FurrTrax

2016-08-15T11:44:15Z

86.148.136.219:

{{Infobox website
| title = FurrTrax
| image = [[File:FurrTraxHead.png|300px]]
| caption = 16,614 Members in 2.5 years!
| author = * '''Owner:''' [[DarkXander]]
* '''Administrators''': [[DarkXander]], [[Kovu Rocker]]
* '''Moderators''': [[Azuko]], [[Foxxer (USA)|Foxxer]], [[Tailz]], [[Unicorn]], [[Siris]], [[Stripes]]
| url = https://www.furrtrax.com/
* '''Mobile''': [https://furrtrax.com/furrtrax/login.php FurrTrax Mobile Site]
* '''Forums''': [https://furrtrax.com/indexsub.php?module=forum FurrTrax Forums]
* '''Storys''': [https://furrtrax.com/indexsub.php?module=bookshelf FurrTrax Bookshelf]
* '''Gallery''': [https://furrtrax.com/indexsub.php?module=gallery FurrTrax Image Gallery]
* '''Classifieds''': [https://furrtrax.com/indexsub.php?module=classified FurrTrax Classifieds]
* '''Twitter''': [https://twitter.com/FurrTrax FurrTrax Twitter]
* '''Facebook''': [https://www.facebook.com/groups/furrtrax/ FurrTrax on Facebook]
| status = #Offline ;)
| began = May 20, 2013
| ended =
| genre = Social network
| rating = {{Rating-pg-button|center}}{{Rating-nc17-button|center}}
}}
{{copyedit}}
'''FurrTrax''' is a [[W:social networking service|social networking]] and [[W:Mass collaboration|collaboration site]] to help members of the [[furry fandom]] organize, plan events, make friends, find other [[furries]] in their local areas, and those with similar interests.

The site is also accessible on [[W:smartphones|smartphones]] and [[W:Tablet computer|tablets]] via its own mobile portal and a dedicated [[W:Android (operating system)|Android]] [[W:Mobile app|app]].

== Charity ==
=== Fundraising for Jenn Rose Service Dog ===
FurrTrax donates advertising space to the Charity for Jenn Rose, To raise money for a Service Dog to assist her with her Epilepsy and Seizure conditions.<ref>[https://furrtrax.com/slides/paws4jenn.png ''Ad Banner for Paws4Jenn.com Fundraiser''] Posted by DarkXander March 29, 2015</ref><ref>[https://furrtrax.com/indexsub.php?module=newsview&id=139 ''Jenn Rose Emergency Heart Surgery Tommorrow''] Posted by DarkXander June 02, 2015</ref><ref>[https://paws4jenn.com ''Paws 4 Jenn, Service Dog for Jennifer Rose''] Posted by DarkXander March 29, 2015</ref>

=== Web Hosting ===
FurrTrax also offers free web hosting to furries wishing to host their own small sites, projects, and art pages and even includes free CloudFlare Pro protection to any who opt to use a subdomain provided by FurrTrax. There is also a paid option with more features.

FurrTrax also offered free web hosting to Furry Social Networking Site [[Furnation]] in hopes to help the site stay online, but the offer was politely declined by SYSTEM of Furnation and it was decided that they would not continue to run the site.<ref>[https://www.flayrah.com/6331/offer-help-furnation-furrtrax ''An offer of help to FurNation from FurrTrax''] Posted by DarkXander December 02, 2015</ref><ref>[https://www.flayrah.com/6344/after-20-years-furry-website-furnation-shuts-down ''After 20 years, furry website FurNation shuts down''] Posted by Sonious December 13, 2015</ref>

=== Arizona Cyber Warfare Range ===
FurrTrax is also a Sponsor and Supporter of the Arizona Cyber Warefare Range (http://www.azcwr.org) and donates the use of a HP DL360G7 server and a monthly allotment of bandwidth to be used by AZCWR Staff as needed for Training, Research and Development, and any other operations they deem appropriate. The AZCWR is a group of Cyber Warefare Researchers, Technicians, Network Engineers, and Volunteers who assist each other in training, research, development, and live fire practice of attack and defense scenarios to become better prepared for real world job opportunities and real world situations.

