A bit over a year ago, I switched Newton Poetry from a WordPress.com-hosted site to a self-hosted site, using 1and1.com. Earlier this week, that decision came back to haunt me when the 1and1 MySQL server crashed, sending the site into catatonic limbo.
First, I want to apologize to readers who showed up at the site Monday night through today, only to get an “Error connecting to database” message. Not that you missed much, but still. It sucks.
Second, this stuff happens. Probably more than I’m aware of, but server crashes and unavailable databases smack web site managers in the face every day. Luckily, Newton Poetry isn’t a high-traffic site by any means, and any disruption in service in negligible compared to – oh, say – some other sites out there. Turns out, even my old WordPress.com blog would have crashed and burned.
The best you can do is make your way to the cellar while the server tornado rips the roof off your blog, and hunker down until Auntie Em says it’s okay to come out. Hopefully, when the wind dies down, you still have some structure standing.
For me, it’s all about backups. Coincidentally, I backed up Newton Poetry on the Saturday before the crash. Now, I didn’t lose any files on the FTP end, but I could have. Without a decent backup, you’d be browsing through a January-era blog.
The thing that kills me is I struggled for two days, wading through database passwords and wp-config files to sort through the issue, only to have it not be a problem on my end at all. But I learned something: call the host first when the sky grows dark and the birds stop chirping.
Unfortunately, 1and1.com was no help at all. Their support staff simply said the server was down, they had no estimated fix time, and that I’d just have to hang out until it was resolved. Since that’s all I could do, that’s what I did. For two days.
Some nice friends offered to host Newton Poetry, or help with the fixes, which I dearly appreciated. I’m still thinking about it.
So anyway, welcome back to the site. Thanks for your patience and understanding.