Blues site...

[ColoradoHigh]

I am trying to get onto Blue Mountains website, but it keeps saying Bad Gateway or something. Does this happen with everyone? I want to see the conditions at Blue but no site, its really annoying me .

[tretiak]

yea im getting the same thing

 

Bad Gateway

The proxy server received an invalid response from an upstream server.

[AtomicSkier]

I am trying to get onto Blue Mountains website, but it keeps saying Bad Gateway or something. Does this happen with everyone? I want to see the conditions at Blue but no site, its really annoying me .

 

doesn't work for me either, and im gettin pissed off...

 

hey fellow atomicskier

[kragan]

Their site has been down for 2 days now

[toast21602]

for the past 2 weeks i have been having trouble with their site...

[stevePSSC]

for the past 2 weeks i have been having trouble with their site...

 

i hear ya on that.. it will either act like its gonna laod and take FOREVER! or it give me the bad gateway msg as well..

[Stevo]

Diddo

[kragan]

You would think that they, or who ever hosts their site, would do stress tests on their server before the winter season to make sure they can handle the additional load. This is standard practice for any organization that has a web site that deals with increased seasonal traffic. Online retailers, such as Amazon.com and Walmart.com, do this generally some time in early October to avoid being down during the holiday rush.

[Stevo]

It's back up. Probably not for long though, haha

[BadassBunny]

Yeah, that was really annoying this am becuz I needed their phone # n couldn't get it! Ughh.

[adrian]

Yeah, that was really annoying this am becuz I needed their phone # n couldn't get it! Ughh.

if this situation ever arises again, may i suggest google.com? its good like that.

[ColoradoHigh]

Alright Blues site is up again, but on their condition's page, they say none of the trails are open! Did they not update this? Is that fog on the Webcam? Oh well, its not like I am going skiing today No one will take me until Thursday. My dad is away for business.

[Glenn]

Online retailers, such as Amazon.com and Walmart.com, do this generally some time in early October to avoid being down during the holiday rush.

 

And online retailers make big money and can afford to do extensive testing on their servers. I bet the money Blue lost while their server was down was pretty minimal. If walmart or amazon goes down a few hours I bet they can show a pretty significant profit loss.

[kragan]

And online retailers make big money and can afford to do extensive testing on their servers. I bet the money Blue lost while their server was down was pretty minimal. If walmart or amazon goes down a few hours I bet they can show a pretty significant profit loss.

 

Stress testing is not a difficult task, nor is it expensive. There are several utilities, some free, that can mimic high traffic and bandwidth loads on a server. If someone else is hosting the site for Blue, which I assume is the case here, they should be performing this as a service as uptime and Mean Time Between Failure is written into almost every contract for web hosting.

 

Blue Mt and other ski resorts now rely on their websites to free up staff from having to answer phones to answer questions about rates, lessons, and conditions. You can also buy lift tickets online and pick them up at kiosks in Blue's main lodge. The Internet is becoming more of a resource in almost any industry, and if used properly, can drive profits and the bottom line.

[Glenn]

IT personel capable of using/analyzing output from a a test cost money. Based on how often the blue website is updated and the particular updates made I'm fairly certain their IT staff is pretty limited and/or not concerned with the website.

 

You make valid points, but...

 

In blue's case I'm not sure their website is a priority or a big money maker. If someone else is hosting the site, it seems unlikely they would do load testing specific to a particular client's business, but maybe I'm way off.

[kragan]

If someone else is hosting the site, it seems unlikely they would do load testing specific to a particular client's business, but maybe I'm way off.

 

 

Actually, it would be very likely for the hosting company to do that type of testing, thats what they do and thats how they convince companies to use their service.

 

Also, a lot depends on how the contract was written. The company doing the hosting should know that the site will see more traffic during the winter months and Blue should have made sure that down time was included in the contract.

[Glenn]

Actually, it would be very likely for the hosting company to do that type of testing, thats what they do and thats how they convince companies to use their service.

 

Our hosting company simply provides the server the site to run on, and has a maximum bandwidth per month. No mention of load testing...

[kragan]

And thats why I wrote...

 

Also, a lot depends on how the contract was written. The company doing the hosting should know that the site will see more traffic during the winter months and Blue should have made sure that down time was included in the contract.

 

Depends on how the contract was set up. There are always different service levels that are available for additional $.

[Glenn]

There are always different service levels that are available for additional $.

 

Which circles back to my orginal argument that it didn't look like the website was a major priority of Blue's and unlike amazon, or walmart, Blue probobly doesn't have (want to spend) the money to spend on it.

 

but ...

 

Good to have another technical mind on the site anyways

[kragan]

Not trying to start an arguement here, just want your opinion. If you were a stakeholder with Blue Mt ...

 

Do you think that the down time, especially this time of year, was acceptable?

Edited December 18, 2005 by kragan

[Glenn]

Not trying to start an arguement here, just want your opinion. If you were a stakeholder with Blue Mt ...

 

Do you think that the down time, especially this time of year, was acceptable?

 

To be honest I don' t know...

 

I'm unaware of the financial impact that downtime made. If the cost to prevent that down time outweigh the cost lost then yes it is acceptable. However, if the stakeholder haven't made a priority to have a strong web precense, that says to me, they aren't seeing much money coming from the web. I'm guessing it's not financially THAT important. Maybe I'm way off the mark.

 

If the down time was in a few weeks, or over presidents/mlk day weekend totally different story. I can pretty safely say those are VERY important times for the site to be up, even if they don't have a huge web presense.

 

... do you know something I don't?

 

Oh, and I'm always up for a rational debate/discussion. You're not attacking anyone, it's not an "argument"

Edited December 18, 2005 by dthmtluncrn

[kragan]

No, I do not know something you don't.

 

Just lucky for Blue that they are not more of an "All inclusive" resort that offers reservations through their website like Killington and some other larger resorts. Then the downtime this week could have affected reservations for the Christmas week.

[Glenn]

No, I do not know something you don't.

 

Just lucky for Blue that they are not more of an "All inclusive" resort that offers reservations through their website like Killington and some other larger resorts. Then the downtime this week could have affected reservations for the Christmas week.

 

 

Agreed