IMAP Server Down?

Markus · 21 Apr 2002, 03:51 AM

Starting a few minutes ago, the IMAP server(s) seem to be down. Fastmail status screen confirms that (We can't open a connection to the IMAP server at all!). Anybody else experiencing problems?

spiderman · 21 Apr 2002, 03:54 AM

Yes. It looks like they are rebooting the server.
The web page says:

Quote:

Automated restart to fix non-responding service

SM

Markus · 21 Apr 2002, 03:57 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by spiderman
Yes. It looks like they are rebooting the server.
SM

OK, thanks. While I checked the Fastmail server status page, but left out checking the Fastmail main page (barely using the Web intrfce

... thanks for the pointer.

mlevin · 21 Apr 2002, 04:10 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by spiderman
Yes. It looks like they are rebooting the server.

I appreciate the fact that there is a system in place to reboot the server if a component is not responding, but I'm somewhat more concerned about the underlying problem. What is causing Fastmail to be unstable in the first place? I was really hoping, as I'm sure all of us were, that the recent upgrades would clear all of this up.

Don't get me wrong -- I love Fastmail. These little outages here and there are annoying, of course. And taken individually, they are understandable and really no problem -- they don't usually last for too long and generally, no mail is lost. And I truly appreciate that when they do happen, Jeremy & Rob respond quickly and keep us up to date on what's happening.

But taken together, as more and more occur, they're gradually undermining my confidence that Fastmail is as robust as I had hoped and ready for prime time (that is, ready for me to rely on it is my primary mail service and to host ALL of my email).

Still, I think Fastmail is one of the best, most innovative services I've seen in a long time and a great value given the price and the feature set, and I love the fact that we can interact directly with the developers. That's not something you'll find anywhere else. And I know they're doing a great job and working very hard (sometimes around the clock) and that Fastmail will only improve as time goes on...

Nevertheless, what the heck has been going on? Is there any one thing that has been tripping up the system lately?

Thanks,
- ML

**circuit** · 21 Apr 2002, 04:14 AM

I vaguely remember Jeremy posting about a known bug in the IMAP software. I have no idea if this is the cause of every problem, but I'm sure it plays a big part since IMAP is heavily used.

**circuit** · 21 Apr 2002, 04:32 AM

Hm, I wonder if there's anyone around with access to the Admin screen? The server has been down about 40 minutes now, so it's probably not going to fix itself.

theDuke · 21 Apr 2002, 04:35 AM

The estimated down time is:
5 minute(s) (the page says so....)

clemont · 21 Apr 2002, 04:36 AM

How long will this outage take??? it says 5 minutes on fastmail.fm.

clemont · 21 Apr 2002, 04:38 AM

well, i'll been patiently waiting for much longer than 5 minutes. Hopefully this issue is resolved soon so I can get on with my work.

ady · 21 Apr 2002, 04:42 AM

Well, the system is finally up now, web and IMAP.

ady

JohnnyUtah · 21 Apr 2002, 04:43 AM

I've been having problems with fastmail for most of the week, mainly when I try to send mail. I'll click send, and then learn that there was some type of problem with the server. That's happened a few times. Today I typed up a pretty long email to a friend, clicked send, and learned that the server is down. That was quite a while ago. I love fastmail, and think that it's a great service, and never had any problems up until this week. So what's the deal? Is there a permanent fix in the near future? This is the first time I've paid for email, and I bought the "Full" plan because I've always thought that you get what you pay for, and that's why Yahoo and Hotmail weren't working for me. It's a big waste of my time to type up an email to someone, then lose it because of server problems.

Jeremy Howard · 21 Apr 2002, 05:05 AM

I'm so sorry everyone. We had an outage for an hour. 3 things all went wrong at the same time!

We're looking into this now. Basically we can see that a combination of a new pager notification service to notify us of problem failed, the server was restarted when it seems that our test script failed incorrectly (it thought we were down, when we weren't), and the restart script failed to start the authentication service correct.

I really do apologise. Our goal is 99.95% uptime and obviously this has set us back from that goal badly... Our goal is also to have no outage of more than 10 minutes ever, so we've failed on that one already...

I've fixed the notification script so that at least we'll be reliably informed as soon as there's a problem next time. We'll now try and work out what caused the problem in the first place, and why the restart failed...

chazzmatt · 21 Apr 2002, 05:06 AM

I signed myself and my girlfriend up for fastmail and even paid for both of us to become members.

