Oh man, I'm glad to be back - we're glad to be back!
I want to thank Mr.Cue for his assistance in getting us back up!!
I apologize for the recent outage, here's what happened:
All of the servers run off a APC UPS, we recently had a APC UPS 1400RM donated to us for use to protect the servers from brown outs, etc. I purchased replacement parts for the unit, and inspected it for obvious damage. Finding none, I then purchased some 5 simple-signaling cables and put back into production a APC Interface expander 1 U that allowed one to take a single UPS and run up to five servers off it and have them all shut down gracefully when a power outage is detected.
It worked great for all of 3 months, then Monday I came home and it had burnt up.
LITERALLY.
There was that horrifying electrical stench in the air, and I ran into the study where I run all the servers and immediately noticed they were all off. I then proceeded to look at the UPS, and knew immediately from the black soot marks on the wall and the side of the UPS that something was really frakked up. I removed the power, then took the lid off.
The inside was a fused piece of slag. The heat from the fire had been so hot it MELT the backplane sticker into rivulets that flowed down the back of the UPS and then hardened. Some of the simple-signaling cables that had been leaning on the back of the UPS (drapped, really) had actually melted enough where the plastic had ran onto the back of the metal top plate of the UPS, but they still seemed to work. It had to be a very QUICK but INTENSE fire. I am lucky I still have a house, and that my two demondogs still have their lives.
Just so you know - I took the non-rack mount Smart UPS 1400 I have for my machine, LCD, etc. and put it in production for the servers. All monitoring is still functional, and as I write this I am restarting TheForge. As of this date we've collected a mere $350 dollars for the fund raiser, so the new APC UPS I ordered that costs $350 puts us even, and that means nothing goes towards defraying the cost of hosting the site. We here at D.Net host FTP, websites for the community, provide free IRC servers, Teamspeak servers, and of course operate the Directory Servers for EAW / OP online campaigns. Cmon, peeps, let's start remembering what it's like to be a member of a greater thing, and send in just $2 !! If everyone sent in $2, we could get a new server to run the webs AND pay for the rest of the year!
How hard could that be?
So think about it. Support the longest OFFICIAL SFC Series site on the internet. Send in a couple bucks, that's all we're asking. Let us ensure that all of these things continue to happen, and this community continues to remain alive and well!
Thanks for your time,
Frey