It's been reported before, but to no avail. The url bewelcome.org is a dead end. The user needs to put 'www.bewelcome.org' to get to the website.
Who's got access to the DNS? A simple forwarding and it's fixed.
Also, while we're at it, the tendency of the past decade has been to have 'yoursite.tld' as default and 'www.yoursite.tld' forwarding to it. How about we tackle that too.
Group actions
Please implement GroupForumPage ::column_col2() or create a file "/var/rox/deployment/www.bewelcome.org-644a61a/htdocs/../build/groups/templates/groupforum.column_col2.php"
DNS problem
Group: bewelcomevolunteers
posted 2011/05/13 13:21 Visibility: World
posted 2011/05/13 14:01 Visibility: World by wired-wokman
last edited on 2011/09/03 09:57 by wired-wokman
lets shout at all those users - welcome to the world of modern browsers which forward to www automaticaly.
but for the sake of the bw-success a simple input to the htaccess should be enough as well:
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www.bewelcome.org$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.bewelcome.org/$1 [L,R=301]
or other way around. but i would do it that way - as for the sake of seo and most users in our minds probably all will link with www.
globetrotter - übernehmen sie... :)
posted 2011/05/13 14:06 Visibility: World by tobixen
last edited on 2011/09/03 09:57 by tobixen
The real problem is that gnat is down - gnat is supposed to respond to bewelcome.org requests and forward it correctly. gnat is hosted in my house in Tromsø - after some storm in late March the internet connection simply stopped working. I've tried to ask the ISP on when they can fix the problem over and over and over again ... but they seem to just ignore me :-( I will try once more now.
I don't think it's sufficient to fix the DNS ... the apache should also be configured. Well, still relatively trivial to do.
I should have the login details to the DNS provider ... I must admit, in the browsers auto-saved password (the password was a Hannu-style password if I remember right - simply impossible to remember). Unfortunately I have changed browser and laptop several times after that ... I can probably find it if I dig in old backups.
fake51 and JY should also have access to the DNS password.
posted 2011/05/13 15:23 Visibility: World by wired-wokman
last edited on 2011/09/03 09:57 by wired-wokman
"the gnat is down". looks like i found some pics of your gnat
http://www.vintagesynth.com/misc/edp_gnat.php
:)
specialy the wooden one looks like it could be affected by a storm easily...
posted 2011/05/13 19:07 Visibility: World
My ISP is present on twitter and facebook ... so I signed up a twitter account and complained once more in a tweet. The response was the same as in April, "sorry it has taken so long, we will escalate it"
posted 2011/05/13 19:31 Visibility: World by guaka
last edited on 2011/09/03 09:57 by guaka
Optional solution: point bewelcome.org to 188.40.99.114 (de3.guaka.org) - it will 301 bewelcome.org to www.bewelcome.org.
BTW wokman, FF 3.6.17 doesn't redirect. And my Chrome redirects now but seems much slower than with a proper 301.
posted 2011/05/13 19:58 Visibility: World by fake51
last edited on 2011/09/03 09:57 by fake51
I've changed the DNS record for bewelcome.org to that of the main server, so bewelcome.org should reach the site without problems - in about an hour or so, should see some results.
Will need to change it back once the dev server is up and running again - if that happens.
Regards
Peter
posted 2011/05/13 20:36 Visibility: World by pablobd
last edited on 2011/09/03 09:57 by pablobd
posted 2011/05/13 20:52 Visibility: World
Yes, same issue - anything normally found on bevolunteer.org will be offline, as well as the BW dev site. Including mailiing lists.
posted 2011/05/14 09:41 Visibility: World by sitarane
last edited on 2011/09/03 09:57 by sitarane
Thanks Peter. Now it works fine.
Julien
posted 2011/05/20 09:35 Visibility: World by tobixen
last edited on 2011/09/03 09:57 by tobixen
FWIW, I've ordered an ISP change for gnat.bewelcome.org (from NextGenTel to Ventelo) ... as well as for my house in Oslo. The new ISP thinks the current problem is a problem with the nextgentel DSLAM, and that an ISP change by itself is sufficient to solve the problem. The new ISP is cheaper, has better speed both for UL and DL, hopefully the problems with the router frequently needing a restart (that happens for me in Oslo as well!) will be gone. And my friend says he is happy with Ventelo.
