The Great Disappearing Orpheus

[Adrian Crafer]

Orpheus seems to have vanished again today. Disappeared at my fetch of
12.09 back by now 12.34.

A check of the logs revealed it also vanished from round about 12.54.
previous to that was the 31 Aug at 14.13.


Adrian Crafer

[Dr Peter Young]

Post by Adrian Crafer
Orpheus seems to have vanished again today. Disappeared at my fetch of
12.09 back by now 12.34.
A check of the logs revealed it also vanished from round about 12.54.
previous to that was the 31 Aug at 14.13.

Look at the status page! >;-)>

With best wishes,

Peter.

[Russell Hafter News]

Post by Dr Peter Young

Post by Adrian Crafer
Orpheus seems to have vanished again today. Disappeared
at my fetch of 12.09 back by now 12.34.
A check of the logs revealed it also vanished from
round about 12.54. previous to that was the 31 Aug at
14.13.

Look at the status page! >;-)>

Orpheus smtp was down here for an hour this afternoon:
Working at 1409, not working at 1419, stayed down until 1515
(system tried every five minutes.

14 Sep 14:25:14 130 Resolving smtp.orpheusnet.co.uk
14 Sep 14:25:14 130 --> smtp.orpheusnet.co.uk
[194.93.128.29]
14 Sep 14:26:29 020 Connection failed: Invalid argument (22)

Message left on PV's voicemail

[Dr Peter Young]

Post by Russell Hafter News

Post by Dr Peter Young

Post by Adrian Crafer
Orpheus seems to have vanished again today. Disappeared
at my fetch of 12.09 back by now 12.34.
A check of the logs revealed it also vanished from
round about 12.54. previous to that was the 31 Aug at
14.13.

Look at the status page! >;-)>

Working at 1409, not working at 1419, stayed down until 1515
(system tried every five minutes.
14 Sep 14:25:14 130 Resolving smtp.orpheusnet.co.uk
14 Sep 14:25:14 130 --> smtp.orpheusnet.co.uk
[194.93.128.29]
14 Sep 14:26:29 020 Connection failed: Invalid argument (22)

Connection failed for a while at midday, which fits with what is on
the status page, but OK from the time we came back in at 1355 or so.
However, no new mails since then, except a test mail I sent myself,
being a touch paranoid about these things :-)

With best wishes,

Peter.

[Robin Edwards]

Post by Dr Peter Young

Post by Russell Hafter News

Post by Dr Peter Young

Post by Adrian Crafer
Orpheus seems to have vanished again today. Disappeared
at my fetch of 12.09 back by now 12.34.
A check of the logs revealed it also vanished from
round about 12.54. previous to that was the 31 Aug at
14.13.

Look at the status page! >;-)>

Working at 1409, not working at 1419, stayed down until 1515
(system tried every five minutes.
14 Sep 14:25:14 130 Resolving smtp.orpheusnet.co.uk
14 Sep 14:25:14 130 --> smtp.orpheusnet.co.uk
[194.93.128.29]
14 Sep 14:26:29 020 Connection failed: Invalid argument (22)

Connection failed for a while at midday, which fits with what is on
the status page, but OK from the time we came back in at 1355 or so.
However, no new mails since then, except a test mail I sent myself,
being a touch paranoid about these things :-)

I was about to write something about the strange dearth of mail - only
two items when I logged on about 50 minutes ago. I usually get 50 or
more, courtesy of ZFC-chat in the main. Similarly, news items have been
on the thin side for a couple of weeks, but that is probably "seasonal"
or wildly random.

Having read Paul's contribution regarding a broken "core router",
whatever that is, I suppose that all will be well ere long - I hope.

Robin

[Russell Hafter News]

Post by Russell Hafter News

On 14 Sep 2006 Adrian Crafer

Post by Adrian Crafer
Orpheus seems to have vanished again today.
Disappeared at my fetch of 12.09 back by now 12.34.
A check of the logs revealed it also vanished from
round about 12.54. previous to that was the 31 Aug at
14.13.

Working at 1409, not working at 1419, stayed down until
1515 (system tried every five minutes.
14 Sep 14:25:14 130 Resolving smtp.orpheusnet.co.uk 14
Sep 14:25:14 130 --> smtp.orpheusnet.co.uk
Invalid argument (22)

Down again today, though this time smtp and news are
working, but POP3, FTP and websites (both my own and
Orpheus') are inaccessible.

