Site (un)availability
April 12th, 2012 at 7:08:41 PM
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Many of you have probably been experiencing slow load times today.
Our hosting provider is undergoing a DDoS attack, and both WizardOfOdds.com and WizardOfVegas.com appear to be somehow affected. There may be downtime tonight for up to 4 hours while our host tries to fix the problem. I don't envy the folks that have to figure out how to stop or prevent DDoS attacks.
Hopefully everything will be resolved later tonight.
Our hosting provider is undergoing a DDoS attack, and both WizardOfOdds.com and WizardOfVegas.com appear to be somehow affected. There may be downtime tonight for up to 4 hours while our host tries to fix the problem. I don't envy the folks that have to figure out how to stop or prevent DDoS attacks.
Hopefully everything will be resolved later tonight.
April 12th, 2012 at 8:29:42 PM
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I hope you are right. I starting having trouble right after DJTeddybear questioned Roger Snow's list on Poker Variant Thread.
Let us hope, for Mike's sake' that was just a coincidence.
Darth Vader: If he could be turned, he would make a powerful ally.
Let us hope, for Mike's sake' that was just a coincidence.
Darth Vader: If he could be turned, he would make a powerful ally.
April 12th, 2012 at 8:41:01 PM
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Thanks.
The view from under this bus is just fine....
The view from under this bus is just fine....
I invented a few casino games. Info:
http://www.DaveMillerGaming.com/ —————————————————————————————————————
Superstitions are silly, childish, irrational rituals, born out of fear of the unknown. But how much does it cost to knock on wood? 😁
April 12th, 2012 at 9:04:26 PM
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It is too late for me, son. The Emperor will show you the true nature of the Force. He is your master now
April 13th, 2012 at 3:10:16 AM
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If they can take down Visa and Mastercard, nobody else stands a chance.
Last time I got DDoSed, I managed to drop all the traffic with a filter and that still ate > 90% of the router CPU. The 100-megabit ethernet was still totally saturated, of course. At least the router would respond to commands again.
There really is nothing that can be done when they pick you. Luckily, they tend to move on to someone else after a time.
I hate the bastards. Spammers too. I'd start with castration and progress from there.
Last time I got DDoSed, I managed to drop all the traffic with a filter and that still ate > 90% of the router CPU. The 100-megabit ethernet was still totally saturated, of course. At least the router would respond to commands again.
There really is nothing that can be done when they pick you. Luckily, they tend to move on to someone else after a time.
I hate the bastards. Spammers too. I'd start with castration and progress from there.
April 13th, 2012 at 4:48:11 AM
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Quote: QuadDeuces
I hate the bastards. Spammers too. I'd start with castration and progress from there.
you realize that this would have little to no effect on their "love lives"
In a bet, there is a fool and a thief.
- Proverb.
April 13th, 2012 at 7:07:03 AM
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Quote: JBHopefully everything will be resolved later tonight.
Thanks for the update. I was afraid someone had fiddled with the corporate firewall.
Donald Trump is a fucking criminal
April 13th, 2012 at 7:47:06 AM
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If any of my sites are down, you can at least find out if the problem is on the server end by going to http://www.dreamhoststatus.com/. In almost every case the problem is on their end.
"For with much wisdom comes much sorrow." -- Ecclesiastes 1:18 (NIV)
April 14th, 2012 at 4:33:38 AM
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Quote: JBMany of you have probably been experiencing slow load times today.
Our hosting provider is undergoing a DDoS attack, and both WizardOfOdds.com and WizardOfVegas.com appear to be somehow affected. There may be downtime tonight for up to 4 hours while our host tries to fix the problem. I don't envy the folks that have to figure out how to stop or prevent DDoS attacks.
Hopefully everything will be resolved later tonight.
easiest way to overcome a DDoS attack:
have the hosting company upgrade their router to one that can do a bazillion hits per second.
You CANNOT overload Cisco's top of the line router with DDoS because it can handle EVERY request u throw at it. it's also a *little* expensive. :)
Now the bandwidth the DDoS attacks are taking up are a different story...
maybe get a provider that has OC-12 (622Mbps) capability?
heck, how about amazon hosting? they have 10x the avg bandwidth capacity that they need. they have the xtra capacity for the few days of the years which produces huge traffic like xmas season. downtime costs them $millions$ per minute.
so for the extra idle bandwidth, they have a hosting division.