The bad news ... the ISP change will take some 3-4 weeks, the old IP will be lost, and Ventelo doesn't even offer fixed IP, so if we are still going to have the dev server running in Tromsø, we'll need to rely on dyndns.
posted 2011/05/20 16:02 Visibility: World by tobixen
last edited on 2011/09/03 09:57 by tobixen
This seems worse than expected ... they called me today and said they needed to change from overhead wires on the pole to dig down cables in the ground ... and they would need the land owners permission to do that.
We will probably need to move the bw dev server to some other location.
posted 2011/06/06 17:45 Visibility: World
I could do some hosting. What's needed to host? (memory, diskspace) I have a dedicaated server running in France (ovh) with unlimited traffic (best effort).
posted 2011/06/11 03:27 Visibility: World
It looks like the server is online again - at least i am receiving the mailing list spam again :P
posted 2011/06/13 14:49 Visibility: World
The best solution (IMO) is what was already suggested early in this thread, that is, adding the rewrite command to the .htaccess file in the root of the site. All the other suggestions look like convoluted, spaghetti workarounds, that could actually make things worse if they break, someone's home server is down, or there is any kind of error made. This was never a complicated issue at all, and blaming peoples' choice/age of browser is also not the answer.
posted 2011/06/13 15:01 Visibility: World
OTRS is working again too, but i'm afraid we lost all the feedback sent by users during the downtime
posted 2011/06/13 16:04 Visibility: World by pedalr
last edited on 2011/09/03 09:57 by pedalr
"The real problem is that gnat is down - gnat is supposed to respond to bewelcome.org requests and forward it correctly. gnat is hosted in my house"
Unless you run your home equipment and net connection with the same degree of safety/redundancy as a real/true commercial data center (e.g., UPS's, RAID arrays to provide for disk failure, load balancing and auto-management of multiple connection-points to the public 'net, snapshots of server config's to allow roll-back, etc.)... this is just asking for trouble. I will prototype on my own gear on occasion too, but to learn that this is still the arrangement for something as significant as BW...
And then when gnat becomes inaccesible, you also lose access to the OTRS help-desk and managment tool?! Wow...
I didn't think this was (still) a personal home-project; isn't this supposed to be something users will flock to, feel confident in, and can rely on? Can't we be better than the dominant player, with their frequent technical breakdowns? Hosted web service has never been more competitive in cost; I'm honestly surprised to learn that BW is running off of someone's home machine and ISP! (or just parts of it, though obviously something critical)
Please don't take my criticism personally - I realize that BW has been operating on a shoestring, for both budget and staff. Happy to help, however I can!
posted 2011/06/13 16:36 Visibility: World by tobixen
last edited on 2011/09/03 09:57 by tobixen
We moved the dev server to home environment to save costs - we basically didn't have sufficient funds to have two servers running. It was never meant to be production-critical, I suppose noone thought much about OTRS when we decided it should be like this. I suppose we also didn't think much about the bewelcome.org -> www.bewelcome.org forwarding. At least that issue has been solved now.
We never really got the time to set up proper backup routines - that's just plainly stupid, and it did cost us a lot on the previous downtime. That has to be done properly no matter if the box is located in a professional hosting centre or at home.
Some downtime is to be expected in a home environment, but I must say that we've been extremely unlucky, things going very wrong while noone has been at home dealing with it. An internet outage lasting for more than two months ... that's just unheard of!
In any case, I think we need to relocate it. I've ordered an ISP swap, and the new ISP does not offer fixed IP :-( There has been multiple offers here on hosting (including JYs suggestion to have it on the same host as www.bewelcome.org), now we just need to chose whom will host this box in the future, and I will copy out all the content. It's around 30G.
posted 2011/06/13 16:49 Visibility: World by lemon-head
last edited on 2011/09/03 09:57 by lemon-head
It is ok to have the development stuff on a less reliable infrastructure.
But I don't understand why we have (or had?) bewelcome.org point to the development server, instead of the live server. There is just no good reason. Sure, other subdomains can point to the dev server, but why the main domain? Well, I'm not up to date, this is fixed now?
Also, otrs does not seem too dangerous to have on the live server. I would consider this part of the live environment, because it involves interaction with real users.
posted 2011/06/13 16:57 Visibility: World by lemon-head
last edited on 2011/09/03 09:57 by lemon-head
Also, I imagine all the dev stuff and probably also the live site would run sufficiently well on a 13 EUR / month vm (yes this would be two then, so 26 EUR), or on a vm provided by someone with a 50 EUR root server (who can run a bunch of unrelated other vms on that same root server).
