FIRST Server Issues

[Dr. Robot]

Originally Posted by Larry Lewis

I just got off the phone with FIRST. Their server are down and they are working on it. She mentioned that they may possibly postpone registration and that there would probably be an announcement going out soon.

[g_sawchuk]

Too bad, inconvenient but expected time for this to happen.

Not sure why FIRST doesn't section off registration for certain events at certain times - it would limit their total traffic, as opposed to everyone registering at a single time.

With districts becoming more and more popular, it's even easier to set boundaries for which events are open for registration when. Plan it based off of time zones so everyone ends up registering around their time noon.

Of course, a simpler solution might just be to fix their website.

[FrankJ]

This is why I am really controlling on robot code updates between matches. There are no minor updates. You really have to test your changes.

[pandamonium]

Why couldn't they stagger registration. Week 1 event 9am Week 2 event 10am... Wouldn't this have put less stress on the system?

[Tsom467]

Originally Posted by Trying to Help

I'm glad someone answered and you posted this! This is not a problem that should happened. It's either a capacity problem (server, bandwidth), a failure to load test the a database or a failure to test the event registration process sufficiently. These are not problems without solutions. FIRST set the date. They knew this was going to happen unlike the reddit "hug of death".

I'm sure that there are plenty of mentors, donors, etc. that would be only too happy to lend their expertise to prevent this.

Why are we stuck with this?

This +100!

[pyrtle]

First year mentor here, for a rookie team nonetheless, and glad to hear it's not just me. Any idea where/when we would hear from FIRST, if they choose to postpone? (Aka how long should I sit here refreshing the page...)

And thanks for those posting their updates with the calls!

[PayneTrain]

If a reliable scaling solution is too infeasible, perhaps you register 2-3 district systems per day, then open up regionals?

[AdamHeard]

Originally Posted by pandamonium

Why couldn't they stagger registration. Week 1 event 9am Week 2 event 10am... Wouldn't this have put less stress on the system?

It would, but it seems like scaling up the system is the better solution.

Staggering the events would let teams come up with cascading registration places that would unfairly benefit some.

[bdaroz]

Meanwhile.. in the FIRST Datacenter...

[bcampbell]

While I understand that the server is down it would be nice if someone at HQ could send an update via twitter or something.....

[ATannahill]

Originally Posted by pyrtle

First year mentor here, for a rookie team nonetheless, and glad to hear it's not just me. Any idea where/when we would hear from FIRST, if they choose to postpone? (Aka how long should I sit here refreshing the page...)

And thanks for those posting their updates with the calls!

Probably on the blog or email blast. They might also put a notice on the TIMS log in page.

[notmattlythgoe]

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by devitrify

I completely agree.

The rush to register is unbecoming to FIRST's ideal of Gracious Professionalism.

Andy Mark worked hard to fix a similar grab-fest for FIRST Choice parts. A similar system would be a big improvement for the FIRST event registration system.

You know, I had this very conversation in person face-to-face with Frank, back in May of 2015. It's disappointing to see the issue has not been addressed.

The "battle of the faster mouse click" has now become the endurance race of whoever can sideline the rest of their lives the longest.

We are now 25 minutes in. No working site, no twitter announcement, no e-mail, no facebook post. Not acceptable FIRST. Call it off, NOW. This is beginning to cost me money, and is already ruining my day.

[crazyrobochick]

I think the funniest thing about all of this and its not super funny but...When I couldn't get on the FIRST website I immediately came here to figure out what was going on and if anyone else had got on. Which just produced more errors as everyone was doing the same thing as I was. Just goes to show how engineers need information and hate being in the dark.

[David Brinza]

Originally Posted by Tsom467

Ah yes, FIRST's web sites, doing what they do best... not work! I recall many years at this time trying to register and just seeing error pages. Refresh after refresh. As someone above mentioned, this is a solvable problem, I can't understand why they have an issue with this.

I'm not surprised by this issue. A month ago, it took three attempts over a few days for our W-9 form to be accepted. I don't think they have their arms around their system.