The Brewboard is back, services restored Options

[kroyster]

The Brewboard suffered a database crash on Wednesday afternoon. The error message was a little different from prior database problems, so I'm still not sure if it was related to our ongoing performance issues, or if this was something new. Upon restoration of the database server, it must have detected a problem with one of the database tables, and so immediately went into repair mode. The repair completed a few days later, and it appears that no data was lost.

During the downtime, I upgraded the brewboard software to the latest version in the hopes that there may be some database performance improvements in the upgrade. The upgrade went smoothly, the skins did not migrate well, so I have spent the majority of the weekend trying to get the user interface back to a usable state. It's not perfect now, but it's close - so I decided to turn the board back online and let everyone back in. I'll continue working on the skins, but in the interest of preserving my sanity, and the adoration of my family, I'm going to take a break from it for a while.

I have created a new forum (below the Brewboard Info forum) for reporting bugs. Please use that forum for reporting problems.

If you encounter interface problems that are highly annoying or make the board unusable for you, you can change to the default skin. There is a drop down list box in the lower left for selecting the board's skin. Change it from BrewBoard to IPB 2.2.0 Default. This will take you to a default skin which should be fully functional, but not the greenboard most of you are accustomed to.

[Dave in Indiana]

Thanks ... and how mad did your wife get at troubleshooting this bad boy?

[Pat_13]

Thanks, hope this fixes the problems (IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/smile.gif) Keep up the good work!

[codemonkey]

My comments were addressed in a different thread. Thanks for all the hard work, kroyster!

This post has been edited by codemonkey: Jan 7 2007, 05:09 PM

[just-cj]

I posted this in another thread that got moved to Public House, so rather than see it buried there, I thought I'd repeat my comments here.

Let's not turn this into a "Defend BrewBoard" thread, please! Comments about the board being off-line for so long are not totally out of order -- this has been an ongoing problem with BrewBoard almost since the beginning. A couple of thoughts.

1st -- Keith, thank you thank you thank you for your dedication, hard work, dedication, hard work and dedication. It's often a thankless job managing BrewBoard, so let me say it again -- thank you.
2nd -- Why do we keep having these problems? Luckily this time we apparently didn't lose any posts, but in the past we have. To me this board is a resource, and it's really disappointing when I do a search for a thread that I know is here (or click on a bookmarked thread) only to find that it's gone. Systematically deleting posts in the Brewing Forums should not be considered at all.
3rd -- Maybe it's time to look at a different database manager? I think in the past it was mentioned that MS Excel is the database that runs BrewBoard -- if that's true and since it's always a database error of some sort or other, why not look into different database management software? It's not my area of expertise, but there are many BB members who are systems people who can undoubtedly help, at least with the planning.
4th -- If it's decided to systematically prune the database, can those older posts be sent to a separate archive forum so they aren't totally lost?

I hope this can be figured out -- other forums I frequent that use the same software don't seem to have the problems we have here. Let's keep this place great!

P.S. Thanks again, Keith. (IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/wink.gif)

[MtnBrewer]

CJ, Excel is a spreadsheet. If it was mentioned that the board uses Excel, it was tongue-in-cheek. I think the DBM used by the board is MySQL, which is not Oracle but should be more than robust enough for this application.


Keith, thanks a ton for sacrificing a weekend to do the upgrade. J00 R0X0R!!

[just-cj]

Yes, that's why I was surprised. In any case, whatever we're using, it should be considered whether or not that's the best given our past problems.

[friedlbug]

Yes, that's why I was surprised. In any case, whatever we're using, it should be considered whether or not that's the best given our past problems.

MySQl and PHP are made for this type of use, and should be fine. I don't know what the problems were, but tried to put my previous criticism in context in the other thread. Again, thanks Kroyster for the hard work.

[just-cj]

CJ, Excel is a spreadsheet. If it was mentioned that the board uses Excel, it was tongue-in-cheek.

Here's where I read that info -- no smilies to indicate that is was sarcasm:

It's an excel spreadsheet actually.

link

Sorry for the confusion. (IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/blush.gif)

[kroyster]

Here's where I read that info -- no smilies to indicate that is was sarcasm:
link

Sorry for the confusion. (IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/blush.gif)

Hehe - yes, I remember saying that. I thought the sarcasm was self evident in the absurdity of running a forum off of an excel spreadsheet, so I didn't think the smiley was necessary. Like saying the server needed a new vacuum tube or something. (IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/smile.gif)

[80Schilling]

Hehe - yes, I remember saying that. I thought the sarcasm was self evident in the absurdity of running a forum off of an excel spreadsheet, so I didn't think the smiley was necessary. Like saying the server needed a new vacuum tube or something. (IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/smile.gif)

I remembered that post, and I bought it, too. (IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/blush.gif) I mean, I thought that it was pretty freaking amazing, but I just took it to show how ignorant I was. I thought that maybe the board software itself was powerful enough that a spreadsheet was all it needed for the data.

[codemonkey]

Hehe - yes, I remember saying that. I thought the sarcasm was self evident in the absurdity of running a forum off of an excel spreadsheet, so I didn't think the smiley was necessary. Like saying the server needed a new vacuum tube or something. (IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/smile.gif)

At the first company I worked for, we mined, normalized and "value added" state and federal regulatory and legislative data. We're talking over a TB for each state. At the time, our 800 or so customers accessed this data via a web-based front end that was backed by - wait for it - five thousand individual access databases. Running a forum off Excel should have me rofl-ing, but it makes me cringe each time I read it because I guarantee some company somewhere is doing just that. (IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/crazy.gif)

[just-cj]

I didn't think the smiley was necessary. Like saying the server needed a new vacuum tube or something. (IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/smile.gif)

So, I hate to ask the obvious, but have you checked the vacuum tubes? (IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/wink.gif)

I remembered that post, and I bought it, too. (IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/blush.gif) I mean, I thought that it was pretty freaking amazing, but I just took it to show how ignorant I was. I thought that maybe the board software itself was powerful enough that a spreadsheet was all it needed for the data.

Glad that I wasn't the only sucker. (IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/blush.gif)

Running a forum off Excel should have me rofl-ing, but it makes me cringe each time I read it because I guarantee some company somewhere is doing just that. (IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/crazy.gif)

Ah, so I wasn't so far off the mark after all! (IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/tongue.gif)

[stout_fan]

Mega thanks Kroyster for putting all the work into the db.

Personally, I'd check V42, That's a 12AX7.
It appears to be suffering from low µ.

(IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/tongue.gif)

[Aeneas]

Keith,
Many thanks for the work you put into managing the board. Too often the admins don't get the credit they deserve for keeping a site like this running. You do a great job. Thank you.
Just as a note... I'd check this statement...

The repair completed a few days later, and it appears that no data was lost.

I know postcounts don't reflect anything anymore, but I would be concerned that there was some loss of data because I lost another 100 posts.

Aeneas