The site was down earlier, I apologize for the inconvenience

[David Harper CFA FRM]

I'm sorry the site was down: although we already run on own our own dedicated server (which further performs no other service than hosting bionicturtle.com), the demands on it were atypical this morning.

I consulted with LiquidWeb (our hosting company) and we are going to migrate to an even higher-capacity dedicated server (e.g., adding more RAM) so we can better handle spikes and the various processes required by the site (although this was easily the longest downtime, we've actually experienced brief downtimes, a few times this year, due to traffic-related demands)

As I understand, the migration will be relatively painless:

• They copy this site to the new server.
  
• Our developers will test the new server and services (in parallel to this site, of course). Our developers will confirm services on new server.
  
• Upon their confirmation, LiquidWeb will perform a "final synch" (really, to capture any interim forum activity), then we will switch the DNS to point to the new server.
  
• Therefore, I am told (and conditional on my developer's confident ex ante confirmation) we can migrate basically seamlessly. As long as that is true, I will probably do it this week, just so we get the benefit of the new server in the final super-busy week before the exam; i.e., if there is no material migration risk, I'll do it ASAP. On the other hand, if my developers say there is any real migration risk, I'll wait until after the exam.

Thanks for your understanding!

 

[Alex_1]

Hi David, I am very glad you and the site are back, I had a bit of panic that I couldn't access the forum in case I wanted to look up some threads for practice questions or practice exams.

 

[David Harper CFA FRM]

Hi @Alex_1 I am totally sorry. I had a morning commitment, so I didn't check my email immediately this (Sat) morning, or I could have reacted faster. Normally, at least Nicole or I would have noticed it sooner It frustrates me because I do have inbox messages (from stressed customers) and I realize that it is already a stressful time for candidates, for obvious reasons.

I am going to ask my developer how we can be notified immediately if/when the site isn't responsive, there must be a service that can monitor the site (at all hours) and can send us all text messages (to our phones) when there is a problem. (Liquid Web sends us notifications but apparently it's complicated, most of services were running fine according to them; and candidly they go to my email not my phone so I would not have seen those either immediately). So, I can make some process improvements. Thanks,