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theAmazon Downtime
Hi folks,
Just to tell you we didn't disappear, we are having some hosting troubles, and I am currently anticipating a reply from our server host.
We will send out a broadcast email when we have recovered. No data should be lost.
Thanks for your patience! 
( Chad Ohman )
Like WordPress? You'll like this better.
March 9, 2007 4:48 am
Still waiting for that email back... i hope to get one back by monday. 
( Chad Ohman )
Like WordPress? You'll like this better.
March 10, 2007 3:28 am
I recieved an email at about 9:00 PM MST, and have replied, I think things are going good.
We will explain the reason for the downtime after we are back up. There is a chance that we might find some Mac dedicated hosting. If anyone knows of a good VPS or DS web host (other than NetFirms, DreamHost, the usual), it would be great if you could post!
Thank you, once again, for your awesome patience.
( Chad Ohman )
Like WordPress? You'll like this better.
March 10, 2007 7:24 am
You think they would have learned from MacAppADay and not used GoDaddy.
Marathon Forever.
AppShelf: MacHeist 3 Loot
AppShelf: nanoBundle 1
Check Reciept Page for nanoBundle 2 AppShelf Files.
March 10, 2007 7:05 pm
makapaday is complete crap anyway.
March 10, 2007 8:22 pm
I didn't know they used GoDaddy..
Anyone used MediaTemple?
( Chad Ohman )
Like WordPress? You'll like this better.
March 11, 2007 3:47 am
If I'm remembering correctly (and I'm not completely positive that I am), I think MAAD used MediaTemple for some time, and then they switched to GoDaddy (is GoDaddy cheaper?). For me at least, their site seemed to be slower and had more moments of downtime after they switched to GoDaddy. I'm pretty sure some other people commented on the speed after the switch, too. Also, make sure that your account and/or whois contact info is current, if this article is correct: http://www.threadwatch.org/node/12636 .
March 11, 2007 7:25 am
Warbrain wrote:
Apcs11 wrote:They should use dreamhost.
I've heard that they're absolutely terrible.
Really? From what I've seen, they're ok...
March 13, 2007 1:51 pm
reverzentative wrote:
Warbrain wrote:Apcs11 wrote:They should use dreamhost.
I've heard that they're absolutely terrible.
Really? From what I've seen, they're ok...
Yeah, so have I. Scrapetorrent uses them and Ive never had a problem w/ 'em.
Han shot first.
March 13, 2007 2:29 pm
March 16, 2007 1:00 pm
Well, we're back up.
And we are on (mt). We are much, much faster.
( Chad Ohman )
Like WordPress? You'll like this better.
March 18, 2007 11:47 pm
http://www.whatistheamazon.com and http://www.theamazongroup.org are both down for me.
Vitamin C Power!
March 19, 2007 12:20 am
and same here
It's sad how theAmazon is slowly falling apart.
I thought Phill died...
Avatar comps. of Leo Mancini (leomancini.net).
March 19, 2007 8:09 pm
guys, do a hard refresh (ctrl + F5 in firefox, maybe other clients too). Probably have the old address stuck in your cache or something like that. . . comes up for me btw.
Whistle while you work. Patience is key.
March 19, 2007 10:45 pm
It's a shame such a well-organized effort got bogged down the mire of politics and egos. Then again, it's not the first time that's happened.
Before the site went down again I read about what happened with the page of text that got plastered on the front page. I even read it myself. Between that, the problem with getting more licenses, and some (somewhat minor) issues with iHeist, I wonder if things may have fallen apart.
Then again, it could just be more server-side hosting issues.
Marathon Forever.
AppShelf: MacHeist 3 Loot
AppShelf: nanoBundle 1
Check Reciept Page for nanoBundle 2 AppShelf Files.
March 21, 2007 4:00 am
ktx wrote:
http://www.whatistheamazon.com and http://www.theamazongroup.org are both down for me.
I've recently had problems as well (even after they said it was back up with MediaTemple)... until a couple days ago when it occurred to me to try using different DNS servers. As soon as I applied the changes in my Network preferences, all was well again. Mission 4 hasn't started yet, btw.
To the people who are still having trouble, and especially if you're still having trouble in a few more days, do you have Comcast cable by any chance?
