[SAC] Reliability of Services

[Frank Warmerdam]

Arnulf Christl wrote:
> I am not happy with the reliability of the services that OSGeo operates, 
> especially regarding the website and Wiki. I do not think that it is 
> caused by missing administrative capabilities, capacities (meaning the 
> know-how) or enthusiasm. Even although resources are very limited (we 
> all know that) it never takes long to get things back up. Kudos to all 
> SAC admins and supporters.
> So what is the problem? The OSGeo Wiki was never down before it moved to 
> PEER servers although it was never even maintained. It just worked. Now 
> we are starting to have trouble with the Wiki too. The CMS cannot be 
> used to edit the web site and is starting to block normal business.
> I am trying to not blame anybody but find out what can be done to make 
> things more reliable.
> I expect basic services operated by OSGeo to be up 24/7. From a 
> Marketing point of view at least the web site and the Wiki *must* be up 
> all the time. We are trying hard to build a brand and every time OSGeo 
> is down it breaks the message we are trying to get out.
> If there is no other possibility I suggest to get a dedicated server for 
> the web site and Wiki only. It can be hosted by any standard ISP because 
> the technical requirements are so low that any LAMP box is good enough 
> (just MySQL, Drupal and MediaWiki required).

Arnulf,

I believe the wiki problems related to an improperly administered MySQL
install and could have happened anywhere.  There is no particular reason
to anticipate future problems with the wiki since it is essentially the
only service on osgeo2.

The problems on osgeo1 however are ongoing and I'm not at all sure what
to do about them.  Segregating svn, drupal, mailing list and trac services
to some degree might help avoid all services being lost when one is
behaving improperly.

I would suggest we focus our attention on the osgeo1 problems and how to
alleviate them if we are concerned about downtime (which I am - though
I'm not sure it is a crisis).

Best regards,
-- 
---------------------------------------+--------------------------------------
I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam, warmerdam at pobox.com
light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam
and watch the world go round - Rush    | President OSGeo, http://osgeo.org