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The Growing Impact of Website Crashes
True costs of website inaccessibility in a cloud computing future
Several major websites have experienced downtime this year including favorites like Yahoo! and Amazon. As more people use the web on a daily basis, more people become affected by these types of Internet crashes and the amount of trouble that the downtime causes individuals may be greater than in the past. This is particularly true in the case of people who utilize the increasingly popular cloud computing options to keep all of their data stored online. If major sites crash, that data may become inaccessible and this lost time can ultimately cost individuals and businesses a lot of money. There is no clear solution as to how to decrease the incidence of major website crashes while simultaneously allowing for more people to engage in more bandwidth-using online activity than in the past.
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Sahrin
join:2004-05-15
Houston, TX

Sahrin

Member

Just like a wreck on the Freeway

The Internet is a path to locations - if a site is unavailable, thanks to data-backup solutions, it isn't lost forever - even if someone follows the cloud model.

The network can't be perfect - and every time a weakness is exposed (in dramatic fashion like the crashes of YHOO and AMZN this past year or otherwise) it improves.

But you still can't expect perfection, and I don't think it's unreasonable to operate under the assumptiont hat you won't get it.

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5

Premium Member

Nice little tool to determine if it is you or web site

»downforeveryoneorjustme.com/

Dogfather
Premium Member
join:2007-12-26
Laguna Hills, CA

3 edits

Dogfather

Premium Member

I got bit by this

For a while I ran my small biz with Quickbooks Online. At first it was great because for a cheap montly fee we could access the data and do business from any IE6 equipped Mac or PC, up to 3 simultaneous users. I have 6 people who regularly use QB but rarely did 3 need to at the same time so this was going to save me a small fortune not having to buy an upgrade 6 QB Pro licenses plus a small server w/ BU.

But shortly after signing up, we started seeing the outages. They were pretty infrequent but always happened at the worst time when my guys were trying to invoice a super hot job in time for UPS pickup.

After fighting it for a number of months I gave up and shelled out for 6 new QB2K8 licenses and a weak Winserver (since Intuit in their infinite wisdom now requires a dedicated host for their hosting software). It's a good thing I was only 1/2 stupid and didn't buy into the whole Oracle SB online sales pitch or I would have been seriously screwed trying to migrate back to my trusty FileMaker and OS X server.
voipdabbler
join:2006-04-27
Kalispell, MT

voipdabbler

Member

Re: I got bit by this

IMHO, "cloud computing" is a fad that will fail within the next 3 years. Why? Large enterprises aren't going to touch it--thankfully, there are some existing legal standards that require handling of data in certain ways to protect data, such as financial information (I can only hope those standards get strengthened. Then, you have the added responsibility of proper handling to maintain potential privileges for certain information, should it ever be sought in discovery during litigation. You also must properly handle your intellectual property to be able to protect it. Most corporate clients that I have worked with just aren't going to park their data anywhere other than in-house servers.

Without enterprises coming onboard, this will remain a niche market with individual consumers as clients. Even with ad-based revenue, for this type of service to survive it will need to charge those individual consumers at some point, and, well I don't see most people being willing to pay. (I also suspect you're going to see data emerging about identity theft via hacking of these type of services.)

NetAdmin1
CCNA
join:2008-05-22

NetAdmin1

Member

Re: I got bit by this

said by voipdabbler:

IMHO, "cloud computing" is a fad that will fail within the next 3 years. Why? Large enterprises aren't going to touch it--thankfully, there are some existing legal standards that require handling of data in certain ways to protect data, such as financial information (I can only hope those standards get strengthened.
Without enterprises coming onboard, this will remain a niche market with individual consumers as clients.
You've completely forgotten about small business, of which there are, from the number I last heard, several million. While you correctly point out that large business won't adopt cloud computing widely, small businesses are going to be the biggest users of it. Right off the bat, the can save a good bit on upfront licensing fees. It also makes life much easier when adding new users and systems as the business grows - all the new machine needs is an OS and a web browser.

However, for cloud computing to really catch on, there needs to be a vast improvement in the ability of the applications offered to match the performance and flexibility of applications that typically run on a desktop - databases, spreadsheets, etc.

AnonProxy
Premium Member
join:2001-05-12

AnonProxy to Dogfather

Premium Member

to Dogfather
I would wonder if they did this on purpose, if by chance there was a threshold of use that put you into the "mess with him" queue so that you buy the software.

Dogfather
Premium Member
join:2007-12-26
Laguna Hills, CA

Dogfather

Premium Member

Re: I got bit by this

I don't think so. I think they just had issues that plague all services (whether it's them, online banking or any other site).

SLD
Premium Member
join:2002-04-17
San Francisco, CA

SLD to Dogfather

Premium Member

to Dogfather
A virtual machine might make sense for you.

Dogfather
Premium Member
join:2007-12-26
Laguna Hills, CA

Dogfather

Premium Member

Re: I got bit by this

I thought about that but saw one of the dirt cheap Dell server deals in the hot deals forum. We already had a W2K3 SBS license so it seem the easiest route.

Dryvlyne
Far Beyond Driven
Premium Member
join:2004-08-30
Newark, OH

Dryvlyne

Premium Member

Ironic...

I find it somewhat ironic that we went from the days of mainframe (aka centralized) computing, to distributed computing and now it's coming back around again to "cloud" (aka centralized) computing again. Why would anyone want to go back to the days of a more centralized system again where the risk of a single point of failure grow exponentially? Thanks, but I'll stick with my Personal Ccomputer and client-side software as much as possible.

NetAdmin1
CCNA
join:2008-05-22

NetAdmin1

Member

Re: Ironic...

said by Dryvlyne:

Why would anyone want to go back to the days of a more centralized system again where the risk of a single point of failure grow exponentially?
A MYRIAD of reasons... Single install/update/upgrade point... Better security... Easier license tracking... It increases the useful lifespan of the client system... Lower utility costs (assuming the use of thin clients)...

As for the single point of failure concerns, there are lots of solutions that can lessen or eliminate those problems. For example, VM clustering with failover comes to mind.

phxmark
What Country Are We Living In?
join:2000-12-27
Glendale, AZ

phxmark

Member

Re: Ironic...

Clustering is still not perfect. The cluster system our central office uses, which is remote, has issues constantly. Especially when they don't sync up properly. The cluster is at two different sites connected by DS3 and they are constantly not synced. It is managed and hosted by an outside company. My boss thought it would be cost saving and increase our availability for the system, but now he is under the gun from higher ups with the issues of this system. Ended up costing two to three times and availability has gone from 98% to 92%. Makes the whole IT department look bad. I am not for cloud computing at this time. Still too many bugs to work out.

NetAdmin1
CCNA
join:2008-05-22

NetAdmin1

Member

Re: Ironic...

said by phxmark:

Clustering is still not perfect. The cluster system our central office uses, which is remote, has issues constantly.
What are you guys using for your setup ?

phxmark
What Country Are We Living In?
join:2000-12-27
Glendale, AZ

phxmark

Member

Re: Ironic...

It is a hosted set up. We don't manage it. My boss thought it would be cheaper to use a hosting company so we don't have to manage or purchase hardware or operating systems.

AnonProxy
Premium Member
join:2001-05-12

AnonProxy

Premium Member

Simple answer

VAX/VMS RULES!