26 October 2012

Amazon-Mandated Maintenance This Weekend

After the downtime we experienced on 25 October,  Amazon Web Services informed usethat there are "issues in the Availability Zone" hosting our database and we have been asked to move the instance.

Unfortunately, that instance is really heavy. :-)

No, seriously, my dear friends at Apex Evangelists will be performing the move this weekend. We are not sure of the precise time or how long it will take, so please don't be shocked if you visit this weekend and find the site unavailable.

Results for 25 October Quiz Not Ranked

With a heavy heart, I have decided to void results for 25 October. They will not be included in rankings, nor used to determine participation in the quarterly playoff.

I did this because several players reported that they were unable to play the quiz, and we know that the site was unavailable for at least four hours - and maybe more, since we are unable to pinpoint the exact time the site became unavailable.

That was a very frustrating experience, waiting and waiting for Amazon Web Services support to take action. Finally they did (thanks to John Scott's prodding) but by then the damage was done.

25 October 2012

19:30 UTC Website is back up!

Just to make sure you are aware: the website is back up.

We are just under the wire for the four hour mandatory voiding of the quiz (with the full confession that we are not entirely sure when the site first went down).

I am going to open things back up and see how it goes. If anyone complains that they weren't able to take the quiz today, we will void it.

Website Unavailable - 15:30 UTC 25 October

The PL/SQL Challenge website is having problems. We are investigating and plan to have it back online ASAP.

If you have not already done so, please follow PLSQLChallenge at twitter.com so you can receive updates on website status that way.

22 October 2012

Q3 2012 Playoff on 24 October

The next quarterly championship playoff (for Q3 2012) will take place on Wednesday, 24 October. Forty-five players have qualified to take five tough quizzes in forty minutes. Wish them luck!

Here's some background on the players in the upcoming playoff, including the number of playoffs in which they've already played; their rank in that quarter, their rank in the playoff, and their best playoff performance.

Name # Playoffs Qtr Rank Last Playoff Rank Best Playoff
swart26011/145424/33Q2 2012 - 24th
Sean Stuber52/14549/33Q3 2010 - 5th
Jerry Bull53/145414/33Q3 2011 - 9th
Stelios Vlasopoulos44/145433/33Q4 2011 - 22nd
mentzel.iudith75/145419/33Q4 2010 - 4th
Vinu16/145432/33Q2 2012 - 32nd
Chad Lee57/145426/33Q1 2012 - 1st
Viacheslav Stepanov68/145412/33Q2 2011 - 4th
Randy Gettman79/145422/33Q3 2011 - 4th
Marco Siefert110/145431/35Q1 2012 - 31st
Frank Schrader811/14543/33Q1 2011 - 1st
Siim Kask712/14546/33Q4 2011 - 4th
Yuan Tschang413/145427/33Q2 2012 - 27th
kowido614/14541/33Q2 2012 - 1st
Justin Cave615/14542/33Q2 2012 - 2nd
Niels Hecker816/14545/33Q3 2010 - 1st
Anna Onishchuk617/145411/33Q1 2011 - 6th
Frank Schmitt218/14544/33Q2 2012 - 4th
Jeroen Rutte119/145420/62Q3 2010 - 20th
Chris Saxon320/14548/29Q2 2011 - 2nd
Zoltan Fulop221/145429/33Q1 2012 - 17th
Giedrius Deveikis122/14547/33Q2 2012 - 7th
koko023/1454N/AN/A
Sebastian Kolski224/145417/33Q2 2012 - 17th
Kim Berg Hansen325/14548/33Q4 2010 - 6th
Janis Baiza427/14542/29Q4 2011 - 2nd
Markus Langlotz129/145411/38Q4 2010 - 11th
Ivan Blanarik 230/145415/33Q1 2012 - 3rd
Jens Petersen134/1454N/AN/A
Tony Winn135/145417/62Q3 2010 - 17th
Patrick Barel037/1454N/AN/A
Jason H046/1454N/AN/A
Goran Stefanović250/145430/33Q2 2012 - 30th
Michal Cvan557/145412/35Q1 2012 - 12th
Gary Myers468/14541/34Q2 2011 - 1st
Mike Pargeter769/145420/33Q4 2011 - 6th
puchtec078/1454N/AN/A
Peter Schmidt280/145414/38Q3 2010 - 2nd
macabre287/145427/31Q2 2011 - 17th
Vijay Mahawar099/1454N/AN/A
Tobias Stark1140/145435/35Q1 2012 - 35th
Karel Prech0166/1454N/AN/A
mark kavalaris0274/1454N/AN/A
Dan Kiser1308/1454N/AN/A
Fernando Bautista0464/1454N/AN/A