Jim:

Web site traffic is variable day-to-day. There weren’t that many additional orders, actually fewer than last year’s Cyber Monday, but when combined with all the other traffic, people surfing for deals, etc., it overwhelmed the servers. We now have 10 servers processing web site traffic.

Should we have anticipated it? Maybe and I see the need for better internal communication to help avoid the situations.

73,

Barry J. Shelley, N1VXY

Chief Financial Officer

ARRL, Inc.

The National Association for Amateur Radio

(860) 594-0212

www.arrl.org

From: Jim Weaver K8JE [mailto:K8JE@ARRL.org]
Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2012 2:40 PM
To: Shelley, Barry, N1VXY; arrl-odv
Subject: RE: [arrl-odv:21260] Re: Company Store Site

Barry,

Should "we" not have expected a very heavy response to our Cyber Monday promotion and anticipated the temporary need for added capacity . . . and at least monitored the situation closely? If one was to walk through a swamp known to be filled with water moccasins wouldn't they put on protective high-waders to avoid the possibility of being bitten before entering the water rather than to wait until seeing a bunch of snakes?

Jim Weaver, K8JE

Director, Great Lakes Division

5065 Bethany Rd.

Mason, OH 45040

Tel. 513-459-1661; e-mail K8JE@arrl.org

ARRL: The reason Amateur Radio Is

Members: The reason ARRL is

From: arrl-odv-bounces@reflector.arrl.org [mailto:arrl-odv-bounces@reflector.arrl.org] On Behalf Of Shelley, Barry, N1VXY
Sent: 27 November, 2012 2:14 PM
To: arrl-odv
Subject: [arrl-odv:21260] Re: Company Store Site

To follow up on David’s note, the increase in traffic was seemingly the result of our own Cyber Monday sales promotion. We’re still looking into it. One of the design features with the Rackspace configuration was the ability to add server capacity relatively quickly, once identified, but not automatically. This was part of the reason that Jon Bloom created the configuration after the initial performance issues with the new web site several years ago.

Might we have responded more quickly, possibly, and we will look into how best to do this short of running a 24/7 IT operation.

73,

Barry J. Shelley, N1VXY

Chief Financial Officer

ARRL, Inc.

The National Association for Amateur Radio

(860) 594-0212

www.arrl.org

From: arrl-odv-bounces@reflector.arrl.org [mailto:arrl-odv-bounces@reflector.arrl.org] On Behalf Of Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ
Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2012 2:03 PM
To: Weaver, James K8JE (Dir, GL); arrl-odv
Subject: [arrl-odv:21259] Re: Company Store Site

Jim, the website at Rackspace was running slowly at times since yesterday afternoon. Additional server capacity has been added and it appears to be functioning normally now.

Dave K1ZZ

From: arrl-odv-bounces@reflector.arrl.org [mailto:arrl-odv-bounces@reflector.arrl.org] On Behalf Of Jim Weaver K8JE
Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2012 1:42 PM
To: arrl-odv
Subject: [arrl-odv:21256] Company Store Site

All,

I received a note from a rather irate friend who complained he was gave up trying to place an order through the ARRL online store because the system was running so very slowly. Being a good DXer, he tied this experience in with recent (as well as earlier) difficulty with LOTW.

My Question: Was the store running slowly within the past 48 hours or so? If so, why? If there was a problem is it fixed permanently?

This experience to me reminds me of an admonition my mother gave me many years ago -- i.e. "It takes a long time to develop a good reputation after a bad impression has been made. Between the bad impression made through the then-new web site and the repeated bad impressions made with LOTW, it seems imperative to me that we pull out all the stops to avoid putting the League in a bad light with the amateur radio public for at least many years to come. How many times must we shoot ourselves in the foot before we learn the lesson?