Ste Packaging repo in danger of shutting down

[Fofer]

http://blog.psmxy.org/2008/01/19/my-repository-may-be-shut-down/

My hosting provider, DreamHost, has just officially informed me that my repository is preventing other customers, on the shared server I am on, from using their sites. This because my site is using every available connection to the server, leaving nothing for visitors to the sites of their other customers.

They have told me that I must reduce the number of connections to my site or move to their Private Server plan.

I can’t reduce the number of connections. The only facility I have to do this, is by blocking entire IP address ranges of countries in a .htaccess file. However, by the time the .htaccess file is invoked, the connection to my server has already been made and all I would do is prevent the connecting IP address from downloading anything - this does not reduce the connections though, which is the problem.

I cannot afford to move to their Private Server plan. I am unemployed and have been since April 12, 2007. I received my last unemployment check just over two weeks ago and in about two months I will be in grave danger of defaulting on my mortgages, credit cards and all my other bills, which will lead to my credit being ruined and I (and my beloved 3 cats) without a home. I absolutely cannot spend any more money on the repository at this time (I’ve already spent just shy of $600, getting it set up with DreamHost).

The repository is, essentially, falling victim to its own success.
So, either I can shut down the repository, or DreamHost will. The only other option is that someone steps up to pay for the Private Server option, or that someone provides me with free adequate hosting elsewhere. I’m not even certain that the Private Server option is a viable one, even if a way to pay for it was found. The number of connections to my site would either overwhelm the host server that my virtual server ran on, or DreamHost would limit the number of connections allowed to my virtual server, which would be detrimental to the repository. A dedicated server or two may be the only option. It may also be necessary to have a provider place a firewall in front of the server, to reject connections from much of the world - and let them find their own “Ste”. I just don’t see how one server can be expected to handle the entire world downloading from it at virtually the same time.

I am open to ideas - let’s brainstorm - as to how I can keep this going. But if something doesn’t happen very quickly, DreamHost will simply turn my site off.

-ste

 

[frankiejoe577]

Thats dumb why does he just not find another host. Like godaddy for $20 a month or so.

 

[mrgreen4242]

Thats dumb why does he just not find another host. Like godaddy for $20 a month or so.

That's not a solution. You clearly don't understand what the problem is. What's going to have to happen is that more place host the files. Spread the load out over 5, 6, or more repositories.

 

[ProwlingTiger]

I hate it when shared hosting companies do this. The owner of virtalnes.com had to find new hosting for the same reason, even though he wasnt over his bandwidth.

 

[jacktiernan]

If 3 or 4 other people step up and assist, I will be happy to share the cost of hosting.

PM me.

This is supposed to be a community, after all

 

[Four20]

600 dollars on shared hosting?

plus i go on his site and see a ChipIn widget to replace his laptop. . .2,400 dollars could go a long way towards private hosting

 

[albinoAZN]

I forget what file STE is hosting... is it the iPhone apps for iPod Touch?

 

[frankiejoe577]

I talked to the owner there not closing but they could use donations so they dont have to spend tons of money. The apps are for the ipod touch since the iphone already has them all. It just says dont use on Ipod for liability.

The apps are great Im going to donate since I didnt have to spend $20 to pay apple.

 

[Fofer]

Looks like he is working with Nullriver to work out ways to lessen the load.

http://blog.psmxy.org/

Please update your “Community Sources” package …

The latest “Community Sources” package changes the location of my repository’s XML file. Instead of downloading it directly from my site, it will download it from a world-wide caching system. Not only will this eliminate nearly all the traffic to my main server, but it should update faster, for you, as you will get it from the cache closest to you.

Right now, the XML file will age out of the cache after 12 hours. This means that if I add/update a package, you might not see it for as long as 12 hours, no matter how many times you might manually refresh. Once I’m satisfied that this is working ok, I will tweak the settings so that it ages out of the cache much quicker - probably down to 1 hour instead of 12.

Thanks again, to Nullriver, for helping me test this and for updating the “Community Sources” package for me! My thanks to Nate True for suggesting the caching system to me, too!

If this goes well, I will investigate caching the zip files, too.

-ste

Please upgrade to the newest Installer.app …

Please upgrade to Installer.app 3.0b9 as soon as possible. Nullriver has released this update to try and help reduce the traffic on my site so that DreamHost doesn’t shut it down.

What they did, was increase the refresh timeout from 30 minutes to 24 hours. So now, when you run Installer.app, it will not automatically refresh unless it has been more than 24 hours since it last refreshed. Unless people start manually refreshing more (please don’t!), this should drasticly reduce traffic to my main server, as people upgrade to the new version.