[Dr Peter Young]

Post by Russell Hafter News

Post by Russell Hafter News

On 14 Sep 2006 Adrian Crafer

Post by Adrian Crafer
Orpheus seems to have vanished again today.
Disappeared at my fetch of 12.09 back by now 12.34.
A check of the logs revealed it also vanished from
round about 12.54. previous to that was the 31 Aug at
14.13.

Working at 1409, not working at 1419, stayed down until
1515 (system tried every five minutes.
14 Sep 14:25:14 130 Resolving smtp.orpheusnet.co.uk 14
Sep 14:25:14 130 --> smtp.orpheusnet.co.uk
Invalid argument (22)

Down again today, though this time smtp and news are
working, but POP3, FTP and websites (both my own and
Orpheus') are inaccessible.

On Paul's mirror status page:

15/9/06 1200 -1330

POP3 will be temporarily unavailable whilst we perform routine
maintenace updates on the mail server. Some hosted websites may also
be temporarily unavailable.

HTH,

With best wishes,

Peter.

[Russell Hafter News]

Where is that?

Post by Dr Peter Young
15/9/06 1200 -1330
POP3 will be temporarily unavailable whilst we perform
routine maintenace updates on the mail server. Some
hosted websites may also be temporarily unavailable.

Now 1410, still no POP3.

Attemting to access a webpage give a blank page with "Index
of/"

FTP is now up again, though, so I can update webpages.
People just cannot access them
:-(

[Dr Peter Young]

Post by Russell Hafter News
Where is that?

http://www.vigay.com/orpheus/

HTH.

However, it does seem to be going on for a lot longer than we were
told. Please, Paul, tell us what's happening!

And I hope he has some hair left by the end of this week :-)

With best wishes,

Peter.

[Russell Hafter News]

Post by Dr Peter Young

Post by Russell Hafter News
Where is that?

http://www.vigay.com/orpheus/

Thanks!

It says that websites are working... They are not, neither
mine nor Orpheus' own!

[Paul Vigay]

It says that websites are working... They are not, neither mine nor
Orpheus' own!

Some are, and some aren't (we've got two web servers now). Unfortunately
the Orpheus websites have to run on the same server as mail, due to the
integration of the WebMail system with email.

[Paul Vigay]

However, it does seem to be going on for a lot longer than we were told.
Please, Paul, tell us what's happening!

A lot longer than I anticipated too - I'm awaiting further status updates
from my sysadmin. In the meantime, I've updated my mirror status page - at
http://www.vigay.com/orpheus/

And I hope he has some hair left by the end of this week :-)

Not much though!!! :-(

[Paul Vigay]

FTP is now up again, though, so I can update webpages. People just cannot
access them

FTP is working normally, as is SMTP (outgoing mail) and news. Incoming mail
is working and being received, but the POP3 login has failed, which means
that although messages are being received and delivered to your mailboxes
ok, you just can't login to retrieve them.

My sysadmin is onsite in London working on the problem, which will be
resolved as soon as possible.

[Paul Vigay]

In article <***@pnyoung.ormail.co.uk>,
Dr Peter Young <***@ormail.co.uk> wrote:
[Snip]

Post by Dr Peter Young
POP3 will be temporarily unavailable whilst we perform routine
maintenace updates on the mail server. Some hosted websites may also be
temporarily unavailable.

Aggggghghhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Seriously though - just updated my mirror status page again! POP login will
be fixed ASAP - engineers working on it now....

Paul

[Dr Peter Young]

All seems back to normal now. Lots of people we know, who all seem to
get outages with their e-mail (often for more than a day at a time),
would give their eye-teeth for the prompt and personal service we get,
even though these things are indeed a nuisance.

With best wishes,

Peter.

[Robin Edwards]

Post by Dr Peter Young
All seems back to normal now. Lots of people we know, who all seem to
get outages with their e-mail (often for more than a day at a time),
would give their eye-teeth for the prompt and personal service we get,
even though these things are indeed a nuisance.

Well, I tried to send a News item just now concerning the strange drop
in the number of emails (and also - though I didn't mention it - News),
but struck Authentication Problem so the call was dropped after 1.18.
It was OK earlier this evening.

I really can't understand this rather erratic behaviour. I've done
nothing to my machine/software and the telephone line seems to be
perfectly OK Voyager reporting 45227 b/sec which is nicely in the usual
range. Will try again now.

I hope it all gets better when I change to Broadband "real soon now".

