Servers down?

almostpilot · May 18, 2015

Bragolatch said:
I am in Asia and I had the same problems, repeatedly !
Not had the chance to log on yet today so I do not know if it is better yet.

It would be nice if they worked on the status page a bit too !

It useless if it can't detect problems or if it is not updated when one is detected !

If they can't automated it or have some tech support monitor the thing 27/7, they could at least give us the tools to report issues.

I would suggest adding a small reporting section where logged in members could
enter a short description of problems they are currently experiencing with the time and their region.

The Status could then be updated if enough members report problem at the same time period and/or in the same region.

I would be good for us, letting us know that the problem is not on our end.

Good for the staff to have automatically compiled stats of connection problems by time and location.

And many, having been able to report it properly, might not feel so compelled to rent on other sites or treads !

It's been pretty good so far and Frontiers has done a commendable job,
but there is some truth to it when people says that by taking the decision to make an online only game,
they also accepted the responsibility of providing and maintaining their online status.
And that if they want to keep adding users, Steam, Mac, Xbox.... it is great !
But they have to plan and expend the servers capability before they do.
It's bad enough for people who know how great the game is, to loose connection.
I can't see a new users who just bought the game and can't connect feeling too happy about his/her purchase !

And because of the lack of offline mode, my weekend game was ruined. thanks FD

Edward Lewis · May 18, 2015

Thanks for your patience everyone, we understand that a number of you experienced intermittent service over the weekend. The outages were caused by an automated attack on our game server which affected a small number of our servers, but the online team worked over the weekend to ensure that our servers remained online. We have also managed to track down the source and the player responsible who has now been banned from the game.

Service should now be restored to normal - thanks to everyone who reported problems to us during this period.

CMDR_UKmouse · May 18, 2015

Thanks for the update Edward.
My 5 year old will be happy to go exploring tonight with Daddy. He was a little upset yesterday when we couldn't take pictures of water worlds and gas giants.

bitrogue · May 18, 2015

Very interesting. Thanks for the update, and hope that the Elite servers were up to the task of fending off the attack. Good job on IDenting the culprit.

Minoo Minou · May 18, 2015

Edward Lewis said:
Thanks for your patience everyone, we understand that a number of you experienced intermittent service over the weekend. The outages were caused by an automated attack on our game server which affected a small number of our servers, but the online team worked over the weekend to ensure that our servers remained online. We have also managed to track down the source and the player responsible who has now been banned from the game.

Service should now be restored to normal - thanks to everyone who reported problems to us during this period.

Thank you for the feedback. So, that was caused by an angry player? That's pathetic.

Daeron · May 18, 2015

Too bad the stocks went out of fashion. I could see some use for them still.

Bacon Sarnie · May 18, 2015

Thanks for the info Edward, it was rather odd that it started happening a the same time on both days.
Ahh well, some people need to take a serious look at themselves, when Im unhappy with something I dont try and spoil it for everyone else.

Mithos09 · May 18, 2015

Edward Lewis said:
Thanks for your patience everyone, we understand that a number of you experienced intermittent service over the weekend. The outages were caused by an automated attack on our game server which affected a small number of our servers, but the online team worked over the weekend to ensure that our servers remained online. We have also managed to track down the source and the player responsible who has now been banned from the game.

Service should now be restored to normal - thanks to everyone who reported problems to us during this period.

TIL* : It only takes one player with a "hack attack" to take down all the ED servers.

*Today I Learned

Loskene · May 18, 2015

Mithos09 said:
TIL* : It only takes one player with a "hack attack" to take down all the ED servers.

*Today I Learned

A denial-of-service attack either from a home connection or rented botnet is not exactly what I'd equate to "hacking." It's generally script kiddie behaviour and most often accomplishes nothing.

Wishblend · May 18, 2015

Well done ed team,

Glad you found who it was and dealt with them.

Spinx · May 18, 2015

Great work

Edward Lewis said:
Thanks for your patience everyone, we understand that a number of you experienced intermittent service over the weekend. The outages were caused by an automated attack on our game server which affected a small number of our servers, but the online team worked over the weekend to ensure that our servers remained online. We have also managed to track down the source and the player responsible who has now been banned from the game.

Service should now be restored to normal - thanks to everyone who reported problems to us during this period.

Thank you

epoch71 · May 18, 2015

If they managed to track the source then it would indeed seem to be an amateurish "script kiddie".

Presumably appropriate action will be taken in addition to a game ban.

Traveler · May 18, 2015

Since I'm not a programmer fella - are there a means to prevent such situations in the future?

Loskene · May 18, 2015

epoch71 said:
If they managed to track the source then it would indeed seem to be an amateurish "script kiddie".

Presumably appropriate action will be taken in addition to a game ban.

If said script kiddie used their own home connection as the source of the denial of service attack (which seems likely since FD tracked it back to their game account) the person in question could be liable for charges of criminal damages or something like that. DDoS attacks are one of those things legal prosecutors have started taking seriously lately. You'd have to be either stupid or a child to try it in this day and age, particularly when it accomplishes nothing for you.

- - - Updated - - -

Traveler said:
Since I'm not a programmer fella - are there a means to prevent such situations in the future?

There are DDoS mitigation services like cloudflare, and presumably amazon has something like that already, but it depends on the scale of the attack and capability of the attackers.

Traveler · May 18, 2015

Loskene said:
There are DDoS mitigation services like cloudflare, and presumably amazon has something like that already, but it depends on the scale of the attack and capability of the attackers.

Thx for info. +1

Asp Explorer · May 18, 2015

Loskene said:
You'd have to be either stupid or a child to try it in this day and age, particularly when it accomplishes nothing for you.

Unfortunately, most of those who try are exactly that.

Well done FD for fixing things, and even better for saying you will outright ban players who do such things!

Marc Alexander · May 18, 2015

Edward Lewis said:
Thanks for your patience everyone, we understand that a number of you experienced intermittent service over the weekend. The outages were caused by an automated attack on our game server which affected a small number of our servers, but the online team worked over the weekend to ensure that our servers remained online. We have also managed to track down the source and the player responsible who has now been banned from the game.

Service should now be restored to normal - thanks to everyone who reported problems to us during this period.

Thanks for the update Ed. Some people really are douchebags.

Steve50 · May 18, 2015

Edward Lewis said:
Thanks for your patience everyone, we understand that a number of you experienced intermittent service over the weekend. The outages were caused by an automated attack on our game server which affected a small number of our servers, but the online team worked over the weekend to ensure that our servers remained online. We have also managed to track down the source and the player responsible who has now been banned from the game.

Service should now be restored to normal - thanks to everyone who reported problems to us during this period.

Banned them? Well done.. *applauds*

Greyhawk · May 18, 2015

It was a player? Really some people need to grow up. Nice job on the fix.

Dorohedoro · May 18, 2015

Wow, that guy was angry...

Good job FD.