Craps is paradise (Pair of dice).
Lets hear it for the SpeedCount Mathletes :)
June 18th, 2012 at 10:51:57 AM
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I have had a terrible time accessing the WoV site yesterday and today. I get repeated error messages of "Internal Server Error" or "Service Not Available". I have hit that at least a dozen times this morning. Twice I have composed rather long posts, tried to post them, and then gotten the error message. At that point, there is nothing I can do but start composing again. The dreamhoststatus.com site does not currently mention any problems over the past two days. If I hadn't committed to making at least one post in the Casino Chip of the Day thread, I would probably just leave the site for a week or two to see whether things get better. Isn't there a more reliable hosting service available, where visitors aren't fighting for access to the servers?
June 18th, 2012 at 10:56:02 AM
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I, too, have experienced these types of problems.
As a result, I generally copy all the text before I hit post or preview.
If I get problems, just save the text in any program until later...
As a result, I generally copy all the text before I hit post or preview.
If I get problems, just save the text in any program until later...
I invented a few casino games. Info:
http://www.DaveMillerGaming.com/ —————————————————————————————————————
Superstitions are silly, childish, irrational rituals, born out of fear of the unknown. But how much does it cost to knock on wood? 😁
June 18th, 2012 at 11:49:59 AM
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I just make sure my check to the Wiz is sent in on time. I have never experienced any difficulties whatever.
That's the value of a PLATIMUM membership !
That's the value of a PLATIMUM membership !
June 18th, 2012 at 12:49:43 PM
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Some errors, too. But what happens to me the most is I'll click on a post link, and it will take forever to load the post. Usually I have to stop the browser and re-click. Sometimes that helps, sometimes not.
Donald Trump is a fucking criminal
June 18th, 2012 at 1:16:14 PM
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I posted here all day yesterday and didn't have one problem.
Maybe the problem is not with the site but at the users end.
Maybe the problem is not with the site but at the users end.
"It's not called gambling if the math is on your side."
June 18th, 2012 at 1:51:57 PM
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Or maybe they should upgrade to a PLATINUM membership.
June 18th, 2012 at 4:59:15 PM
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If the problem were on the users' end, there would likely be difficulty with other sites, and we would not be getting the message that says "Internal Server Error" with the claim that the problem is being reported to the site administrator. Now the error message that says "Site not available" could be due to a break anywhere along the way, I suppose.
June 19th, 2012 at 6:18:36 AM
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First, I must admit an error on my own part. In my post right above, I indicated that the error messages I had been receiving said that the problem was being reported to the site administrator. I misremembered. It says that I should report it. This is the error message as I got it yet again this morning:
So, JB, is this an error report from the file server at the host for the WoV site or is it from some other server along the way? In either case, it says that I should be reporting the details to you, though I haven't done so on the frequent times I have encountered it. This particular error occurred at approximately 6 A.M. PDT, and I was trying to save my update to the table in post #1 of the Casino Chip of the Day thread.
I have no idea what a "404 Not Found" error is. I do know that when combined with an "Internal Server Error", it is quite annoying to the users. The frequency with which I encounter this message and the other one that says "Site not available" suggests to me some instability or unreliability at the host's systems.
Quote: Firefox Error Message when postingInternal Server Error
The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.
Please contact the server administrator, webmaster@wizardofvegas.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.
More information about this error may be available in the server error log.
Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
So, JB, is this an error report from the file server at the host for the WoV site or is it from some other server along the way? In either case, it says that I should be reporting the details to you, though I haven't done so on the frequent times I have encountered it. This particular error occurred at approximately 6 A.M. PDT, and I was trying to save my update to the table in post #1 of the Casino Chip of the Day thread.
I have no idea what a "404 Not Found" error is. I do know that when combined with an "Internal Server Error", it is quite annoying to the users. The frequency with which I encounter this message and the other one that says "Site not available" suggests to me some instability or unreliability at the host's systems.
June 19th, 2012 at 7:32:28 AM
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I have no idea what a "404 Not Found" error is. It is one half of an 808 error.
If you do not have a code book, Chico will sell you one. But be prepared to buy more than one !
