On Feb 5th 2005, we had a problem with our sites, allnightclubs.com and alltheparties.com. They seemed to be dropping packets when communicating with our database server.
I looked at the database server setting to see if its setting was optimal. Nothing stood out. These were the same setting we had in place at our previous host, Rackspace.com, and we didn't experience any problems with performance while with them.
Then the database stopped. It crashed. It stopped responding. For the next 8 hours, I am trying to recover it and letting my current web host, let's call them X Host, try to restore the site to the previous days version.
It is always prudent to pay a company to backup your data when you have over 225 thousand registered users. While paying for backups of our data, X Host failed to provide the services. Needless to say, we lost everything in our database. Five years of people saving their favorite pictures, top 10 pictures, friends, and great pictures of some memorable parties were all lost forever.
It was Sunday, feb. 6, when the magnitude of loss was realized. I was awe struck. For most of the day, I was lost. I didn't know what to think. I tried to find meaning in this disaster but little was found.
Close to 11pm, my decision on the company's future came down to two choices; create the site from scratch and make it better by applying what I have learned in the past five years or hang it up and go to business school. Being a persistant man, I chose the former. There is so much uncharted territory in this industry that I can't help but want to push ahead and include you in our journey of discovery.
Working over the next seven days and averaging three and half hours sleep, we managed to get the sites up and running.
The lesson learned for this experience is always have a backup at home, even if it is not as frequent as what you might be paying a professional and surround yourself with good people who will not abandon ship when sailing through rough waters.
Looking forward to you joining us on our journey of discovery to new places, scenes, and parties.
Live a distinguished life,
Samuel O. Obukwelu
President
FCG Media
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