Hurricanes and Hosting An interesting note: our hosting company, directNIC, is a large web-hosting service company headquartered in New Orleans, LA. For an interesting inside view of what's going on in the heart of the disaster, you might want to read this and click on their "blog" at the bottom of this post.
The directNIC CEO and the company Crisis Manager (nicknamed "The Interdictor"), along with a handful of directNIC staff who are still in downtown New Orleans, desperately trying to keep their networks up and running; the CEO and his staff are loading 55 gallon drums of diesel fuel to their backup generators in order to maintain electricity for the building and keep this key communications center up and running, while running area patrols, battling looters and trying to defend their building with a couple of .45 pistols. In addition to their web-hosting functions, they are now providing critical communications and linkages to disaster relief efforts, for the military and local police. Most businesses would have bugged out long ago in such a crisis-- not these guys... these guys are unbelieveable. This is the kind of people who host our web site.
"The Interdictor, (DirectNIC crisis manager), is currently braving the madness of post-Katrina New Orleans. Server rescues, OC4 repairs and live video and audio feeds abound as he and his crew battle the odds with what seems like the entire internet at his back. 1700+ People are tracking his blog, and IRC channels are full to capacity."
For an unbelievable view from "ground zero" Check it out at:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/interdictor/