First, our MySQL server is a monster. It is constantly connected by over 20 game servers that are constantly reading and writing. Given the fact that I setup the server around 3 years ago, it went through some noobish configurations by yours truly before I became knowledgeable about how exactly to run one efficiently. My knowledge of server experience is significantly better than 3 years ago, but there are some things that simply cannot be easily fixed, such the 'mysql' database that stores user information, and configurations about how other servers connect to it. For the past year, it was spamming the error log with hundreds of errors about stuff that simply couldn't be fixed manually, and I was forced to either deal with the constant crashes, time-syncing issues, and mild diarrhea. So I began researching about how to configure our server to function best with our available hardware.

Now don't think I purposefully corrupted the 'mysql' database. It went through 3 significant software upgrades. MySQL 5.4 to MariaDB 5.5 and finally we are on MariaDB 10.0.7. While I did the conversion right, a vanilla installation would have been better but I put it off for some time.

So what exactly happened earlier this week that resulted in the MySQL server going down? Well there was an extremely cryptic error, and the only decipherable thing was that that a table in the 'mysql' database magically disappeared. The error logs started being spammed uncontrollably to the point where it got to 300Gb in size. This resulted in a time-syncing issue with InnoDB and everything went downhill from there. Since I take backups of the entire MySQL server every 3 hours, it's very easy to restore a backup. So I decided to shut down the server and restore the backups, but the errors were still spamming and the issues were still happening. So I decided to completely uninstall the MariaDB server, and reinstall it completely. The only thing that remained from the old server were the user login information for all the users and the white-listed IPs. I also decided to completely revamp the format of the server after reading this article: Yoshinori Matsunobu's blog: Tables on SSD, Redo/Binlog/SYSTEM-tablespace on HDD on the benefits of SSDs and HDDs in accordance with MySQL. After this, I restored all the backups and brought up the server. The difference was tremendous. Zero errors have been recorded since the reinstallation, and all pages are loading on average under 100ms which is insane for a site like ours, with tons of images and custom content. Overall the changes were incredibly significant and everything should so smooth from here with our MySQL server.

Finally, what happened to the website and why are some people unable to load it?

Well our website was using Incapsula as a CDN and DNS management service, mainly for a cheap SSL wildcard certificate (purchasing one costs ~$300 a year which is out of our price range) to allow secure browsing on the website. Last month our traffic was insane (the attacks against NFO might have caused this but I have yet to find the exact issue) and was roughly 2.7 TB. The Incapsula bill came earlier this month and the bill was $450.20. I immediately contacted support since that seemed like some strange glitch (we are on the $19 per month plan) but was told that the 'Personal' plan has a bandwidth cap of 500GB per month, as well as a rate of 5mbps of fair usage. This confused me since when I signed up, their plan page mentions none of this whatsoever. After asking about the lack of information provided about the bandwidth cap, they told me that they recently updated their plans (without changing the plans page) with these bandwidth limitations, and that legacy plans would have to be manually updated. One of the sales team then contacted me, credited our account with the money, and told us that we would have to upgrade to the Enterprise plan if our bandwidth was to continue being ~2.7TB a month. The Enterprise plan is $1,100 a month and since Xeno Gamers isn't a commercial business, I respectfully decided to switch services back to CloudFlare since they have an unlimited bandwidth cap (their SSL plan is more limited but it wouldn't effect our current setup). This required updating the nameservers over to CloudFlare's, which would result in an extremely heavy DNS change. It normally takes 24-72 hours to finish (it's the internet, nobody controls when it updates) so that's the reason there might have been some server crashing and website unavailability. Again, if you were unable to access the website it wasn't my fault and is a waiting game from here on out.

Other updates:

- CentOS 6.5 released, updated website server.

- NginX 1.5.8 released, updated webserver.

- ngx_pagespeed v1.7.30.2 beta released, updated webserver.

- OpenSSL v1.0.1e package released officially with CentOS 6.5, compiled custom version with 'Elliptic Curve' enabled.

- NginX SSL protocol changed to use 'Elliptic Curve', page loading significantly faster over SSL.

- ErLang updated, Elixir updated, allowing for the Teamspeak chat bot application to function again.

- XenForo updated to 1.2.4, various addons updated as well.

- Various server updates provided by Nomulous, including a new Europe location (managed by Stickz).

- Revamped user-groups on the forum, now requires assigning moderation powers using the 'Moderator' feature, resulting in far easier management of promotions for users.

- Re-signed our self-signed SSL certificate to better integrate with CloudFlare.

- Abandoned 'Axivo' repo in order for self-compiled applications.

