Server unreliability

It is my opinion that we have to make major changes in the way we
provide hosting for our servers. There are several problems:

o Location of servers

The location of our servers in Panama is a problem. They are too far
for any PostgreSQL maintainers to access. Changing hardware or
diagnosing problems has been too hard. I have had like 2 days of
downtime on my home machine in the past 12 years. We have had more than
2 days of downtime in the past 6 months. My wife would not accept such
a reliability level.

o FreeBSD

The use of FreeBSD jails can cause servers to take +8 hours to fsck on a
server crash or power failure. Again, I would never accept such
problems on my home server so it is hard to fathom how a project with
thousands of users can accept that. Either we need to find a fix, stop
using jails, or get another operating system, but continuing to use a
setup with a known problem is just asking for trouble.

o Web site

We have been talking about a new web page layout for years at this
point. I almost don't care if they just put a dancing bear up on the
web site. Let's do something!

o Archives

The archives situation is a continual problem. Again, maybe a dancing
bear can help. :-)

Basically, with no money and no one offering servers, I don't see a good
solution to any of these problems, but I think we need to recognize
these are problems and that we will continue to suffer until they are
addressed.

Are there any proposals, no matter how radical, to correct these?

--
Bruce Momjian | http://candle.pha.pa.us
pgman(at)candle(dot)pha(dot)pa(dot)us | (610) 359-1001
+ If your life is a hard drive, | 13 Roberts Road
+ Christ can be your backup. | Newtown Square, Pennsylvania 19073