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Holding off on the Avsim fund

H

hey_moe

Retired SOH Administrator
I don't know about the rest of you guys but at first I thought it would be a good idea to start the fund but I have been reading tibs of info on they might might fix it at all. Read this one>> http://arstechnica.com/web/news/200...t-sim-community-site-ruin-it-for-everyone.ars I have also read some other ones where Tom stated they might not do this at all and just to leave it closed. So before we start this fund I need something more definite unless you guys can find out something different...Mike
 
Well, why not simply read the status directly from the horse's mouth? :ernae:

http://linux.myalbemarle.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=318

Our technician is a the NOC and has started evaluation of the system servers. We expect to know by later this afternoon, or this evening, that state of the servers and whether they can brought back online at all. If they can be brought online, we will be doing a considerable amount of work on them in a number of areas. We will not bring them back online until we are comfortable that security issues have been addressed an that we have recoverable backups in hand.

PLEASE DO NOT EXPECT THE SYSTEM TO BE BACK ONLINE IMMEDIATELY! IF WE CAN BRING THE SYSTEM BACK IN ITS ORIGINAL FORM, WE WILL DO SO ONLY AFTER WE ARE CONFIDENT THAT WE HAVE TAKEN CARE OF SECURITY ISSUES AND ANY MECHANICAL ISSUES THAT MAY BE PRESENT. PLEASE BE PATIENT AND CHECK HERE FOR FURTHER UPDATES.

_________________
Tom Allensworth
AVSIM Online

Attend the AVSIM FANCON 2009!
You can register to attend here: Attendee Registrations Page
 
Bill, I cannot ask our members to donate here at SOH for a lump sum and then the project fall through. There are plenty of donation buttons all over the net to donate to Avsim. If they want to donate it is up to them. I would feel bad it I speared headed this only to donate the lum sum and it didn't happen.I already get myself in enough trouble...so I don't want to add the worry on top of everything else:monkies:
 
Roger that Mike.

We are all here to help.

If they put up some donation buttons somewhere, we can donate there.

:engel016:



Bill
 
Like a Phoenix, and rising from the ashes, isn't that hard, (I have done this task many times) just do a reformat, about 3 hours and do security updates, another 3 hours, uploading the forums another 1 hour. Uploading files is time consuming, but with everyone helping it can be done. I do not understand the delay getting the forums up and running for communication purposes.
:isadizzy:
 
Ickie said:
Like a Phoenix, and rising from the ashes, isn't that hard, (I have done this task many times) just do a reformat, about 3 hours and do security updates, another 3 hours, uploading the forums another 1 hour. Uploading files is time consuming, but with everyone helping it can be done. I do not understand the delay getting the forums up and running for communication purposes.
:isadizzy:
Click to expand...

You are correct, Ickie. Their files can't be any larger than mine in an International Physicians network that ties in Insurance companies, govt pay, employee benefit and Medisoft software database patient files. While never hacked it has come down twice because of some Apple MAC software issues, and had my three servers take a direct lightning hit recently. Each time was 5 hours worth of reformat, security updates and individual physician loads that could take a day but no more. I don't understand how they could have gotten so totally wiped out either if they had any kind of decent backup.
Ted
 
Moe, what if the donations aren't ended up being used for Avsim and kept to help SOH when the need arises? As long as everyone understands that's what's being done and agrees to it.

Don't know if anyone has sent contributions yet, but it's an idea if they'd like it kept and not returned. Or just return the Avsim contributions to the members. It's a toss up on what to do.
 
That avatar is hilarious. You can almost taste the Guiness. Looks like he had a hard day at work and is enjoying the evening, lol...
 
.......... that dang avatar sure got me a chucklin:ernae:
 
Just to be fair, SOH is of course free to do whatever they wish, but to suggest that contributions won't be put to good use is simply unfair:

http://linux.myalbemarle.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=352

How are your contributions to AVSIM helping us get to being back online?

We have brought a second, AVSIM experienced, technical support person into the mix. John Binner. We will be flying John up to work with Stan. John will principly be involved in the hardware side of the recovery / rebuild aspect of this effort.

Second, we are pricing out a variety of new hardware and replacement disks for the existing GREEN and PURPLE servers. We are looking at a BLADE SERVER array as our primary system for the new topology at AVSIM. The contributions by the community allow us to consider this technology and in doing so, it enables us to implement capability that we could not have had on the existing PURPLE/GREEN hardware. It will then allow us to use those two older servers for a variety of things, including mirroring and daily back ups OFF the NET and isolated by some pretty serious impediments to further hacking.

