sorry :(

[huggle]

I'm sorry the board was offline this morning. A table in the database crashed. Thank heavens it was just a small and rather unimportant one so that we didn't lose posts or even accounts.
Unfortunately, my office's firewall blocks all private sites so that I could access the server only just now, after work. Lucky coincidence, too, that it happened on a Friday where I need only work till noon.
I overwrote the crashed table with a backup and it ought to behave now, but the fact that atable crashed at all is a bit unsettling. Such a thing has never before happened on one of my boards. I'll do a bit of research into possible causes and how to prevent them.

My apologies for the inconvenience! And thanks to {{{{{Jim}}}}} for alerting me!

[Jim Gamma]

We used to get that infrequently on the old site, I think there's a setting re how long to keep session data for and the table just keeps filling up until it crashes.

[huggle]

the table itself is rather small but has to store a lot of different data. For those who are interested in how the board works it's these parameters:

• session_id - the number of your current session
• session_user_id - your user number (users are numbered in the database in the order in which they registered)
• session_last_visit - the date and time when you came here last
• session_start - date you started today's session
• session_time - time you started this session
• session_ip - your ip (the number given to you by your internet service provider)
• session_browser - the browser you use (that's important for the board to know so that it can display everything properly)
• session_forwarded_for - ok, here I must admit that I have no idea
• session_page - the page you are currently viewing
• session_viewonline - who is online (important as the basis for one of our most popular threads )
• session_autologin - have you chosen to automatically log in or did you log in by hand (this can be changed in your user control panel, but the automatic works only if you don't delete the cookie and if your ISP gives you always the same IP)
• session_admin - who is currently admin (always the same people)
• session_forum_id - in which forum are you atm

btw, I just googled a bit and it seems that database tables crash because of server problems. So it's not the board's fault.
Andromeda is usually a very reliable server but getting on in years. Perhaps it needed a breather

ETA: I checked the earthquake lists for Los Angeles and Annaheim. For the last 2 days there has been a swarm of small quakes but also a 3.2 one and another rather strong one (2.7) only a few minutes ago. As the server is rather close to the epicenter of this quake-swarm, it might have gotten rattled a bit and dropped our table.

[Jim Gamma]

What SQL type are we on? I'm guessing MySQL?

If so, and you get a table crash again, you can try:

repair table sessions

Or replace sessions with whatever has crashed. That way you don't need to drop and reload the table.

[Lupine]

I'm sorry the board was offline this morning.

Don't worry. These things happen.

And in case you don't know we have an emergency shelter set up on Facebook.

[RJDiogenes]

Sorry? You saved us again.

A table in the database crashed. Thank heavens it was just a small and rather unimportant one so that we didn't lose posts or even accounts.

Keep in mind that I back up the database every night (mostly ), in case anything worse ever happens.

[Gary]

It crashed last night.

[huggle]

^that's pretty much like I feel every morning

What SQL type are we on? I'm guessing MySQL?
If so, and you get a table crash again, you can try: repair table sessions. Or replace sessions with whatever has crashed. That way you don't need to drop and reload the table.

Yes, MySQL. There used to be a repair table button but they changed the design and I couldn't find it yesterday. The fields were still there but the values had been deleted. I could have entered them again manually, but using a backup and simply overwriting the table was faster.
If I understand you correctly, there is a command line that makes the DB repair the table? I know only very little SQL syntax What would the command look like? Just "repair table sessions" ?

And in case you don't know we have an emergency shelter set up on Facebook.

Ah! Good to know I don't use facebook because it's rather a nightmare security-wise (or lack of, rather). It's so bad that even the German government warns people of using it. I'm occasionally on twitter, though (gentle_current), and my email accounts are set so that a copy of everything gets sent to my office as well. Only, since the morons in the ministery block my domain, I can't access it from work

Keep in mind that I back up the database every night (mostly ), in case anything worse ever happens.

and it's very very much appreciated!

[Jim Gamma]

If I understand you correctly, there is a command line that makes the DB repair the table? I know only very little SQL syntax What would the command look like? Just "repair table sessions" ?

Yes, that's a direct SQL command line I posted. Replace sessions with whichever table is crashed.

If Sessions comes back empty then it only means everyone has to log in again, nothing gets actually lost.