Big Bang at ThePlanet

xB Browser 2.0.0.14a had a bug in the shutdown routine, so we replaced it. We didn't version it up to a new version because it was a very minor tweak to the source.

STATUS: One of the US XeroBank entry nodes was at ThePlanet, in Houston's H1 center, which suffered an explosion through three walls, temporarily disabling the server. It is unknown at this time if the cause of the explosion was incidental or sabotage, and the only statement has been that the damage is "unbelievable"... no pictures of the blast have yet been made available to the public.

The XeroBank server in question is encrypted in multiple layers, and has no process-critical or personally identifying information on it. ThePlanet reports that the servers are physically unharmed. The entry-node outage will not affect current customers or the XeroBank network at large, as we have multiple entry nodes at different locations in the world. ThePlanet has graciously offered to move us from their H1 datacenter to their H2 datacenter, as long as we give them root access to our machines. We have declined their offer, and await a resolution. We expect the server to be restored before launch of the XeroBank 2.0 network, after an integrity check is performed.



Here is a detail of the letter they sent out:

This evening at 4:55 in our H1 data center, electrical gear shorted, creating an explosion and fire that knocked down three walls surrounding our electrical equipment room Thankfully, no one was injured. In addition, no customer servers were damaged or lost.

We have just been allowed into the building to physically inspect the damage. Early indications are that the short was in a high-volume wire conduit. We were not allowed to activate our backup generator plan based on instructions from the fire department.

This is a significant outage, impacting approximately 9,000 servers and 7,500 customers. All members of our support team are in, and all vendors who supply us with data center equipment are on site. Our initial assessment, although early, points to being able to have some service restored by mid-afternoon on Sunday. Rest assured we are working around the clock.


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We will take move requests on a first-come, first served basis. We will need the customer name and customer ID (for example C13572). You'll also need to update your root/administrative password in Orbit or ServerCommand prior to submitting your ticket. To request a move for your server from H1 Phase 1 to H2, please log into Orbit or ServerCommand and submit aManual Reboot Request. In the summary input box include 'H1 Phase I Server Move Request' along with the hardware object ID or server IP address in the description input box.