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Todd

50

Chief Bottle Washer

New Jersey
United States
Member #1
May 31, 2000
27,937 Posts
Online

Oct 19, 2009, 6:01 pm

Please be aware that on Thursday, October 22, Lottery Post will be unavailable in the afternoon for a period of between one and two hours.

Unfortunately, I will not have the precise time when the site will become unavailable until right before it happens, so the best I can offer at this point is that it will be sometime after 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

Once the site is unreachable, it will be offline for between one and two hours. Naturally, I will do my best to finish up and get it back online as quickly as I can.

I'm mentioning this now (Monday) to provide as much advance notice as possible, so our members and visitors can plan accordingly. You should plan on positing predictions, blog posts, daily forum posts, etc., in the morning on Thursday, so that you are not interrupted on Thursday afternoon when the site becomes unavailable.

The maintenance is part of an upgrade in which I am moving the Lottery Post servers and other equipment to a brand new data center, complete will new power backup and redundancies that should prevent some of the nagging downtime issues we've faced a few times this year.

There are actually two independent power feeds to the building, with 2 utility transformers and an in-building switchgear room. The main feed surge supression is rated for "life services", similar to what a hospital would use. It is supposed to eliminate voltage irregularities and brown-outs. Automatic transfer to backup generator will continue feeding power in complete black-outs for 15 hours without refueling. The building has a 60 million volt lightning strike and grounding system.

Of course, all of the Lottery Post equipment will also be on its own independent UPS system, so even if a rare power spike were to happen, the battery and voltage regulation of the UPS would ensure it did not impact the servers.

Also, the network redundancies at the new facility are far superior to the old one (which were pretty good to start with). It houses a redundant routing infrastructure, redundant IPS, dual fiber entry points, a DWDM network that is connected diversely to 4+ IP carriers, a new DNS infrastructure, etc., etc.

Overall, reliability should be increased significantly, with fewer outages and a more reliable network.

Since I'm taking the time to work on the equipment, I'm also setting aside some time to work on the disaster recovery. In addition to the general backups that I have in place now, I plan on laying the groundwork for additional hot-swap backup servers to minimize the loss and amount of downtime in the event of complete system failure.
plshelpme

25

North Carolina
United States
Member #62,237
June 21, 2008
39,042 Posts
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Oct 19, 2009, 6:05 pm

Thanks for the heads up Chief!!!!

Pls
hearsetrax

United States
Member #52,343
May 21, 2007
3,796 Posts
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Oct 19, 2009, 6:42 pm

: so noted on my calender......
djklaugh

Portland,Oregon
United States
Member #14,387
April 25, 2005
229 Posts
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Oct 19, 2009, 7:26 pm

Thanks for the early warning, Todd!

Djklaugh

Some things have to be believed to be seen.

"I have not failed. I have just found ten thousand things that don't work". Thomas Edison
Jordans121

United States
Member #69,167
January 5, 2009
2,299 Posts
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Oct 19, 2009, 7:39 pm

Thanks Todd ! keep it running smoothly

"Many Strategies|One Game"
hotmama

Wilmington,NC
United States
Member #57,579
January 11, 2008
7,802 Posts
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Oct 19, 2009, 9:06 pm

Thanks Todd...good looking out!

"A good life is when you assume nothing, do more, need less, smile often, dream big, laugh a lot and realize how Blessed you are."

COURAGE
centsless

TX/LOTTOLAND/USA
United States
Member #78,378
August 13, 2009
2,687 Posts
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Oct 19, 2009, 9:14 pm

Thank you Todd. On Thursday when things are not working. I'll remember you post. :)

Numbers are my passion! Winning is a bonus. :)
emilyg

50

United States
Member #14
November 9, 2001
31,614 Posts
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Oct 19, 2009, 10:03 pm

Thanks.

love to nibble those micey feet.
thegee

germantown md
United States
Member #64,541
August 31, 2008
4,219 Posts
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Oct 19, 2009, 10:08 pm

THANKS
Lottery Queen

Watch Blinking #
United States
Member #34,410
March 3, 2006
12,142 Posts
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Oct 19, 2009, 10:51 pm

Quote: Originally posted by plshelpme on Oct 19, 2009
Thanks for the heads up Chief!!!!

oh cool I love you photo u using :-)

Oh Thanks Todd PLS that av is cool

It's Not How Many Numbers You Post, But If You Can Post The Right One's To Fall!
dx123

somewhere
Canada
Member #39,918
May 24, 2006
154 Posts
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Oct 20, 2009, 12:43 am

Todd>> a real mouthful for computer stuff, sure glad you're at the helm! Great work indeed, I think I understood you up to your 8th paragraph because of my design work in Architecture ie...total building energy requirements and some other sophisticated integration for offices and the like, but computer equipment itself as you pointed out has got to be the latest tech for this LP adventure!

WOW...good luck on the exchange.

yt

dx1213
NBey6

100

The Carolinas
United States
Member #4,290
April 9, 2004
21,283 Posts
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Oct 20, 2009, 10:15 am

Thanks a bunch for the heads up, Todd. I hope the maintenance goes smoothly for you and I appreciate everything that you do to make this site what it is!!

** WWG1WGA **

121, 126, 221, 306, 312, 427, 430, 519, 615, 616, 730, 807

918, 923, 0918, 1007, 1011, 1031, 1125, 1206, 1216, 1228
kaizon7

North Carolina
United States
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September 9, 2008
1,136 Posts
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Oct 20, 2009, 12:41 pm

Thanks for the advance notice...

"All great achievements require time."

-Maya Angelou-
Technics

25

Earth, USA
United States
Member #80,330
September 24, 2009
44,329 Posts
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Oct 20, 2009, 5:28 pm

thanks boss !!!!
oakcity joe

oak city nc
United States
Member #71,250
February 21, 2009
1,627 Posts
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Oct 20, 2009, 10:50 pm

Thanks ......