Merlin is Down - Page 5 - UK Web Hosting | Dedicated Server Windows and Linux VPS Forum

**jps** · #81 (**permalink**) 11-01-2008, 00:26

Monday:

A problem was reported on this forum by Firejack Monday afternoon at 16:38
I experienced the same issue and eventually also logged a ticket [#GNV-98907-340]
Feedback from Tech Support was that the server was under DDOS attack and services had to be shut down
In this forum eUKhost acknowledged an issue with the primary HDD on Merlin and that it is scheduled for repair end of this week
Got notification from Tech Support that server was up again at 20:03

Wednesday:

Eidolon reported what he phrased: "Merlin's on a hissy fit" at 21:11
Same issue for me - logged a ticket as well [#DEQ-77484-781]
I suggested eUKHost communicate this to people via the Network Status thread - no result
I even created and posted a notice to the Network Status thread myself. All it required was a moderator approval - no result
Servers were finally back up around midnight

Thursday:

At 10:00 it was "hissy-fit" time again - ticket logged [#DRV-33966-133]
Great News!! At 10:53 we finally got a public notice up on the Network Status thread that "Merlin is down"
The rest is pretty well documented in this thread....

Current:

Server seems to be up & running OK although one disk is a bit low on available capacity... lights flickering... anybody take notice?
I also setup my POP account to leave messages on the server for 10 days before deleting. I therefore also got bombed with a load of mails after the restore which I honestly do not mind about but the interesting thing was that the last mail I received in duplicate was for Wednesday at 18:50.
I guess I was hoping that somehow incoming mails would not be lost but I already had several calls today from people who simply could not send mail to my account although I did receive several mails from other people during the day - probably at intervals when the server was running ok. Personally I feel the professional image of my business is on the line if my business associates cannot even send me email.

And finally, enough ranting. Thanks to everybody who has been battling this out to the end! I am still a bit sour and my level of confidence took a serious knock. I will monitor the situation with Merlin over the weekend to test my expectations... and of course to read the long-anticipated official explanation of events that I am sure will follow soon.

PS: All times are most likely on GMT+1

**John** · #82 (**permalink**) 11-01-2008, 06:13

Hello,

To say that Merlin has been having some problems the past few days would be an understatement. The latest problem came about because the server went into read only mode yesterday, which pointed to hard drive problems.

At this stage we did two things. We immediately arranged a second server to be setup and for our latest remote backup to be restored. This was done and websites and mails were working, but they were a few days out of date. This was done because we though it better to have versions of your websites working that were a few days old, rather than have no websites showing at all. We apologise if this caused any confusion or panic. The next thing was to put the current server through an FSCK and then sync the data to the new server. FSCK times can not be predicted and the bigger the problem, the longer it takes. This was completed at around 9 PM GMT. Accounts were then synced so that the latest websites, databases and e-mails were available.

We apologise for the loss of any e-mails but some of these may be delivered today if there was an error when they were first tried to be sent. Some clients may be missing 7-8 hours of e-mails.

To conclude, "merlin" is now on a new server with new hard drives and all websites and databases should be up to date. Clients may be missing 7-8 hours of e-mails, some of which will attempt redelivery later today. If your website or database is not up to date, please open a ticket with support.

To jps, we regret that your confidence in us has taken a knock and we will en devour to earn it back.

**oldgit** · #83 (**permalink**) 11-01-2008, 06:42

Just a brief comment on this as an uninvolved colleague.

I'm just moving to EUKhost from a competitor - a big name based in Germany. I have had a serious issue with them this week when a couple of my sites went down.

It took them over 18 hours to even reply to my initial support request, then a few more to give me an explanation of the reason for my VPS falling over. Apparently, it was due to 'asp support being turned off'. Which is quite strange as I don't have any use for asp and have never even activated it in the first place.

I'm contrasting this support and communication with the degree of response being shown on here and, yes, I think I've moved in the right direction.

**jc8654** · #84 (**permalink**) 11-01-2008, 08:48

On further update on communication. I spoke to Mark and he is going to speak to senior people in the company to work out any ways to improve communication when problems as this such arise. But as said just before, the communication and response time on here is already very good compared to other hosts so it would be to improve an already good service.

