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

dlampert · 24 Oct 2002, 11:09 PM

I'm a longtime subscriber to fastmail and a paid member, and I must say how disappointing the uptime has the past 10 days. We're down again this morning, making this the 20th or so intermittent outage in the last 10 days. I love the product and use FM to consolidate my various email uses, but the reliability is starting to get called into question here guys. Outside of the scheduled downtime and the occasional interruption, I should be able to take my email service for granted---that's what I'm paying for. If this was a free service, I'd accept the old adage that you get what you pay for, but that is not the case. I've recommended FM to many people at my work and I'm starting to hear it from them about the reliability. You know its bad when Yahoo mail starts to look good again.

If FM is to grow to its potential, the reliability issues must be addressed quickly.

I am becoming a dissatisfied customer whose patience is wearing thin.

-David Lampert
dlampert@fastmail.fm

gmh · 24 Oct 2002, 11:13 PM

i must say, i agree.. too many downtimes lately. it's gone from once in a while, to several times a day (or so it seems). not big ones, but still ...

**DBH** · 24 Oct 2002, 11:21 PM

I believe that's what happens when you involve new servers. You have to remember, FastMail is growing by leaps and bounds. Once the team gets the new servers settled, it'll be smooth sailing again. What we are experiencing now is a growth spurt.

Dave

pintsighs · 24 Oct 2002, 11:22 PM

And when FastMail has moved away from Rackspace, JRK will have more control over the servers.

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.

Jeremy Howard · 24 Oct 2002, 11:25 PM

We have the new server online today and are moving people across to it.

I'm sorry that your account was on the server that had a hardware fault--you will be on the new server within the next 24 hours so shouldn't have any further problems.

Jeremy Howard · 24 Oct 2002, 11:26 PM

I forgot to mention--that server is being rebooted now and should be back up in a few minutes.

dlampert · 24 Oct 2002, 11:29 PM

I respect what you are saying, but allow me to politely rebut---please do not take this as an attack or a flame.

I believe your response to be apologist in nature. Growth can and should be managed. If the customer growth has exceeded their management capabilities, then there's a problem. (Did you ever see that IBM commercial of the website launch, and the team is excited with their first sale, then comes their second, then the 10th, the the 1000th, then the 100,000th---and the faces turn to bewilderment? I get the suspicion that's what's happened here.) A solid product plus good word of mouth will take you far---sometimes too far beyond your means.

If the problem lies with the hosting provider, then that's a seperate problem.

Either way, I'm a full memeber with a prepaid 3 year membership that has recommended this service to other paying customers. As a paying customer, I am letting the owners know that the service level is becoming inadequate regardless of the reason. That's my right as a paying customer.

I do not seek excuses, reasons, apologies, or apologists, I just want the damn thing to work.

Thanks for the platform.

-David

Jeremy Howard · 24 Oct 2002, 11:33 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by dlampert
If the customer growth has exceeded their management capabilities, then there's a problem.

No, it's nothing to do with that. It's simply that one server has a hardware fault, which is why we've brought another server online and are now migrating accounts across to it.

We're in the process of moving to a new facility where we will have spare hardware available at all times, so that hardware problems in the future will lead to close to zero downtime.

dlampert · 24 Oct 2002, 11:34 PM

Thanks for listening to the concerns of a customer, Jeremy.

Jeremy Howard · 24 Oct 2002, 11:43 PM

David, can you confirm that you now can access your email OK?

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...

dlampert · 24 Oct 2002, 11:45 PM

I got to the login screen, entered my name and password, it took about 30 seconds to validate, and I got in. Its acting very sluggish---30 seconds to delete a message, etc.

Jeremy Howard · 24 Oct 2002, 11:47 PM

It will be sluggish for the next 4-5 minutes. That's because all the mail that was queued during the outage is now being delivered as fast as possible. This rush of email means that the speed of the site is slower for a few minutes.

Jeremy Howard · 24 Oct 2002, 11:47 PM

The mail queue is now clear. You should find that performance is back to normal.

gmh · 24 Oct 2002, 11:50 PM

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?

dlampert · 24 Oct 2002, 11:50 PM

Again, thanks for your reponse. The performance has improved.