If you do not have a code book, Chico will sell you one. But be prepared to buy more than one !
June 19th, 2012 at 7:34:35 AM
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Don't beat yourself up for not reporting it. Ditto for me. Of course, reporting it HERE serves the same purpose. Besides, there was this little comment in that error message:
---
Error 404 is an internal error code meaning that a specified file could not be found. Normally, went that happens, the browser then retrieves the website's page specifically designed for an Error 404. Not all websites have them set up.
For example, click on these to see what would appear under normal conditions:
https://wizardofvegas.com/xyz
https://wizardofodds.com/xyz
Here's what Google has set up:
http://www.google.com/xyz
Here's the one I have for my entertainment websites:
http://djteddybear.com/xyz
Sigh. I forgot to set one up for my Poker For Roulette site.
But here's what happens when the broswer DOES connect to the website, but can't find the desired page OR an Error 404 page:
http://poker-for-roulette.com/xyx
Aren't you glad you asked?
Quote:More information about this error may be available in the server error log.
---
Error 404 is an internal error code meaning that a specified file could not be found. Normally, went that happens, the browser then retrieves the website's page specifically designed for an Error 404. Not all websites have them set up.
For example, click on these to see what would appear under normal conditions:
https://wizardofvegas.com/xyz
https://wizardofodds.com/xyz
Here's what Google has set up:
http://www.google.com/xyz
Here's the one I have for my entertainment websites:
http://djteddybear.com/xyz
Sigh. I forgot to set one up for my Poker For Roulette site.
But here's what happens when the broswer DOES connect to the website, but can't find the desired page OR an Error 404 page:
http://poker-for-roulette.com/xyx
Aren't you glad you asked?
I invented a few casino games. Info:
http://www.DaveMillerGaming.com/ —————————————————————————————————————
Superstitions are silly, childish, irrational rituals, born out of fear of the unknown. But how much does it cost to knock on wood? 😁
June 19th, 2012 at 7:35:31 AM
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HORSE FEATHERS
June 19th, 2012 at 7:44:04 AM
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Quote: DJTeddyBearAren't you glad you asked?
Well, yes. It got me an answer, at least for what happens "under normal conditions." I don't seem to be encountering normal conditions, and that is what I was trying to communicate. Sometimes the long delays followed by error messages make the site almost impossible to use.
June 19th, 2012 at 10:46:14 AM
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A little while ago, I got the 503 Service Temporarily Unavailable error. On a retry, I got the 500 Internal Server Error.
I invented a few casino games. Info:
http://www.DaveMillerGaming.com/ —————————————————————————————————————
Superstitions are silly, childish, irrational rituals, born out of fear of the unknown. But how much does it cost to knock on wood? 😁
June 19th, 2012 at 12:29:24 PM
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Could it be one of the 'banned' members has enough savvy to launch a DDoS attack as a vendetta?
Always borrow money from a pessimist; They don't expect to get paid back !
Be yourself and speak your thoughts. Those who matter won't mind, and those that mind, don't matter!
June 19th, 2012 at 12:35:25 PM
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Quote: RaleighCrapsCould it be one of the 'banned' members has enough savvy to launch a DDoS attack as a vendetta?
I doubt it. I just think you get a different level of service ,if you have not bought a PLATINUM membership.
June 19th, 2012 at 12:43:34 PM
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Quote: RaleighCrapsCould it be one of the 'banned' members has enough savvy to launch a DDoS attack as a vendetta?
You'd think someone that smart would....
Nah! Why give them ideas?
Donald Trump is a fucking criminal
June 20th, 2012 at 6:34:51 AM
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Quote: DJTeddyBearA little while ago, I got the 503 Service Temporarily Unavailable error. On a retry, I got the 500 Internal Server Error.
At least from 5:45 A.M. to 6:30 A.M. PDT today, the site was essentially unusable. I got those 503 and 500 errors repeatedly as I tried to read what had been posted over night. I think there were only 4 posts made from 2:45 to 6:30; I suspect that was due not just to the time of day but to the difficulty in making posts.
June 20th, 2012 at 7:06:33 AM
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I have been experiencing these types of issues intermittently the past couple of days too.
I'll ask our host about the issue to see if there's anything that can be done about it.
