In Progress Forums link down

[ploverwing]

FYI in case you haven't run into it, @engravertom posted a thread to report an issue that it seems more than just me is having today.

A blank (empty) screen results when you attempt to land directly on the https://forum.ukuleleunderground.com home page. This issue happens when you:

• Click on the UU logo from anywhere within the forum
• Enter the URL address directly into a browser
• Click the Forums link from the Menu options

There are workarounds:

• Use the New Posts link
• Use your notification icon to start from a post then navigate to that post's main forum topic
• Search in a Browser for a specific topic on the forum and click on that post's link e.g. use the search term together with:

site:forum.ukuleleunderground.com

I don't recommend trying to log out and log back on, because typically that process takes you straight to the broken page.

Thanks for your patience.

 

[TimWilson]

Thanks for hopping on this while I was still asleep, @ploverwing! (Still not 6am here as I type this.)

This happened yesterday, and the same solution applied then appears to have worked today. Everything should be back in order for now, but I'll be hopping on the blower with our server tech support in just a bit to see what we can do about returning to our normally stable setup.

More soon,
Tim

 

[Mike $]

Thank god. Would be a shame if people didn't know what I was having for lunch today.

 

[kkimura]

New development. I can get to the home page by selecting “new posts” on my iPhone then marking them “all read”.

 

[kkimura]

Must be your recent reset

 

[TimWilson]

I think we've got it solved!

The details are, not shockingly, kinda nerdy. That one page has a lot of dynamic elements on it of course, and the cache was getting clogged. The solution to making the page load was to flush the cache, but it was needing clearing more often than I could manage, including overnight. Working with the server gurus, we created a cron job to automatically flush the cache. That should do it!

Needless to say, I'll be watching this to the best of my ability. If you see anything, ping me, but also try other pages, especially this one: https://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/whats-new/posts/874849/ As far as I can tell, the problem really has only been on the one page.

I'll let you know if anything else comes up, and I know I can count on you to do the same!

Mahalo,
Tim

 

[kkimura]

Perhaps a daemon(s) to monitor and notify if the cache(s) approach their limits?

 

[EDW]

I thought it was Tim's attempt at creating another new forum style and perhaps it was his tribute to "The White Album"

 

[TimWilson]

Perhaps a daemon(s) to monitor and notify if the cache(s) approach their limits?

We've jumped ahead of it with the cron job, I think. Rather than wait for it to become corrupted again and only flush then, we're just automatically flushing it every half hour.

That's pretty aggressive -- I'd been flushing once an hour, and that was working -- so I'm hopeful!

 

[TimWilson]

I thought it was Tim's attempt at creating another new forum style and perhaps it was his tribute to "The White Album"

I'm ashamed to have missed that opportunity, but pleased and proud that you didn't!

 

[kkimura]

We've jumped ahead of it with the cron job, I think. Rather than wait for it to become corrupted again and only flush then, we're just automatically flushing it every half hour.

That's pretty aggressive -- I'd been flushing once an hour, and that was working -- so I'm hopeful!

That's a lot of cache flushing. Is there a memory leak?

 

[TimWilson]

That's a lot of cache flushing. Is there a memory leak?

No idea! Possibly. I really can't overstate how little experience I have with anything beyond the bare basics with servers. We pay experts for their advice, this is what they suggested and implemented, and it's working without any further intervention from me. I'm going to have to leave it at that, and am happy to.

That said, I'm always sniffing around different hosts. If you have any suggestions, PM me.

 

[BigJackBrass]

I'm getting the blank home page again. Luckily, I took the advice offered when this happened before and bookmarked the new posts page, which still works.

 

[Stoneyrun]

Same here. Any subsequent UU links seem to work when this happens. Appears to only be an issue with the UU home page.

 

[Tin Ear]

Yup - home page link trouble again

 

[Tin Ear]

I think we've got it solved!

The details are, not shockingly, kinda nerdy. That one page has a lot of dynamic elements on it of course, and the cache was getting clogged. The solution to making the page load was to flush the cache, but it was needing clearing more often than I could manage, including overnight. Working with the server gurus, we created a cron job to automatically flush the cache. That should do it!

Needless to say, I'll be watching this to the best of my ability. If you see anything, ping me, but also try other pages, especially this one: https://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/whats-new/posts/874849/ As far as I can tell, the problem really has only been on the one page.

I'll let you know if anything else comes up, and I know I can count on you to do the same!

Mahalo,
Tim

The explanation has parallels to a plugged toilet. Maybe a plunger would work too when flushing doesn't get it done.

Good luck figuring this all out. I would think there has to be a root cause somewhere. ( I'll save the roto router joke )

 

[Tin Ear]

Back working again. Auto flusher is doing the job I guess but with luck the root symptom can be found. Good luck.

 

[TimWilson]

Auto flusher is doing the job I guess but with luck the root symptom can be found. Good luck.

Yep. We spent most of the weekend troubleshooting, took a break for part of yesterday, and will be back on it today. There's a memory leak in there somewhere, and I'm still on the hunt for it!

Thanks for the updates, and yeah, do bookmark something like the new posts page or your favorite forum as a backup.

 

[Tactical Uke]

Still painfully slow to navigate on my end since the hiccup for some odd reason. Takes minutes to load up the main page,

 

[kkimura]

“New Posts” returns a blank white page on my iPhone (Safari). All other pages are okay.