Another outage 7:05am PST - too many outages, please read - Page 2

Jeremy Howard · 24 Oct 2002, 11:56 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by gmh
just a question... each user has a home server? so if that home server goes down, then all the users tied to that server loose access? users aren't load balanced?

That's right. It's not like DNS or web servers--mail servers are stateful, so you have to have access to your mail store.

In the forthcoming new infrastructure, mail servers will have all redundent parts with on-site spares, so no component failure should be able to cause an outage.

pintsighs · 25 Oct 2002, 12:01 AM

Quote:

Your accountability and customer service are one of the reasons I'm still a customer.

That and the fact that you've paid up for three years.

JOKE

**ReuvenNY** · 25 Oct 2002, 12:18 AM

dlampert, although the tone of your two longer postings demonstrates frustration and a little short fuse, the substance of it is loud and clear and reflects what many others may feel.
Running a business is not only developing the “best” technology and programming. It’s not only testing and retesting it over a period of years. It’s not even putting in place all kinds of alarms for unexpected interruptions, and being on top of things in emergencies. It's not even caring about your customers. It goes beyond all the above important components.
It means planning ahead from the business stand point - for growth, for unexpected events, for improvements, for the appropriate financing and so on. There is a crossover point between a “geek”, grassroots, start up type of operation and a full blown commercial service. Being aware of it is crucial. Knowing how to handle it is an art.

Personally, I have the faith and confidence in Jeremy, Rob etc, and I hope that what I wrote above makes sense to them.

SanjaySheth · 25 Oct 2002, 12:28 AM

Quote:

Edit: I'm disappointed that JRK (Jeremy, Rob and Kirill) isn't "officially" recognised. I think I may have to submit it to acronymfinder.com.

[/b]

Due to the unfortunate similarity between JRK and other unpleasant words, I try to avoid that combo. Perhaps, RJK or KJR or KRJ could become the more "official" lingo abbreviation for the hardworking FM staff.

dlampert · 25 Oct 2002, 12:32 AM

Reuven,

I tried to be as accurate and level-headed as I could while communicating my dissastisfaction with the service level I have paid for. There's nothing worse than an emotional ranter.

I, too , have faith that the guys can manage through this situation. I do not mind professionally turning up the heat when its deserved so that they understand the situation from the customer perspective and can apply the necessary pressure to get the situation resolved.

You points about building a business are wise and well articulated.

Thanks for your feedback.

pintsighs · 25 Oct 2002, 12:41 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by SanjaySheth
Due to the unfortunate similarity between JRK and other unpleasant words, I try to avoid that combo. Perhaps, RJK or KJR or KRJ could become the more "official" lingo abbreviation for the hardworking FM staff.

As soon as I read your post, I knew that I preferred JRK, but I couldn't think why.

I reckon I've pinned it down: don't you the think the letters make a more appealing visual shape in that order?

merrie · 25 Oct 2002, 04:40 AM

I know why JRK looks, sounds, and feels best to me, even though it could be associated with an unpleasant word.

It is similar to JFK. Not to be USA-centric, on the chance someone is not familiar with that, it is the initials of a former US president, John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

**JeffK** · 25 Oct 2002, 04:41 AM

We just have to hope that Edwin doesn't join the Fastmail staff

Gatton · 25 Oct 2002, 06:17 AM

Hope there are no grassy knolls in Oz.

petergh · 25 Oct 2002, 06:27 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jeremy Howard
To those with admin.fastem.com problems--can you provide any more diagnostics? I'd really like to find out why some people couldn't access that screen...

I couldn't access the admin.fastem.com screen either, when clicking the "status screen" link on the "FastMail.FM Outage" screen. I got the response, "Connection failed. (111) Connection refused".

When I took a closer look at the URL of the non-responding server, I saw that it was trying to access admin.fastem.com:443, and when I removed the :443 (port for SSL connections), it worked perfectly.

I think the reason why it's trying to access admin.fastem.com through port 443 is because I have checked the "Save password" and the "Secure connection" checkboxes, but I'm not sure.

/Peter

petergh · 25 Oct 2002, 06:33 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by dlampert
Your accountability and customer service are one of the reasons I'm still a customer.

Me too! You guys are doing a great job (despite the unfortunate hiccups recently), but what really makes FM no. 1 in my mind is the incredible responsiveness of the people behind the scenes. The fact alone that Jeremey has posted on this forum more than 7,000 times (!) speaks for itself, I think.

Also, I want to thank all the users of this forum (and FM) for never "flaming" Rob or Jeremy, but state their concerns in a calm and professional manner. In the end everyone benefits from constructive criticism and calmly stated questions, and I agree completely with dlampert there's nothing worse than an emotional ranter.

