As folks noticed on Thursday morning when we opened hotels, the website displayed errors for 5-10 minutes starting at 9 AM EST due to the rush of traffic that came in.  This was due to a few factors, which I'd like to go into in technical detail below.

First, some raw stats:

Peak bandwidth: approx 3.6 Megabits/sec

Peak connections: 1,060 concurrent connections

Number of users logged into the site: 100+

Here are some graphs that show just how big those numbers are, compared to normal traffic levels:

For those who saw last year's post about the load on the webserver when we opened up hotels, this year's traffic was about twice what last year's traffic was.  I didn't see that coming.

As is plainly visible in the traffic graph, the machine that this website runs on is capabale of much higher bandwidth throughput.  So, what happened?

In a word: caching.  Or rather, the lack thereof in certain cases.

First off a big thank you to the city of Pittsburgh for once again having us there and for the extra hotel space.  Good luck with the NHL draft!

Well once again we are closing in on another Anthrocon. We of the logistical department are already gearing up for another great con and its sure to not disappoint. The first thing that I would like to share is our more organized storage locker at Etna. Everything is labled and packed in such a way that it should make unloading the truck at the con a lot easier. This does bring up some new hurdles however at the close of the con as we would like everything to be placed back exactly as we unloaded it. This will take a team effort not only from the whole logistics dept but also from the other staff as well. We know your up to it though.

Secondly, the logistics staff will be sporting some new attire to help in identifing us should any one need to find us and can tell us apart on site. Security seemed to like the shirts we had last year and I was told it did alliviate some confusion so thats a plus. For those wondering what we have this year...you will find out.

For those of you who want to volunteer in the department we need most of your help during setup and takedown. Not only are these our most active times all your volunteer time is doubled at these peek times as well! Either see Con Ops or one of the logistical staff and we will be happy to install shock coll...er set you up with volunteer forms.

Thats it for me here. Lets make Anthrocon 2012 the best ever...we may not be around much more anyway if that darn Mayan calender has its way...

Our friends at the Doubletree have made more suites available. They are quite a bargain at $169, and they can once more be reserved online by clicking here and checking the box that says "Suites."

If you already made your reservation at the Doubletree and would like to upgrade your room to a suite, you can do that by calling the hotel directly and asking to speak to Ms. Judy Costello. We have quite a few suites ready to go but not an infinite supply, so don't delay!

If you had website issues with us or the hotels, or phone issues with the hotels, we would like to know about it.

I set up a survey to gather more data, which will be passed onto hotel management in the event of issues directly with the hotels.  It can be found here:

http://www.anthrocon.org/node/7580/survey-your-hotel-reservation-experience

Please fill it out, and go into as much detail as you like in the comments section.

Thanks!

Hotel reservations open up in approximately 25 minutes, and I've already received a few questions about the actual process.  In an effort to avoid any confusion at 9 AM, follow these instructions:

Step 1) Go to http://www.time.gov/ and click on "Eastern Time Zone".  That's the official US time.

Step 2) Get some coffee.

Step 3) At 9 AM, go to http://www.anthrocon.org/hotel and continue on from there to get a hotel room.

The only flaw in this awesome plan might be my ability to publish the pages promptly at 9 AM due to server load.  If that happens (and you see our "DON'T PANIC" page), be assured that I'll try my darndest to publish them as quickly as I can.

In the event that anything goes wrong, I will post updates to Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, in that order.

Good luck!

When hotel reservations open on Thursday morning, it is going to be interesting from a systems perspective.  After all, that is our highest traffic day of the year!  Last year, we had over 300 concurrent connections to our webserver and chances are that number will be even higher this year.

"So what happens if the site goes down from the load?"

Good question!  Thanks to social media, there are a number of other ways we can communicate with our membership.  If you have any problems accessing the website on Thursday morning, watch these other places for announcements and possibly direct links to the hotel reservation pages themselves:

• Our Twitter feed
• Our Facebook page
• Our Google Plus page

While I hope the load doesn't utterly crush our webserver and cause a service outage, I also want to be prepared in case it does happen.

If there are any questions, feel free to send me a PM or leave a comment on this post.

Our hotels will all begin to accept reservations starting at 9:00 AM EST on February 2, 2012.  Here is the information that you have been waiting for.  Note that all rates are per-night for up to 4 people and do not include 14% state and local tax, and all require a non-refundable pre-payment of 1 night's room and tax at time of reservation.  All hotels are within a 5-minute walk of the front door of the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, while the Westin itself is connected.

WE URGE YOU TO READ THIS IMPORTANT REMINDER AND THIS FAQ ENTRY BEFORE MAKING YOUR TRAVEL PLANS!

ANTHROCON'S FLEET OF HOTELS FOR 2012:

Want to be one of the people who make Anthrocon happen? We rely on the generosity of our sponsors and supersponsors to help pay the bills, so we have always offered gifts and other humble little incentives to those selfless individuals. If you already have a membership and would like to upgrade your membership safely and securely online, just click on one of the links in the following table. 

Anthrocon has selected Hello Bully to be our beneficiary for 2012. Their mission is to rescue, rehabilitate and repair the reputation of the American Pit Bull Terrier. They will be at the Charity Auction and will have a table in the Dealers' Room where you can meet them and peruse information about their organization.

More information about Hello Bully can be found at their website, hellobully.com. If you have any questions regarging Hello Bully, they can be reached at 412-235-1997 or at hello(at)hellobully.com.

This year we are pleased to welcome as guests of honor Mr. Mike Kazaleh and Mr. Dev Madan, as well as Japan's amazing furry acrobat Sardyuon. 

More information can be found at our Guest of Honor page.