Hi,
Seems the mail server at moodle.org has been having problems since last night. Can somebody fix this? After all, it's a crucial module for registrations, password reminders and mailings of discussions.
Regards
ngberger
Thanks for posting this..... I was wondering why my mailbox appeared so empty this morning ;=}
But this raises another question..... should there be an e-mail address or forum or something where users can advise someone that something is not working.... and where would one look for info on system status.....
But this raises another question..... should there be an e-mail address or forum or something where users can advise someone that something is not working.... and where would one look for info on system status.....
Still no news posted about the situation and lag to moodle.org is getting so bad that access is timing out via http. I saw Helen on-line after the initial post so I assume someone with admin rights knows about the situation..... so it surpirses me that there is no news posted.... maybe we are looking in the wrong place for news??
Hi everyone,
Apologies for the inconvenience caused by the moodle.org mailserver problem. Please see Martin's post Moodle mail affected by explosion at data center for more information.
Marc, for future reference, if you notice a problem on moodle.org, please check the tracker and add a bug report (assuming nobody has done so already). Thanks to John Isner for reporting this particular issue (MDLSITE-453).
Apologies for the inconvenience caused by the moodle.org mailserver problem. Please see Martin's post Moodle mail affected by explosion at data center for more information.
Marc, for future reference, if you notice a problem on moodle.org, please check the tracker and add a bug report (assuming nobody has done so already). Thanks to John Isner for reporting this particular issue (MDLSITE-453).
Some questions about the situation
Well, first off what is the protocol as to how one one should wait before reporting a problem that may not be a problem. Should Norbert have posted the issue to tracker at 8:24** am, or Mary at 9:48 am?
Does tracker use a different e-mail system to post? If John posted to tracker at 12:35 pm June 1, why would it take 6 hrs to post notice of the problem to the forums? And, since John noted in the tracker the existing discussion, why would a post regarding the issue not be posted to that thread.... or at least a note to look elsewhere?
Are all moodle resources in the same data center? Is this appropriate? Are there offsite MX stores? How does one communicate with someone in a situation where this or that resource is down (for example, where the tracker goes down)? Since the DNS registration address and the addresses for all moodle brass are at moodle.org, what is one supposed to do as far as contacting appropriate personnel with respect to site issue, especially if the tracker is down? Are there Moodle docs explaining any emergency procedures that are round robin'd somewhere so that even if primary servers went down there would be some way to get the info?
Why would notice of the issue not be posted to moodle news (which, since it appears on the front page of the moodle, would let EVERYONE know about the issue) or at least to General (where there already was a thread being used and read about the issue) as opposed to Design, which would arguably have a much thinner group of persons who log in and read as opposed to peruse via web?
I have to also note that theplanet has no info on their own website about the problem (http://www.theplanet.com/news/default.asp) though they are posting info to their forums: http://forums.theplanet.com.nyud.net:8080/index.php?showtopic=90185&pid=592269&st=0. Inquiring minds want to know why the web server is up but the mail is down when the press coverage said the place went black as they had to have the power down?
** I am assuming that all times as noted in the forums and the tracker are normalized for one TZ. I am sure this is documented somewhere....
Well, first off what is the protocol as to how one one should wait before reporting a problem that may not be a problem. Should Norbert have posted the issue to tracker at 8:24** am, or Mary at 9:48 am?
Does tracker use a different e-mail system to post? If John posted to tracker at 12:35 pm June 1, why would it take 6 hrs to post notice of the problem to the forums? And, since John noted in the tracker the existing discussion, why would a post regarding the issue not be posted to that thread.... or at least a note to look elsewhere?
Are all moodle resources in the same data center? Is this appropriate? Are there offsite MX stores? How does one communicate with someone in a situation where this or that resource is down (for example, where the tracker goes down)? Since the DNS registration address and the addresses for all moodle brass are at moodle.org, what is one supposed to do as far as contacting appropriate personnel with respect to site issue, especially if the tracker is down? Are there Moodle docs explaining any emergency procedures that are round robin'd somewhere so that even if primary servers went down there would be some way to get the info?