In any case, you might want to give these DNS servers a try for now (pretty sure they are public -- if they aren't, someone please let me know so I can edit my post):
Speakeasy (pick any two, nearest is probably best):
66.93.87.2 (Washington state and Oregon)
216.231.41.2 (Washington DC - probably)
216.254.95.2 (NY, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania)
64.81.45.2 (Los Angeles, California)
64.81.111.2 (Denver, Colorado)
64.81.127.2 (Dallas, Texas)
64.81.79.2 (Sacramento, California)
64.81.159.2 (Baltimore and Washington DC)
66.92.64.2 (Boston, Massachusetts)
66.92.224.2 (Philadelphia)
66.92.159.2 (Washington DC)
216.27.175.2 (Atlanta, Georgia. Serves Florida too)
Verizon (Level3, whatever that is):
4.2.2.1
4.2.2.2
4.2.2.3
4.2.2.4
4.2.2.5
4.2.2.6
Apparently you can also flush the DNS resolver cache (suggested to me by Comcast support, but it didn't seem to help) by doing "lookupd -flushcache" in Terminal.
March 21, 2007 7:59 am
March 21, 2007 1:49 pm
I never got my license!
March 22, 2007 4:34 pm
I still can't access either
www.whatistheamazon.com
www.theamazongroup.org
And all those DNS Servers are in the US... What about other places i.e. UK?
Green Team!
March 23, 2007 4:06 pm
I really hope the amazon gets back up...or Macheist gets revived
It's sad how theAmazon is slowly falling apart.
I thought Phill died...
Avatar comps. of Leo Mancini (leomancini.net).
March 23, 2007 8:16 pm
March 25, 2007 4:16 pm
TIP: Your average consumer doesn't give a crap about OpenDNS. The architects of the DNS system knew servers IP address changing would be a problem, that's why they invented the TTL property of DNS records. It's there for a reason.
Vitamin C Power!
March 25, 2007 7:10 pm
has anyone gotten on theAmazon in the last week two...like since it was "back up"?
It's sad how theAmazon is slowly falling apart.
I thought Phill died...
Avatar comps. of Leo Mancini (leomancini.net).
March 25, 2007 10:27 pm
getthebiggem wrote:
has anyone gotten on theAmazon in the last week two...like since it was "back up"?
Yes, but only after I stopped using Comcast's DNS servers (see my other post on this page). As for why I have to use other servers... maybe something else is wrong too.
March 26, 2007 11:23 am
LRKirsch wrote:
getthebiggem wrote:has anyone gotten on theAmazon in the last week two...like since it was "back up"?
Yes, but only after I stopped using Comcast's DNS servers (see my other post on this page). As for why I have to use other servers... maybe something else is wrong too.
I also have comcast, but I don't get how to change the DNS stuff...so should I just wait for now?
It's sad how theAmazon is slowly falling apart.
I thought Phill died...
Avatar comps. of Leo Mancini (leomancini.net).
March 27, 2007 1:41 am
ktx wrote:
TIP: Your average consumer doesn't give a crap about OpenDNS. The architects of the DNS system knew servers IP address changing would be a problem, that's why they invented the TTL property of DNS records. It's there for a reason.
Guess what? TTL isn't always the best thing to rely on. Some DNS servers update 15 days at a time, or even longer.
( Chad Ohman )
Like WordPress? You'll like this better.
March 27, 2007 3:40 am
getthebiggem wrote:
I also have comcast, but I don't get how to change the DNS stuff...so should I just wait for now?
OpenDNS has a nice tutorial with screenshots here:
http://www.opendns.com/start/mac_os_x.php
Restarting might not be needed (but it can't hurt); maybe that's only if you use their servers? I chose to use Speakeasy's California DNS servers and all I had to do was click Apply Now.
March 27, 2007 1:04 pm
Chad wrote:
ktx wrote:TIP: Your average consumer doesn't give a crap about OpenDNS. The architects of the DNS system knew servers IP address changing would be a problem, that's why they invented the TTL property of DNS records. It's there for a reason.
Guess what? TTL isn't always the best thing to rely on. Some DNS servers update 15 days at a time, or even longer.
Wrong-O. Yeah, there are some ISPs that do not obey that TTL (which is no only against the RFC is is pathetic IMO), but I have NEVER heard of a company caching DNS queries for 15 days or longer. Even piss-poor ISPs like AOL don't do more than a week (maybe they've changed that though, to actually obey the RFC I don't know). I can guarantee if you were to set your TTL properties to an acceptable time seeing how much your IP address is changing it would eliminate at least some of the problems users are experiencing. It won't hurt anything, and it certainly may help, so why would you not use it?
Vitamin C Power!
March 27, 2007 9:15 pm
LRKirsch wrote:
getthebiggem wrote:I also have comcast, but I don't get how to change the DNS stuff...so should I just wait for now?
OpenDNS has a nice tutorial with screenshots here:
http://www.opendns.com/start/mac_os_x.phpRestarting might not be needed (but it can't hurt); maybe that's only if you use their servers? I chose to use Speakeasy's California DNS servers and all I had to do was click Apply Now.
Thank-you very much! I can see theAmazon's trees now! yay!
