Apache may have some downtime this evening after 2200 Central Standard Time [0400 GMT]. The Apache configuration made by the NOC after the issues we had two weeks ago is unsuited to our server’s needs, and certain issues have pushed the priority of this work up from the weekend to tonight. Downtime should be <5 minutes, but could last longer.
The build work is complete.
The Rumor Forum will be undergoing maintenance starting on 3/31 at 10:00pm and the maintenance window will end at 12:00pm on 4/2. During this time certain functionalities may be unavailable, or the board may be totally inaccessible.
You can check back here for updates, should I decide to provide them. 
It was a balmy, beautiful early spring Saturday in Madison County. I was seated on a comfortable leather loveseat in my friend Stephen’s house. We were watching Duke-GW. Based on a discussion with Stephen, I decided to upgrade the Apache-PHP combination to add some functionality to the server.
From there, things went horribly wrong. Apache and PHP refused to build cleanly, despite my best efforts. [I even abandoned cPanel/WHM's scripts and attempted to build manually. No dice.]
At the end of the day, my Linux kernel was outdated [:oops:], which meant that the upgrade/build scripts for Apache, PHP, and the modules I was adding in were failing due the kernel issue. Updated the kernel, rebooted the server, and … voila!
So you know.
Please be gentle!
Yes, I know that the Rumor Forum appears to be borked. Give me time. 
It’s back.
Apache appears to be back up and running. PHP and MySQL services are not back online.
Please don’t hammer the server with requests while folks are working on it. Please wait until I’ve posted an all-clear here. Thanks.
Well, as I promised I’d try, I went after a vanilla Apache install. No dice.
Still waiting for paid support from the NOC. It’s beyond my capacity at this point to understand the underlying issues.
I apologize for the continued outage. I’m working with the NOC to get things back online.
Because of some of the back-end software we use, we have a specially-compiled version of Apache, the Web server software that powers some 60% of the Web. Normally, the special compiler we use does Apache configuration flawlessly; unfortunately, this run isn’t going well. It’s honestly vexed me, and I’ve called in the professionals.
If worse comes to worst, I’ll install a vanilla version of Apache and PHP tonight and worry about the issues later on…
Well, it seems as if we’ve found the cause of the compiling issues: Apache doesn’t like that I’ve made manual changes to httpd.conf. Of course, I’ve only done that to secure Apache with mod_security, so …
Anyhow, I’m working with the NOC to resolve the issue.
I’m upgrading Apache, and … it’s giving me fits. I apologize for any downtime … I’m resolving issues as fast as I can.
Trust me, I’m swearing at it with all the gusto I can muster!
In case you’re curious, what I did was try to upgrade Apache to compile a couple things in … and broke it. The only problem with this is that every Apache build takes 5-15 minutes, and finessing it is a little tough. I’m getting it going just as soon as I can.
Apache is simply refusing to compile. I’m still cranking on it.
Had to reboot the server just now. After 61 days of uptime, it needed it.