== Internet Services Provider ==

FurrTrax offers free Web & E-Mail hosting for Furrys who would like to host their own page, or small website and includes Free CloudFlare Website Protection as long as you opt to use a subdomain of FurrTrax.com. For a small fee they offer enhanced features, more storage space, and Database Access.<ref>[https://furrtrax.com/indexsub.php?module=ahosting ''FurrTrax offers Free Webhosting''] post by DarkXander on FurrTrax. Posted Jan 15, 2016. Retrieved January 15, 2016.</ref>

== History ==

For a long time the furry community had been very scattered,{{clarify}} and attempts by similar projects such as [[YiFFr]]<ref name="Yiffr fails">[https://twitter.com/Yiffr/status/314157169106898945 YiFFR Discontinued]</ref>, while good intentioned, failed due to lack of maintenance, upkeep, etc.

When the strongest of the remaining projects ('''YiFFr''') went down permanently, it became clear another option was necessary and fast. Two weeks after the failure of YiFFr, the very first core program and associated [[W:MySQL|MySQL]] backend for the FurrTrax project were born. First starting out as a mobile website only, which still exists today. With the second revision of the core program and database schema chatrooms were added, customizable user profile pages were added, and a bunch of minor [[W:XSS|XSS]] and MySQL injection flaws were fixed up with the help of several members for security testing efforts.

Three weeks after the failure of YiFFr, the [[W:Alpha (programming language)|alpha]] version of the FurrTrax android app was released, which was little more then a browser launcher that opened the Mobile site. At the second month of operations, a more functional app version was released which while still relying on the mobile website, was not a launcher. It was in of itself a separate browser program just for FurrTrax. The app also was given the ability to submit [[W:GPS|GPS]] location data to determine the distance between the site's users, and helping members locate nearby potential friends.