It's sad how theAmazon is slowly falling apart.
I thought Phill died...
Avatar comps. of Leo Mancini (leomancini.net).
March 28, 2007 1:03 am
ktx wrote:
Chad wrote:ktx wrote:TIP: Your average consumer doesn't give a crap about OpenDNS. The architects of the DNS system knew servers IP address changing would be a problem, that's why they invented the TTL property of DNS records. It's there for a reason.
Guess what? TTL isn't always the best thing to rely on. Some DNS servers update 15 days at a time, or even longer.
Wrong-O. Yeah, there are some ISPs that do not obey that TTL (which is no only against the RFC is is pathetic IMO), but I have NEVER heard of a company caching DNS queries for 15 days or longer. Even piss-poor ISPs like AOL don't do more than a week (maybe they've changed that though, to actually obey the RFC I don't know). I can guarantee if you were to set your TTL properties to an acceptable time seeing how much your IP address is changing it would eliminate at least some of the problems users are experiencing. It won't hurt anything, and it certainly may help, so why would you not use it?
Uhm, if you know all this.. whats our TTL? Mr. Wise Guy.. 
( Chad Ohman )
Like WordPress? You'll like this better.
March 28, 2007 2:29 am
Chad wrote:
ktx wrote:Chad wrote:Guess what? TTL isn't always the best thing to rely on. Some DNS servers update 15 days at a time, or even longer.
Wrong-O. Yeah, there are some ISPs that do not obey that TTL (which is no only against the RFC is is pathetic IMO), but I have NEVER heard of a company caching DNS queries for 15 days or longer. Even piss-poor ISPs like AOL don't do more than a week (maybe they've changed that though, to actually obey the RFC I don't know). I can guarantee if you were to set your TTL properties to an acceptable time seeing how much your IP address is changing it would eliminate at least some of the problems users are experiencing. It won't hurt anything, and it certainly may help, so why would you not use it?
Uhm, if you know all this.. whats our TTL? Mr. Wise Guy..
The www RRs in question probably have no specific TTL, they just take the one of the zone, being 86400 aka 1 day. This is positive caching. Negative caching is a zone-wide setting and seems to have a TTL of 10800 aka 3 hours. Ha! All your TTL... ;-)
I do consider it bad practice to advise people to use another DNS server but the ones of their access provider, though. A whole lot of issues come to mind (among them privacy and security, all those queries going out on the big Net, an external dependency for such a crucial network service (freeing you of all the distributedness and redundancy standard DNS burdens you with and giving you a single point of failure in return, even one with many many links that might fail between you and that SPoF...), problems with DNS views...). If DNS TTL already is not "the best thing to rely on" while it has been in use for many many years and is in numerous RFCs and all, I wonder very much about "opendns.COM".
Which of course doesn't mean that some ISPs might not do *TheRightThing* when it comes to DNS. I've seen references to ComCast, but does anyone know why they might break the rules? To the unfortunate customers of such ISPs I'd recommend they switch access provider, or, if they're computer literate enough and can't switch for some reason, I'd recommend to use `dig +trace` for those names that don't seem to resolve properly.
If you do this (use `dig +trace`) for (www.)whatistheamazon.com you'll see that the DNS servers that ought to know about this zone are "ns1.chadohman.name." and "ns2.chadohman.name.". The WHOIS records for that zone also point to those 2 DNS servers. But what I see from and about these DNS servers is veeery strange... (like they seem not to know about themselves...) I suspect there are serious problems at these authoritative DNS servers or the zone they're in.
Can any of the MH people explain why using opendns.COM solves the problem or even what the exact problem is according to you?
BTW, this is what opendns.COM lists as causes for DNS problems:
"
Why is a domain (URL) not resolving with OpenDNS?
If you're using OpenDNS, and a domain (URL) is not resolving, you should see the OpenDNS search results page. That indicates a possible DNS problem. If you are getting a "Page not found" error message in your browser, that is not a DNS problem. If you are seeing the OpenDNS search results page for a domain you know exists, the likely causes are one of the following:
* The domain's DNS has problems. To date, this has been the most common result of our investigations. If you are the domain owner, please double-check your nameservers.
* The domain was recently moved from one webserver to another, and the TTL (Time To Live) has not expired. Before moving a domain, please lower your TTL to the minimum available, so all nameservers know to check often for updates.
* There is a problem with an OpenDNS server. While we expect this to be the rarest of the three possibilities, we do want to be sure, so please contact us with details so we can investigate.
"
As I see it, the problem at hand might very well be the first one.
For in the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver.
--Martin Luther
Click here, please: http://www.macheist.com/bundle/u/14806/
March 28, 2007 5:38 am
