I’m having difficulties accessing the relational databases module as I often get stuck on the “Starting virtual server” step. Some days it works straight away without issue but then other days it refuses to load regardless of any solutions I attempt.
It’s been mentioned in the Backend Development subforum repeatedly recently and I haven’t seen any replies from FCC support staff so just wanted to flag it here in case it’s been missed
Thanks for all your hard work and dedication in creating this website, I certainly don’t want to come across as ungrateful!
We are actively working to make the course stable. However, until we do get a solution to this out into production, we recommend following the steps to run the course on your local machine.
I did complete the Celestial Bodies Database locally, but I’m hesitant to start the next module because it’s a tutorial and it seems like it might be quite difficult to get the check mark on fCC. I’m assuming that this is required for the certificate?
Right now, it is not the easiest/quickest workflow to do so when running locally, but we are working on making this possible. So, I would just make sure you save your files, and we will let you know when this is ready to submit.
Yes, that is correct.
If you are working locally, and can save your files (locally + github), then I would continue with the course.
Thanks for your help, I’m happy to continue locally. Just one further query:
Does my progress in a course track when I’m working locally? I started the bash module and got to 35% but I have to sign off now. I’ve saved the .sh files that I created - are there any other files I should save too? The project directory has a whole host of other files and I’m aware that these don’t copy over between sessions.
I have noticed that I can continue a tutorial from my previous session - I’m not sure where the information on my progress is tracked.
When completing the course in CodeAlly, the only progress tracked is when you finish the final lesson. When running locally, currently, no progress is tracked.
I am unaware of what is easiest to save. That said, anything you type, you should definitely save. Other stuff can be built/rebuilt from them.
You are working in a container. In CodeAlly, this container keeps its information for a few weeks (after last use). Locally, this information is stored until you manually delete it. Depending on the configuration/location of the files, they are either stored as part of the container, or a separate volume the container has access to.
Locally, there are 3 things to keep track of:
The image the container is built with (often a VERY large file). E.g. ubuntu
The container which can be stopped/re-opened without losing information[1]
The volume which is mounted to the container that contains (usually) workspace files
Depending on the startup commands for the container, some information might be lost, and often things like environment variables created during a session are lost. ↩︎
