Tag: blog

Have you noticed that this blog site is unavailable at the same time each day?

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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)
0215-02450315-03450645-07150915-09451115-11451815-18452115-2145

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:

GMT
(UK)		CET
(Paris France)		IST
(India)		CST
(China)		AEDT
(Sydney Australia)		PST
(Seattle USA)		EST
(Toronto Canada)
0215-02450315-03450745-08151015-10451315-13451815-18452115-2145

Apologies for the downtime, but I bought a bigger, better server for my blog site! What could possibly go wrong?

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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.

Finally? My blog site is starting to behave itself again!

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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!

After a day without my blog, I value the time to remind you that I am retiring at the end of 31Mar2025

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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:

Asking questions can be done in a number of ways:

All this will continue, but will be supported by just myself, and not my company, after my retirement.

My blog is back, but all of your saved links will need to be updated…

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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.

My problems are still not completely over, as I have a collection of non-WordPress web pages that will not happily co-exist with my blog site, so I am asking the StackOverFlow community for assistance (I have 2 docker containers: WordPress exposing port 443, and ownCloud exposing port 8080. Can I add a Perl/httpd container to run exposing port 80?). If you can help, then please post a suggestion there.

Thanks in advance………….Phil

PS. You can also comment on my Docker query at https://forums.docker.com/t/unable-to-start-httpd-latest-image-httpd-foreground-cannot-find-httpd/147124/2.

Scheduled downtime: broadband upgrade on Thursday 13 February 2025

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There will be a scheduled downtime of the blog site on Thursday 13 February 2025 while the broadband connection is upgraded to full fibre. The upgrade work is due to take place between 0800hr and 1300hr (GMT), but the downtime may extend beyond this period to allow for any amendments to server connections that are also needed.

A message will be sent to Twitter/X, LinkedIn, BlueSky, Mastodon and blog members as soon as the site is fully available after the downtime.

Thank you in advance for your patience!

Improvements to the SAS-related ebook web apps

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Over recent weeks I have been retiring my ebook apps from Google Play and Chrome Web Store (with Amazon Appstore apps due to be retired later this year) and updating the app links in my ebook web apps on this site. This will mean that you will always see the latest information in the app here, and they will be available on all platforms that support web browsing.

There are still a few content updates to do, like replacing SAS University Edition with SAS On-Demand for Academics, and adding more information about Altair SLC, but they will be made over time, along with other updates and new web apps.

Features of the web apps on this site:

  • Drop-down contents list.
  • Adjustable font size and text flow to fit the browser window with [A-] and [A+] buttons.
  • Page up [Pg+] and down [Pg-] buttons.
  • Emails generated from clickable code fragments.
  • Ask a new question [Ask?] button to generate emails with suggestions.
  • Some apps include an index too.

I realise that there are still some app users out there who will feel abandoned, so, for those who have never subscribed to the SAS Programming Forum, register for Free membership of this blog, email a screenshot of your app to sales@hollandnumerics.org.uk (or use the app’s [Ask?] button) and I will give you a month’s free access to the SAS Programming Forum and to the ebook web apps as a thank you for your support.

When you have logged into the blog, you will see menu items for the web apps based on your membership.

Warning: the apps themselves are restricted to only work when opened from these web lists, so adding the individual apps to your browser favourites will not be helpful!

At some point in December 2023 my WordPress Blog Site decided to have an automatic Early Spring Clean!!

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Some time in December 2023 the internal WordPress user list became out-of-sync with the Simple Membership list that is used to control access to paid-for features on the site. It has taken me until now to identify, notify and remove from the Simple Membership list those members that are no longer known to WordPress. The estimated membership loss was 480 from a membership total at the beginning of December 2023 of 856!

