MobiPocket Shut Down!? - Page 6

HarryT · 08-22-2007, 04:32 AM

It presumably indicates that MobiPocket have not migrated their data onto Amazon's servers.

TadW · 08-22-2007, 04:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

It presumably indicates that MobiPocket have not migrated their data onto Amazon's servers.

Exactly! But isn't that ironic? Given the aftermath of such an outage, wouldn't it have been obligatory to do everything to ensure that data is saved "reliable" and "durably" (to borrow the term used by Amazon's S3 services)?

HarryT · 08-22-2007, 05:34 AM

One might indeed have thought so. I suspect that things might change following this irksome incident.

JSWolf · 08-22-2007, 09:25 AM

So it's possible the DRM server might be back up sometime today or sometime tomorrow.

HarryT · 08-22-2007, 09:29 AM

That's what they are estimating, according to both iRex and Fictionwise. Time will tell...

Steven Lyle Jordan · 08-22-2007, 09:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TadW

The breakdown is kinda ironic, if you consider that Amazon is also trying to make some bucks through selling its "highly scalable, reliable, fast, inexpensive data storage infrastructure" to third parties.

Ah, irony... complication... thy name is Computer.

Another site I frequent has unfortunately fallen into a similar hole: Radioio.com made the effort to update their internet radio systems, apparently sure enough about their new system to essentially cannibalize the old system to accomplish it. Guess what? When they hit the switch, it didn't work. And now they're still scrambling to fix unexpected problems and get their system online.

Too often there are simply too many variables, between hardware, software, web, rules, legalities, etc, to take absolutely everything into account. It's happened to me, too. I'm sure Mobi is working as fast as they can, between bouts of kicking themselves.

nekokami · 08-22-2007, 09:32 AM

I'm trying to imagine a failure that would keep them down for this long, and having trouble coming up with a scenario. I'd think they'd have a good support contract on their servers so if it was hardware they'd have swapped parts before now. I wonder if we'll ever hear the details?

And I wonder if they lost data? It would be a nuisance if those who had bought books now have no record of what they bought, can't re-download, devices have lost registration, etc.

JSWolf · 08-22-2007, 09:39 AM

I would imagine for books not purchased at MobiPocket's site.. say Fictionwise, it would be a matter of reregistering you devices and then redownloading.

NatCh · 08-22-2007, 11:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nekokami

I'm trying to imagine a failure that would keep them down for this long, and having trouble coming up with a scenario.

Only thing I can come up with is the failure of a piece of hardware that they don't have a spare part for, and which takes them some time to get a replacement. A power-supply, for example, or the entire server might have crashed hard enough to require a physical rebuild.

yvanleterrible · 08-22-2007, 11:44 AM

Fire.

NatCh · 08-22-2007, 11:45 AM

Fire would certainly do it, but ... I'd think they'd tell us that, it'd make us more sympathetic, or at least patient.

Neubarth · 08-22-2007, 12:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NatCh

Fire would certainly do it, but ... I'd think they'd tell us that, it'd make us more sympathetic, or at least patient.

I strongly suspect that they screwed up their history files. Whenever there is a transaction, it is recorded. Those records (It used to be tapes years ago, don't know what they use now with all the modern storage devices.) are used to recreate the data base file if there is a computer crash. If the tapes are corrupted, they have a very hard time reconstructing the transaction files.

When you are dealing with money, people who do not receive their due can get very upset and start law suits. Short of facing hundreds of litigants, Mobi is probably going back using some other sort of means to recreate all of the sale transactions for whatever period has been corrupted.

I guess only, but I think that is what's happening.

NatCh · 08-22-2007, 12:47 PM

I think it's a good guess ... except that this seems to be specifically with their DRM server, which I would guess doesn't hold their sales transactions. I could easily be wrong since I am just guessing too.

