BackupSDB Blog http://blog.mindsizzlers.com/index.php?blog=5 en-US http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 60 Server migration in progress http://blog.mindsizzlers.com/index.php/2009/08/10/server-migration-in-progress?blog=5 Mon, 10 Aug 2009 12:51:17 +0000 Roger Content 43@http://blog.mindsizzlers.com/ <p>We are in the process of migrating the web services we have running on windows in the Amazon cloud over to new servers based on Ubuntu Linux. There shouldn't be any interruption to service as the new servers will silently take over from the old as the dns changes propagate around the web. </p> <p>Do let us know if you experience any problems though ...</p><div class="item_footer"><p><small><a href="http://blog.mindsizzlers.com/index.php/2009/08/10/server-migration-in-progress?blog=5">Original post</a> blogged on <a href="http://b2evolution.net/">b2evolution</a>.</small></p></div> We are in the process of migrating the web services we have running on windows in the Amazon cloud over to new servers based on Ubuntu Linux. There shouldn't be any interruption to service as the new servers will silently take over from the old as the dns changes propagate around the web.

Do let us know if you experience any problems though ...

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

]]> http://blog.mindsizzlers.com/index.php/2009/08/10/server-migration-in-progress?blog=5#comments Domain name bug fix http://blog.mindsizzlers.com/index.php/2009/07/29/domain-name-bug-fix?blog=5 Wed, 29 Jul 2009 12:52:18 +0000 Roger News 39@http://blog.mindsizzlers.com/ <p>A user kindly pointed out that domain names that contain hyphens were not being backed up correctly. On investigation we noted that Amazon support all sorts of odd characters (in addition to the not-so-odd-hyphen) in domain names and we were not correctly applying the quoting rules that are required in such circumstances. </p> <p>We have updated the code and rolled out the new version.</p><div class="item_footer"><p><small><a href="http://blog.mindsizzlers.com/index.php/2009/07/29/domain-name-bug-fix?blog=5">Original post</a> blogged on <a href="http://b2evolution.net/">b2evolution</a>.</small></p></div> A user kindly pointed out that domain names that contain hyphens were not being backed up correctly. On investigation we noted that Amazon support all sorts of odd characters (in addition to the not-so-odd-hyphen) in domain names and we were not correctly applying the quoting rules that are required in such circumstances.

We have updated the code and rolled out the new version.

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

]]> http://blog.mindsizzlers.com/index.php/2009/07/29/domain-name-bug-fix?blog=5#comments XML format change http://blog.mindsizzlers.com/index.php/2009/07/18/xml-format-change?blog=5 Sat, 18 Jul 2009 23:15:04 +0000 Roger Content 38@http://blog.mindsizzlers.com/ <p>Following feedback from our users, we have changed the XML format of the backup files with immediate effect. More information on our <a href="http://forums.mindsizzlers.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&amp;t=6">support forums</a></p><div class="item_footer"><p><small><a href="http://blog.mindsizzlers.com/index.php/2009/07/18/xml-format-change?blog=5">Original post</a> blogged on <a href="http://b2evolution.net/">b2evolution</a>.</small></p></div> Following feedback from our users, we have changed the XML format of the backup files with immediate effect. More information on our support forums

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

]]> http://blog.mindsizzlers.com/index.php/2009/07/18/xml-format-change?blog=5#comments Bug Hunt http://blog.mindsizzlers.com/index.php/2009/07/17/bug-hunt?blog=5 Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:31:13 +0000 Roger Content 37@http://blog.mindsizzlers.com/ <p>Just a quick update to say that we're investigating a problem where some users are receiving "The specified domain does not exist" errors when trying to access their data. This seems peculiar to only some accounts and we're looking into the cause in more detail.</p> <p>UPDATE: Have located the bug, the fix will take an hour or two to test and deploy.</p> <p>RESOLVED: Fix deployed and tested <img src="http://blog.mindsizzlers.com/rsc/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt="&#58;&#41;" class="middle" /></p><div class="item_footer"><p><small><a href="http://blog.mindsizzlers.com/index.php/2009/07/17/bug-hunt?blog=5">Original post</a> blogged on <a href="http://b2evolution.net/">b2evolution</a>.</small></p></div> Just a quick update to say that we're investigating a problem where some users are receiving "The specified domain does not exist" errors when trying to access their data. This seems peculiar to only some accounts and we're looking into the cause in more detail.

UPDATE: Have located the bug, the fix will take an hour or two to test and deploy.

RESOLVED: Fix deployed and tested :)

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

]]> http://blog.mindsizzlers.com/index.php/2009/07/17/bug-hunt?blog=5#comments Easier sign up http://blog.mindsizzlers.com/index.php/2009/07/10/easier-sign-up?blog=5 Fri, 10 Jul 2009 17:00:52 +0000 Roger News 34@http://blog.mindsizzlers.com/ <p>We've just made it easier to register for a free account of our SimpleDB backup solution by relaxing the requirement to gather your AWS credentials at the sign up stage. Now you can register for an account but only enter your details when you want to, plus you can purge your credentials from our systems whenever you like - if you prefer after every backup has been completed.</p> <p>As a side issue, we have fixed a small display bug where an error pertaining to missing credentials was being displayed in the browser as a raw error message rather than being trapped in our code and presented more appropriately.</p><div class="item_footer"><p><small><a href="http://blog.mindsizzlers.com/index.php/2009/07/10/easier-sign-up?blog=5">Original post</a> blogged on <a href="http://b2evolution.net/">b2evolution</a>.</small></p></div> We've just made it easier to register for a free account of our SimpleDB backup solution by relaxing the requirement to gather your AWS credentials at the sign up stage. Now you can register for an account but only enter your details when you want to, plus you can purge your credentials from our systems whenever you like - if you prefer after every backup has been completed.