**megaboost** · #85 (**permalink**) 11-01-2008, 08:53

Thanks jc654 for bringing that to their attention and let's hope eUK certainly listen to what customers want from them as a hosting company.

Fast & reliable Information = Happy Loyal Customers.

No Notice of events/problems = Confused Customers = Unloyal Customers = Drop in Business.

All we ask is that we are kept informed in one way, shape or form.

**Mallie** · #86 (**permalink**) 11-01-2008, 11:13

Happy days, everything (for me) is as well as it can be after that mishap.

Just a quick note to say thanks to the admins for eventually getting it sorted. There's a lot of heat going around at the moment and that is common for an incident such as this. I hope all the customers get what they need to said, I hope the admins take note of what is being said and the emotions behind that is being said, but I also hope that everyone doesn't take it all too personally.

**eUK-Nick** · #87 (**permalink**) 11-01-2008, 11:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mallie

Happy days, everything (for me) is as well as it can be after that mishap.

Just a quick note to say thanks to the admins for eventually getting it sorted. There's a lot of heat going around at the moment and that is common for an incident such as this. I hope all the customers get what they need to said, I hope the admins take note of what is being said and the emotions behind that is being said, but I also hope that everyone doesn't take it all too personally.

Thank you Pete!

**Firejack** · #88 (**permalink**) 11-01-2008, 12:57

I've just checked my site and everything looks correct. In fact I can't find a single sign anything has changed. In the past on other web hosts there have always been file permissions changed, old files reappearing, files overwritten, file structure incorrect. Some problem to indicate my site has been moved. Not now though.

I'm very impressed by the quality of the backup system you have in place. What software are you using? I think I have to setup my Linux computer at home with what you are using!

A job well done I'd say. Thanks to everyone who helped restore my site

**MikeB** · #89 (**permalink**) 11-01-2008, 13:38

Have to agree with Firejack, everything is back to as it was, you would never know anything happened.
Even a new email account I added is back.

Top work on getting this fixed, and lets hope the new hardware is better.

I guess it was just bad timing that I joined when merlin decided to go crazy on you, but the support offered is 1000 x better than my previous host.

**Eidolon** · #90 (**permalink**) 15-01-2008, 19:29

I'm not sure if it's just my Virgin connection but is anyone else experiencing problems trying to access their site on Merlin. I'm currently able to successfully access a site hosted on Typhoon.

**Firejack** · #91 (**permalink**) 15-01-2008, 19:31

Merlin has failed again it seems

**Firejack** · #92 (**permalink**) 15-01-2008, 19:32

Ok its back.

**Eidolon** · #93 (**permalink**) 15-01-2008, 19:36

It's currently 'on-off' for me with it sometimes loading fine and other times not at all.

**megaboost** · #94 (**permalink**) 15-01-2008, 19:44

Yeah I'm the same..........Can't get on........So much for new Hardware!!!

<--- Seems its not the case when it comes to MERLIN (Huh! Its just a pity it doesn't work magic)

**aero28** · #95 (**permalink**) 15-01-2008, 19:50

Yep, all my sites are down AGAIN

**megaboost** · #96 (**permalink**) 15-01-2008, 20:02

......and as per usual No mention of a problem in here to let customers know. In fact I rang a friend who is also on Merlin and he was on to live support and apparently this is because of a security update on Merlin. Well that's what he was told. I won't hold my breath though.

Still waiting ......

**Flux** · #97 (**permalink**) 15-01-2008, 20:12

This is beyond a joke now. I've moved my site here and in less than a month, it's been down three times...

99.95% uptime? That's already gone out the window and there's another 11 months to go...

**Eidolon** · #98 (**permalink**) 15-01-2008, 20:12

Looks like my site's back up and I can get into CPanel again.

**rhino** · #99 (**permalink**) 15-01-2008, 20:28

Yes my website on Merlin is down also.

Fortunately I asked them to move my other site to a different server after the first disk failure so at least I have one site online.

**Ryan** · #**100** (**permalink**) 15-01-2008, 20:32

One of the RAM sticks on Merlin had a problem as a result of which we had to replace it asap. It was an emergency maintenance so we were not able to provide any prior notification. The server is back up now and we have added additional 4 GB RAM on the server to avoid any problems in future.