Avsim Destroyed!

[gokanru]

What a loss to the flight sim community.When I think of all the valuable info that has been on that site over the years,I just hope that some of it at least can be recovered.IT's a sad world when A hacker has nothing better to do than to hack a site like Avsim.

[Chairman]

QUOTE (mfraser @ May 13 2009, 10:29 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

OMFG!! What a loss to the community. I'm not too worried about the files as everything I ever download remains safely tucked away on my HDD - however the loss of the forums is nothing short of distastrous. In fact I was looking for guidance on working with AFCADs tonight and ALL the results I'm googling are appearing from the Avsim servers........

Maybe google's cached copies of the pages will be able to help you ? Click on the "cached" link instead of the main link ...

I see that Avsim backed up their servers onto each other - all well and good so long as just one server goes down, but when they're both taken out .....

Would this be a good time - being the birthday / donation season - to start using "NZFF" and "backup" in the same sentence ? We don't have a huge file library so 'just' the forum to back up, there are lots of online backup solutions that should be able to handle that much data ...

Gary

[mfraser]

QUOTE (Chairman @ May 14 2009, 05:16 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Maybe google's cached copies of the pages will be able to help you ? Click on the "cached" link instead of the main link ...

Gary

Hey thanks Gary!! That worked a treat - I didn't even know that function existed. Re-reading Avsims press release, it almost seems as if they know who the culprit is. I sincerely hope they get fitting retribution on his @ss!

[CoochB]

A sad reflection on the world which seems to be overpopulated with people hellbent on proving what they can destroy instead of showing us what they can create, such a waste.

A timely reminder for all that no source is safe,protect yourself, as my brother in IT says, the three most important things in computing,

(1) Backup
(2) Backup
(3) BACKUP!!!!!!!


Everything I download goes to a folder which I regularly burn to a disc and I am even considering backing up a second copy to a flash drive

Paranoid? Maybe, but no distructive little toe rag (or act of god or Bill Gates) is going to have the pleasure of ruining my day, I won't let them

Best Wishes to Avsims creators, look forward to the "new" Avsim in the future

[bennz]

QUOTE (CoochB @ May 14 2009, 09:07 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

A sad reflection on the world which seems to be overpopulated with people hellbent on proving what they can destroy instead of showing us what they can create, such a waste.

A timely reminder for all that no source is safe,protect yourself, as my brother in IT says, the three most important things in computing,

(1) Backup
(2) Backup
(3) BACKUP!!!!!!!


Everything I download goes to a folder which I regularly burn to a disc and I am even considering backing up a second copy to a flash drive

Paranoid? Maybe, but no distructive little toe rag (or act of god or Bill Gates) is going to have the pleasure of ruining my day, I won't let them

Best Wishes to Avsims creators, look forward to the "new" Avsim in the future

Backing up data is a very expensive exercise. For personal computers it is not that expensive as you don't have much of data.
For a website like AVSIM it costs lots of money and effort, considering they are running it on donations.

[pilot.masman]

i have 4 spare hdd's, well not spare, 2 of them have copies of the 2 hdd's in my laptop, and the other 2 are backups of the servers and websites ive setup

i agree, backup. its just like saving a file while your working on it, especially if your going to be working HOURS on it. save it allot. its the same with avsim or nzff, with this many reliant members we cant afford a straight of loss. it would SUCK

[bennz]

You mentioned NZFF pilot.masman,

So what strategy is NZFF using to prevent such a disaster happens to us ? Although we don't have a file library ( as far as I know ) but losing a forum and all the posts would be a pain !

Webmaster , enlighten us with your plan !

[Ray]

here is their temporary website, for those that have not seen it

http://linux.myalbemarle.org/forums/index.php



Ray

[toprob]

QUOTE (bennz @ May 14 2009, 12:08 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You mentioned NZFF pilot.masman,

So what strategy is NZFF using to prevent such a disaster happens to us ? Although we don't have a file library ( as far as I know ) but losing a forum and all the posts would be a pain !

Webmaster , enlighten us with your plan !