* June 11, 2013 - FurrTrax was hit with its first internet based attack originating from Japan, from several IP Ranges.<ref>[http://furrtrax.com/indexsub.php?module=newsview&id=7 ''Trend Micro attempts to access FurrTrax Server.''] post by DarkXander on [[FurrTrax]]. Posted June 11, 2013. Retrieved November 20, 2013.</ref> The IP Ranges were soon traced back to [http://www.trendmicro.com/us/index.html Trend Micro]'s Japanese datacenter. While the exact intent for the attack remains a mystery, they were attempting to access the chat log files stored in a secondary directory which was protected from outside access. This however did not stop them from continuing to try to guess URLs inside the folder for a number of hours until DarkXander was able to find a working telephone number for the Japanese branch of Trend Micro and question them why they were attempting to gain access to a protected section of the FurrTrax server. After a threat of legal action by DarkXander(owner), Trend Micro Japan confirmed their servers were the source of the attack, but claimed no knowledge of why it was happening, and hinted it was probably some sort of malfunction. It has now come to light that these unauthorized access attempts were a security test being conducted by Trend Micro without authorization of FurrTrax, for their SiteSafety Product<ref>[http://global.sitesafety.trendmicro.com/result.php?urlname=http://furrtrax.com ''Trend Micro Result of Un-Authorized Security Test of FurrTrax.com''] Discovered by DarkXander October 24, 2014</ref>
* June 20, 2013 - FurrTrax.com was launched with 75% of the working functionality of the mobile app, but missing a main site logo.<ref>[http://furrtrax.com/indexsub.php?module=newsview&id=9 ''FurrTrax Website Launched''] post by DarkXander on FurrTrax. Posted June 20, 2013. Retrieved November 20, 2013.</ref> This made the service usable from both mobile devices and standard computers.
* July 17, 2013 -FurrTrax steadily keeps increasing its user base, caping at 2000 members in a month and a half.<ref>[http://furrtrax.com/indexsub.php?module=newsview&id=12 ''2000 Members''] post by DarkXander on FurrTrax. Posted July 17, 2013. Retrieved November 20, 2013.</ref> By then it became increasingly clear that the systems own popularity may eventually lead to a overload on the server, to combat this, all MySQL transactions were optimized and streamlined and many queries were combined to save [[W:CPU|CPU]] cycles. At the same time another round of security testing was carried out,y and many small and medium sized vulnerabilities in the system were corrected.
* August 17, 2013 - Datacenter upgrades were completed for the FurrTrax server,<ref>[http://furrtrax.com/indexsub.php?module=newsview&id=16 ''SpeedTest Result after Datacenter Upgrades''] post by DarkXander on FurrTrax. Posted August 17, 2013. Retrieved November 20, 2013.</ref> including a massive increase in bandwidth to support higher membership levels, the following is a speedtest.net result taken from the actual FurrTrax server from inside the datacenter.
* September 12, 2013 - FurrTrax had its first unplanned downtime when the emergency system shutdown was tripped due to a cooling system failure.<ref>[http://furrtrax.com/indexsub.php?module=newsview&id=22 ''Site Downtime Earlier today''] post by DarkXander on FurrTrax. Posted September 12, 2013. Retrieved November 20, 2013.</ref> All systems shut down before any heat problems could occur, and all systems came back up about an hour later once the faulty cooling system in the rack was replaced.
* May 20, 2014 - <ref>[http://furrtrax.com/7777.png ''FurrTrax hits 7777 Members in early morning hours''] Screenshot by DarkXander on May 20, 2014.</ref>FurrTrax hits 7777 Members in early morning hours.
* October 15, 2014 - <ref name="securityflaw">[http://furrtrax.com/uploads/1/furrtraxsecurityauditcensored.PNG ''FurrTrax Security minorly compromised, Chatrooms Flooded''] Screenshot by DarkXander on Sept 30, 2014.</ref>FurrTrax Security recently compromised resulting in the flooding of chatrooms with random posts by unknown assailant, No data was stolen but chatrooms were mildly defaced. A independent security audit Conducted by [http://www.beyondsecurity.com/ ''Beyond Security''] found some underlying Security Flaws<ref name="securityflaw" />. All medium and high level security flaws were fixed by the end of the same day by DarkXander<ref name="securityfixed">[http://furrtrax.com/uploads/1/furrtraxsecurityauditsecured.PNG ''FurrTrax Security Scores 100% after Fixes by DarkXander''] Screenshot by DarkXander on Sept 30, 2014.</ref>. FurrTrax Security is now tested frequently to ensure safe use for all members<ref name="securitydaily">[http://www.beyondsecurity.com/vulnerability-scanner-verification/furrtrax.com ''FurrTrax Daily Security Report'']</ref>.
* October 16, 2014 - <ref>[http://furrtrax.com/indexsub.php?module=newsview&id=90 ''FurrTrax finishes Member Groups functions in Website and Mobile''] Post by DarkXander on Oct 14, 2014.</ref>Members can now create Member Group pages somewhat simular to Facebook to discuss and promote their topics of interest and promote discussion of such.
* October 24, 2014 - <ref>[http://furrtrax.com/indexsub.php?module=newsview&id=95 ''FurrTrax adds CloudFlare Pro Site Protection''] Post by DarkXander on Oct 24, 2014.</ref>To better protect the site from DDoS and other attacks FurrTrax has adopted CloudFlare Pro Site Protection.
