The actual server

[fugglefeet]

The number of IP addresses the firewall is actively blocking:-

pfSense.png

This is over an extended period of a few days.

Hope this proves insightful

Darryl

[fugglefeet]

Hi all,

Our firewall has been busy since the 3rd of May 2014, at work blocking attacks from the outside. Attached is a PDF document that lists the attacks per hour from 03/05/2014 till this evening.

Snort Alert.pdf

This does not include the attempted spammer registrations that now exceed 10 000 or the other unsolicited traffic also being blocked by the firewall that is not seen by the forum members.

Darryl

[fugglefeet]

Hi all,

Due to an unforseen event on Sunday evening, all connectivity to the forum was lost and sporadically returned and failed. The explanation for this is as follows:-

1.) The forum uses a dynamic IP address allocated by Telkom via the ADSL line.
2.) http://www.activedns.co.za's services are used to allocate a static name to the dynamic IP address.
3.) http://www.activedns.co.za's static name (which is used by the forum) is recorded in http://www.ehost.co.za's database as a link to http://www.gps-users-forum.co.za
4.) The firewall at the end of the connection redirects the HTTP requests to the relevant server on the network.

What happened was a breakdown in communication at step 2 and 4. The ActiveDNS servers weren't available to do the resolving of the static hostname to the dynamic IP addresses. Fortunately the folks from ActiveDNS managed to get the problem resolved. At the same time the firewall also presented a quirk that made it almost impossible to redirect web requests to the server. This was also quickly reloaded this morning to get the forum up and running again.

Thanks to all for their patience. Fail safes are currently being investigated with the intent to minimise such eventualities.

Darryl

[fugglefeet]

Hi all,

An ideal opportunity has presented itself that couldn't be ignored. CYBERSMART have a package that will have the forum members tickled PINK. This particular package makes it possible for the forum to be hosted on their servers at no extra cost than what is currently being incurred annually. During the passage of the next 5 or so days, the forum content will be migrated to one of these server that will be able to host the forum 24/7. So please be patient while this happens and at least there will be no more down times when the forum had to move house in the past.

Darryl

[cliddell]

Hi Darryl,
Yes, looking at the PINK alternative the price seems RIGHT... Thanks for the information!

[Jan Horn]

Thanks for finding that facility Darryl. I am sure it would take a big load off your shoulders as well and give you more time with the family.

[fugglefeet]

Hi Jan and Clive,

The derived benefits (the uptime and the hosting cost) made the move very attractive not to ignore. The cost to host it with whom the hostname is registered would have amounted to an expense of R63,00 per month. I didn't want to resort to charging forum members for a forum that started out free and is still community driven. Going the sponsor route would have locked us into a contract to promote the sponsor's brand Not what we started out to be and will stay.

Darryl

[fugglefeet]

Hi folks,

Boy am I glad that I have moved the hosting of the forum from home to a colocated server with a hosting company. Just today alone we have had 3 major power interruptions due to ESKOM doing routine maintenance in the area. I am just grateful that I have done this sooner than later. This now makes it possible for the forum members to still continue to access the forum even though the power to the original headquarters is out. Thank you for that.

Darryl

[fugglefeet]

Hi all,

On Sunday 12 April 2015, a backup of the forum database and software was started. During the backup process, scheduled loadshedding took place and made it virtually impossible to gain access to the forum server to re-enable access to the forum. When power was restored, the backup was restarted and the forum restored to operation. The cohosted server was unaffected by the loadshedding. The backup process was temporarily disrupted, but was resumed and completed.

Darryl