Folks,
FYI, we are in the process of moving to a more capable web site server. The end result will be that the forums and the rest of the site should run well, even when I go back and re-enable the features I shut off previously (like the “COPA Member” tag, etc.) However – during the time of transition, there may be some disruptions to the server. Hopefully they will be minimized, and ideally you won’t even notice. But in the worst case, the site could be down for as much as a day or so.
Though I don’t know the exact timing of when the outages will occur, be advised that it may be anytime within the next week or so.
The end result, after this temporary pain is endured, will be better web performance and reliability.
As always, please let me know if you have any questions.
To add a bit more to Steve’s comments: Our web site has had upwards of 1.5 million hits per month. That number is staggering and Steve assures me that it does not mean that we actually have had 1.5 million pairs of eyeballs looking at the site, but it is indicative of the load that our ‘shared’ server has been shouldering.
We all have noticed how impaired (slow) the site has been and Steve has been doing a lot of trouble shooting to determine the cause or causes. Over the past few weeks, he has implemented a few interim steps to speed things up, such as deactivating some functions. While these have helped, the bottom line is that we need more capacity. This switch to our own dedicated server should bring the site back to its former speed and all functions will be reactivated.
We hope that the transition will be totally transparent to most users. But, we are talking technology here, and if there are any outages during the upgrades, we apologize in advance for the inconveniences. This really is a case of, “Pardon our dust. We are working to serve you better.”
Finally, the problems are ultimately caused by our success. When we started COPA last fall, our projections were for about 1/3 as many members as we have. We had no idea that the activity levels would reach these levels. We appreciate your support and confidence. If we can do anything to enhance our services, please let us know. You can either post to the Forums, e-mail membership@cirruspilot.org or send me a personal e-mail to MK2Day@InsightBB.com.
I’d like to thank you for doing such a great job on the COPA web site. I know it’s a thankless task (you usually only hear from the users when something goes wrong), and an ongoing burden, but you’re doing a great service to the Cirrus community.