Don't Delete Those Dead Links!! (yet)
 

Apparently, according to some emails I recieved, there was a fire in a data center (I don't know which one) where some 9000 servers were located, many of which were operated by adult sponsor programs.

I have recieved emails from Nikkiscash and True Amateur Models sponsor programs explaining the situation. The servers are all ok... but they are offline until the repairs to the facility can be completed.

I was working on one of my new sites and I noticed a large number of what appeared to be dead sites even though the sites were up and running about 10 days ago.

So, the sites may appear to be dead, but this may not be the case.

I am leaving the dead links up for the time being, especially for the programs I know were active a couple weeks ago.

Just wanted to inform any of you who work as affiliates.

Uhmmmm... Those e-mails you got were using the same domains as the sites that were down?

Yep sucks for some I feel for them..

The two things you have no control of with a intenet biz is your hosting and your domains. You can pick the best host or registrar in the world and you can still get fucked by something like this that's totally out of your control.

No, they were using other methods.... Here is more information:

Dear Valued Customers:

This evening at 4:55 in our H1 data center, electrical gear
shorted, creating an explosion and fire that knocked down three walls
surrounding our electrical equipment room Thankfully, no one was
injured. In addition, no customer servers were damaged or lost.

We have just been allowed into the building to physically inspect the
damage. Early indications are that the short was in a high-volume
wire conduit. We were not allowed to activate our backup generator
plan based on instructions from the fire department.

This is a significant outage, impacting approximately 9,000 servers
and 7,500 customers. All members of our support team are in, and all
vendors who supply us with data center equipment are on site. Our
initial assessment, although early, points to being able to have some
service restored by mid-afternoon on Sunday. Rest assured we are
working around the clock.

We are in the process of communicating with all affected customers.
we are planning to post updates every hour via our forum and in our
customer portal. Our interactive voice response system is updating
customers as well.

There is no impact in any of our other five data centers.

I am sorry that this accident has occurred and apologize for the impact.

Sincerely,

Douglas J. Erwin
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer

Today, the hosting at The Planet put out an update:

Dear Customer,

Late last night, I told you we hoped to have power to the 6,000 servers in Phase 2 of our H1 data center by midnight, with all servers up by early morning. I am glad to say we came close, just a few hours after sunrise. At this time, 100% of our servers in Phase 2 have power, and our technicians are working with customers on any remaining server issues. We are confident all remaining issues will be resolved shortly.

I also explained the significant challenge we faced in the other phase where the actual explosion occurred. Our team came up with a creative way to restore power quicker than the 4-5 day outage. We decided not to wait for equipment for the electrical room completely, opting instead for a temporary solution to get power to the 3,000 servers. That solution involves using generator power for the next 10 -12 days until all the new equipment arrives to rebuild the electrical room for Phase 1. I explained that we expected to have a temporary solution in place by midnight tonight, with servers powered up tomorrow. The good news is that as you read this letter, the power is restored, and the temporary solution is in effect. Within the next two hours, the remaining 3,000 servers have power. We have overstaffed our data centers again to help during this initial power up.

This now leaves us facing step two of this process, which requires getting all of the equipment delivered and then rebuilding the electrical room to its original standard. To make the cutover to the rebuilt electrical room, the operations group believed it would take a maintenance outage of 24-48 hours. I have good news on that front. It's not perfect, but at present we now believe the maintenance window will be just 4-6 hours. That's still too long, and we will continue this week to find ways to reduce the time. Given that there will be some outage for the cutover, we will execute this step at midnight on a Saturday, either June 7 or June 14. We want to pick the most appropriate time to minimize impact to you.

I must admit that I am amazed. We are almost 18 hours ahead of schedule with this phase, thanks to our great suppliers and of course the great folks working here at The Planet. This could never have happened without the help of both, and I want to thank all of them.

There is still more work to do, but the progress is terrific. We will continue to work any and all customer issues, and we face the challenge of putting the permanent power fix in place for Phase 1. Nonetheless, there is still good news based on what I told you last night.

As each hour passes, we learn more and more. Please give us the time to continue our planning. We will provide you with information as we have it.

Until tonight's update ...

Douglas J. Erwin
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer