Gazza can I suggest

[kengillam]

Following on from this mornings outage can I suggest a similar system to that implemented by my ISP that maintain this page to inform users of any problems. http://status.adsl24.co.uk/

It would, I presume be a simple matter to redirect the eBid URL to point to a page such as this whilst problems are sorted.

This would create a more professional impression to eBid users and potential users than the current default page that appears whenever there is a problem.

[raindropsies]

Following on from this mornings outage can I suggest a similar system to that implemented by my ISP that maintain this page to inform users of any problems. http://status.adsl24.co.uk/

It would, I presume be a simple matter to redirect the eBid URL to point to a page such as this whilst problems are sorted.

This would create a more professional impression to eBid users and potential users than the current default page that appears whenever there is a problem.

Thats a great idea and something that should be used if it's possible. Like you say it would give a much better image than the link is broken, error 404 etc

[paully58]

some of us don't even get that, when I tried to get on e bid this morning all I got was Internet Explorer cannot display this page and that was it
paully58

[paully58]

unfortunately that would not work in this case as its the host thats down so you cant redirect.

I would of thought there must be a way to let people know the sites down however it may of come about?
paully58

[paully58]

This is different to eBid going down for software updates. as thay can add the "Quick software update message"

But to answer your question, yes there is a way, by changing the dns, but it would mean ebid could be down for 24 - 48 hrs rather than 1-3hrs

can't you use a backup dns or something like that or use the present server while setting up a new server? I don't know if you can it's only a thought really
paully58

[blissfulbelfry]

must have been bad as when their is an update going on there is some sort of message, at least you can get into the forums. This time - nothing.

[kengillam]

Surely a quick redirect by the DNS to my suggested page should be able to be acheived, would solve a lot of hassle. If my ISP can do it surely eBid can.

[bykimbo]

Surely a quick redirect by the DNS to my suggested page should be able to be acheived, would solve a lot of hassle. If my ISP can do it surely eBid can.

I would have thought a DNS redirect would do the job reasonably well, once it became obvious it was more than a minor outage. Some DNS caching will mean that for some cases the outage message is then displayed beyond when it needs to be, but that has to be balanced against *everybody* being just dumped otherwise. However, I'm no expert on DNS and Jimbo seems quite confident, so perhaps he'll have a moment to explain why it would extend the outage.

[bykimbo]

Im no expert ether but i have had experience with this about 30 times

For the answer search for " dns propagation "

Some sites i change update instantly but with the the majority of dns changes i have had to wait 24+ hrs for propagation. once i had to wait 50hrs

It's a bit like how long is a length of string ?

Well... since I know what DNS propagation is already, I won't search. But since you've got personal experience of having problems with it, I'll just take your word for it.

[leadhillsonline]

When we decided it was cheaper to outsource our server it took 3 days before we got full propagation for our new IP address.