Tech & Biz

Ma.gnolia Suffers Major Data Loss: Database Not Yet Recovered

by Jordan Yerman | January 30, 2009 at 02:02 pm

476 views | 10 Recommendations | 2 comments

Social bookmarking site Ma.gnolia suffered a massive data loss, potentially deleting user data permanently. The site is currently offline.

The outage affected both the main data server and the backup server, so the repair effort will be long and involved. This is absolutely nightmarish for a company whose sole existence is server-based. I'm sweating just reading about this.

The failure appears to be catastrophic. The company can't say to what extent it will be able to restore any of its users' data. It also says the data failure was so extensive, repairing the loss will take "days, not hours."

In light of today's outage, Twitter users are currently venting their suspicions of web-based sharing services. Another common thread: people are talking about bailing on Ma.gnolia in favor of Delicious.

Below are some examples of the tweet-chatter. For the record, I don't use either Ma.gnolia or Del.icio.us.

From the Ma.gnolia homepage:

Early on the West-coast morning of Friday, January 31st, Ma.gnolia experienced every web service's worst nightmare: data corruption and loss. For Ma.gnolia, this means that the service is offline and members' bookmarks are unavailable, both through the website itself and the API. As I evaluate recovery options, I can't provide a certain timeline or prognosis as to to when or to what degree Ma.gnolia or your bookmarks will return; only that this process will take days, not hours.

I will of course keep you appraised here and in our Twitter account.

Update: As of yesterday, the recovery had not yet taken place.

I was relying on a single backup; the database was fast approaching half a terrabyte and I had been unable to implement a practical, economical solution to version that quantity of data. Having a more robust and comprehensive backup system in place was my responsibility; and, believe me, I know that I let you, the Ma.gnolia community, and myself down in that.