Fire services information – server capacity planning?

DSE Server strain

Something that will need to be investigated after this threat period is over is the ability of the various information systems to cope with the load requirements during a period of emergency.

It appears that the DSE site cannot cope with the load whereas the CFA site appears to be handling things a lot better.

DSE is on a Netware OS based system running Lotus-Domino back end [Netcraft report 21-Jan-2009 ], not the best system for a heavy load
CFA is on a Windows server 2003 based system running Microsoft-IIS/6.0 [Netcraft report 7-Feb-2009]
MFB is on a Windows server 2003 based system running Microsoft-IIS/6.0 [Netcraft report 7-Feb-2009]
SES is on a Solaris 9/10 based system running Lotus-Domino [Netcraft report 7-Feb-2009]
Victoria Police is on a Windows server 2003/8(?) based system running Microsoft-IIS/6.0 [Netcraft report 7-Feb-2009]

Timely information is a critical requirement for those who have remained to defend their property. Victoria should investigate the use of central clustered systems (as we now have a central fire command centre) and the use of mirror sites when these events are in progress. A Linux/Apache cluster would be a lot more useful in high stress situations that the Netware/Domino behemoth that is more suited to the Department’s Intranet.

An example of a site that copes well with similarl (or greater) high stress periods is the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) site. No surprises to see that it is running Linux/Apache;

BOM is on a Linux based system running Apache/2.2.3 (Red Hat) [Netcraft report 1-Jan-2009]

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2 Responses to “Fire services information – server capacity planning?”

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1 visibleprocrastinations February 19, 2009 at 3:16 pm

This probably goes a long way to explaining things, Crown data rights; bureaucracy at is best!

Victoria fires: Google bushfire map not helped by Victorian government
THE Victorian government reportedly refused to provide information on the Victoria fires to Google so the internet giant could build a more detailed online map of the blazes.
Google’s Australian director of engineering Alan Noble told a conference in Melbourne the state’s Department of Sustainability and Environment refused to provide its internal data on the fires burning on public lands.

“It’s ironic that I can download detailed NASA satellite imagery (of Australia) more readily than I can get satellite imagery from the Australian government,” Mr Noble told the conference, according to technology news site ZDNet Australia.

The problem, Mr Noble said, was rules governing copyright on Crown data which place copyright over all government-produced information to the government and stop it being used without explicit consent. …
– (2009-Feb-18) [The Australian]