- Heavily revamped 'my.cnf' for better performance including doubling the max connection count (unrelated to the issue described above).

- Fixed template glitches with 'Xeno Gamers v7'. Will revamp color scheme soon since it's currently unsatisfactory.

- Fixed permission issues for staff members on the website. Some might still remain so please report them!

- Teamspeak server updated to 3.0.10.3

That's all for now, and I apologize for all the downtime!

The IP is 66.55.158.188:2302

Play safe and enjoy!

If there is enough pubic outcry, we will create a new division for DayZ, so help populate the server if you would like to see this happen!

Community Leaders!

Yes, I realize that it's still abbreviated as CL and it's not much of a stretch from the previous name, BUT that's not the point. This group will have the same priorities and duties as the previous Co-Leaders, but there are a couple of changes:

1. This group will not have special powers ingame. Yes, that means they will not have all of the god-like powers that the previous Co-Leaders were blessed with. Reason being, this group is to reflect the community, and as such, they do not require powers on our Servers as it will not reflect the title appropriately.

2. This group will not be in charge of providing a vouch for any returning ex-Members in terms of Member Submissions. The previous rule in "Member Submission Guidelines" has been altered to reflect this change, and will now require a vouch from the Division Leader of the appropriate Division being applied for instead of the previously needed "Co-Leader vouch".

Any other responsibilities of the previous Co-Leader will now be dealt with by the Community Leaders (this includes making decisions based on the best interests of xG, working on Promo/Demos, as well as other duties). This group consists of five members, all of which were selected in regards to particular traits and characteristics that are ideal for this rank. Now I'll bet everyone is curious to know just who these people are, so I'll drop the suspense. I'd like you all to give a warm welcome to our new Community Leaders:

HidingMaster

ThePenguin

diabeetus

Gawd

$nakeboyeric

Along with the addition of Community Leaders, another rank was made to reflect technological changes and alterations to XenoGamers. This rank is known as the "Developer" rank, and those currently in it are our very own Rhododendron and Nomulous. Rhododendron is in charge of web related issues, this includes any website bugs or glitches that he should be aware about. If there are any problems regarding the site/forums, make sure to notify him. Nomulous is the server Developer, he is in charge of any glitches or bugs that are Server related. He will also notify our Higher-Ups with any issues and will work alongside them to fix the problem as soon as possible. Developers will also be working with the Community Leaders as well. Keep in mind that they will also be making decisions on whether or not a mod or plugin will be added, depending on how it will benefit the clan. Explanations will be given as to why these mods/plugins won't be added .

I'd like to thank all of you for your patience in waiting for a new Leadership. I realize a large portion of you were expecting a new Co-Leader or Co-Leaders, but the decision to have a group instead of a single individual calling the shots seemed like a much better alternative. This will replace the previous (essentially) 'dictatorship'. Also keep in mind that since this group is new, there are bound to be a few brick walls that I'm sure will be worked over.

With the addition of this new rank, I would also like to make it known that I will now be a Member and no longer hold a Higher-Up rank. I will still be here to advise and give input, but Leadership will now be taken over by the Community Leaders.

Have any grievances? Suggestions? Post em below. If you have problems with the current Members of the group, by all means give your opinion, but keep it civil people. I don't want to see a bunch of butt-hurt.

Here is a first official update about hub. We currently only have on game with functioning hub that will need to be exploited and tested out before we upgrade to a bigger server for more testing before the official release.

Game:

• Team Fortress 2: Up in beta at the IP: 74.91.115.40:27015
  
  • Report bugs and suggestions to Hub Testing, Need Some Dedicated Bug Bashers! | Xeno Gamers
    
  • BETA AS OF January 31st, 2014.
    

  [*]Counter-Strike: Source: Currently in private beta, pending public release.

  [*]Counter-Strike: Global Offensive: Currently being coded, will be up once TF2 is completed.

How to Donate Credits:

• Team Fortress 2 Item Donation Bot: Pending public release.
  
  • Scrub Picture of Bot!
    
  • Release date is extremely near
    

  [*]Forum Credits Integration: Pending public release

Come join us in our very own Community Night! Meet some new players, make new friends, and play multiple games with each other!

Today's Schedule is as follows: (Note ALL times are in EST [Eastern Standard Time])

CS:S

4:00-5:30 - Minigames (Completed!)

5:30-6:00 - JailBreak (Completed!)

CS:GO

6:00-7:00 - JailBreak (Completed early!)

7:00-8:00 - Minigames (Completed!)

Gmod

8:00-whenever - DarkRP (Starting! Server at 74.91.115.44:27015)

Come check out the amazing new DarkRP!

