Right now the server running Feed2JS is down and out. I have only the most limited, around the corner and snake up a pole access, but the server is toasted until someone on their IT staff can go in the server room and hard start the server. It’s just a humble XServe getting yanked and pulled form around the globe, and I can only imagine the anguish as folks who have the code on their site see their pages getting hung in the air.
I am long gone from Maricopa, looking ahead, yet I have many regrets about not getting that software out onto an open source site before I jumped ship. It grew in scope and use at a crazy pace (something like 15,000 unique feeds cached per day), yet most of the external mirror sites have blinked out, and the way it is organized now puts too much weight on the one main server.
Lots of folks have offered their servers, and that is much appreciated, but right now, more boxes is not the answer. My hope has been to put the main information and source code on an open source site (I have one set up at eduForge)– this would not be a site to tun your feeds through, but would be the place to reliably provide information, status, etc about the project. What is needed is a way for those sites who wish to be hosts, can download the code, set it up, and then do a simple process to “register” their site as a new one open for use. Mirror sites would ping once a day for updates and to get the latest list of other mirrors.
What it needs is a re-shifting of the main web site content, with the ability on the form to select the host site from a drop down menu, and something of a system to support the self-registry of new host sites. I should have a free day next week to put some sweat into this– my real goal is to hang the code out there so others can also contribute and improve it.
It’s crazy that like 97,000 sites have embedded that code, crazy.
And I a sorry if your site is twisting in the wind… hopefully Chuck can raise the server from the dead tomorrow morning, and buy a little time.
Thanks for the…reassurance, I guess. I panicked when I saw my site go blank yesterday. Fortunately, they got it up and running this morning and I was able to copy the software to my own server then.
Hello Alan, i feel for you – this is a tricky situation
(and i’m sorry i’m one of the people who put the code on my own site, but didn’t want to offer our bandwidth up to public consumption – still i thought that was better than just taking up your/ maricopa’s generous offer of free bandwidth 🙂
regards, micahel
No need to apologize, Michael; in fact I have encouraged a lot of people to set an instance for their own use. That way, they know if their web site is up, the feeds will display. In fact, I have done this in a handful of my own sites.
However, I am currently testing a new public instance on a server where the hosting has been donated, and hopefully it can go public soon.
In fact, a quick Google turns up thousands of sites doing it DIY:
http://www.google.com/search?q=feed2js.php%3Fsrc%3D+-jade.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu
Feed on!