In short, your contributions to the AVSIM recovery are already being put to use in bringing this community back on line and on its feet. Thank you again for your support and understanding.
Click to expand...
 
Ickie said:
Like a Phoenix, and rising from the ashes, isn't that hard, (I have done this task many times) just do a reformat, about 3 hours and do security updates, another 3 hours, uploading the forums another 1 hour. Uploading files is time consuming, but with everyone helping it can be done. I do not understand the delay getting the forums up and running for communication purposes.
:isadizzy:
Click to expand...

Time and distance is the critical factor at play. Plus, this isn't considering that between the three servers we're talking about multiple terrabytes of data, and commercial quality hardware, hardly something that Best Buy sells... :icon_lol:
 
Well most of the members trust me and I don't like to start something and not finish it...even if I gotta foot the bill myself. When it comes to handling other peoples money I like to be very careful what I do. Money is to hard to come by in this day and time and I don't want to invest there money in something that might fall through.Some say they got the info from the horses mouth ...but I don't wanna be the horses a$$ and invest it wrong.Also it isn't good to mix SOH money with another project....Ickie would bust my a$$...and da wife likes me to bring it home in one piece so she can bust it first.
GT182 said:
Moe, what if the donations aren't ended up being used for Avsim and kept to help SOH when the need arises? As long as everyone understands that's what's being done and agrees to it.

Don't know if anyone has sent contributions yet, but it's an idea if they'd like it kept and not returned. Or just return the Avsim contributions to the members. It's a toss up on what to do.
Click to expand...
 
Hey_Moe

As a very trusted and respected member of the SOH staff, we respect your hesitancy in this matter. Follow your insticts and your wisdom...they rarely lead you into trouble.

Personally, I chipped in a few dollars to help bring AVSIM back on line. I think the site will be back, maybe not in its original form, maybe not with the forum and library intact...but it will be back. And I will know that some small part (a teeny weeny itty bitty nearly microscopic part) of that event will be a result of the $10 I was able to spare for the cause. I know that I have downloaded far more than $10 worth of files from that site and had never contributed anything to the site or the community there.

OBIO
 
I hate to be controversial, but is Avsim not supported by advertising? Therefore the industry should come to the rescue in some part. And I cannot get past the quote from Mr Allensworth "AVSIM is totally offline at this time and we expect to be so for some time to come. We are not able to predict when we will be back online, if we can come back at all. "
The "IF" is what concerns me. Why send money to an "IF".
I for one shall miss Avsim if it doesn't come back and if it doesn't then I see it as another nail in the coffin, but we need definate answers not "IFs"
 
After reading some of the temp AVSIM forum posts my gut reaction is to wait.

I sense a tone on their temp forums. I agree a lot of tempers are short right now given the circumstances. A lot of casual AVSIM users are trying to digest what happened and the fall-out from it. They're asking questions. They are also trying to offer help if they can.

Not everyone is an IT pro. Very few, and I mean very few, of the AVSIM regulars are savvy with computers, servers, data base management, web security, hacking, etc. The remaining majority are typical users that like to scan the forums, download some planes and just enjoy the site. So, understandably when they are confronted with the loss of their regular site and are trying to make sense of what exactly happened by reading through the technical jargon they do what typical human nature is and they want to help.

Unfortunately their help is often answered rudely by other forum members who have little to no tolerence for their "ignorance" (this is not to be construed as a negative on those that offer the help).

I know the community here at SOH wants to help, and that is a good thing. However, I think the best course is to wait a while and see how things shake out. There are donation buttons up at AVSIM's temp site, links have been posted here at SOH. Those that want to donate have the means to do so.

just my opinion and observations.....take 'em for what they're worth

-G-
 
Let's be fair here. The "IF" was made nearly a week ago. Since the tech was on-site yesterday, a great deal has been discovered, and a great deal more will be discovered.

In short, it's no longer a question of "IF," but now is a question of "WHEN." As Tom stated in his latest update, although one server has been brought back online, it will not be connected to the net until proper security and backup procedures are in place.

They are looking into the possibility of purchasing a blade server system and using their existing servers as off-site, realtime backups. The earliest bid for equipment is $40,000, and that figure does not include installation...

I'd far rather that they take the time to do things right rather than rush something into operations.

The one server's disk that had the website and forums is being sent off for forensic analysis, as well as an attempt to recover the data.

They have been able to recover the entire files database, thankfully!
 
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