Why does the CFC website keep going down?

[Vlad Drkulec]

I would ask on the CFC website but I can't at the moment.

[Felix Dumont]

Re : Why does the CFC website keep going down?

It seems to be a recurrent error with Drupal. The board is still accessible though : http://www.chesscanada.info/forum/index.php

[Kerry Liles]

Re: Why does the CFC website keep going down?

I would ask on the CFC website but I can't at the moment.

I wondered if you meant chess.ca or the CFC forum, but now I see you must mean the CFC wesbite. This is the error I get:

PDOException: SQLSTATE[HY000] [1135] Can't create a new thread (errno 12); if you are not out of available memory, you can consult the manual for a possible OS-dependent bug in lock_may_be_available() (line 165 of /var/www/vhosts/chess.ca/httpdocs/includes/lock.inc).

[Vlad Dobrich]

Re: Why does the CFC website keep going down?

They only spent $18,000 to create it - you can't expect much when its done on the cheap!

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Re: Why does the CFC website keep going down?

It works now (Sunday, 10:12pm)
As I see there are some changes. It could be that they were implemented not so smoothly :)

[Vlad Drkulec]

Re: Why does the CFC website keep going down?

It has been down for significant periods of time all weekend. I will have to bookmark the forums separately. Currently I go to the main site and then click on the link to reach the forums.

[Marcus Wilker]

Re: Why does the CFC website keep going down?

I normally check CFC#, expiry, and rating on the live site, but it's down so much that's an unreliable way to go. Is there anywhere else to find a current CFC member list?

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Re: Why does the CFC website keep going down?

Is there anywhere else to find a current CFC member list?

For Swisssys: http://chess.ca/sites/default/files/cfcmembers.mde
Not sure if you can access the file when chess.ca (homepage) is down.

[Steve Karpik]

Re: Why does the CFC website keep going down?

I did a little Googling and found this explanation of the error:

Error: 1135 SQLSTATE: HY000 (ER_CANT_CREATE_THREAD)

Message: Can't create a new thread (errno %d); if you are not out of available memory, you can consult the manual for a possible OS-dependent bug

Looks like it is some sort of database problem but an unspecific one. These sorts of problems are devilishly hard to track down.

Someone with lots of experience with MySQL would probably have a good idea of where to start looking for the problem.

If I had to guess (and it is a wild guess), I suspect some process is opening connections to the database and then neglecting to close them once the work is done. After a while there are no resources left for the database to function.

[Christopher Mallon]

Re: Why does the CFC website keep going down?

Much more likely that whatever web hosting was chosen for the site is not up to the task. I still have somewhere the stats I pulled in 2004 and 2005 for just how many hits the site gets, especially rating pages... it was an insanely high number given the number of members.

[Fred McKim]

Re: Why does the CFC website keep going down?

We're back up. Earlier this week we were moved to a more robust server and the web piece separated from the database piece. There was a problem this morning that has been fixed. Resolution will continue to monitor for problems.

Full speed ahead and cross our fingers on the store being ready within a week.

You can download the entire database from the Misc - Downloadable Resources, in case you're worried about having up to date info for weekend events.

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Why does the CFC website keep going down?

We're back up. Earlier this week we were moved to a more robust server and the web piece separated from the database piece.

Not to make light of this but could you explain the term "more robust server" to this Geezer chess player? How it would differ from the previous server.

My idea of a robust server is someone who brings my meal promptly.

[Fred McKim]

Re: Why does the CFC website keep going down?

Not to make light of this but could you explain the term "more robust server" to this Geezer chess player? How it would differ from the previous server.

My idea of a robust server is someone who brings my meal promptly.

From wiktionary:
Resistant or impervious to failure regardless of user input or unexpected conditions.

[Marcus Wilker]

Re: Why does the CFC website keep going down?

Actually, I like the new CFC site a lot. I've heard some complaints about the look and feel (colour scheme, etc.) but personally I like the overall feel much better than the old site, and I like the new content, too (David Cohen's Canadian chess history, who's who, etc.)

My only complaint is that it's been down a lot since it went up, but I could totally believe that it's from an unexpected number of hits from people checking ratings. Some of us are a little compulsive about ratings. Although I often use the player database "legitimately" - e.g., to look up ratings for a pre-registration list - I do sometimes use it compulsively, too: checking and re-checking my own rating (and browsing through my rating history, and clicking on old events, ...) even when there hasn't been an update. I think the new, smoother feel of the site makes it even easier to be compulsive or nostalgic like that.

One thing that is strange, however. I recently put up some links to CFC cross-tables; then, a while later, I had to change them because the tournament reference numbers had changed. Anyone know why that would happen? Is it because of events that are submitted later, but that have to be inserted into proper chronological history? Still, it's annoying to have to keep checking a link to make sure it goes to the same place.

[Fred McKim]

Re: Why does the CFC website keep going down?

Actually, I like the new CFC site a lot. I've heard some complaints about the look and feel (colour scheme, etc.) but personally I like the overall feel much better than the old site, and I like the new content, too (David Cohen's Canadian chess history, who's who, etc.)

My only complaint is that it's been down a lot since it went up, but I could totally believe that it's from an unexpected number of hits from people checking ratings. Some of us are a little compulsive about ratings. Although I often use the player database "legitimately" - e.g., to look up ratings for a pre-registration list - I do sometimes use it compulsively, too: checking and re-checking my own rating (and browsing through my rating history, and clicking on old events, ...) even when there hasn't been an update. I think the new, smoother feel of the site makes it even easier to be compulsive or nostalgic like that.

One thing that is strange, however. I recently put up some links to CFC cross-tables; then, a while later, I had to change them because the tournament reference numbers had changed. Anyone know why that would happen? Is it because of events that are submitted later, but that have to be inserted into proper chronological history? Still, it's annoying to have to keep checking a link to make sure it goes to the same place.

Yes. You've guessed the answer to your own question. Gerry only finalizes tournaments and therefore tournament numbers when he is confident there is nothing else outstanding.

For example, at the end of September he probably finalizes the August tournaments, and after that their numbers wouldn't change.

Perhaps when we rewrite the current rating system and database, we can work on that, as I'm sure you're not the only one this happens to.

By the way, the ratings didn't get updated last night. Once again, we had a glitch, this time due to the first time running the ratings upload on the new host. This should be rectified by tonight or tomorrow morning.

Thanks for the compliments. We just have the equipment store to go and let's say a month with no crashes and we can finally celebrate.