You can't really compare NZFF and Avsim, as we don't maintain our own servers. We do, however, pay for a backup strategy as part of our hosting costs. Alex may know what that strategy is, but generally a web hosting company would be in a better position that Avsim, in that they have a lot more discrete servers, so a simple mirroring system works well. This was in fact Avsim's strategy, but with only 2 servers they were at greater risk of this one specific type of attack.

There are some other differences which protect NZFF -- most professional web hosting services have regular off-line backups, to discs or other storage methods which are not accessible to the internet. They also have more money to spend on security. That's a major issue -- Avsim would have been better off, no doubt, with a daily off-line backup, but this is probably beyond their means.

I'd be surprised if Avsim didn't have some limited off-line backups -- even if they are just the previous forum system before they changed the software recently.

I'm always evaluating my own site -- it would be possible to take it down, but it is protected on a number of levels. A year ago my web host's server was destroyed, and although I spent a nervous week afterwards, they managed to restore it 99% -- the difference was the short time between when it was last backed up, and the time it went down, which was about a couple of hours.

I also do a regular backup of my entire site to my own system, but this should never be required -- it is more useful if I was unable to use my existing host for some other, non-technical reason, such as an argument over the bill:)

[bennz]

QUOTE (toprob @ May 14 2009, 01:14 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You can't really compare NZFF and Avsim, as we don't maintain our own servers. We do, however, pay for a backup strategy as part of our hosting costs. Alex may know what that strategy is, but generally a web hosting company would be in a better position that Avsim, in that they have a lot more discrete servers, so a simple mirroring system works well. This was in fact Avsim's strategy, but with only 2 servers they were at greater risk of this one specific type of attack.

There are some other differences which protect NZFF -- most professional web hosting services have regular off-line backups, to discs or other storage methods which are not accessible to the internet. They also have more money to spend on security. That's a major issue -- Avsim would have been better off, no doubt, with a daily off-line backup, but this is probably beyond their means.

I'd be surprised if Avsim didn't have some limited off-line backups -- even if they are just the previous forum system before they changed the software recently.

I'm always evaluating my own site -- it would be possible to take it down, but it is protected on a number of levels. A year ago my web host's server was destroyed, and although I spent a nervous week afterwards, they managed to restore it 99% -- the difference was the short time between when it was last backed up, and the time it went down, which was about a couple of hours.

I also do a regular backup of my entire site to my own system, but this should never be required -- it is more useful if I was unable to use my existing host for some other, non-technical reason, such as an argument over the bill:)

Thank you !
Great response. It is always good to know there is a " plan B" if something goes wrong.

[Snowman]

QUOTE (Naki @ May 13 2009, 10:39 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This really sucks big time --- another hit for the flight sim community..first Mircosofts announcement now this...never really thought about it before but I guess it would pay to upload files to two or more sites (such as flightsim.com, simouthose etc) to be on the safe side....

I do agree Paul,.................. this sort of thing really SUCKS !! Unfathomable why someone would want to do this to a site that hosts purely freeware in the interests of a community.
Unfortunately for me, it means ive lost some of my earlier scenery works, as i lost quite a few in an HDD failure a couple of years ago, so therefore dont have the original zips or source material to re-upload should they ever get the Avsim library system up and running again.
I guess i will have to find somewhere else to host all my files, and the several new sceneries i have finished, that were waiting to be uploaded to Avsim upon comletion of their upgrade they were doing.
Just not sure on where would be the best place to upload my stuff now..........................

Another very sad day for FS...................

Lawrie.

[pilot.masman]

i know you guys must be prepared for the worst and you will be over any downfall quickly. the only reason i carry backups for the servers and websites i setup/own is because they use programs worth around $4000 USD so i cant really afford the loss. i hope AVSIM is back up soon and that they find this/these weasel(s) that have done it. it most probably was a personal attack/vendetta because to be honest AVSIM isnt the biggest fish in the ocean...

[Bazza]

I was waiting for your post Lawrie and obviously it was going to make problems for you....staggering to think of the assets that may have been lost in one form or another.

The other downside to the problem is that thousands of other designers of scenery (such as yourself), aircraft, AI systems and on and on..will have the same problem. AVSIM seemed to be the main receptacle
for a large percentage of the freeware that's out there... I can see some of the others (Simviation, FlightSim etc putting up the shutters...?