HarryT · 08-22-2007, 01:12 PM

My guess would be, Nat, that the whole lot's gone down. The DRM server would be the only part of the system which would affect other sites, such as Fictionwise.

heb · 08-22-2007, 02:30 PM

I think Neubarth is probably right. Even with something like a fire I can't imagine they didn't have a distributed hosting model or disaster recovery site of some sort. I don't think they would be dumb enough to build a system reliant on a single DRM server either but then again I have seen worse!

If something gets corrupted and replicated to your other sites it can cause major problems and a big SAN can take a long time to restore just due to the huge amounts of data coming back from relatively slow tape.

Amazons own systems are probably propreitary like Google or heavily customised and designed from the ground up to be highly scalable and distributed. It might be quite a job to migrate the Mobipocket systems to the same platform.

I'm suprised they still haven't opted to provide more details on their holding page though.

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08-22-2007, 04:32 AM	#76
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,557 Karma: 93980341 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	It presumably indicates that MobiPocket have not migrated their data onto Amazon's servers.

08-22-2007, 05:34 AM	#78
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,557 Karma: 93980341 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	One might indeed have thought so. I suspect that things might change following this irksome incident.

08-22-2007, 09:25 AM	#79
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 79,847 Karma: 146918083 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	So it's possible the DRM server might be back up sometime today or sometime tomorrow.

08-22-2007, 09:29 AM	#80
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,557 Karma: 93980341 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	That's what they are estimating, according to both iRex and Fictionwise. Time will tell...

08-22-2007, 09:32 AM	#82
nekokami fruminous edugeek Posts: 6,745 Karma: 551260 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Northeast US Device: iPad, eBw 1150	I'm trying to imagine a failure that would keep them down for this long, and having trouble coming up with a scenario. I'd think they'd have a good support contract on their servers so if it was hardware they'd have swapped parts before now. I wonder if we'll ever hear the details? And I wonder if they lost data? It would be a nuisance if those who had bought books now have no record of what they bought, can't re-download, devices have lost registration, etc.

08-22-2007, 09:39 AM	#83
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 79,847 Karma: 146918083 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	I would imagine for books not purchased at MobiPocket's site.. say Fictionwise, it would be a matter of reregistering you devices and then redownloading.

08-22-2007, 11:44 AM	#85
yvanleterrible Reborn Paper User Posts: 8,616 Karma: 15446734 Join Date: May 2006 Location: Que Nada Device: iPhone8, iPad Air	Fire.

08-22-2007, 11:45 AM	#86
NatCh Gizmologist Posts: 11,615 Karma: 929550 Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Republic of Texas Embassy at Jackson, TN Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3	Fire would certainly do it, but ... I'd think they'd tell us that, it'd make us more sympathetic, or at least patient.

08-22-2007, 12:47 PM	#88
NatCh Gizmologist Posts: 11,615 Karma: 929550 Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Republic of Texas Embassy at Jackson, TN Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3	I think it's a good guess ... except that this seems to be specifically with their DRM server, which I would guess doesn't hold their sales transactions. I could easily be wrong since I am just guessing too.

08-22-2007, 01:12 PM	#89
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,557 Karma: 93980341 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	My guess would be, Nat, that the whole lot's gone down. The DRM server would be the only part of the system which would affect other sites, such as Fictionwise.

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08-22-2007, 02:30 PM	#90
heb Enthusiast Posts: 29 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2007 Device: none yet	I think Neubarth is probably right. Even with something like a fire I can't imagine they didn't have a distributed hosting model or disaster recovery site of some sort. I don't think they would be dumb enough to build a system reliant on a single DRM server either but then again I have seen worse! If something gets corrupted and replicated to your other sites it can cause major problems and a big SAN can take a long time to restore just due to the huge amounts of data coming back from relatively slow tape. Amazons own systems are probably propreitary like Google or heavily customised and designed from the ground up to be highly scalable and distributed. It might be quite a job to migrate the Mobipocket systems to the same platform. I'm suprised they still haven't opted to provide more details on their holding page though.