Cheers!

As all you may have known the sudden surprise in JailBreak 1 of XenoGamers, we have hub running and working!

Added:

• JB1 Hub
  
• Hub Tab in the forums (With credits, store, and item donation bot)
  
  • Store | Xeno Gamers
    
  • Donation Bot | Xeno Gamers
    

  [*]Donation bot that adds credits directly to your forum account in case you do not have PayPal!

  [*]And more!

Known errors:

• it appears to be that "Titles", "Tags", and "Chat Colours" doesn't seem to work on JB's JailBreak, if you go onto the hubtest server, it will work. This is being worked on A.S.A.P and will be fixed.
  

- Curtsey @SkitZoFrenzly.

Now, because entry to this particular event is free, the game(s) of choice must be equal to or below a $20.00 value (including taxes). All you have to do as an entree is to post on this thread that you are interested in taking part. Simply put, just post below and I'll add you to the Roster (which will be edited to the OP).

The Game Giveaway will happen next week on Saturday (April 5th) at 6:00 PM PST. I have yet to decide on how the prize will be determined (most likely a Random Name Generator) but whether or not it will be streamed has yet to be decided.

Without further ado, let the games begin!

Participant(s):

Gwoash

GanjaMonster

xXD3M0n3Xx

Bleed

ThanatosTelos

Xemnas

MrJeeblez

Nomulous

KendrickLlama

Hexx

oVinylScratcho

Cpl_Hojang

HachikoTachibana

RustledJimmies

Huster_Salvador

magikkarpFAIL

Xenon

TheDoctor007

MightyCowman

Maluigi354

kingme111

TheWretchedGod

doomofanubis

JINGS

jeevo

Warriorsfury

Phantom

Unitato

Mr. Fink

Sousei

Kittylicious

BonfireCentipede

Pancake.

levon

DrLee

mtown81

Kyoko

ThePenguin

Tsuchikure

Gkoo

GourmetNewell

Meezel

Barmithian

ABDO

Haxx

speedlimit56kb

Redheards

BlackJellyBean0

TheTheRejects

Tittiesprinkles

Superkiller67

Chrono

Rfivealive555

ForestFire

Volt

TheKingBaby

Dcook

Gawd

Bell

jubens45

Crabman

Ragnastorm

LafeyTaffy

Kart

Pacific

Wubzy

WerepyreGen.

Derpkitty

SUPERDAVZ

KarRuptAssassin

DrPepperPhreak

Yu_Narukami

SITH_OF_DARKNESS

SkitzoFrenly

Creature

AdamStoe875448

CaptainWoodss

TheAlpha31

Astyrian

Bidoof101

MatorosGecko

SmexyLlama

CornyBen

thesmexypanda

Egossi

Jake2

Come check it out @ 74.91.115.40

Join us on the CS:GO Jailbreak Server 72.5.195.149:27015

I am proud to announce we have two new servers joining the Team Fortress 2 family!

TF2Ware, found on the IP: 74.91.119.43

Freak Fortress 2: Found on the IP: 74.91.119.153

Remember to stop by and have fun!

First, some backstory for those who do not understand technology well. As everyone knows, we have a search bar, a simple search bar, but it was considered "public" from coding standards. Which refers to that anyone in the public world can access the search bar, meaning, if in any case it was insecure, someone can search for an exploit and use it for their own gain. Which is exactly what happened.

Now the details, someone found an exploit in our searching script and used it for their own gain, uploading a DoS (Denial of Service) script, using it to take down other networks. Due to us not knowing this was going on, NFOServers throttled us (limited our bandwidth) to an amount that's too low for anyone to connect to the website. As we thought we found the exploit, NFO lifted the throttle, unfortunately we did not know it was the search bar. So the hacker exploited it again and used the same dos script. Again, NFOServers limited our network speed. After a much longer while, until today, we figured the true issue. Which we fixed and now we got the throttle lifted.

Important Information:

Since the search bar was a limited user interface there was NO breach or leak of user information of anything. Everyone's information is safe, hence we do not need you to change your passwords or feel freaked out.

If anyone has any questions or concerns, please contact me instead of @Rhododendron

@Rhododendron

We are proud to say that we are removing the Pinion Advertisements from our servers as we have website ads that pay better! We listened to all our user complaints over the long while and believe that pinion is a main deterrent from users staying on our servers. Due to such, we are happy to announce, no more pinion! If our community would like something more, remember your voice is heard and we do everything for the better of our members.

Great Regards,

@Nomulous and @Rhododendron

We may be hosting special competitions or special gifts to snag at certain times, to make sure you're always up to date and enjoying our clan!

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