Let's get our affairs in order, shall we?

[joo]

I've joined. My name is cantr_joo... and what this Yahoo Graffiti, is it some kind of charades game?

[Tangential]

pictionary =)

[formerly known as hf]

I've been playing at xsketch.com

But I'd much rather play with people I know, I may check out Yahoo Graf. if I get the chance...

[SekoETC]

I remember playing with Cantr people several times in the past and generally more people tend to drift in after a while. So if we get four people ready to start playing, pretty sure there'll be a full room after a couple of rounds.

[Piscator]

Joined too.

[formerly known as hf]

Hang on, there has to be a better alternative.

Is Jos the only one with admin access to the servers? I'm sure that, between us - and there are a heck of a lot of us - it would be possible to support another server just to host the forums.

In which case, could we not set up a mirror for the Cantr forum? Between us I'm sure we've got people with the knowhow, and once phpBB is set-up, it's not too much of a headache to admin. Eventually, if we need to, we can migrate wholesale to the mirror?

[Solfius]

A quick look seems to suggest it's possible to implement some kind of failover system

How... I'm not too sure

You would need at least 2 servers, an up to date copy of the forum database on 2 different machines, and a mechanism for automatically switching to the failover


It's likely to be quite messy to implement, and quite a lot of hassle.



Trying to think about practicalities...

2 willing community members, who between them can get such a system working.

They'd both need full admin access to the full system (all servers etc), so if one should be inactive, the other can still perform admin for the whole setup

hardware failure would be taken care of

and if one wants to stop hosting, it would allow a smooth transition and include the archive of posts.


But at the end of the day, it's not the same as having a company take care of all that for you.

Regardless of the setup taken, the key thing is having 2, maybe 3, or more users with admin rights to reduce the risk of all admin users being inactive

[/ramble]

EDIT:
Found a solution for website and database mirroring:
http://www.howtoforge.com/mirroring_with_rsync

Actually implementing the failover switch seems more complicated, because there are many ways a server could fail and the forum go down (server hardware, server software, forum software are all potential sources of failure) and trying to detect them all.


I'm not convinced this kinda of approach is really what we should be looking at it

[formerly known as hf]

We're probably just be getting in a flap about nothing, it's been said Jos can't be relied upon, sure, I wouldn't want him to be keeping the game afloat single handed, but I doubt he'd let this go completely under. We seem to be working under the assumption that we're gonna recieve no help from the server owner. I doubt that.

I would much prefer it if the boards could be maintained as-is - simply as a means of keeping the community together. The sentiment seems to be that - Cantr or no - we'd still like to keep the community together, and I reckon that if the worst does come to the worst, there won't be a move to yahoo - things will just fizzle out.

A migration of the forums to the second server (if there is one), rather than pissing about mirroring, may be the best move, and for some people (I'm happy to come forward) to offer to take payment /ownership / admin / obligation etc. of that server so that Jos isn't responsible if needs be.

Either way, like I said, we're probably just getting our knickers in a twist about nothing. I'd like to hear something from the GAC, hopefully, with their suggestions...

[Solfius]

I'm sure that, between us - and there are a heck of a lot of us - it would be possible to support another server just to host the forums.

In which case, could we not set up a mirror for the Cantr forum? Between us I'm sure we've got people with the knowhow, and once phpBB is set-up, it's not too much of a headache to admin. Eventually, if we need to, we can migrate wholesale to the mirror?

A simpler alternative could be one server and allowing several people access to it for admin purposes.

I have an idea about how to allow access to things like webserver configuration and the website itself without granting all the admins root access.

It seems possible to automate backups and have them sent via email, so if the server goes down the whole lot isn't lost, daily back ups can be emailed out to the admins
http://www.theblog.ca/mysql-email-backup
http://www.debianhelp.co.uk/mysqlscript.htm


Anyway, I really ought to stop looking at this stuff and do some real work...

[Chris]

There are many sites that provide free web forums and do the maintenance for you in exchange for ads. Google "free forum hosting." I agree that having two forums is counterproductive. I suggest locking this forum and making it a read-only archive. Then start a new forum that isn't on the Cantr server so that when the game breaks, we can at least talk with each other and find out what's going on. Change the link on the Cantr page and put a link here to drive people to the new forum. It is probably possible to transfer accounts to a new phpBB forum, though I don't know how easily or whether that would require payment. Same with the posts.

[Doug R.]

HF,

My primary motivation behind the yahoogroup was to provide a place for short-term solace, a place where updates could be shared, and, ultimately, a place to share our findings on other games that former players could move on to. I don't intend it to be a long-term hangout for ex-cantr players to reminisce like something out of a Bruce Springsteen song (back in hour five of twelve sixty-nine!)

I hope the group will never need to be used, and I hope that the administration can address Marol's concerns so he'll come back, but, being a former boy scout, I'm just being prepared.

[marginoferror]

Having the forum on the same server as the game was never a great idea. For the health of the game and to act as a failsafe, it would be good if we had just one forum and it was hosted offsite, preferably professionally (even on a free service).

Hopefully not on Yahoo, though.

[Doug R.]

Having the forum on the same server as the game was never a great idea. For the health of the game and to act as a failsafe, it would be good if we had just one forum and it was hosted offsite, preferably professionally (even on a free service).

Agreed, but that's NOT THE POINT of the thread.

[Solfius]

HF,

My primary motivation behind the yahoogroup was to provide a place for short-term solace, a place where updates could be shared, and, ultimately, a place to share our findings on other games that former players could move on to. I don't intend it to be a long-term hangout for ex-cantr players to reminisce like something out of a Bruce Springsteen song (back in hour five of twelve sixty-nine!)

I hope the group will never need to be used, and I hope that the administration can address Marol's concerns so he'll come back, but, being a former boy scout, I'm just being prepared.

So this thread is more about what happens when Cantr finally dies off?

[Doug R.]

THANK YOU! Exactly.

Of course, we won't know if the next outage is actually "the end," but it's someplace we can go and discuss if it is or not.

Remember, the last time Cantr was down for more than a day or two, we lost a significant number of players that never came back. This group could help retain players even in a temporary outage, although I suspect most of those players don't read th forum anyway.