Server not responding

[strategy-(DOG)-]

today in the morning 06.53 am (my time), windows on the dedicated server offered regular updates which i installed and as usual, the os required a restart, which i initiated as many times before. waiting for more than 30 minutes the server would not come back, so i sent a message to the provider.

they talk about a harddrive failure - not sure if that is the final diagnosis.... if that'd be the case, it would mean that the harddrive will be replaced, the initial image will be put onto the server and i'd have to configure everything from scratch again

i keep you updated. sorry for not having any better news at this time.

[Nikola-(DOG)-]

That would be very unpleasant to configure everything from scratch again. Oh I hope they can somehow fix it, but seems it might end like this. I noticed servers are still dead.

[strategy-(DOG)-]

it would be devastating - especially since my time is limited as well. when i set up the server back in 2013, i had plenty of time compared to now and i hardly remember the custom settings i had to use back then to make the gamepanel and serveradministration plesk run...

it is really frustrating to wait for replies from host...

[strategy-(DOG)-]

....2nd time i receive the same ticket-reply, but still no update on this issue

The matter has been forwarded to the technical department, who will
investigate the issue and respond to you as soon as possible. Till then, your
patience is appreciated.

[VooDoo-(DOG)-]

I had to restart the XPERIENCE server a couple of times in the last week (Jackal's was active/running). Was just curious why some were up and some were down? Guess it was something to with this then......

Sorry to hear there is a problem. I can't quite picture what you would have to redo at your end if you have to start from scratch, but if it involves manually adding entries to INI files and similar mundane tasks, then I offer you some help now.

On a vaguely related topic, I would be very happy to help "clear out" ancient and unneeded files in the Control Panel, to make browsing through the system files much easier. For example, all previous versions of Prototype.U files (and UGoldMP.U files). Just doing that would mean 1 less page to scroll through. Obviously I would be very meticulous and careful about doing this.

[strategy-(DOG)-]

hmm, the xperience as well? smirftsch contacted me, because the ou infiltration standoff server did not show up on unreal's server browser. the strange thing was that gamepanel and serverquery showed all servers running, but obviously unreal server browser did not.

if i had the dedicated server here right next my working pc, i would have had a functional backup-image, could perform a hard reset or at least kick into that machine...

right now i still have no clue if the host's support will investigate the problem, even fix it or if i will really have to rebuild the dedicated server. it would not be a big deal, if i'd just upload the gameservers (those are backuped of course) and run them from console... but implementing the gamepanel and serveradministration is a big deal.
in plain british: i am not amused.

since i can't do anything about this until i receive a reply from host's support, i launched at least a clone of jackals coop on my local machine...

[VooDoo-(DOG)-]

...in plain british: i am not amused....

Indeed. I hear you. Deep breath. Quick prayer.

Woof Woof

[strategy-(DOG)-]

i did not receive any further information from host by now, but the servers are back online - what a relief! maybe your post helped, voodoo

[VooDoo-(DOG)-]

Unreal lives!

GREAT!

Major headache avoided Patrick!

[strategy-(DOG)-]

not so sure about that right now. just received a reply:

i believe server was back by itself again.However we were informed that one or more disks were having issues.I recommend you to check your raid and event logs whether any disks degraded or having issues.For more information and precise check we could take server down to check further for you.

[Dr.Flay]

If you can arrange it, I recommend using this service on any servers http://www.hddstatus.com

[x21]

A single drive failure should not lose data as it seems server4u provides 2 disks in a RAID 1(Mirrored) array, however both drives should be replaced ASAP. It may also be a good idea to have an offsite backup if possible.

If you can arrange it, I recommend using this service on any servers http://www.hddstatus.com

This may not work because of the RAID array. If this is a software RAID controller it may work but if it is a full hardware RAID controller it will likely only see one drive.

x21

[strategy-(DOG)-]

thanks for your suggestions, dr. flay and x21.
this is the latest message from server4you support:

As i could see there is software raid on this server and currently your server is working.it could be also not correct information by our datacenter to make sure we could check it for you.Basically we check both disks SMART values.I don't think that you will loose data or you will install entire your system from beginning.If there is required before replacement we could inform you and at least you could try to rebuild raid one-by-one replacement.In one-by-one replacement we replace any time a drive after replacement you add the new drive to raid and wait for synchronization done.And if another drive also having issue you may need to apply that for another drive.We could also try to assist you further in this case if you required for raid issue.

[x21]

In such a case I personally would as they say check the SMART data and if a single drive is going bad would replace both drives. This will be handled by the RAID software but also means the server will be down for a few hours to mirror the data.

x21

[strategy-(DOG)-]

the dedicated server is currently down and in recovery mode - the announced SMART check is in progress...