I'll ask our host about the issue to see if there's anything that can be done about it.
June 20th, 2012 at 7:31:48 AM
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I was hit with the latest "503" on my first attempt to read JB's post. How's that for irony?
Donald Trump is a fucking criminal
June 21st, 2012 at 6:57:14 AM
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The hosting problems appear to be continuing. At 6:27 A.M. PDT, I posted my Chip of the Day. The next step (daily) is to make a minor edit to the first post of that thread to add a link in the table. That minor edit took me more than twenty minutes of "Service Temporarily Unavailable" and "Internal Server Error" messages. During that period, there were no other posts to the forum.
I looked at the list of threads and noticed erratic posting over previous hours: Four different threads updated in the 15 minutes between 4:28 and 4:43, but only one thread updated between 5:00 and 6:00 -- with no posts at all for over an hour. I speculate that folks just couldn't get on the site to read or to post.
Can you imagine what it would be like to use this hosting service for an etail business, where you make money if/when people can post their orders and don't make money when the host is "Temporarily Unavailable" or having server errors?
I looked at the list of threads and noticed erratic posting over previous hours: Four different threads updated in the 15 minutes between 4:28 and 4:43, but only one thread updated between 5:00 and 6:00 -- with no posts at all for over an hour. I speculate that folks just couldn't get on the site to read or to post.
Can you imagine what it would be like to use this hosting service for an etail business, where you make money if/when people can post their orders and don't make money when the host is "Temporarily Unavailable" or having server errors?
June 21st, 2012 at 7:54:58 AM
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Okay, I contacted our host (after Doc's most recent post above) to see if they could do something I wanted to do, and they did.
Hopefully things will be faster from this point forward.
Hopefully things will be faster from this point forward.
June 21st, 2012 at 8:10:09 AM
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Quote: JB
Hopefully things will be faster from this point forward.
that's what she said...
but seriously, thank you for trying to clear this up.
i did not want to complain, since the site is totally free
and i don't want to seem ungrateful,
but there have been a lot of connection issues this past week
In a bet, there is a fool and a thief.
- Proverb.
June 21st, 2012 at 8:46:08 AM
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We got a "That's what she said!" WOO HOO!Quote: WongBothat's what she said...
I think it's safe to say, "Feel free to complain." The fact that this is a free site is irrelevant.
After all, if you were this site's advertiser, and in this case exclusive advertiser, paying for people to see the site and the ads, wouldn't you want to see that those dang free-loading members are complaining when the site is not operating, and that their complaints do not fall on deaf ears?
I invented a few casino games. Info:
http://www.DaveMillerGaming.com/ —————————————————————————————————————
Superstitions are silly, childish, irrational rituals, born out of fear of the unknown. But how much does it cost to knock on wood? 😁
June 21st, 2012 at 8:55:49 AM
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In case it is not clear, I do not mean for my posts to be complaints about anybody at this site or the services that the site offers. I think this place it great. I'm just trying to point out that the hosting service has not been providing good service to WoV. I assume that the Wizard is paying for reliable service, but he is not getting it. If no one complains and the Wizard and JB don't personally encounter the problems, they may not know that they are not getting what's being paid for.
Thanks for your attention to this, JB. I'm sure we will let you know if there continue to be problems, and I hope we will have the manners to let you know if service really improves.
Thanks for your attention to this, JB. I'm sure we will let you know if there continue to be problems, and I hope we will have the manners to let you know if service really improves.
June 21st, 2012 at 9:14:38 AM
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There was just a problem on the main page right now, but it's unrelated to the recent site unavailability errors.
Whatever is causing this new error is a bit of a head-scratcher. It's something to do with the 11th most recently active thread (at the time of writing this), so I temporarily restricted the home page to only show the 10 most recent threads.
Whatever is causing this new error is a bit of a head-scratcher. It's something to do with the 11th most recently active thread (at the time of writing this), so I temporarily restricted the home page to only show the 10 most recent threads.
June 21st, 2012 at 9:17:05 AM
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Edit: deleted. I was reporting what JB just posted about.
June 21st, 2012 at 9:17:48 AM
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Yeah, that's the same problem I just encountered. It's unrelated, and mysterious. But I'm on it.
Edit: This problem with the main page should now be fixed.
