Call me a control freak if you want. But you know what really pisses me off? When things don’t work and they are outside of my own control. I spent more than a half an hour typing up a message about X66 and the damage to the engine(s). Now its gone. What gives? Did the owners of Parts Shop buy a boatload of this stuff, and now they don’t want to be stuck with it? Why else would they delete that post? I’m only half kidding here.

If it is because of problems with their server AGAIN, why don’t they hire a COMPETENT computer consultant and a top tier hosting service? When someone doesn't know how to work on their car they look to others for advice. The same thing applies to the computer world.

Sorry for the rant, but COME ON MercedesShop owners! Get with it.

If you spent more time on Mercedesshop, you would understand the situation with their server. CHECK the General Feedback forum before you jump to a conclusion, which you seem to have done in both matters in your post.

__________________
2006 E350 w/ 155k miles (Daily Driver)

Previous:
1993 300E 3.2L Sedan w/ close to about 300k miles
2003 E500 Brilliant Silver (Had 217k miles when totalled!)
1989 300E with 289,000 miles (had for <1 yr while in HI)
03 CLK 500 cabrio (Mom's)
2006 C230k (Dad's)
1999 S420 (Mom's/Dad's)
2000 C230k Sport sedans
2001 CLK320 Cabrio (Mom's)
1995 C280 My First Mercedes-Benz... (155k miles. EXCEPTIONAL AUTOMOBILE. Was Very hard to let go of!)

I am the "COMPETENT computer consultant" for MercedesShop. My name is Bill Wood. You can e-mail me at bill@peachparts.com if you would like to discuss this further. No, the owners of PartsShop did not buy a boatload of X66.

Here's a brief outline regarding the status of our server...

We have purchased a dedicated server and are in the process of moving our site to that box. It will take approx 2 weeks to complete since we want to install our software, mirror the 2 systems and finally cut off the old system. During the 2 week period we WILL have some outages. There's no way around it.

The new system is located near Denver in a state of the art server farm owned and maintained by Verio:
Network Operations Center:
- Redundant uninterruptable power supplies
- Multiple redundant back-up generators
- Fire suppression
- Raised floors
- HVAC
- Separate cooling zones
- Humidity control
- Multiple levels of security
Our Server:
- P-3 933Mhz with dual cpu capability
- 512MB RAM upgradeable to 2GB
- 18GB 10,000RPM SCSI main drive
- 30GB IDE drive for daily backups
- 24/7 monitoring
Our Network:
- 2 OC-3's with Qwest connected to Verio Chicago and Palo Alto
- 2 OC-12's with MCI
- All connected to 4 OC-192's
- 4 Cisco 6509 routers
- Juniper backbones with multiple connections

The data center we are in has connections to many different Internet backbones including UUNet, Sprint, Cable and Wireless, CRL, Qwest, Exodus, Agis and Net Axs. We also have private and direct peering DS3's set up between our location and that of American Online and PSI-Net. The data center also operates its own DS3 to Mae East to peer with many of the smaller Tier One providers as well as operating another DS3 to the ATM switch located there.

By connecting to multiple backbones, the data can be distributed through many sources. This architectural design also means that the network connections are not dependent upon any single Internet backbone. Thus when problems occur, traffic rerouting is automatic, thereby ensuring the integrity of the network and continued access for our high-speed dedicated server clients. This takes the term "multi-homing" to a whole new level.

Here is our Tier 1 backbone:
BACKBONE

We have been dragging our feet for several weeks before selecting a new server because this is a BIG move and we wanted to make sure we were selecting the right platform for today and the future. We have gone with the best "state-of-the-art" system we could find yet still afford.

I realize this is just a simplistic explanation of our server situation. If you would like to discuss in more detail or have suggestions on how we can further improve our new system, please let me know.

__________________
Bill Wood - Retired Webmaster
My Personal Website
1998 Mercedes E430
2010 Toyota Sequoia
My Photo Albums

Easy does it, amigo! Sorry to hear about your lost post, but don't go off half-cocked and ream the much-appreciated MercedesShop staff. Remember: these guys are giving us a free service, so the old addage about "Looking a gift horse in the mouth" applies in my opinion.

I too lost a post at one point, but oh well. If it weren't for the benefit I've reaped from the thousands of posts hosted on this formidable site, I'd have a considerably larger dent in my checking account from MBZ repairs.

Keep up the good work Bill

__________________
"If God had meant for us to walk, why did he give us feet that fit car pedals?" Sir Sterling Moss

Michael
2014 E63S Estate
2006 SLK55
1995 E500
1986 Porsche 944 turbo

Another bit of free advice: I always compose my posts off-line and then use mark and transfer to paste it into the site. This is a good idea that almost 12 years of personal on-line posting have proven again and again to save one from hasty and needlessly blaming others for the inherent shortcomings of telecommunications.

I can understand your frustration, but this is the 2nd nearly identical post you’ve made on this topic. IMO you owe an apology or 2…


Bill Nice work on the new digs!!!

Sincerely

__________________
...Tracy

'00 ML320 "Casper"
'92 400E "Stella"