The regional breakdown of registered blog members at the beginning of December 2023 was as follows:

PositionRegionPercentage of MembershipMembers
1Indian Sub-continent36.9%313
2The Americas22.8%193
3UK19.6%166
4Europe14.2%120
5Rest of the World6.6%56

Now the regional breakdown of registered blog members looks like this:

PositionRegionPercentage of MembershipMembers
1Indian Sub-continent35.7%134
2UK24.5%92
3The Americas23.2%87
4Europe10.1%38
5Rest of the World6.4%24

There are a number of reasons why the specific members may have been retained or lost, but I can’t confirm or refute these theories:

  • Only 6 of 480 members lost had registered for VIEWS UK forum access.
  • Most of the retained members regularly visit the site.
  • UK and The Americas have a bigger share of the members, and UK has overtaken The Americas (probably because VIEWS UK access is more prevalent in UK members!).
  • All of the shares of the other regions have decreased.

As a consequence, all new members are automatically given access to the VIEWS UK forum, where the VIEWS newsletter can be found.

I’ve withdrawn my apps from the Chrome Web Store after 9 years

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Regrettably I’ve withdrawn my apps from the Chrome Web Store after 9 years. For the last few years the Chrome Web Store has not been accepting new apps, only extensions, so I’ve not been able to add new apps, although updated apps have been accepted. However, recently my apps have been behaving differently, and only showing blank pages, so I’ve made the decision to withdraw my apps altogether.

There were 2 categories of apps in the Chrome Web Store:

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  • SAS apps, which are still available in the Google Play Store and Amazon Appstore (for Android devices). You can also access them on any device with a Programming blog membership as a web app.
  • Educational apps, which are also available in the Google Play Store and Amazon Appstore (for Android devices). You can also access them on any device with an Educational Games blog membership, again as a web app.

    • New Theme for my Blog Pages is an Old Theme!

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    Over the last few months I had been using Rebalance from Jetpack as the theme for my blog site, but more and more of its features seemed to conflict with my blog content:

    • Sections of code using uniform fonts in pre-formatted paragraphs were coloured white, so I’d been forced to recolour them black using CSS.
    • The links in the Forum Tag List were orange, as were the links in the list of selected forum topics. However, hovering over these links changed these and other links to white on white, or orange on orange, due to a conflict with bbPress, my forum plug-in.
    • Finally, the top menu in Rebalance was shown as a “hamburger” icon on smaller screens, but not on the desktop, so I’d been forced to style this menu using CSS to match the smaller screen version.

    I searched the catalogue of WordPress themes to find one that worked on the desktop and smaller screens and could only find the theme I am now using, Twenty Fifteen from WordPress. It also doesn’t require any restyling!

    So why did I call it an old theme?

    I used this theme when I first created this blog site in 2016. It has just taken me 5 years to realise how good it is!!

    This blog site will be closed for scheduled maintenance between 20:30 and 21:30 (GMT) on 02Jan2021

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    This blog site will be closed for scheduled maintenance from 20:30 to around 21:30 (GMT) on 02Jan2021:

    • 07:30 to around 08:30 on 03Jan2021 (Melbourne)
    • 05:30 to around 06:30 on 03Jan2021 (Tokyo)
    • 02:00 to around 03:00 on 03Jan2021 (India)
    • 21:30 to around 22:30 (Western Europe)
    • 15:30 to around 16:30 (East Coast USA)
    • 12:30 to around 13:30 (West Coast USA)

    A number of software packages will be updated for stability and security.

    Thank you for your understanding!

    New advice when registering as a blog member

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    Remember to use your full personal name, not a business name (unless you’ve asked me first), and a full last name is expected and required to complete registration, not “X Y” where your user information is considered to be hiding your identity. If you supply a name like “X Y” then your profile will be set to Pending, which will be deleted automatically after 1 month if not corrected.

    NEW: An activation email will be sent to your registered email address to confirm that it is valid. If you do not receive it within a few minutes, then please contact Philip Holland at phil@hollandnumerics.org.uk, as your email address may not have been accepted, but can be corrected.

    It is also recommended that you do not use an email address as, or include your company name in, your user name, because user names cannot be changed, but your email address or company might change in the future!

    You can register for Free blog membership here: Join Now Button