Edit: This problem with the main page should now be fixed.
June 21st, 2012 at 9:40:29 AM
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I think it's safe to say that whenever any of us complain about these problems, we really are just trying to notify JB.
"Complaint"? Hardly!
Things do see to be faster. THANKS!
"Complaint"? Hardly!
Things do see to be faster. THANKS!
I invented a few casino games. Info:
http://www.DaveMillerGaming.com/ —————————————————————————————————————
Superstitions are silly, childish, irrational rituals, born out of fear of the unknown. But how much does it cost to knock on wood? 😁
June 22nd, 2012 at 9:18:55 AM
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When I click on recent threads page 1 appears fine but I get an error code on page 2 or 3. This has been happening since yesterday morning. Anybody else having that problem?
Yesterday it was page 2, today it is page 3
Yesterday it was page 2, today it is page 3
IF YOU PLAY "PLAY TO WIN"
June 22nd, 2012 at 10:18:07 AM
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Quote: only1choiceWhen I click on recent threads page 1 appears fine but I get an error code on page 2 or 3. This has been happening since yesterday morning. Anybody else having that problem?
Yesterday it was page 2, today it is page 3
Thanks for letting me know - I'm getting it too, and am looking into it now.
Update: This should be fixed.
June 22nd, 2012 at 11:19:02 AM
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I have had no problems at all, since upgrading to a Platinum membership !
June 22nd, 2012 at 11:55:30 AM
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Quote: buzzpaffI have had no problems at all, since upgrading to a Platinum membership !
I can't put the time in, may I pay to jump the line?
IF YOU PLAY "PLAY TO WIN"
June 22nd, 2012 at 12:41:48 PM
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Do you have any references ?
June 22nd, 2012 at 1:03:56 PM
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Quote: buzzpaffDo you have any references ?
What do you have in mind?
IF YOU PLAY "PLAY TO WIN"
June 24th, 2012 at 5:45:13 AM
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Quote: DocThanks for your attention to this, JB. I'm sure we will let you know if there continue to be problems, and I hope we will have the manners to let you know if service really improves.
Trying to pretend that I have manners ....
Disregarding that brief "other" issue (of some thread causing formatting problems for the home page and recent threads page), I have had no problem at all using the forum for three days now. Thanks again, JB. It appears that whatever corrective action was taken, it really is working. Was this some kind of internal change, or some change in how the hosting service is supporting this site?
June 24th, 2012 at 8:51:20 AM
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Quote: DocTrying to pretend that I have manners ....
Disregarding that brief "other" issue (of some thread causing formatting problems for the home page and recent threads page), I have had no problem at all using the forum for three days now. Thanks again, JB. It appears that whatever corrective action was taken, it really is working. Was this some kind of internal change, or some change in how the hosting service is supporting this site?
It was a rather significant change in terms of the behind-the-scenes stuff, and our hosting company handled it surprisingly fast. They had it finished before I was even done asking questions about it. I agree that the site appears to be running much smoother now.
September 7th, 2012 at 1:41:40 AM
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Site was just unavailable (500 error) for the last 30 minutes (~4:10 - 4:40 Eastern) or so.
September 28th, 2012 at 2:13:32 AM
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Site was unavailable for most of 4AM-5AM Eastern time. Started with 500 errors, then progressed to 503 errors. Not sure exactly when the problem started, changed, or ended as I was doing other stuff and just coming back to try to reload every 5-10 minutes.
September 28th, 2012 at 2:18:10 AM
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Perhaps trouble arises from visitors attempting to download the overly lengthy Hot Blonde Challenge thread which might better be split into a shorter segment. Perhaps the same for a Spanish Language thread.
September 28th, 2012 at 2:31:38 AM
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I encountered 500 errors about 24 hours ago. I'm not sure why, since WizardOfOdds.com was available without error, and resides on the same server as this site. Database usage is of course heavier here, but both sites and their databases all reside on the same server. I checked the logs at the time to see if there was a rogue crawler hogging up the bandwidth, but there wasn't. So it's a bit of a mystery to me.
September 28th, 2012 at 2:37:02 AM
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I just thought to add, I checked WoO and it was loading fine during this period, but I don't specifically know if any of those pages were hitting the database.
