Aren't THEY supposed to backup data?
May I try to archive the data files in the future?
I have machines running 24/7 and I can write a script to download the DB files.
Not if it's a dedicated server, if it were a shared hosting account, they could advertise that they do, but if it's a dedicated server or a colocated server, the customer is usually responsible for the backups. Now for a dedicated server, the hosting company is usually responsible for the hardware since they are renting out the equipment.
Also, you guys are a bit confused with a server environment on how hot it gets in there, anyone whos been in a datacenter (including me who works in one) will tell you how damn loud it is from all the fans and airconditioning. A server is pretty much a computer with hardware specifically made for the job, unfortunately I don't buy this "airconditioning" story. Generally if hardware gets too hot, server marketed motherboards will usually shutdown automatically from the heat. Performance will vary as well.
A lot of providers are skipping out on crucial hardware parts these days, usually they save money by purchasing servers with consumer grade parts (SATA harddrive at 7200 RPM, consumer motherboard, consumer CPU, consumer RAM, etc.), you have to realize that everytime you bring up a website, you are literally accessing files (.PHP, .HTML, .MP3) on a harddrive from the server, think of this being accessed everyday 24/7, it's going to get worn out pretty quick if it's a consumer grade harddrive.
Parts do fail, harddrives can physically get worn out over time (depending how long the servers been running), electrical board on the harddrive can go bad, PSU can spike and literally fry the harddrive, etc.
The airconditioning units are usually provided from the floor, usually servers are 1u (1 unit) and put on a rack, the AC is supposed to cool them because the servers get very hot in such a small case but to keep them compact reduces the overall space in the datacenter and saves on cost.
Heres a picture of a rack to give you an idea.
By the way, this airconditioning story, the reason it doesn't add up is that if the AC failed, the server would still run as mentioned but performance would vary, the fans on the machine would kick on to try and cool the components, the AC would have had to have been out quite a while, if the datacenter didn't replace the AC, how many other servers were affected? Would like to hear more about this because it sounds suspicious. See if datacenter can get a low level read on the harddrive if they haven't already formatted it.
Topic: What Happened To Our Forums And Web Sites? (Read 8866 times)