[FX.php List] [OT] Planning for/handling Server Outage

[Jonathan Schwartz]

Hi Folks,

Talk about Murphy's Law and the all-important corollary (Anythng that 
can go wrong, will go wrong...at the worst possible moment).

Pardon this OT post, but I think that there are FMP and fx.php 
specific issues involved.

I have a two machine set up (Web server with html and fx.php on one, 
FMSA and files on another). They are both at a remote colo. They are 
both mac minis.

Yesterday, in the middle of a campaign launch (email+web response), 
the FMSA machine went dark.  Now, I'm not sure what kind of 
excitement gets others pumped up, but the reality of hundreds of 
users hitting your new launched solution and seeing error messages 
will get your heart rate going.

The question is how to plan for this type of thing in the future.

In this case, one of the PDUs (Power Distribution Unit) flipped a 
breaker and the FMSA machine shut off.  The web server stayed on, 
being on another PDU.  Problem is, it takes valuable time to figure 
out what is going on when you can't see or touch the machine. It's 
only after a process of elimination do you realize that the machine 
is off.  Talk about fun.

Then magically, the machine came back!  A remote service person had 
reset the PDU and powered up the machines.

First FileMaker FMSA-related question: should auto-start be turned on 
in the FMS8/FMSA8 preferences?  If the database is damaged during the 
rude shutdown, then automatically starting it could be a big mistake.

fx.php question: How do you handle the prospect of the FMSA not being 
available, on the web server?  In this half hour episode, I had to 
post a "Come Back Later" sign.

Finally, what do you do to deal with the prospect of web services not 
being available?  Redundancy appears to be a huge technical and 
financial leap....or at least I think that it is.

Again, I'm sorry for the slight off-topic nature of this post, but I 
feel that this topic can help others.

Regards,

Jonathan
-- 
Jonathan Schwartz
Exit 445 Group
jonathan at exit445.com
http://www.exit445.com
415-381-1852