[Snowman]

QUOTE (Bazza @ May 14 2009, 03:11 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I was waiting for your post Lawrie and obviously it was going to make problems for you....staggering to think of the assets that may have been lost in one form or another.

The other downside to the problem is that thousands of other designers of scenery (such as yourself), aircraft, AI systems and on and on..will have the same problem. AVSIM seemed to be the main receptacle
for a large percentage of the freeware that's out there... I can see some of the others (Simviation, FlightSim etc putting up the shutters...?

Yes Barry,......... i dont think "Staggering" even begins to cover the assets that have been lost,............... many, unfortunately, forever.
I really do feel for Tom Allensworth and all the library managers that have put countless thousands of hours into running the site over the years, and also to all the thousands of authors that contributed the hundreds of thousands of files that they spent countless hours on building, purely to share for the enjoyment of others.

As i said before,...... i am totally unsure of where to turn to now, to upload all my scenery files.
Suggestions would be appreciated as to the best place ( places) to upload my new stuff, and all the existing scenery that i still have backups for .........

Lawrie.

[cowpatz]

QUOTE (Snowman @ May 19 2009, 03:03 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Unfortunately for me, it means ive lost some of my earlier scenery works, as i lost quite a few in an HDD failure a couple of years ago, so therefore dont have the original zips or source material to re-upload should they ever get the Avsim library system up and running again.

Lawrie maybe thru this forum you might be able to regain some of your lost works...must be a few of your zips lying around on various hard drives. I guess flightsim.com is an option for posting files, at least in the interim until the long term fate of AVSIM is known.

[deeknow]

QUOTE (Snowman @ May 14 2009, 03:03 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Unfortunately for me, it means ive lost some of my earlier scenery works, as i lost quite a few in an HDD failure a couple of years ago

Hey Lawrie. Like many others I'm sure I have GBs of ZIP files of NZ (and other) scenery and addons downloaded from AVSim, its all backed up to DVDs covering stuff I've sucked down over many years. Why not start a thread (if you havent already) listing the sceneries you can remember doing and we can reply with matching filenames and dates/sizes, when you spot the right or most recent one we can arrange to get the ZIPs to you?

[Bazza]

QUOTE (deeknow @ May 14 2009, 06:43 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hey Lawrie. Like many others I'm sure I have GBs of ZIP files of NZ (and other) scenery and addons downloaded from AVSim, its all backed up to DVDs covering stuff I've sucked down over many years. Why not start a thread (if you havent already) listing the sceneries you can remember doing and we can reply with matching filenames and dates/sizes, when you spot the right or most recent one we can arrange to get the ZIPs to you?

I'm sure most of them are in here...how much spare time do you have....?

http://nzff.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=30

[deeknow]

QUOTE (Bazza @ May 14 2009, 06:48 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm sure most of them are in here...how much spare time do you have....?
http://nzff.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=30

Yeah, the problem is finding the filenames tho, not that many of the threads mention the filename they tend to use the AVSim file ID ay?

[Alex]

It is pretty shocking that such a large community provider/hoster like AVSIM could be taken down. It's been there for as long as I have been on the FS scene, and I'd come to regard it as something fixed, permanent, unmovable.

To all those who had files hosted on AVSIM (Lawrie, Charl, ARNZ), my sympathies are with you, it is a real real pain trying to sort out a new place to host files.

With regards to NZFF and backups...

• NZFF is hosted on a server 'cluster'. Essentially there are x number of servers, each server is integrated with every other, and each individual server is able to perform any other server's tasks - so there is a high level of redundancy.
• Our host takes nightly backups; each nights' backup is stored off-site for 14 days.
• I take weekly backups of the forum database.

An aside, our host is located in New Zealand, so if there are any issues they are only a phone call (or after-hours pager) away; very handy.

The forum is kept up-to-date with all security patches and upgrades as advised by IPS (forum software producer) in the States.

Alex

[aviation]

Anyone here know the email address for the CEO? I want to make a donation to the recovery of AVSIM.