Cheers,

Robin

[Paul Vigay]

Post by Dr Peter Young
Look at the status page! >;-)>

Which has just been updated.... ;-)

[Paul Vigay]

Post by Adrian Crafer
Orpheus seems to have vanished again today. Disappeared at my fetch of
12.09 back by now 12.34.
A check of the logs revealed it also vanished from round about 12.54.
previous to that was the 31 Aug at 14.13.

Having a bit of a nightmare day here today.....

Orpheus should all be back up and running again now. It looks like a core
router in London decided to die somewhere this morning - so the entire
hosting centre disappeared for around 15 minutes - and I couldn't even log
in to update the status page on the website! :-(

Luckily everything was up again in about 15 minutes, but for some reason
smtp didn't start back up again, so I had to manually restart that earlier.

Touch wood, everything should be working ok now.

Of course, just before everything in London died this morning, we had a
severe (and I mean severe in the sense I can't remember when we had one as
bad!) downpour of rain. Not only did my kitchen ceiling start leaking, but
within about 10 minutes my back garden was 9" deep in water and I was
worried it was going to start coming in the backdoor!!!
The drains were overflowing as they couldn't carry the water away fast
enough, which meant even the sink wouldn't drain when I ran the taps!

I think I need to move somewhere above sea level....

Luckily the rain stopped after about 45 minutes so I didn't actually get
flooded, but it was quite worrying nonetheless, so coupled with
connectivity in London going, I've had a bit of a nightmare day!

Paul

[Bill (Adopt)]

Post by Paul Vigay

Post by Adrian Crafer
Orpheus seems to have vanished again today. Disappeared at my fetch of
12.09 back by now 12.34.

[..]

Post by Paul Vigay
Luckily the rain stopped after about 45 minutes so I didn't actually get
flooded, but it was quite worrying nonetheless, so coupled with
connectivity in London going, I've had a bit of a nightmare day!

It's all a warning... If you notice a white pidgeon thing
secreting a bit of branch away in it's beak - or a cluster
of them surrounding your car with conspiratorial intent,
then I'd hoppit into your Arc and go for paddle - quick like!

Remember, it's two of everything ..but take spares, just in case...

:))

Bill ZFC

[Paul Vigay]

Post by Bill (Adopt)
Remember, it's two of everything ..but take spares, just in case...

Yup! Two Iyonix's, two Risc PCs, two monitors, two laptops, two routers....
:-)

[Richard Travers]

Post by Paul Vigay
I think I need to move somewhere above sea level....

Probably a good idea anyway, but not necessarily a cure for your problem :-(

A friend of ours lives near the top of Ladydown Moor, up at about 600 feet,
but regularly gets flooded when there's heavy rain.

R

[Dr Peter Young]

It's happening once again. :-(

Here at any rate, service on receiving mail and with Orpheus websites
is up and down like a whore's drawers; news and other websites are OK.

Nothing on Paul's mirror status page, and of course I can't access the
Orpheus one.

Sorry to add to the stress, but, please, what is going on?

Oddly enough, Orange mobile seems to be down at present. Probably
irrelevant, but one does wonder!

With best wishes,

Peter.

[Paul Vigay]

Here at any rate, service on receiving mail and with Orpheus websites is
up and down like a whore's drawers; news and other websites are OK.
Nothing on Paul's mirror status page, and of course I can't access the
Orpheus one.

Hmm. I'm wondering if that's geographic and not an Orpheus problem this
time. I've been connected to the servers all day here and no untoward
problems witnessed from here.
I've just checked the status page and all Orpheus websites should be
accessible as normal.

Oddly enough, Orange mobile seems to be down at present. Probably
irrelevant, but one does wonder!

It looks like our problem during the week was caused by
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/15/legend_mess_up/

[Dr Peter Young]

Post by Paul Vigay

Here at any rate, service on receiving mail and with Orpheus websites is
up and down like a whore's drawers; news and other websites are OK.
Nothing on Paul's mirror status page, and of course I can't access the
Orpheus one.

Hmm. I'm wondering if that's geographic and not an Orpheus problem this
time. I've been connected to the servers all day here and no untoward
problems witnessed from here.
I've just checked the status page and all Orpheus websites should be
accessible as normal.

All OK here now; thanks for the continued support.

With best wishes,

Peter.

[Robin Edwards]

Post by Dr Peter Young

Post by Paul Vigay

Here at any rate, service on receiving mail and with Orpheus websites is
up and down like a whore's drawers; news and other websites are OK.
Nothing on Paul's mirror status page, and of course I can't access the
Orpheus one.