I have asked this before, and forgot the answer, what do we currently pay and how/where do we host?
posted 2011/06/13 16:57 Visibility: World by ocal5
last edited on 2011/09/03 09:57 by ocal5
Why not using a cheap server to do that ? It's about 18 EUR in France.
Edit : lemon-head, same thinking ;)
The one at 18 EUR is a real server, even not virtual.
posted 2011/06/13 17:03 Visibility: World by lemon-head
last edited on 2011/09/06 18:40 by lemon-head
@fake,
> I've changed the DNS record for bewelcome.org to that of the main server, so bewelcome.org should reach the site without problems - in about an hour or so, should see some results.
>
> Will need to change it back once the dev server is up and running again - if that happens.
Sorry, it's been a long time that I read all this. So this seems to be fixed now.
Still I don't understand why we have to switch it back again.
Let the main domain and www point to the live server, and dev-related subdomains to the dev server. OTRS can move to the live server when someone has the time to do it.
Where is the problem?
posted 2011/06/13 17:08 Visibility: World
fake fixed the DNS problem in mid-May.
posted 2011/06/13 17:09 Visibility: World
then i hope we don't switch it back then, as fake seems to have suggested :)
posted 2011/06/13 17:12 Visibility: World by lemon-head
last edited on 2011/09/03 09:57 by lemon-head
> The one at 18 EUR is a real server, even not virtual.
Ah, nice..
then we put a vm on that thing, for all the dev stuff, and we are done.
Have you tried this 18 EUR thing?
posted 2011/06/13 17:13 Visibility: World by pedalr
last edited on 2011/09/03 09:57 by pedalr
I'm currently on Webfaction, their home office is in the UK, their prices are competitive, and I've been pleased so far. Have been using hosted services since '95, and this is the best one yet, IMO.
Delighted to see some tech discussion, regardless! Well, any discussion - this place seems like a ghost-town most of the time, and it's so disappointing.
posted 2011/06/13 17:29 Visibility: World by fake51
last edited on 2011/09/03 09:57 by fake51
Lemon, I haven't checked the setup in a while, but there's a bunch of things on the dev server and I'm not entirely sure that all of them will be accessible without the DNS.
Apart from that, there's nothing in the way of moving the dev server onto the current live server - it's a dedicated server more than capable of running VMs. I can't recall the cost of it, but it's something like €40-50 a month.
If I remember correctly, the main reasons for splitting dev and live up were security and backup.
Regards
Peter
posted 2011/06/13 17:29 Visibility: World by sanderr
last edited on 2011/09/03 09:57 by sanderr
I could offer a dev-server, or at least some kind of dev environment on my dedicated server... if BW would like to. It is hosted at OVH in France.
What would be needed for a dev environment? 40G disk, database, webserver, shell/ftp access?
And I agree with pedalr, there aught to be more discussion.
posted 2011/06/13 17:33 Visibility: World by ocal5
last edited on 2011/09/03 09:57 by ocal5
I'm using 1 of them, and 2 at this company, since about 6 months.
it seems it's only french writed, Jean-Yves will maybe gives his opinion :
http://www.online.net/serveur-dedie/offre-dedibox-sc.xhtml
OVH is about the same, as good too.
posted 2011/06/13 18:25 Visibility: World by lemon-head
last edited on 2011/09/03 09:57 by lemon-head
@fake
> Lemon, I haven't checked the setup in a while, but there's a bunch of things on the dev server and I'm not entirely sure that all of them will be accessible without the DNS.
I did a little check, and it looks like the root still points to the live server - which is good.
So far I have not heard about complaints about volunteer tools being not available, that could be related to the root domain DNS. So, I guess it was totally safe and can stay this way.
> Apart from that, there's nothing in the way of moving the dev server onto the current live server - it's a dedicated server more than capable of running VMs.
+1
> I can't recall the cost of it, but it's something like €40-50 a month.
I don't know how much traffic we currently have. I imagine we could run on something cheaper. But I might be wrong.
posted 2011/06/13 18:47 Visibility: World by fake51
last edited on 2011/09/03 09:57 by fake51
> I did a little check, and it looks like the root still points to the live server - which is good.
