Under Attack

[RawBearNYC]

So, a couple weeks ago, I found a problem with yaBB that I thought was the source of many of the problems we've been having with the site.

Unfortunately, the thing that puts the greatest strain on the server, Rich posting comics late, didn't occur since I made the change. But, by and large, the server's been behaving well.

...Until this weekend. And it's behavior was very atypical of how it's been misbehaving. Usually, I can log in remotely and shutdown processes or reboot the server and it will be back up. But the server hadn't been responding to anything, requiring a hard reboot. Turns out a badly configured helper application was reacting badly to a spam attack (not directed at GiantITP.com, this machine doesn't serve mail for GiantITP.com) and sucking up all the memory. That application has been reconfigured and the server is purring again.

Sorry about the problems for the past couple days.

[Wukei]

Woo! RawBear's a genius! Go RawBear! ;D

[Ragnarok]

Thank the gods it's not just me, I thought my internet had died again. (This is the only website I go to. Yes, I know it's pathetic.) Thank you for fixing the problem, RawBear.

[RawBearNYC]

heheeh...actually, the webhost fixed it. I just figured out what the culprit was.

I was logged into the system watching the processes run. And I kept seeing two processes kicking off that started eating up memory. And every 10 minutes a new one would kick off. After about 6 or 7 of them, the system ran out of resources.

The host told me that the software that reports on the spam software's activities was trying to run reports on the spam logs. But we started getting buttloads of spam htting the server and the logs were reaching into the hundreds of megabytes in size, and the reporting software couldn't handle. So, every 10 minutes it tried to do it's job and open up a huge log file (that another thread was trying to do) and failed to finish, chewing up all the memory.

[The_Beast_Rabban]

I was logged into the system watching the processes run. And I kept seeing two processes kicking off that started eating up memory. And every 10 minutes a new one would kick off. After about 6 or 7 of them, the system ran out of resources.


Sounds like you were bored just sat watching processes :D but good work anyway.

[RawBearNYC]

Does it sound like that? No...that wasn't the case. Rich has hinted at a site redesign. I was working on that. But the server was really slow making it hard to work, so I ended up focusing on the problem.

[Ragnarok]

heheeh...actually, the webhost fixed it. I just figured out what the culprit was.
And your point is? Without you, I'd still be catatonic from OOTS withdrawl. And I can't very well thank a webhost, can I? (Can I?)

[Winged One]

So that's why the site was down...thanks, RawBear.