[Nfb-web] Outages

Tue Mar 24 04:02:14 UTC 2009

Hello everyone,

    It will need to be done eventually so let's have at it. I'm receiving 
calls from people in San Antonio and elsewhere asking me what's wrong with 
NFB Net and can I fix it. I was on with one person for a half hour 
explaining the situation to him. It took me a while to convince him that 
while I would like very much to see NFB Net online as soon as possible this 
situation is out of my control.

    They're telling me that they depend on it heavily for publicising their 
affiliate's activities, and communicating with others in the movement that 
they feel lost when it's down. Some affiliates permit visitors to donate via 
PayPal and their Web site and still others raise funds through the sale of 
items, and allow perspective members and others to join their organization 
or register for various events. All of that activity comes to a screaching 
hault when NFB Net goes down. This kind of activity will increase in the 
coming years as affiliates find new and creative ways to conduct community 
outreach, fundraising and other business via their Web sites. I have 
requests from several affiliates for adding these capabilities to their Web 
sites later this year. Here's hoping things will be better in the coming 
months while we explore ways to address these outages. All the best.

Peter Donahue

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Hansen" <mhansen4 at gmail.com>
To: "NFB Webmaster's List" <nfb-web at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, March 23, 2009 8:17 PM
Subject: Re: [Nfb-web] Non X Catalyst Hosting on NFB Server

Peter,

I made a comment to Bryan last night about the value of a Cost to Risk
Analyse. From my personal experience it is always easier to make
executives see something your way when you present them with numbers.
Can we document these outages. Perhaps Dave would be willing to help.
He might have some information in some log files. When were the
outages, how long did they last. This would help to make it more clear
as to how much of a impact these outages have had on the organization.
With that information in hand we could ask Dave, John and, Gary to
take a funding request to the Board of Directors.

What do you think is this something that you think we could document?

Mike
---
Mike Hansen

On Mon, Mar 23, 2009 at 2:52 PM, Peter Donahue <pdonahue1 at sbcglobal.net> 
wrote:
> Hello Michael and listers,
>
> It's more a question of reliability than features. There has
> been a rash of NFB Net outages since the beginning of the year and my
> frustration and desire to do the best job I can for the affiliates whose
> sites I manage continues to heighten. My patience with this situation is
> beginning to wear thin; particularly when you consider that I manage
> about 12 affiliate sites hosted on NFB Net and have multiple requests
> from these affiliates to make changes to pages on their Web sites. I
> edit their pages and attempt to post them only to discover that NFB Net
> is down.
>
> One affiliate has a state convention coming up this weekend and
> I need to post information related to their convention including the
> streaming links. I'm preparing the pages, but God only knows when I'll
> be able to upload them due to these outages. Our Writers' Division has
> asked me to post content to their site. I have it ready to go, but can't
> upload it because NFB Net is down.
>
> We all appreciate what NFB Net offers in the way of Web
> space and other resources. However as NFB Net grows the need to address
> matters like these outages must be delt with. If this organization can
> find $20,000,000 to build the Jernigan Institute we ought to be able to
> find the funding to address this issue. No more crying poverty please.
> If these outages continue to occur perhaps this topic should be one for
> discussion at this summer's Webmasters meeting. I know Dave is doing all
> he can on his end. Perhaps we all need to put our heads together to find
> a solution to address this matter, one that is effective and that won't
> be costly to implement. Yes it's important to be grateful for what we
> have, but there comes a point where simply being grateful isn't enough.
>
> I've told some individuals privately that to me our Web sites are those
> of Fortune 500 Companies; not just those of a non-profit organization. I
> approach each project I've done for the NFb and others as if it were for
> a Fortune 500 Company. As such companies do all they can to prevent
> their Web sites from being down and unavailable to the public. One need
> not have the big bucks of a Fortune 500 company to insure that their
> organization's Web site will have 99.9999999%up-time. Perhaps this topic
> needs more discussion, myths debunked, and potential solutions explored.
> As a member of our Webmasters Committee I'm willing to do whatever
> research is needed to find a remedy for these outages.
>
> And what about the philosophical end of things? I would be
> extremely embarrassed as an affiliate president to refer members and
> potential members and supporters to visit a Web site not knowing if it's
> going to be available or not. That doesn't bode well for us and our
> belief that the blind can succeed as computer and Web professionals.
>
> I noticed that the NFB server in Baltimore is hardly down. I
> only recall one instance when the NFB National sites were down and that
> was for a few days last year. It was this that got me to wonder if non X
> Catalyst hosting could be made available on the NFB server for
> affiliates that prefer not to use X Catalyst allowing them to use
> whatever design methodologies they chose for building their Web sites.
>
> Sorry for the rant. I'm trying to fulfill the requests turned in
> to me by affiliates for their Web sites that need servicing. Here's
> hoping we'll see the light at the end of the tunnel soon. All the best
> for a great week.
>
> A very frustrated Peter Donahue
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfb-web-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-web-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Michael Hansen
> Sent: Sunday, March 22, 2009 10:50 PM
> To: NFB Webmaster's List
> Subject: Re: [Nfb-web] Non X Catalyst Hosting on NFB Server
>
>
> Peter,
>
> The only reason why a site would have been hosted on the nfb.org server
> instead of the nfbnet.org server was because that is were the x Catalyst
> software was installed. What features or functionality are you looking
> for that is not available on the nfbnet.org server?
>
> Mike
> ---
> Mike Hansen
> NFB of Nebraska
>
>
> On Sun, Mar 22, 2009 at 1:32 PM, Peter Donahue <pdonahue1 at sbcglobal.net>
> wrote:
>> Hello everyone,
>>
>> During last year's webmasters workshop the plan offered by our
>> national office for affiliates wishing to host their Web sites via X
>> Catalyst was explained. Has a non X Catalyst hosting plan for
>> affiliates wanting to host their sites on the NFB Server been
>> considered, and what would be the cost? I'm envisioning something
>> similar to what is now offered on NFB Net, but the affiliate sites
>> would be hosted on the NFB Server instead of NFB Net. Just thought I
>> would ask.
>>
>> Peter Donahue
>>
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>
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