> So far I have not heard about complaints about volunteer tools being not available, that could be related to the root domain DNS. So, I guess it was totally safe and can stay this way.
You're assuming there are enough volunteers currently working with the tools - not sure I would be.
posted 2011/06/14 19:34 Visibility: World by jeanyves
last edited on 2011/09/03 09:57 by jeanyves
@ocal5: the "dedibox" you proposed for 18€ per month should match the requirements (as I know them) for the volunteer server, the problem It looks that the support is in french
An alternative (OVH as main server) is the "kimsufi" ovh offer starting at 17.99€ and able to speak english.
The answer to the question "does it worth the cost ?" belongs to the BoD (Matthias/ Sitarane/Tgoorden). As Peter (fake 51) stressed it, it is important to be sure if there is enough volunteer activity (I think there is but it is waiting for someone to kick/coordinate it).
In my opinion, a home server could also do it, the point is to be sure of the availability and motivation of the host (no offense at all and lot of thanks to tobixen, but in fact a big traveller as a server host is probably not the best solution)
posted 2011/06/14 20:18 Visibility: World
Even without thinking about reliability, I'm quite sure it would "cost" less to use this kind of cheap webserver. How much is electricity ? (hardware can be find for free on the street :p )
posted 2011/06/14 20:39 Visibility: World by tobixen
last edited on 2011/09/03 09:57 by tobixen
The electricity cost for the existing solution is not an issue, I want the server to be up and running regardless of if it's running BV/BW-stuff or not, and this computer is useful for keeping the building dry and unfrozen :-)
I must say that we really have had extraordinary much unluck with this server after the move - unstable ADSL router, harddisk crash, extraordinary long time to fix that issue because of the clash of vacations and fake51's wedding and honeymoon, electricity outages due to construction works in the neighbourhood and then almost three months without internet connection due to construction works!
Anyway, it's time to move on. The internet connection is (as far as I've understood) just a temporary cable, we will lose the IP due to a service provider change next week, I've moved to Oslo, I don't ever think we set up proper backup routines for gnat (?) and honestly I do lack a bit both in motivation and time.
posted 2011/06/23 22:21 Visibility: World by tobixen
last edited on 2011/09/06 18:40 by tobixen
gnat is now available at 81.191.12.31 - unfortunately that's not a fixed IP. I have no clue about the ISPs policy - but I hope I will get to keep that IP until the server is rebooted. What baffles me a bit is that the new ISP seems to offer unlimited amount of public IPs (both me, marbledmurrelet and gnat has public IP by now). I think it's exactly the same kind of ADSL router as we had previously, but hopefully it will be with less problems since it's set up in bridge mode instead of routing mode.
I don't have the login details for our DNS account anymore - Peter, could you pass it to me somehow? If we change IP there, the dev server would become publicly available again ... for a while at least ... except for those who caches DNS for ages (some Danish ISPs have been quite bad at that...)
We either need to move the server somewhere else relatively fast or we need to set up DynDNS.
posted 2011/06/24 00:37 Visibility: World by pedalr
last edited on 2011/09/06 18:40 by pedalr
gnat is now available at 81.191.12.31 - unfortunately that's not a fixed IP.
...
We either need to move the server somewhere else relatively fast or we need to set up DynDNS.
I understand how limited volunteer time and budget can impact things, but I'm still genuinely surprised, and also disappointed, to learn of these details. I had no idea...
Still glad to at least see that "someone's home," and that there are actually a few people still working on things, though!
posted 2011/06/24 15:26 Visibility: World
Our project http://ecobytes.net/ is running 3 servers and a handful of virtual servers. We are hosting dozens of organisations and one more VPS won't hurt us. ;) So I offer on behalf of the Ecobytes collective to sponsor a VPS (incl. regular backup) for the BW dev tools. Please let me know if you are interested. :)
posted 2011/06/24 16:10 Visibility: World by jeanyves
last edited on 2011/09/03 09:57 by jeanyves
@Planetcruiser
it is not needed to have a very powerfull server. It needed to be reliable (99.97% online or something like this)
Important, it need a bit of work to move all the "volunteer environment" on it.
I think we should try
posted 2011/06/29 16:06 Visibility: World
good news: thanks to @tobixen i have access to gnat (current dev server) now. :) i will look into the dev architecture during the next days, and make suggestions about moving services to an ecobytes server. probably in a different thread.