* November 19, 2014 - <ref>[http://furrtrax.com/indexsub.php?module=newsview&id=98 ''FurrTrax hits 10,000 Site Members Milestone''] Post by DarkXander on Nov 19, 2014.</ref>FurrTrax has 10,000 Members, We would like to thank our members for their continued support, and for helping us become one of the fastest growing furry sites.
* November 30, 2014 - <ref>[http://furrtrax.com/indexsub.php?module=newsview&id=100 ''FurrTrax adds Video Chat''] Post by DarkXander on Nov 30, 2014.</ref>FurrTrax adds basic video chat capabilities to see how much interest there is in it.
* December 03, 2014 - <ref>[http://furrtrax.com/indexsub.php?module=newsview&id=101 ''FurrTrax has Server SSD Failure''] Post by DarkXander on Dec 03, 2014.</ref>FurrTrax was down for a short time, but is back on on its backup server, outage was caused by an SSD Disk Failure, All Data was backed up and is safe.
* March 27, 2015 - <ref>[http://furrtrax.com/indexsub.php?module=newsview&id=128 ''FurrTrax opens Staff Nominations for the first time''] Post by DarkXander on Mar 27, 2015.</ref>FurrTrax opens staff nominations to the membership for the first time giving our members a voice.
* Apr 02, 2015 - <ref>[http://furrtrax.com/indexsub.php?module=newsview&id=130 ''FurrTrax begins Charity work for Paws4jenn.com''] Post by DarkXander on Apr 02, 2015.</ref>FurrTrax offers Donator Perks to anyone who donates to the charity for Jenns Service Dog to give back to the community.
* May 14, 2015 - <ref>[http://furrtrax.com/indexsub.php?module=newsview&id=133 ''FurrTrax discontinues PHPBB Forums, Builds Own Forums''] Post by DarkXander on May 14, 2015.</ref>FurrTrax has discontinued the use of the old PHPBB based forums and released our own integrated forums.
* June 29, 2015 - <ref>[http://furrtrax.com/indexsub.php?module=newsview&id=140 ''FurrTrax begins Bug Bounty Program''] Post by DarkXander on June 29, 2015.</ref>In a further effort to increase site security and functionality, FurrTrax now offers our own bug bounty program.
* July 20, 2015 - <ref>[http://furrtrax.com/indexsub.php?module=newsview&id=98 ''FurrTrax owner is Layed off due to Company Sellout''] Post by DarkXander on July 20, 2015.</ref>DarkXander has been layed off as part of his companies restructuring after being purchased by Alaskan Investors.
* August 31, 2015 - <ref>[http://furrtrax.com/indexsub.php?module=newsview&id=151 ''FurrTrax Server is AMD Turbocharged''] Post by DarkXander on Aug 31, 2015.</ref>FurrTrax Server is upgraded from the old quad core to its new eight core processor, and from its old 16GB of RAM to 28GB of RAM, as well as VMware and Firewall Upgrades.
* September 17, 2015 - <ref>[http://furrtrax.com/indexsub.php?module=newsview&id=154 ''FurrTrax Authentication Protocols are Upgraded''] Post by DarkXander on Sept 17, 2015.</ref>FurrTrax has added an extra level of encryption to protect users authentication information on the site.
* October 08, 2015 - <ref>[http://furrtrax.com/indexsub.php?module=newsview&id=158 ''FurrTrax hits 14,000 Site Members Milestone''] Post by DarkXander on Oct 08, 2015.</ref>FurrTrax Hits 14,000 Members, We would like to thank our members for their continued support, and for helping us become one of the fastest growing furry sites.
* October 23, 2015 - <ref>[http://furrtrax.com/indexsub.php?module=newsview&id=161 ''FurrTrax switches to SSL ONLY''] Post by DarkXander on Oct 23, 2015.</ref>FurrTrax switches to requiring SSL Only mode for all users, We are all a little safer for it.
* December 11, 2015 - <ref>[http://furrtrax.com/indexsub.php?module=newsview&id=172 ''FurrTrax Gets a new Server, Codenamed Spartan''] Post by DarkXander on Dec 11, 2015.</ref>FurrTrax upgrades today to their new Dual Xeon I7 quad core, Dell PowerEDGE R710, with 96 GB of RAM, Codenamed Spartan.
* December 24, 2015 - <ref>[http://furrtrax.com/indexsub.php?module=newsview&id=180 ''FurrTrax hits 15,000 members on Christmas Eve 2015''] Post by DarkXander on Dec 24, 2015.</ref>FurrTrax has achieved membership of 15,000 users on Christmas Eve 2015.
* February 19, 2016 - <ref>[https://furrtrax.com/indexsub.php?module=newsview&id=197 ''FurrTrax downtime to add 6 RAM Sticks''] Post by DarkXander on Feb 19, 2016.</ref>FurrTrax now has 144GB of RAM.
* March 04, 2016 - <ref>[https://furrtrax.com/indexsub.php?module=newsview&id=200 ''BETA Instant Messaging Released''] Post by DarkXander on Feb 19, 2016.</ref>FurrTrax now has Instant Messaging Capabilities.
* April 09, 2016 - <ref>[https://furrtrax.com/indexsub.php?module=newsview&id=208 ''FurrTrax hits 16,000 Members''] Post by DarkXander on Apr 09, 2016.</ref>FurrTrax hits 16,000 Members.
* May 11, 2016 - <ref>[https://furrtrax.com/indexsub.php?module=newsview&id=212 ''FurrTrax Virtual OpenSim World goes online''] Post by DarkXander on May 11, 2016.</ref>FurrTrax Virtual OpenSim World goes online.
* June 07, 2016 - <ref>[https://furrtrax.com/indexsub.php?module=newsview&id=217 ''FurrTrax overcomes 12 TB DDoS Attack''] Post by DarkXander on June 07, 2016.</ref>FurrTrax hit with 12 TB DDoS Attack and survives.
* June 17, 2016 - <ref>[https://furrtrax.com/indexsub.php?module=newsview&id=220 ''FurrTrax and FurNation make peace.''] Post by DarkXander on June 17, 2016.</ref>FurrTrax and FurNation agree to end hostilities and make peace and collaboration agreement.
* June 23, 2016 - <ref>[https://furrtrax.com/indexsub.php?module=newsview&id=222 ''FurrTrax now Supports Native IPv6''] Post by DarkXander on June 23, 2016.</ref>FurrTrax now supports IPv6 fully.
* June 26, 2016 - <ref>[https://furrtrax.com/indexsub.php?module=newsview&id=223 ''FurrTrax Partners with FurGather''] Post by DarkXander on June 26, 2016.</ref>FurrTrax partners with FurGather to collaborate on future projects.