Why would notice of the issue not be posted to moodle news (which, since it appears on the front page of the moodle, would let EVERYONE know about the issue) or at least to General (where there already was a thread being used and read about the issue) as opposed to Design, which would arguably have a much thinner group of persons who log in and read as opposed to peruse via web?
I have to also note that theplanet has no info on their own website about the problem (http://www.theplanet.com/news/default.asp) though they are posting info to their forums: http://forums.theplanet.com.nyud.net:8080/index.php?showtopic=90185&pid=592269&st=0. Inquiring minds want to know why the web server is up but the mail is down when the press coverage said the place went black as they had to have the power down?
** I am assuming that all times as noted in the forums and the tracker are normalized for one TZ. I am sure this is documented somewhere....
Thanks Marc,
I was wondering the same thing. It's a pity admins seem to rely more on Tracker than moodle org for information. Shame also for not informing the user community on the main site, in particular for new users trying to register.
Lesson learned: if I want to be heard, forget about Moodle.org, but kick up a fuss in Tracker, and get loads of people to vote for your issue for support.
Some of the issues I raised in Tracker have been dormant for months:
-
Multimedia filter for rm files stopped working as a result of the upgrade to 1.8, even on this site; and while Martin D recently upgraded its importance, nothing has been done;
-
Moodlespeex stopped working in 1.8 and it seems noone can fix it. Not even the guys who claimed they had it working in Tracker have responded for weeks. It's a bit disappointing, to say the least.
Communications seemed to work within the Moodle user community, but the developers and admins seem to have formed a caste of their own, perhaps slightly detached from the masses of users. Could this be the first sign of becoming institutionalised like WebCT? Heading down that road, Martin? More interested in the big corporate customers?
I don't want to rant, so I'd better stop. Let's see what communications come down from the big players here. There's still hope.
Norbert.
Norbert, yes, tracker.moodle.org is definitely intended to be the main and best way to notify people of issues. John filed a good one (MDLSITE-453)
If you categorise it correctly then it has some hope of getting to the right person (rather than requiring every busy person to read and parse every forum here). For example, I only found these posts here just now because someone pointed them out to me.
In this case, the dedicated mail.moodle.org server was down for one day or so on our long weekend because of the ISP problems. Then it came up yesterday and I thought all was well. It wasn't until I awoke this morning that I realised that it still wasn't working correctly (and that new user signups were affected!
), which was when I switched to using this web server for email again (causing some load). I've now made a wider announcement here: http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=98517)
I am busy as always trying to expand our team to cope with everything, we're not perfect but I know we're improving (at least it's generally no longer just me trying to run everything 24hrs a day!)
If you categorise it correctly then it has some hope of getting to the right person (rather than requiring every busy person to read and parse every forum here). For example, I only found these posts here just now because someone pointed them out to me.
In this case, the dedicated mail.moodle.org server was down for one day or so on our long weekend because of the ISP problems. Then it came up yesterday and I thought all was well. It wasn't until I awoke this morning that I realised that it still wasn't working correctly (and that new user signups were affected!
I am busy as always trying to expand our team to cope with everything, we're not perfect but I know we're improving (at least it's generally no longer just me trying to run everything 24hrs a day!)
Martin,
thanks for clarifying how to do this in future.
I do get messages sent through tracker now and hope for the return of the forum posts, which I skim in my mail regularly. I know how irritating and stressful it must be for you having to wait for service providers to fix an essential provision.
I am grateful that even with my limited skills and even more limited financial resources, I can run my own Moodle server, try and fix hardware issues myself, and fiddle with software issues with all the help the user community provides and still do my full teaching load. And it's Sod's Law that when we take a little time out, unforeseen disasters like this happen and go unnoticed every once in a while.
Thanks again for your efforts and communications. Much appreciated.
Norbert
BTW, is someone addressing what will happen with the spooled mail (assuming the mail is spooled) when the mail server comes up?
With respect to folks who have tried to register.... would it make sense to provide some notice on the front page that they will have to try again if the mail has not been spooled.
With respect to folks who have tried to register.... would it make sense to provide some notice on the front page that they will have to try again if the mail has not been spooled.