15 replies to this topic

[SConrad]

Hi all,

If you tried to access SHS earlier today, you probably recieved a page saying that the bandwidth limit had been reached. I have rectified this problem by raising the limit.

When SHS moved onto its own server, we were using around 300GB of bandwidth per month. As such, I set the bandwidth limit to 1TB, which seemed a reasonable amount for making sure we'd never run out. But ever since then, SHS has continued and continued to grow, and so far this year, we've averaged about 850GB per month. A few hours ago, the 1TB limit was exceeded for the first time in SHS history.

Some might say I should've been proactive and upped the limit when the bandwidth continued to grow every month, and they'd be right. I apologize for the inconvenience this downtime may have caused, and promise that it won't happen again.

- Sebastian

[Miloch]

A few hours ago, the 1TB limit was exceeded for the first time in SHS history.

Well, hey, I guess this is a good thing in some respects at least, no?

And I was actually logged in sending a PM when I first got that bandwidth message, and I didn't bother logging out, and I didn't even lose the message or any other data or even get logged out for that matter, so it could've been a lot worse.

(Though there is something a bit fascist about a provider that just immediately strangles your entire site when you reach the bandwidth limit, rather than trying to contact you politely first about it at least once...)

[Scipio]

Thanks for the quick action, Seb, and congratulations on the new traffic record. Does it feel as good as going into a higher tax bracket?

[SConrad]

(Though there is something a bit fascist about a provider that just immediately strangles your entire site when you reach the bandwidth limit, rather than trying to contact you politely first about it at least once...)

I've been getting occasional warning emails indicating that we've reached 80% of the limit. The problem has been that I've been getting those every month this year, as they kick in once we reach 800GB. Because 200GB is a lot of bandwidth and there were only a few days left of the month, I usually don't pay much attention to them. Suffice to say, that was the wrong move this time. I still like to think that an additional (and differently named) email when reaching 95% would be better.

And it's not the provider--it's the built-in software on the server. I could try to see if I can disable that, though.

Thanks for the quick action, Seb, and congratulations on the new traffic record. Does it feel as good as going into a higher tax bracket?

Well, it wasn't so much a "quick" action with the site being down for 10-11 hours.

And yes, I'd have to say that it feels about the same as going into a higher tax bracket. It's good to know that we get more and more traffic, but it's a lot of bandwidth to pay for.

[Jarno Mikkola]

Well, this is understandable situation and all... but the question comes: What will happen before the next months beginning.

Well, now that this been taken care of... @SConrad
And sorry for my spamming.

[SConrad]

What will happen before the next months beginning.

Like I said, I have upped the limit so I doubt we'll get this will happen again.

And sorry for my spamming.

Posting and reading topics is a very minor contributor to the bandwidth usage. The real bandwidth stealer is the mod downloads.

[Eleima]

Thanks for the quick action, Seb, and congratulations on the new traffic record. Does it feel as good as going into a higher tax bracket?

Well, it wasn't so much a "quick" action with the site being down for 10-11 hours.

Well, I hope no one's whining about that: I couldn't log in last night, gave a little sigh, woke up the next morning, and everything was fixed! Not much to complain about, in my opinion.

A question, however, if I may: I recently toasted one of my hard drives which had all my mods installation files on it; having recently replaced it, I immediately proceeded to downloading them once again (what can I say, I'm a neat freak who like having her mod installation files all set and ready to go in nicely organized folders on her hard drives ).
That was two days ago: does that mean that I'm at least partly responsible for the down time, or can I sleep soundly tonight?

Edited by Eleima, 01 June 2009 - 05:06 AM.

[Xicloing]

Man, that got me seriously frightened... donated, hope other do too...

What about adding a possibility so uploaders can *optionally* add a torrent-link for their stuff (espacially 50+ Mbytes and bigger downloads) ?

[the bigg]

A question, however, if I may: I recently toasted one of my hard drives which had all my mods installation files on it; having recently replaced it, I immediately proceeded to downloading them once again (what can I say, I'm a neat freak who like having her mod installation files all set and ready to go in nicely organized folders on her hard drives ).
That was two days ago: does that mean that I'm at least partly responsible for the down time, or can I sleep soundly tonight?

Depends on wether 1/2000 or somesuch classifies as responsible.

[SConrad]

A question, however, if I may: I recently toasted one of my hard drives which had all my mods installation files on it; having recently replaced it, I immediately proceeded to downloading them once again (what can I say, I'm a neat freak who like having her mod installation files all set and ready to go in nicely organized folders on her hard drives ).
That was two days ago: does that mean that I'm at least partly responsible for the down time, or can I sleep soundly tonight?

You can sleep without any fears. Even if one person downloads every single mod we have available (for both the IE games (including TCs which aren't compatible with each other anyway) and Oblivion and any other files we have), he or she wouldn't create that big of a dent in the overall bandwidth usage. With SHS, it's the collective number of downloads from a lot of people that makes all the difference. We get many thousands of visits every day, and a lot of them find their way to the downloads.

Man, that got me seriously frightened... donated, hope other do too...

As have been stated before, all donations are much appreciated. I've already sent you a PM thanking you for your contribution, and I'll add you to the list of donors momentarily.

(Speaking of which, I haven't updated the donation thread in ages. Must remember to do that tomorrow.)

What about adding a possibility so uploaders can *optionally* add a torrent-link for their stuff (espacially 50+ Mbytes and bigger downloads) ?

Torrents have been brought up several times before, and while we have considered the possibility, it's not an option we think is feasible. I don't believe the demand is high enough for mods to have the number of seeders to make such a system useful, and we would end up having to seed the mods using the SHS server anyway. Besides, having the server act as a torrent tracker would only put more strain on the bandwidth--using other trackers would probably not be a preference, either.

And that's not even taking into account the issue of mod updates--we would not want torrents with outdated mods floating around.

Theoretically, I suppose we could set something up that addresses all of these issues, but it's definitely not something I have time to devise and install right now.

[Cal Jones]

Had me worried for a bit there! Glad all is well and the problem has been sorted.

[AnnabelleRose]

All I can say is congratulations!

Think about it. 1TB of Bandwith for games that (without the WoC liscence & mods) would probably be on abandonware ware sites for free download.

These games are dinosaurs, but sites like this maintain interest in dead games (in truth, they keep them from being dead, but my point is still valid).

Obviously you are doing something right with how you run the site.

[SConrad]

Obviously you are doing something right with how you run the site.

I suppose. I've been hearing how "IE modding is dying" for the past 3-4 years, but I have yet to see the effects of it. Our number of visits, pageviews, unique visitors, number of downloads, and so on, have been steadily rising over that period of time. The statistics seem to have evened out a little bit over the past 6 months or so, but there are certainly no signs of them dwindling. The bandwidth for May should be proof enough of that.

[Deva]

And if they do release a new BG game, as dire as it is likely to be, will it not merely stimulate interest in the other two games and the modding communities? I think it can only go up from here.

Oh SConrad, a couple hours of downtime doesn't make us love you less. x

[Jarno Mikkola]

Just to notify SConrad, there was a very minor downtime in the 31st of July to 1st of August, at least in Finland, but it lasted for 20 to 30 minutes cause the date hadn't changed to the 1st of this months in the server, so I got this message:

Bandwidth Limit Exceeded
The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to the site owner reaching his/her bandwidth limit. Please try again later.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Apache Server at forums.spellholdstudios.net Port 80

[Kaeloree]

Yeah, we know Thanks for pointing it out, though.

We hit over 1.2 terabytes of bandwidth. Quite a feat!