Every day the server has downtime for a backup, and I have found that, if the blog server is closed for that period, it is more stable during the rest of the day.
This is the schedule during British Summer Time in the UK (from the end of March to the end of October), compared to an approximate time in other time zones:
BST (UK)
CEST (Paris France)
IST (India)
CST (China)
AEST (Sydney Australia)
PDT (Seattle USA)
EDT (Toronto Canada)
0215-0245
0315-0345
0645-0715
0915-0945
1115-1145
1815-1845
2115-2145
This is the schedule during Greenwich Mean Time in the UK (from the end of October to the end of March), compared to an approximate time in other time zones:
My previous server was a Gen8 ProLiant server from HP, and I had been running my blog on it since October 2015. I found a Gen10+ ProLiant server with the same configuration of drives, but with processing power x2 and memory x4, at a very reasonable price. I considered the upgrade to be just plug-and-play, but I had forgotten that, even though all the drives would be from the old server, the BIOS was different!!
I am currently running Ubuntu Server 20.04 LTS, which works on ProLiant servers, but requires specific BIOS settings:
Ubuntu Server 20.04 prefers to have a Legacy BIOS.
HP’s Intelligent Provisioning is incompatible with Ubuntu Server, so has to be disabled.
My fiddling with the UEFI BIOS and Intelligent Provisioning reordered the drives, so my SDA became SDE for /boot, SDB became SDA for / and /home, SDC became SDB for /mnt and /mnt/home, SDD became SDC for /var1 and /opt1, and SDE became SDB for /mnt/var1 and /mnt/opt1. However, there were also many other variations until the server finally booted with all of the drives visible.
Anyway, barring some brief outages for teething problems, my blog server should now be quicker and more stable.
In the next few weeks look out for the following:
Second editions of my recent books can be downloaded at discounted prices until 31May2025 from the Book Table.
Issue 79 of VIEWS News is scheduled for publication around the end of May 2025. Issue 78 was published earlier this month.
The GA release of Altair SLC 2025 was published earlier this month.
2nd Edition ebook versions of my 2024 books, “SAS Programming Experiences” and “Altair SLC”, have been published today on Lulu.com and my blog site. Paperback versions will be published shortly on Lulu.com and for global distribution (including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc.).
The Second Edition of each book now includes information about both the 2024 and 2025 releases of Altair SLC.
Did you download the First Edition ebook from my blog site? If you did, then please find your confirmation email for that ebook, because the download link will now download the Second Edition at no extra cost!!
This newsletter is the home of Foundation SAS and brings you information about making the most of SAS 9 and Altair SLC. This issue is another one that has been delayed, but this time due to software issues on my blog server, which have now been resolved. This newsletter issue includes an InfoGeographic map from LeRoy Bessler, and I have discovered an AI assistant that seems to write working SAS programs. As usual I have publicised some SAS-related events for the next few months, and I have also added some more SAS formats, options and functions that you may or may not have come across before, but you might find interesting, and even useful.
If you would like to contribute an article, to re-visit and improve an existing article, or just discuss the possibility of doing so, please feel free to send an email to me at view-uk@hollandnumerics.org.uk or phil@hollandnumerics.org.uk. Publication deadlines are the 14th day of February, May, August and November each year.
To be able to read this and all previous issues you will need to follow these steps:
If you have not already registered on this blog site, go to blog.hollandnumerics.org.uk and register for free membership.
Once successfully registered, click the menu item [Subscriptions for Forums and Features] > [Request access to the VIEWS UK forum] to request free access to the VIEWS UK forum, then add your name and email address to the form before clicking [Send].
On receipt of a request for an existing blog member I will register them for free access to the VIEWS UK forum, and then send them an email to confirm this.
The next time they log onto the blog site they will see VIEWS UK in the forum list, where you will find the latest issue of VIEWS News, forum topics to find the backissues, functions and formats in every published issue, and a tag cloud covering every forum on the site to which you have access, including VIEWS UK and the VIEWS News issues.
They will also be automatically informed of any VIEWS UK updates.
To me retirement only means not earning a salary from my SAS programming, which will, from now on, become a pure hobby. I will also be concentrating on programming using Altair Analytics Workbench and Altair SLC, rather than using SAS Software.
However, there are still ways for everyone to get SAS Value from my 40+ years of SAS programming:
No.1 = 1/2 day SAS training, including digital training materials, for GBP 1,800
No.5 = 1 ebook copy of course notes to one of my SAS courses from around GBP 11
My SAS course notes are published as ebooks on Lulu.com, who, unlike Amazon, etc., do not take massive commissions, so I receive most of the published price.
More books and ebooks about Altair SLC are currently being developed.
No.9 = 1 copy of one of my SAS softback books from a reseller from around GBP 25
Although these options appear to be lower in the list than expected, I receive very little from softback books sold, because I received an advance when they were published.
More books about Altair SLC are currently being developed.
No.10 = 1 copy of one of my SAS ebooks from a reseller from around GBP 3
Although these options appear to be lower in the list than expected, I receive very little from ebooks sold by resellers, because I received an advance when they were published.
