The database on our primary web server (NC031) went down at 20:20 UTC, and was not brought back up until 21:00 UTC. This means that all database-driven websites were down during this 40-minute period, and would have displayed the message, “Error establishing a database connection”. We are still trying to determine why this happened and why the service was not automatically restarted, as should have been the case. Coincidentally — or perhaps not — at the same time the server was under a heavy load from hundred of thousands of requests on a single website, and we have now blocked the source of that traffic.
We sincerely apologise for this inconvenience. If you have any questions, please do contact support.