Luckily I still have my GMX account to fall back on, but she doesn't want to give up her FastMail user name. It's her favorite user name and GMX won't let her have it. But, if FastMail is going to so unreliable (she says she's been having problems all week, not just today) then I'll have to get her something else.

IL@ · 21 Apr 2002, 05:11 AM

Although I can successfully login now,
Pop Link still doesn't seem to work.

Problems with pop links after restarting server - again?

Jeremy Howard · 21 Apr 2002, 05:21 AM

I just wanted to make sure that everything else was fine before I started the POP checker. That's running now too.

21 Apr 2002, 03:51 AM	#1
Markus Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 33	IMAP Server Down? Starting a few minutes ago, the IMAP server(s) seem to be down. Fastmail status screen confirms that (We can't open a connection to the IMAP server at all!). Anybody else experiencing problems?

21 Apr 2002, 05:06 AM	#13
chazzmatt Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Posts: 33	server down more than "5 minutes" I signed myself and my girlfriend up for fastmail and even paid for both of us to become members. Luckily I still have my GMX account to fall back on, but she doesn't want to give up her FastMail user name. It's her favorite user name and GMX won't let her have it. But, if FastMail is going to so unreliable (she says she's been having problems all week, not just today) then I'll have to get her something else.

21 Apr 2002, 05:11 AM	#14
IL@ Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Israel Posts: 7	Again - Problems with pop links after restarting server? Although I can successfully login now, Pop Link still doesn't seem to work. Problems with pop links after restarting server - again?

21 Apr 2002, 04:14 AM	#5
circuit Moderator Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: UK Posts: 343	I vaguely remember Jeremy posting about a known bug in the IMAP software. I have no idea if this is the cause of every problem, but I'm sure it plays a big part since IMAP is heavily used.

21 Apr 2002, 04:32 AM	#6
circuit Moderator Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: UK Posts: 343	Hm, I wonder if there's anyone around with access to the Admin screen? The server has been down about 40 minutes now, so it's probably not going to fix itself.

21 Apr 2002, 04:35 AM	#7
theDuke Essential Contributor Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: The Netherlands, EU Posts: 380	The estimated down time is: 5 minute(s) (the page says so....)

21 Apr 2002, 04:36 AM	#8
clemont Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Canada Posts: 72	How long will this outage take??? it says 5 minutes on fastmail.fm.

21 Apr 2002, 04:38 AM	#9
clemont Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Canada Posts: 72	well, i'll been patiently waiting for much longer than 5 minutes. Hopefully this issue is resolved soon so I can get on with my work.

21 Apr 2002, 04:42 AM	#10
ady Essential Contributor Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Singapore Posts: 482	Well, the system is finally up now, web and IMAP. ady

21 Apr 2002, 04:43 AM	#11
JohnnyUtah Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 11	I've been having problems with fastmail for most of the week, mainly when I try to send mail. I'll click send, and then learn that there was some type of problem with the server. That's happened a few times. Today I typed up a pretty long email to a friend, clicked send, and learned that the server is down. That was quite a while ago. I love fastmail, and think that it's a great service, and never had any problems up until this week. So what's the deal? Is there a permanent fix in the near future? This is the first time I've paid for email, and I bought the "Full" plan because I've always thought that you get what you pay for, and that's why Yahoo and Hotmail weren't working for me. It's a big waste of my time to type up an email to someone, then lose it because of server problems.

21 Apr 2002, 05:05 AM	#12
Jeremy Howard Ultimate Contributor Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Australia Posts: 11,501	I'm so sorry everyone. We had an outage for an hour. 3 things all went wrong at the same time! We're looking into this now. Basically we can see that a combination of a new pager notification service to notify us of problem failed, the server was restarted when it seems that our test script failed incorrectly (it thought we were down, when we weren't), and the restart script failed to start the authentication service correct. I really do apologise. Our goal is 99.95% uptime and obviously this has set us back from that goal badly... Our goal is also to have no outage of more than 10 minutes ever, so we've failed on that one already... I've fixed the notification script so that at least we'll be reliably informed as soon as there's a problem next time. We'll now try and work out what caused the problem in the first place, and why the restart failed...

21 Apr 2002, 05:21 AM	#15
Jeremy Howard Ultimate Contributor Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Australia Posts: 11,501	I just wanted to make sure that everything else was fine before I started the POP checker. That's running now too.