Long live FM and its users!

/Peter

sjk · 25 Oct 2002, 08:39 AM

I suppose FastMail will eventually hire support staff that promptly and competently responds to some of the basic and repetitive issues that Jeremy/Rob/Kirill are still dedicated and gracious enough to handle on this forum (which we certainly appreciate!), freeing their time and talents for more challenging design/implementation projects. Of course (sigh) we'd miss any departure from them here...

Jeremy Howard · 25 Oct 2002, 08:45 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by petergh
I think the reason why it's trying to access admin.fastem.com through port 443 is because I have checked the "Save password" and the "Secure connection" checkboxes, but I'm not sure.

Thanks for the diagnosis--nice work! That's odd that it's trying to access https. The link on the page is definitely http. Well, at least we have a starting point for resolving this now.

Jeremy Howard · 25 Oct 2002, 10:59 AM

We've discovered that for 2 minutes, between starting the IMAP server and completing the database rebuild, emails were being bounced. Not many messages were affected because it was only for 2 minutes; we have a list of the From and To addresses in our logs, so we will be emailing each person impacted by this to let them know which senders tried to contact them during this time.

wordsmith · 25 Oct 2002, 11:49 AM

I've had sluggish response for a couple of weeks now, with frequent "connection refused" notices after waiting for 30 seconds or longer for a message to send or delete.

I've not noticed any improvement today, so I suspect it's not related to the sick server. Any idea what's up?

Anna

25 Oct 2002, 04:40 AM	#22
merrie Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 18	why JRK feels right to me I know why JRK looks, sounds, and feels best to me, even though it could be associated with an unpleasant word. It is similar to JFK. Not to be USA-centric, on the chance someone is not familiar with that, it is the initials of a former US president, John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

25 Oct 2002, 11:49 AM	#30
wordsmith Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 25	sluggishness was mentioned I've had sluggish response for a couple of weeks now, with frequent "connection refused" notices after waiting for 30 seconds or longer for a message to send or delete. I've not noticed any improvement today, so I suspect it's not related to the sick server. Any idea what's up? Anna

25 Oct 2002, 12:18 AM	#18
ReuvenNY Moderator Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: New York Posts: 4,259	dlampert, although the tone of your two longer postings demonstrates frustration and a little short fuse, the substance of it is loud and clear and reflects what many others may feel. Running a business is not only developing the “best” technology and programming. It’s not only testing and retesting it over a period of years. It’s not even putting in place all kinds of alarms for unexpected interruptions, and being on top of things in emergencies. It's not even caring about your customers. It goes beyond all the above important components. It means planning ahead from the business stand point - for growth, for unexpected events, for improvements, for the appropriate financing and so on. There is a crossover point between a “geek”, grassroots, start up type of operation and a full blown commercial service. Being aware of it is crucial. Knowing how to handle it is an art. Personally, I have the faith and confidence in Jeremy, Rob etc, and I hope that what I wrote above makes sense to them.

25 Oct 2002, 12:32 AM	#20
dlampert Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 34	Reuven, I tried to be as accurate and level-headed as I could while communicating my dissastisfaction with the service level I have paid for. There's nothing worse than an emotional ranter. I, too , have faith that the guys can manage through this situation. I do not mind professionally turning up the heat when its deserved so that they understand the situation from the customer perspective and can apply the necessary pressure to get the situation resolved. You points about building a business are wise and well articulated. Thanks for your feedback.

25 Oct 2002, 04:41 AM	#23
JeffK Moderator Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Kingaroy, AU Posts: 3,179	We just have to hope that Edwin doesn't join the Fastmail staff

25 Oct 2002, 06:17 AM	#24
Gatton Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 16	Hope there are no grassy knolls in Oz.

25 Oct 2002, 08:39 AM	#27
sjk Master of the @ Join Date: May 2002 Location: Eugene Posts: 1,975	I suppose FastMail will eventually hire support staff that promptly and competently responds to some of the basic and repetitive issues that Jeremy/Rob/Kirill are still dedicated and gracious enough to handle on this forum (which we certainly appreciate!), freeing their time and talents for more challenging design/implementation projects. Of course (sigh) we'd miss any departure from them here...

25 Oct 2002, 10:59 AM	#29
Jeremy Howard Ultimate Contributor Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Australia Posts: 11,501	We've discovered that for 2 minutes, between starting the IMAP server and completing the database rebuild, emails were being bounced. Not many messages were affected because it was only for 2 minutes; we have a list of the From and To addresses in our logs, so we will be emailing each person impacted by this to let them know which senders tried to contact them during this time.