As a side issue, we have fixed a small display bug where an error pertaining to missing credentials was being displayed in the browser as a raw error message rather than being trapped in our code and presented more appropriately.

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

]]> http://blog.mindsizzlers.com/index.php/2009/07/10/easier-sign-up?blog=5#comments API Version 0.1 released http://blog.mindsizzlers.com/index.php/2009/07/10/api-released?blog=5 Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:02:49 +0000 roger News 33@http://blog.mindsizzlers.com/ <p>We're pleased to announce the release of the API for BackupSDB so you can now initiate backups from your own scripts and see what backups and files you have etc.</p> <p>The commands currently supported are</p> <p>listbackups<br /> backupdetails<br /> backup</p> <p><b>listbackups</b>, not surprisingly, returns, as xml, a list of your most recent backups together with status information etc.</p> <p><b>backupdetails</b> gives you information about a particular backup, together with a list of the files on Amazon S3 that have been created as a result.</p> <p><b>backup</b> allows you to initiate the backup of a specified domain. Note that we deploy flood control to prevent the repeated backup of a domain within a short period of time. At present this time is 5 minutes.</p> <p>For a document explaining how to use the API in detail, please email customerservices [at] mindsizzlers.com with BackupSDB API in your subject heading. </p> <p>Thanks, and enjoy ...</p><div class="item_footer"><p><small><a href="http://blog.mindsizzlers.com/index.php/2009/07/10/api-released?blog=5">Original post</a> blogged on <a href="http://b2evolution.net/">b2evolution</a>.</small></p></div> We're pleased to announce the release of the API for BackupSDB so you can now initiate backups from your own scripts and see what backups and files you have etc.

The commands currently supported are

listbackups
backupdetails
backup

listbackups, not surprisingly, returns, as xml, a list of your most recent backups together with status information etc.

backupdetails gives you information about a particular backup, together with a list of the files on Amazon S3 that have been created as a result.

backup allows you to initiate the backup of a specified domain. Note that we deploy flood control to prevent the repeated backup of a domain within a short period of time. At present this time is 5 minutes.

For a document explaining how to use the API in detail, please email customerservices [at] mindsizzlers.com with BackupSDB API in your subject heading.

Thanks, and enjoy ...

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

]]> http://blog.mindsizzlers.com/index.php/2009/07/10/api-released?blog=5#comments New Feature - Query Browser http://blog.mindsizzlers.com/index.php/2009/07/08/new-feature-query-browser?blog=5 Wed, 08 Jul 2009 10:45:42 +0000 roger News 32@http://blog.mindsizzlers.com/ <p>To make your data more visible, we have just released a query browser that allows you to enter any SELECT query you would like to explore the results of. This is much more powerful than the old QueryWithAttributes method that some competing products still seem to be stuck with ;-)</p> <p>While we were at it, we've added a feature so you can delete rows of data too. But be careful, you can't undo this so take care!</p> <p>We have plans to extend the query browser into a fully fledged editor as we have that code available from another project, so if you would find that useful, please do let us know!</p><div class="item_footer"><p><small><a href="http://blog.mindsizzlers.com/index.php/2009/07/08/new-feature-query-browser?blog=5">Original post</a> blogged on <a href="http://b2evolution.net/">b2evolution</a>.</small></p></div> To make your data more visible, we have just released a query browser that allows you to enter any SELECT query you would like to explore the results of. This is much more powerful than the old QueryWithAttributes method that some competing products still seem to be stuck with ;-)

While we were at it, we've added a feature so you can delete rows of data too. But be careful, you can't undo this so take care!

We have plans to extend the query browser into a fully fledged editor as we have that code available from another project, so if you would find that useful, please do let us know!

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

]]> http://blog.mindsizzlers.com/index.php/2009/07/08/new-feature-query-browser?blog=5#comments New Feature - RESTORE to domain http://blog.mindsizzlers.com/index.php/2009/07/07/new-feature-restore-to-domain?blog=5 Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:00:34 +0000 roger News 31@http://blog.mindsizzlers.com/ <p>Since one of the reasons for developing this tool was to provide disaster recovery for when you accidentally delete a domain you meant to keep (admit it, we've probably all done it during testing at some stage), it's only logical that there should be a RESTORE complement to the BACKUP command.</p> <p>Well, we've just written and deployed it!</p> <p>Interestingly, because the RESTORE command has to be able to restore XML data it has no prior knowledge of, this potentially opens up some interesting data import options. We'll give that some thought for future updates.</p> <p>Enjoy ... <img src="http://blog.mindsizzlers.com/rsc/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt="&#58;&#41;" class="middle" /></p><div class="item_footer"><p><small><a href="http://blog.mindsizzlers.com/index.php/2009/07/07/new-feature-restore-to-domain?blog=5">Original post</a> blogged on <a href="http://b2evolution.net/">b2evolution</a>.</small></p></div> Since one of the reasons for developing this tool was to provide disaster recovery for when you accidentally delete a domain you meant to keep (admit it, we've probably all done it during testing at some stage), it's only logical that there should be a RESTORE complement to the BACKUP command.

Well, we've just written and deployed it!

Interestingly, because the RESTORE command has to be able to restore XML data it has no prior knowledge of, this potentially opens up some interesting data import options. We'll give that some thought for future updates.

Enjoy ... :)

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

]]> http://blog.mindsizzlers.com/index.php/2009/07/07/new-feature-restore-to-domain?blog=5#comments