I have been wondering whether my blog site issue posts should have had different subject lines:
“The Day after Tomorrow”
“Pride and Prejudice”
“The Abyss”
“The Temple of Doom”
and the final one: “The Great Escape”
I have fixed numerous problem along the way, all with no prior experience with Docker, but the main ones have been:
Obtaining a static IP address from my ISP.
Conversion of my server functions into separate Docker containers.
Building a user-specific Docker image with Apache2 and Perl for the “other” folders outside of WordPress.
Adding DNS server addresses to Docker.
Removing access restrictions to the /tmp areas of the databases.
I think I can say with more confidence that my blog site is becoming robust enough to be able to support my retirement next week! Yes, by the start of April 2025 I will have officially retired, but this site will still be up-and-running!
Yes, I am retiring from paid contracts on 31Mar2025, and my company (Holland Numerics Ltd) will be closed in a few months time.
However, retiring will never be as stressful as the blog server downtime (now resolved!) I experienced this weekend! I have been trying to create a “low maintenance” environment for my blog and ancillary activities, and I want to leave my blog members and clients still able to:
As Programmer and Recruiter members you can post programming questions (including interview questions) in the paid-for SAS Programming Forum, which includes the SAS course.
You can ask single, or subscribe monthly for unlimited, commercially-sensitive questions in the paid-for Premium SAS help desk service.
All this will continue, but will be supported by just myself, and not my company, after my retirement.
I can now state that my blog is up and running, because, while my Docker knowledge is still incomplete, my Docker knowledge is now sufficient to setup 3 separate containers for WordPress, ownCloud (which I use internally), and Apache2/Perl that is use to provide you with web games, web ebook apps, SAS help desk functionality and additional files related to my books.
I tried to add my games/apps/helpdesk to WordPress (which is accessed using https://), but, apparently, they are not compatible, so I had to create a new Docker container for them (which is accessed using http://). The helpdesk is still secure, even though there is no password, as I only send copy emails to the sender email address if it is registered, so anyone spoofing an email address will receive nothing.
I am hoping that blog members will now be able to visit my blog site, and prove to themselves that it works for them, and, if it does not work, then will use the Contact Us link on the blog site to let me know.
On 13Feb2025 my broadband was upgraded, which set in motion a chain of events that I have only this weekend managed to control. As a result, where before you used https://hollandnumerics.org.uk/wordpress to access this site, you should now use just https://hollandnumerics.org.uk. Which means that the link to my last “hopeful” post is now here: Have you missed me? I think my blog site is back. Let me explain…
While in February I thought my blog site was back online, it was unbelievably slow, so I started searching for a reason:
I checked the firewalls in the new docker containers, Linux server and router, but nothing I changed had any positive impact.
I asked for help from the WordPress and Jetpack community, but nothing improved my situation.
Finally, after scouring through the various logs on my Linux server, I found a reference to incorrect DNS (Domain Name Server) addresses. Correcting them in /etc/network/interfaces to match my router resolved all of the problems connecting to WordPress and Jetpack servers, and, suddenly, my blog site sprang into life again.
On Thursday (13Feb2025) my broadband connection was upgraded from copper wire to full fibre, but it could not be tested, because my router was not compatible.
I reconfigured my router to temporarily go back to my copper wire connection, but, even though my internet service provider (ISP) had agreed to send me a suitable router, they still shut down that line, because the full fibre installation had been completed.
The new router arrived at breakfast time on Friday (14Feb2025), but we did not hear the doorbell, because it relies on WiFi, which had been disabled! Only a chance look out of the window revealed a very patient postman! A very stressful hour followed while I configured the new router ready to restart the blog server, reinstated the internet and WiFi connections, and connect the new web phone, as I needed to work on a client’s server that day. Later in the day my ISP sent me a message that my router was on its way to me!?
My ISP’s support teams are very friendly and helpful, but I am certain they would be less busy if they completed tasks correctly at the first attempt! Friday afternoon was punctuated with online chat discussions with them about access to their business portal to update the web phone settings, which have now been resolved.
My penultimate discussion with my ISP resulted from some access issues to the blog server. In order to assign a web address to the server’s IP address it has to be static, which had been ordered as part of the upgrade package. Mid-afternoon the web address stopped working, which suggested the IP address I had assigned to the web address was dynamic, rather than static. I assigned the new IP address to the web address and, so far, it has not changed again, but my ISP has not yet confirmed that it is now static, which is why I said that I think my blog site is back.
Finally on Monday (17Feb2025) I had a very fruitful conversation with my ISP’s Tech Support, who understood me immediately and finally set my IP address to a static IP address, which worked after I had rebooted my router. This was a revelation, as my previous contacts with Tech Support had been convoluted and ultimately unsuccessful. Therefore, I have spent the day rooting out the occurrences of the old IP address from my WordPress configuration. I am hoping that members of this blog will now be able to interact with it again!
Recommendation: If you have a working server connected to a specific static IP address, DO NOT change it!!
