BookFinder.com now running on EC2

As a BookFinder.com user you probably didn’t even notice but last week we just picked up and moved servers.  For several years we were running our servers from around BookFinder.com’s birthplace of Berkeley, CA but last week we packed up our bytes and moved our digital home.   Now we are happy to announce that we are up and running on the Elastic Compute Cloud, which is a cloud computing platform developed by Amazon.  Charlie and Bryan (our dynamic programming duo) are very excited about this change, since not only is cloud computing a cutting edge technology but it should also provide BookFinder.com with a flexibility and scalability that we have never previously had.

So if you are like me the question you are probably asking yourself right now is, “so what does this mean for me?” and the non-technical short answer is “very little.”  Our search functions will remain the same, and while we may run a little faster now the look and feel of BookFinder.com will stay the same.  The real benefit of this change is behind the scenes here.  Kind of selfish I know but, I think we deserve it =).

Hopefully now we can get back to trying to add new bookstores and additional services that will help you book buyers find the books that you need and love!

[Now Reading: Prelude to Foundation by Issac Asimov]

Comments

[Carolyn S. Alford]

At Dept. of State, Bunche Library, we have been having trouble using Bookfinder for the past month. Sometimes, we can get past the title search, but when we try to click on a vendor that has the title, we get this error message. At other times, we cannot even get the title to come up and we get this message.

"You are not authorized to view this page
You might not have permission to view this directory or page using the credentials you supplied.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you believe you should be able to view this directory or page, please try to contact the Web site by using any e-mail address or phone number that may be listed on the www.bookfinder.com home page.

You can click Search to look for information on the Internet.

HTTP Error 403 - Forbidden
Internet Explorer

We are using Internet Explorer 7 and have ot had this problem before.

It would be helpful to know if others are having this problem, so that we will know if it is only our library.

This resource is most needed for our book searching and would like very much to be able to use it again.

Thank you.

Carolyn S. Alford
Bunche Library
Washington DC
alfordcs@state.gov

[Melani Van Petten]

I can't get the site to work any more--I am trying to find the price of a book I have located, and can't figure out how. I think I would like to buy the book, but must see the price to be sure, and I can't even find a way to order it. I have used this site for years, and recommend it often, but at the moment there seem to be a few problems.

[Melani Van Petten]

My problem with this site is apparently a result of using Firefox, though it worked fine with Firefox before. Now it only works for me with Safari. Just thought somebody might want to know.

[tim]

I also get the same errors as the posting above "error 403" about 19 times out of 20 tries - - very annoying - I will need to move to another book search which is a pity as I like this format and used to use it many times a day.

[Scott Laming]

Carolyn, Melani, and Tim.

Thanks for these comments; we're not quite sure what are causing the issue for some of you. Please keep letting us know about these issues so we can narrow down what is causing this problem.

Thanks for your patience

[Enrique Rodriguez]

Hi. As I reported via e-mail, I have been having the error 403 issue, but this is not systematic. Sometimes if I click and click and click again I manage to get in!
I don't get it from my home computer (private connexion) but get it from my work computer ... which has heavier security controls. I wonder whether Bookfinder is now asking the sender computer to provide additional details ... and professional servers might refuse to do this for fears of security!

[Tomm]

It would have been nice if b-E-r-k-E-l-E-y had been spelled correctly in line two.

[jf8]

Breath of a wok is one of those few cookbooks that have truly transformed the way I cook. It's so much more than just a collection of recipes. t helps me determine which ones to add to my collection!and now link my name to know me,there are good things in my website,come on!

[Robert H. Boyle]

Your service is so messed up & confusing that after several years of using it, I doubt that I will use it again. Tonight, for some odd reason, you switched me over to Google books after I placed my order, and Google kept insisting there was no such state as New York in the United States. I was unable to move on, so I cancelled my order. Stupid, frustrating, and infuriating.

P. S. And now you're telling me as I try to preview this that my email address is not valid! Lunatic!