== Hardware ==

The current FurrTrax [[W:Server_(computing)|Server]] codenamed Spartan, a [[W:Dell_PowerEdge|Dell PowerEDGE]] R710 Dual Socket [[W:Multi-core processor|Quad Core System]] with dual Intel Core I7 Series Xeon Quad Core Processors, [[W:Gigabyte|144GB]] of [[W:Random-access memory|RAM]], and a [[W:Terabyte|2.3TB]] total [[W:Solid-state_drive|Solid State Drive]] storage system, retrofitted and Setup by DarkXander. The new server was aquired at a cost of $690 of which $280 was provided by members donations, features a builtin remote management system, and improves reliability with its redundant cooling systems, redundant Power Supplies, and redundant network connections. Spartan weighs in roughly five times heavier than X-620, the old FurrTrax Server.

The Original FurrTrax Server, internally known as X-620(VMware Hostname), was retired on December 11th, 2015 and the new server known as Spartan took over all of its former operations as the Main FurrTrax Server. X-620 was a custom built 2U size Rackmount server, equipped with a military spec motherboard, an AMD Eight-Core Phenom II CPU, and 28 GB of DDR3 RAM, an array of Solid State Storage, and a 400w non-redundant power supply, on [[W:VMware_vSphere|VMware vSphere]] and [[W:Linux|Linux]] using [[W:PHP|PHP]], [[W:Java_(programming_language)|Java]], and MySQL. All PHP programming was written from scratch in [[W:Gedit|Linux G-Edit]].

FurrTrax was originally Stored on a 2TB [[W:RAID|RAID]] System but the system began to encounter frequent errors, and traffic was approaching the limit of the systems [[W:Input/output|I/O]] speed, so the FurrTrax server was upgraded to All Solid State Drives for their higher reliability and greater I/O Speed Capacity.

