SMC Down a good part of the day?

[Roger Chandler]

I could not get any response to log on or post or connect with SMC for most of the day, and others on other forums said they had problems as well.

Were the servers down?

[John Keeton]

Roger, it was down for me from just after lunch until we left at 5:15 to go out.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Historically when storm fronts move through the Virginia area, the Internet Service Provider for SMC loses function and the servers can't connect to the Internet.

[Keith Outten]

I don't know what the problem was this afternoon, it wasn't a storm. I expect that it was a network issue because our server never went down. When I got to the office and checked the network was back up and people were connecting, this was just before 6pm EST.

About three weeks ago our provider was working on the local lines installing new equipment. Possibly they were doing some follow-up work this afternoon.

We will be moving into the storm season shortly. June has been the hottest on record so far so we could see some bad weather this Summer here in Virginia. I haven't heard anything yet about the hurricane expectations for the East Coast, got our fingers crossed again this year. We are about as ready as we can get, in fact we have a new 11,000 watt generator but we are still waiting for our electrician to install the new underground wiring. In the mean time we can use a 220 volt drop cord to hook things up if necessary but it doesn't help if the network is down.

It is hot and humid in Dixie!
.

[Roger Chandler]

John, Ken and Keith,

I appreciate the feedback. I was able to connect early in the morning, but around 10:30 or 11:00 am until after 5pm the message I got from the internet browser was "connection timed out, unable to connect to server at sawmill creek."

I know there is a major T-1 line and much fiber optics that run through our area, and funnels to the capital area. who knows why, except the IP people?

[Allen Neighbors]

It's happened a couple of times, recently... I just figure, "oh well, computers....". :)

[Steve Schlumpf]

With all the major storms crisscrossing the country lately, I am surprised we haven't had more outages than we've had! Keeping my fingers crossed that the weather improves - everywhere!

[David DeCristoforo]

"...I expect that it was a network issue because our server never went down..."

The internet is just like that. Your server might be fine but if the next one down the line gets hosed, you go down too. Or a line or hub or node somewhere gets whacked for some reason and there is a "hole" in the network. Storms are a whole 'nother thing. I have a friend whose phone stops working every time it rains. Something to do with old wiring on the poles that wet squirrels are compelled to chew on or something...

[Ken Fitzgerald]

The squirrels play havoc with my telephone wires too. I believe its the minerals they crave and get from chewing the wires.