Hmm. I'm wondering if that's geographic and not an Orpheus problem this
time. I've been connected to the servers all day here and no untoward
problems witnessed from here.
I've just checked the status page and all Orpheus websites should be
accessible as normal.

All OK here now; thanks for the continued support.

However, I feel that there is still something not fully "in kilter".
This evening I collected 9 emails, all of which were in the ZFC group.
Not even a spam elsewhere, which truly makes me a bit suspicious :-((
Normally I get 4 to 6 people worrying about the security of my HSBC
account, or Paypal, or Lloyds as well as sundry other financial
institutions. I know these people care a lot, but I happen not to have
any on-line accounts with any of these businesses ;-) I sometimes
wonder why this sort of spam seems to evade Paul's filtering systems.

My typical email count would be around 30 to 50, depending in part on
the activity of ZFC. Over the last week or so it has been around 20% of
the norm. Very strange.

Robin

[Paul Vigay]

In article <***@argonet.co.uk>,
Robin Edwards <***@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
[Snip]

Post by Robin Edwards
institutions. I know these people care a lot, but I happen not to have
any on-line accounts with any of these businesses ;-) I sometimes
wonder why this sort of spam seems to evade Paul's filtering systems.

Possibly because the kind of fake 'check your bank account details' spam
does look very much like genuine emails (except of course real banks never
send out those kind of emails) so there's not a lot to go on in the email
to confirm it's spam.

Post by Robin Edwards
My typical email count would be around 30 to 50, depending in part on the
activity of ZFC. Over the last week or so it has been around 20% of the
norm. Very strange.

Having said that, we are slowly progressing in the spam killing malarky -
so lack of spam is not necessarily a test of whether or not email is
working! :-)

I could send you a test message from my hotmail account or something, if
you want to see if 'external' email is being received ok?

[Dr Peter Young]

[Posted and mailed]

Sorry to be a repeating pain, but it's happening again. For the last
three quarters of an hour I can't get through to pop.orpheusnet.co.uk;
it connects and then times out at the logging in stage. Also, no
Orpheus websites seem to be available; news and all other websites are
OK.

The same thing happened for about an hour in the middle of the day
yesterday. I can't see that this is a local problem, as I can connect
but not sign in. A ping to pop.orpheus... also works OK.

It's a bit of a problem as I'm expecting an important reply before we
go out at 2.30. Nothing since Friday on the mirror status page, BTW.

With best wishes,

Peter.

[Dr Peter Young]

[Posted and mailed]

Post by Dr Peter Young
[Posted and mailed]
Sorry to be a repeating pain, but it's happening again. For the last
three quarters of an hour I can't get through to pop.orpheusnet.co.uk;
it connects and then times out at the logging in stage. Also, no
Orpheus websites seem to be available; news and all other websites are
OK.
The same thing happened for about an hour in the middle of the day
yesterday. I can't see that this is a local problem, as I can connect
but not sign in. A ping to pop.orpheus... also works OK.
It's a bit of a problem as I'm expecting an important reply before we
go out at 2.30. Nothing since Friday on the mirror status page, BTW.

All well again now, and the message has arrived. Any idea why this
keeps happening? It's just that Murphy's Law makes it happen at the
most inconvenient times for me! :-(

With best wishes,

Peter.

[Paul Vigay]

Post by Dr Peter Young
Sorry to be a repeating pain, but it's happening again. For the last
three quarters of an hour I can't get through to pop.orpheusnet.co.uk;
it connects and then times out at the logging in stage. Also, no Orpheus
websites seem to be available; news and all other websites are OK.

It looks like a temporary spam attack increased the load on the server so
it momentarily deferred connections.

However, all should be ok now.

We're in the process of evening up services that are spread across multiple
servers, now that I've invested in three new servers. Thus, problems such
as this should be a thing of the past, once the servers are setup to each
handle specific services.

ie. hosted web sites will be on a dedicated server, which means they'll be
running independently of mail etc.

You'll probably have already noticed that even if POP mail goes down, you
can still send outgoing mail via SMTP - because smtp.orpheusnet.co.uk is
now handled by another server.

Thus, we're slowly eliminating some of the problems other ISPs have (and
Argonet had in the old days) by not putting all our eggs in one basket, so
to speak.

All I need to do now is not eat until New Year, so I can pay for the new
servers. :-)