The latest announcements for updates and changes to the Geocaching.com web site. http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:41:07 -0800 30 http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=228953
While we're not anticipating any issues, this maintenance could take up to 2 hours.

Thanks,

Elias
]]> Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:34:05 -0700 228953 http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=225664
Fisher Plaza brought in several large generators and has spent the day hooking them up to the building power risers by bypassing the damaged electrical rooms. Power was finally restored to the building at approximately 2:30 AM Pacific Time (GMT -7) on July 4th.

At this time, no Groundspeak servers appear to have been damaged by this incident, but we are currently performing checks on all our servers before we restore our services. I'll post updates here as we get closer to bringing services back online.

Elias]]> Sat, 4 Jul 2009 05:02:44 -0700 225664 http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=220543 yesterday's maintenance notice, tonight we'll be moving the remaining network infrastructure to our new location in the datacenter. During this move, all Groundspeak servers and services will be offline.

This work has to be coordinated with datacenter network engineers and the latest I am able to schedule this work is for 6 PM Pacific Time (GMT -7). All services should be restored in under an hour.

Thanks,

Elias]]> Wed, 29 Apr 2009 13:03:10 -0700 220543 http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=220453
This move is anticipated to take much of the evening and could extend into the early morning hours. We'll move the forums early on in the evening so we can keep you updated on our progress.

After the completion of this move, we'll be posting another shorter downtime period for tomorrow afternoon to move our core networking equipment.

If you have any questions, please contact us at contact(at)geocaching.com

Elias
]]> Tue, 28 Apr 2009 09:45:11 -0700 220453 http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=217433
Elias
]]> Mon, 23 Mar 2009 13:50:50 -0700 217433 http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=214706 Wed, 18 Feb 2009 15:07:59 -0800 214706 http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=213386
The filesystem has been repaired and delivery performance has returned to normal levels. Due to the large backlog of email, it will probably take most of the day to fully deliver all queued mail.

I'll continue to monitor the server's health closely over the next several hours but I don't anticipate any further issues.

Elias
]]> Sun, 1 Feb 2009 15:13:16 -0800 213386 http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=213026
Elias]]> Tue, 27 Jan 2009 18:00:57 -0800 213026 http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=207134
The filesystem has been repaired and delivery performance has returned to normal levels. Due to the large backlog of email, it will probably take most of the day to fully deliver all queued mail.

I'll continue to monitor the server's health closely over the next several hours but I don't anticipate any further issues.

Elias
]]> Sat, 1 Nov 2008 11:57:32 -0700 207134 http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=200021
Thanks for your patience while we perform the upgrade! It is necessary since we are down to the last few gigabytes on the hard drives.]]> Tue, 29 Jul 2008 11:45:19 -0700 200021 http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=185981
The new cache type is a way to help integrate the functionality of Wherigo into Geocaching.com. Since the Wherigo Cache type is a unique type of Multi or Puzzle cache it warranted a new type to differentiate it from other types. Very quickly you can determine whether the type is available for you (depending on whether you have a device that supports it). Obviously our goal is to continue to support more devices so more people can incorporate media rich experiences as part of their cache hunts.

I posted a topic in the Groundspeak Web forum for any questions.]]> Thu, 21 Feb 2008 20:45:34 -0800 185981 http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=185087 the Geocache Navigator web site.

(note: Geocache Navigator is free, however a data plan is recommended and carrier charges for data usage may apply)

The Trimble® Geocache Navigator™ is the first fully featured geocaching application for the mobile phone. It is linked directly to Geocaching.com's cache listings and provides you with real-time access to caches near your location. If you have a GPS enabled mobile phone on Sprint, Nextel, Boost or Southern Linc networks, or a BlackBerry smartphone with built-in GPS, you can get started without a standalone GPS unit, cables or cache data printouts.]]> Mon, 11 Feb 2008 15:24:24 -0800 185087 http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=183544
Updates will generally be performed once each month on a Tuesday or Wednesday, but occasionally we will hotfix bugs as needed.

Please scroll down for the latest update.]]> Fri, 25 Jan 2008 12:44:43 -0800 183544 http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=182566
As part of our ongoing "how do we pay for version 2 of Geocaching.com" discussion, we're now testing out a trial version of localized ads for Geocaching.com. This is a temporary trial and it is confined to the US only. For those outside of the US you should continue to see Google ads on most pages - except for the front page.

The ads may initially be awkward but we're tweaking changes as we go to try and get some locally relevant ads. Since we're one of the few sites that have local content it's a test for localized advertising.

If you see anything objectionable please contact us. And thanks for your ongoing patience as we test out these new ideas.

]]> Tue, 15 Jan 2008 12:21:06 -0800 182566 http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=181163
I filled out the Comcast "Blocked Provider" form twice, being very careful to explain the situation but each time I receive a canned response that our server isn't blocked. While technically true, I did carefully explain that we're being throttled and not completely blocked and I asked them to relax their restrictions or whitelist us. Given these canned responses, they don't seem to want to help resolve this issue:

http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?act=Attach&type=post&id=1

At this point there's nothing more Groundspeak can do to resolve this issue. If you're a Comcast customer affected by this issue, please contact Comcast and try to have this escalated. If you can send me a PM here in the forums with the direct contact for someone who can help resolve this issue, I'll happily contact them.