FurrTrax does not use or rely on any third party frameworks, [[W:Content_management_system|CMS systems]], or [[W:Library (computing)|libraries]]. As all the code was written from scratch, and not publicly released, It provided a added layer of security since no one other then DarkXander knows how the Programming and MySQL systems truly function. The server is hosted in a PhoenixNAP Datacenter in Phoenix, Arizona.

{| class="wikitable sortable" border="1"
|-
! scope="col" | Name
! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Purpose
! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Hardware Notes
! scope="col" | First Used
! scope="col" | Status
|-
| '''X-620''' || Main Server || The original FurrTrax server, is a Octa-Core 3.5Ghz Phenom II system with 32GB of RAM. Storage consists of 4x solid state drives. The server was retired and Given to a friend of DarkXander who didnt have a PC. || March 2013 || <small>Removed Dec 11th 2015.<ref>[https://furrtrax.com/indexsub.php?module=newsview&id=172 "We will be going Offline around 6:30 PM Arizona Time"] - FurrTrax News (11 Dec 2015)</ref></small>
|-
| '''Spartan''' || Main Server || Dell PowerEDGE R710 with Twin Quad-core 2.6Ghz [[Wikipedia:Xeon|Xeon I7 Series]] with 144GB DDR3-1333 RAM, PERC H700 RAID Controller, 6 x SATA Solid State Disks, 2 x 500GB PCI-E Solid State Disks, 2 x 1TB SAS Drives, Quad Gigabit NICs<br>The Server was aquired at a cost of $690 of which $280 was provided by members donations.<ref>[https://furrtrax.com/indexsub.php?module=newsview&id=169 "FurrTrax Server Upgrades Awsome Deal"] - FurrTrax News (01 Dec 2015)</ref><ref>[https://furrtrax.com/indexsub.php?module=newsview&id=170 "We have our new Server!"] - FurrTrax News (06 Dec 2015)</ref> || December 11, 2015 || Online
|-
| '''DS9''' || Arizona Cyber Warefare Range || HP Proliant DL360 G7 with Twin Quad-core 2.6Ghz [[Wikipedia:Xeon|Xeon I7 Series]] with 48GB DDR3-1333 RAM, SmartArray P410i RAID Controller, 2 x 146GB SAS Drives, Quad Gigabit NICs. The Server was originally aquired to be a backup to Spartan in case of a failure. || March 16, 2016 || Online
|-
| '''Core''' || Core Router || Cisco 7507 Core Router<ref>[http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/routers/7507-router/model.html "Cisco 7507 Specs"] - Cisco 7507</ref> Provided by the DataCenter to interconnect to Fiber. || March 2013 || Online
|-
| '''CDN''' || Static Resource Cloud CDN Server, E-Mail Notification Server || Cloud Virtualized Server on BlueHost<ref>[http://www.bluehost.com "BlueHost"] - BlueHost</ref> || March 2014 || Online
|}

=== SpeedTest ===
Speedtest done January 13th, 2016 from onboard Spartan.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/4995438405.png
[[File:FurrTraxSpartanSpeedtest1.png|none]]

== External Links ==

* [https://www.facebook.com/groups/furrtrax/ FurrTrax] on [[Facebook]]
* [http://twitter.com/furrtrax/ FurrTrax] on [[Twitter]]
* [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=appinventor.ai_masterxbkc.FurrTraxFull FurrTrax Android app] at [[W:Google Play|Google Play]]

== References ==
<REFERENCES/>

[[Category:Social networking websites]]
[[Category:2013 births]]
[[Category:Arizona]]
[[Category:Chat_networks]]
[[Category:Chat_rooms]]
[[Category:Forums]]
[[Category:smartphone_applications]]
[[Category:Social_groups]]
[[Category:Story_archives]]
[[Category:Websites]]

WikiFur - User contributions [en]

FurrTrax