[ZWeb] DISCUSS: Monitoring Zope.org

[Jimmie Houchin]

How about instead of the message from Apache and the alternate site
known only by list members, a redirect from Apache to the said site.

On that site it can contain a link to a "Zope Weather" page for
information on Zope.org's status for those who are interested.

This way when zope.org experiences problems, it can somewhat be
transparent to the end user other than a period of slowness/inactivity
at initial contact.

This would provide the ability for those of us who want/need to download
the current Zope or a product, tip, howto, etc. when needed.

Just some thoughts.

Jimmie Houchin

Simon Coles wrote:
[snip]
> Paul Everitt wrote:
> >With that in mind, I have a specific proposal to help.  I think we
> >should:
> >
> >1) Zope.org sits behind Apache using mod_proxy for integration.  We
> >should find out what is the timeout for proxy connections.  If it is
> >configurable, we should dial it _way_ down (e.g. 20 seconds).  If Zope
> >doesn't respond, get it to say so in a reasonable period of time.
> >
> >2) Next, we should hack the Apache error page to be meaningful.  For
> >instance:
> 
> Yeah, we do that here, works well. At some point we may get it to
> send a mail out whenever it has to send that page out on the
> principle that seeing the extent of the problem helps our admin
> people prioritise :-).
> 
> More generally, we monitor site health. There are a number of tools
> around, but  I ended up writing my own when we were having
> performance problems (with Domino :-) and I wanted to get some
> metrics. Nothing fancy, I just wanted to solve the immediate problem.
[snip details]
> This could probably be modified to a page which gives an indication
> of the Zope.org 'weather', not only at a particular instant but also
> over a period of time. It could also page people :-)
> 
> I think it defeats the object to run these tools from the same
> network as the server, as you aren't testing from a customer's point
> of view. We could run it from here if that helps - we're a typical
> distance away from you in Internet geography.
> 
> On the "What to do when Zope.org is down" front, it really is
> disruptive for people when they can't get the stuff they need. I know
> long term its being fixed, but that doesn't help us between now and
> when its nice and robust. Zope.org really is an important tool when
> you're developing Zope sites, and when its down its almost as painful
> as losing one of our own servers - certainly within the NIP office we
> know when Zope.org is down, and stuff gets delayed because of it.
> 
> For a temporary solution, how about taking a (say) weekly copy of
> Zope.org's contents and putting it on a separate server, read only.
> Tell a few people about it, and then when Zope.org is down, those
> people in the know can point the community at the temporary site.
> Maybe password it and change the password regularly to prevent people
> using that rather than the main site.
> 
> Yeah, this is a hack and it sucks. I'm sure a lot of the normal
> functionality of Zope.org won't work. But it would be quick to do, is
> better than nothing, and would help us continue working.
> 
> Simon
> --
> --------- My opinions are my own, NIP's opinions are theirs ----------
> Simon J. Coles                                 Email: simon@nipltd.com
> New Information Paradigms                  Work Phone: +44 1344 753703
> http://www.nipltd.com/                     Work Fax:   +44 1344 753742
> =============== Life is too precious to take seriously ===============
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