Elias
]]> Wed, 2 Jan 2008 12:42:21 -0800 181163 http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=179335
Since the development is fluid I can't just say "it will have this button and that feature and will program your Roomba to hide and seek caches for you." Although it could someday. What I can offer is some high level answers so you have an idea what you should expect from project Phoenix. (Yes, Phoenix is an overdone codeword but Microsoft took all the good local names in Washington and no one could pronounce Puyallup correctly. Maybe next time we'll choose Vader.).

Is this a Redesign?

Yes. With a re-architecture there is a redesign. However much of the functionality you expect will be very similar in the new version. It won't be over the top and won't be too Web 2.0'ish. I doubt we'll even stick a beta label on there unless it is still considered cool.

There will be some minor changes. Instead of a Geocaching.com account you will have a Groundspeak account. Technically you already have one but you will actually be updating your account information on Groundspeak. Don't worry, we'll make this completely painless.

Since account data will be centralized, things you do on other Groundspeak sites will be modified in your main profile. So add an additional saved location and you can search from it on both Waymarking and Geocaching.com. Waymarking and Geocaching information will also be merged but in a way that should please both Waymarkers and Geocachers.

What do you mean by "Re-architecture?"

The entire database has been redesigned. The code base is being re-written from scratch. Localization experts have come in to consult on designing the database and site to support double byte languages. We have test cases, a build process, architect, project managers - you name it.

We're essentially reinventing geocaching.com with the knowledge gathered from building the site for 7 years. It's a Big Job. But we believe that the site must be rebuilt to grow. It's a painful process but one we expect to benefit the Geocaching and Waymarking community.

When will it be done?

Wow. Talk about a moving target. We've invested 7 months on the project already and we're in our second month of actual development work. Our goal is to have a site launch by mid next year. This, of course, will be faster or slower due to the amount of folks we can put on the development effort. So every membership you purchase or Travel Bug you buy goes towards this goal.

(hint, hint)

When can I see something?

I hope that by sometime in Q2 next year we'll be able to present more information on the site and potentially give access for people to offer feedback. But honestly we can't commit at this time. It's better to have an unexpected surprise sneak peek instead of a disappointment for a missed deadline anyway.

Anything else?

I will say that the most common complaint about Waymarking is that it is a "different site." "I don't have enough time to visit 2 sites" is a common response. Well, the new architecture will support both Geocaches and Waymarks together.

What does this mean? After Phoenix launches you will be able to see caches on both Geocaching.com and Waymarking.com and choose whether you want to be a Geocacher or a Waymarker or both (or neither. You can be a Historical Marker-er if you want). Version 2 will be all about access and choice in what interests you as a GPS enthusiast.

Hopefully I can offer you more information as we progress.]]> Fri, 7 Dec 2007 12:49:46 -0800 179335 http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=179332
First, Elias has shored up the database by giving it more drives. 25, in fact. The biggest issue with the database performance was that the small number of drives in the machine were being overworked as you were reporting your burning calories as cache logs. The drives were, in fact, running at 500%. In lieu of purchasing a SAN, which can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, we went with a more pragmatic and affordable approach by emulating a SAN. This helped to alleviate the amount of work for each individual drive. Sounds expensive? Yep. But nowhere close to the SAN ballpark figure (which creeped ever higher as we looked for bids). We will eventually need a SAN but we're not quite there... yet.

This happened a couple of weeks ago but there was no real indication of progress because the web servers were having even a bigger problem. We found an issue where after 800 connections to the server the machine would go to 100% CPU and create a miserable experience to users. Although we did add additional machines we would still reach peaks on the different machines even though others were well below that threshold.

Our plan was to look at a couple of ways to address this. First, bring in a system that would help us balance the number of visitors to each machine (load balancing), but like a SAN this can be expensive. Second, add a bunch more web servers - around 8 total - also expensive. We couldn't do one without the other since our current load balancing, round robin DNS, can't really balance 8 machines like it can 2 or 3.

The biggest reason for the CPU issue, however, was something that happened during our upgrade from 1.1 to 2.0. The problem was we really didn't know what had changed between the two versions to cause this issue. The upgrade should have been smooth. It had our developers puzzled, outside consultants entering therapy, and our original Microsoft representative being compelled to switch to Firefox (ok, not true, but I'm sure he was tempted). So whatever we did to improve performance we still needed to fix this code issue.

Fortunately our latest release on Tuesday fixed the Most Painful Bug in the History of Time. As it turns out the nifty little code we use that transforms UBB code into HTML was using Regular Expressions - and that the libraries for Regular Expressions had changed, I would say drastically, between 1.1 and 2.0. Since we use them all over the site we were taking an additional hit every time it was called.

Joe, our newest developer and currently the lead developer on the current version of the site, was finally able to determine this after some extensive debugging work with Microsoft. The Tuesday release implemented these changes and now each web machine is now running at under 20% CPU with the same amount of connections that put it at 100% on Monday.

It has been holding strong since the update so I think we have clear skies for at least a while. This will allow us to focus on fixing bugs and improving your experience on Geocaching.com even more so you can get outside and away from your desktop sooner.]]> Fri, 7 Dec 2007 12:12:42 -0800 179332 http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=175132 Geocaching.com Web Site discussion forums.]]> Tue, 9 Oct 2007 09:21:20 -0700 175132 http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=174719
The only noticeable difference should be on the Google map pages. Otherwise it should be business as usual.]]> Wed, 3 Oct 2007 10:00:09 -0700 174719 http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=171156
We'll do some additional tests in our staging environment to see how we can resolve these issues. Sorry for the slowness of the site that this update has caused and some errors relating to the problem with session state that was not seen in our testing.]]> Thu, 16 Aug 2007 09:17:36 -0700 171156