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

24 Oct 2002, 11:09 PM	#1
dlampert Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 34	Another outage 7:05am PST - too many outages, please read I'm a longtime subscriber to fastmail and a paid member, and I must say how disappointing the uptime has the past 10 days. We're down again this morning, making this the 20th or so intermittent outage in the last 10 days. I love the product and use FM to consolidate my various email uses, but the reliability is starting to get called into question here guys. Outside of the scheduled downtime and the occasional interruption, I should be able to take my email service for granted---that's what I'm paying for. If this was a free service, I'd accept the old adage that you get what you pay for, but that is not the case. I've recommended FM to many people at my work and I'm starting to hear it from them about the reliability. You know its bad when Yahoo mail starts to look good again. If FM is to grow to its potential, the reliability issues must be addressed quickly. I am becoming a dissatisfied customer whose patience is wearing thin. -David Lampert dlampert@fastmail.fm

24 Oct 2002, 11:22 PM	#4
pintsighs Essential Contributor Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Cambridge, UK Posts: 451	And when FastMail has moved away from Rackspace, JRK will have more control over the servers. *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. Last edited by pintsighs : 24 Oct 2002 at 11:26 PM.

24 Oct 2002, 11:13 PM	#2
gmh Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Boston, USA Posts: 43	i must say, i agree.. too many downtimes lately. it's gone from once in a while, to several times a day (or so it seems). not big ones, but still ...

24 Oct 2002, 11:21 PM	#3
DBH Moderator Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: USA Posts: 1,533	I believe that's what happens when you involve new servers. You have to remember, FastMail is growing by leaps and bounds. Once the team gets the new servers settled, it'll be smooth sailing again. What we are experiencing now is a growth spurt. Dave

24 Oct 2002, 11:25 PM	#5
Jeremy Howard Ultimate Contributor Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Australia Posts: 11,501	We have the new server online today and are moving people across to it. I'm sorry that your account was on the server that had a hardware fault--you will be on the new server within the next 24 hours so shouldn't have any further problems.

24 Oct 2002, 11:26 PM	#6
Jeremy Howard Ultimate Contributor Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Australia Posts: 11,501	I forgot to mention--that server is being rebooted now and should be back up in a few minutes.

24 Oct 2002, 11:29 PM	#7
dlampert Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 34	I respect what you are saying, but allow me to politely rebut---please do not take this as an attack or a flame. I believe your response to be apologist in nature. Growth can and should be managed. If the customer growth has exceeded their management capabilities, then there's a problem. (Did you ever see that IBM commercial of the website launch, and the team is excited with their first sale, then comes their second, then the 10th, the the 1000th, then the 100,000th---and the faces turn to bewilderment? I get the suspicion that's what's happened here.) A solid product plus good word of mouth will take you far---sometimes too far beyond your means. If the problem lies with the hosting provider, then that's a seperate problem. Either way, I'm a full memeber with a prepaid 3 year membership that has recommended this service to other paying customers. As a paying customer, I am letting the owners know that the service level is becoming inadequate regardless of the reason. That's my right as a paying customer. I do not seek excuses, reasons, apologies, or apologists, I just want the damn thing to work. Thanks for the platform. -David

24 Oct 2002, 11:34 PM	#9
dlampert Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 34	Thanks for listening to the concerns of a customer, Jeremy.

24 Oct 2002, 11:43 PM	#10
Jeremy Howard Ultimate Contributor Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Australia Posts: 11,501	David, can you confirm that you now can access your email OK? 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...

24 Oct 2002, 11:45 PM	#11
dlampert Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 34	I got to the login screen, entered my name and password, it took about 30 seconds to validate, and I got in. Its acting very sluggish---30 seconds to delete a message, etc.

24 Oct 2002, 11:47 PM	#12
Jeremy Howard Ultimate Contributor Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Australia Posts: 11,501	It will be sluggish for the next 4-5 minutes. That's because all the mail that was queued during the outage is now being delivered as fast as possible. This rush of email means that the speed of the site is slower for a few minutes.

24 Oct 2002, 11:50 PM	#14
gmh Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Boston, USA Posts: 43	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?