Damn, I think I need to get one of those solid-state drives. The database has grown to the point where, if too many requests pile up, the machine becomes super-slow as it pounds like hell on the swap space and the hard disk goes nuts.

Have you tried tuning MySQL or switching to Percona first? It also sounds like you could use more RAM before the magic fix of an SSD.

No, I have been somewhat remiss in my checking duties. Mind you, we're still running on the HP desktop computer which I ran out and bought on short notice when the old server died, and I'm not sure if it can even be upgraded beyond the amount of RAM that it already has.

Well, that was strange. I plugged in a new device to my network and basically as soon as it was plugged in, everything started screwing up. I rebooted the router and that seemed to fix it, but only for a few minutes, and then it started screwing up again. I unplugged the device, and everything seems to be back to normal. Apparently, it's the networked device from hell.

What device is it?

It's a DVR. It seems like it dumps garbage all over the network on port 80, which is why web surfing was corrupted half an hour ago but not if you used SSL, which runs on port 443 instead of port 80. It shouldn't affect devices with different IP addresses, but it seems to anyway.

Why the fuck can't things just work the way they're supposed to? Who would have thought that if I plugged in a DVR, it would somehow corrupt web server traffic?

Does it have built-in browser firmware?

Yeah, it has a browser interface.

By requests you mean like searches? Could this not be solved with some kind of limit on how many searches can be run at a time or per use per minute? Most other web forums I visit that archive all posts have some kind limit like that.

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"This cult of special forces is as sensible as to form a Royal Corps of Tree Climbers and say that no soldier who does not wear its green hat with a bunch of oak leaves stuck in it should be expected to climb a tree"
— Field Marshal William Slim 1956

Goddammit. Someone saw the dangling plug and plugged the DVR back in, and the whole network went haywire again. This thing is like a grenade. Toss it in a room and everything dies.

What's the make and model? Maybe some google-fu might be in order.

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so do you figure it's wife being organized or just teen curiosity.

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The scariest folk song lyrics are "My Boy Grew up to be just like me" from cats in the cradle by Harry Chapin

Disable that built-in browser?

It can't be disabled, unfortunately. But there is a firmware update, so I'll apply it and then see what happens.

Well, the firmware has been updated and it's been plugged in for five minutes, and nothing has happened so far. Let's hope it stays that way.

Well, that was interesting. Someone started a DOS attack from 109.230.216.208 about an hour ago. Since this is not a super-powerful server, it was rapidly dragged down. I had to disconnect it from the network, check the logs, and notice that most of the requests were coming from a single IP address in order to figure out what was happening.

Does anyone know who or what might be at 109.230.216.208?

I don't know how reliable this is, but a quick Google search seemed to reveal a lot of complaints about that particular IP address trying to brute force them. According to the link I provided, it's a static IP of a German web tech company.

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-- Dillon

"[Republican Senator James Inhoffe] thinks global warming is debunked every time he drinks a Slushie and gets a brain freeze." -- Jon Stewart

What would be their motivation for DOSing people?

PS. Oh yeah, I Googled it and there are plenty of complaints. Either they're a pack of assholes or they don't know computer security for shit, and somebody hacked their system to use it a a bot.

Youtube tags aren't working for me for some reason at the moment. Anyone else have this problem?

EDIT: Problem solved. Problem was my browser, not the board. Sorry for posting this.

now this was just wierd but I got logged out in the middle of something I was checking updates to threads via email, and somehow got logged out?

to be exact opened email, opened several threads as explorer tabs responed, noticed thaat new emails had downloaded, tabbed back to email discovered that I was now logged out of SDN in all the open tabs...

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The scariest folk song lyrics are "My Boy Grew up to be just like me" from cats in the cradle by Harry Chapin

I have just logged on for the first time in several months, however when I tried to login I was advised that due to multiple incorrect password attempts I would have to answer a question before I could proceed. Has anything unusual happened over the past few months or is it just an isolated incident?

Someone tried to brute-force a bunch of usernames and passwords some time ago.

Is the board being DDoSed or something? It's really slow to load and pinging the server both from my computer and this site result in 100% packet loss.

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Anonymous facebooker on the "Snowmageddon" February 2010 DC snowstorm:

Last night went trying to post in the art section, the board timed out several times causing me to loose the post, it was kind of weird because it was as if the board had crashed, I even restarted chrome once thinking it was my connection (sometimes my router needs to be restarted), but I could access any other site just fine.

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"It is just such a question as has been left times out of mind in this Old World to the decision of the sword. The sword will be the arbitrator in the New World too; but the event teaches us plainly enough that Republics and Democracies enjoy no exemption from the passions and follies of humanity."
~ The London Times May 30, 1861.
Canon
A rule or body of rules or principles generally established as valid and fundamental in a field or art or philosophy.
Cannon
A large artillery gun that is usually on wheels.
http://omniopolios.myminicity.com/

I believe Mike was updating the server software at that time.