago, 11:15 am Pacific Time, I could not get into the forums. The first couple of tries just locked up, eventually giving me a message that the connection was dropped?? Eventually I got the "server is too busy" message. It took well over fifteen minutes to finally get in and post this message.

Is there some kind of bot or downloads that's occurring this time? This is occurring all too frequently.

[wombat666]

Here we go again...

I pop in and out of the forum throughout the day to see what's new, added comments on posts, and possibly new downloads. About fifteen minutes ago, 11:15 am Pacific Time, I could not get into the forums. The first couple of tries just locked up, eventually giving me a message that the connection was dropped?? Eventually I got the "server is too busy" message. It took well over fifteen minutes to finally get in and post this message.
Is there some kind of bot or downloads that's occurring this time? This is occurring all too frequently.

See post above from Dangerousdave26.

[WarHorse47]

See post above from Dangerousdave26.

I saw it. He mentioned that he was going to block some IP addresses that seem suspicious. I am assuming he may not know if the changes were effective unless we report ongoing problems.

From my perspective there seems to be a possible trend in that I have difficulty accessing the site during the middle of the day. Because I cannot access the site, I cannot tell how my users (and guests) are active.