Again after 1am (this time the date being 21 May) the site started 'hanging' and then disappeared for a short time showing 'server error'. It sounds like a hosting issue.

Here's a "brief as I can make it" overview of what might be happening when the site is slow, and how the community might be able to assist Lunar Mission One.

It would be useful for the web team to receive ping reports of the Lunar Mission 1 server from different locations when the site is very slow or not available. A ping test determines whether your computer can communicate with another computer over a network:

www.wikihow.com/Ping-an-IP-Address

Caution: DO NOT include or attach ping reports on this forum as they will include information about your computer and IP address. Email the LM1 web team: mail [at] green egg [dot] net (all one word and separated here to help prevent spam) with the subject of your email "Website Feedback: LunarMissionOne: Site Unavailable". Replace "Site Unavailable" with an alternative depending on the issue, and provide as much detail as possible.

There are many tools that allow server tests from multiple locations and hopefully the team are already aware of these, however if you are experiencing a slow connection, a ping report from your specific location will aid the investigation of the problem. The LM1 web team will be co-ordinating with the web hosting providers when connection issues arise.

A slow site can be a result of local network issues as much as the domain name server, or web site host server and its particular hardware and network infrastructure, however when there are frequent reports of problems, it usually indicates the site hosting environment should be improved.

The Lunar Mission One domain name is hosted by a different company to the main web site - this practice is not uncommon. Problems with domain name servers (except for registration issues) are generally unusual. When there are difficulties with the DNS (domain name server) there is usually a lengthy period of resolution as it can take up to 72 hours after the difficulties have been dealt with for the problem to be completely cured across the Internet as the name server address (for us, that's the domain name) propagates to name servers around the world.

The domain name servers around the world are given data that includes the address for the web site hosting provider, and becuase there are multiple name servers, if there is a problem with one, the structure of the Internet goes searching for the next available and connects with that. This redundancy, or self-healing quality ensures that even when there are network problems, web sites can still be viewed, although their performance may vary.

Slow connection problems are generally as a result of the server hosting environment. Some sites are on shared server environments and have little redundancy, others are on dedicated servers with multiple-redundancy options which better ensure performance and reliability. That said, no matter how much redundancy is put in place, there are sometimes unforeseen events that can result in downtime.

For the technically minded the server hosting status page for OVH who host the LM1 site can be found here:

www.ovh.co.uk/community/status/

You'll find a Ping Test button on this page which is useful for you to test the upload and download speed for your particular connection to the Internet. You will then be able to evaluate whether the slow connection is caused by your ISP (Internet Service Provider) or whether it is further afield (which will also be demonstrated in the Ping test explained on the WikiHow web page above).

Hope this helps!

Hi, I've been trying to change my profile details for some time now, unsuccessfully. I've also attempted several times on different computers. I have contacted LM1 for the second time but have got no reply this time round, they said after my first email that it should be getting fixed, but that was last week. Perhaps someone here might be able to help please?

Hey Abi, what are you trying to change?

Hi Stavy, I'm trying to update my profile details in general ...

ok.. it's not letting you change anything at all? I've had a look but I'm not able to access anything. Do you have an edit button?

I'm going to move these posts over to website issues, so it doesn't disappear in the drivel. I'll see if I can contact the web techie blokey for you.