ATTENTION! Recent site performance

Live forum: http://forum.freeipodguide.com/viewtopic.php?t=50595

dmorris68

02-01-2007 17:31:25

As most of you are aware, we've been inundated with new members over the last couple of weeks. I'm also sure that most of you have noticed the slow server performance and frequent error messages. Some of you may think the timing coincides with Tiphareth's latest threats, but let me assure you that it's not him -- we're DoS'ing ourselves. )

The increased membership load, along with the holiday vacation, has caused a strain on our server resources, and as a result server performance suffers, we hit our DB connection limit (thus the DB connection errors), and the server will occasionally reboot itself once a load threshold is reached. A reboot just happened a few moments ago, and has happened a couple of other times in the last few days. It takes probably 10 minutes after a reboot for the site to completely work again.

This is a Bad Thing (tm). We are on a shared hosting plan, so our load impacts other sites. The upshot is that we could get kicked off this host, or forced to a much more expensive hosting plan.

Our host is moving to a new data center this month (was supposed to be in December, but it got postponed), where we should have some more breathing room. Our current location is at capacity and there just isn't anything that can be done to give us more. As a result, I'm taking some measures that hopefully will be temporary.

Until further notice, the following changes are in effect[list88de578d00][li88de578d00] E-mails via the forum are going to be disabled. I'm looking at allowing PM notifications, but topic reply notifications and e-mailing members will have to stop for now. A good portion of the server load we generate is e-mail, so this should help reduce that.
[li88de578d00] The ratings ticker at the top of the page is going away for now. I'll add a static link to the navigation menu at the top of the page, to take you to the ratings page. I was about to remove the ticker anyway and replace it with a static display, but it still requires a database hit on every page view. Until I can code an optimized version that caches ratings lookups, you'll just have to view ratings on the ratings page itself.
[li88de578d00] I had to lower our database connection limit because I had increased it to allow for the higher membership, but we're at the point of impacting other sites on the server. So you may see a lot of DB connection errors again. Just bear with it, give a couple minutes, then refresh. We're going to have to live with this for now, unless I find some major DB optimizations to make in the code.
[li88de578d00] Topic and post lists will be reduced from 40 per page to 20 per page. This may help with database load as well. If not, or when we have more headroom, I'll set it back.
[li88de578d00] Search requests will be limited to one per five seconds, and this may be increased further if we need to. This is to prevent search request flooding and increased DB strain. This will impact the "View Posts Since Last Visit" as well, since it's a search. Just give it a few seconds between searches or refreshing a search result.
[li88de578d00] I'll be making other code optimizations that will hopefully be transparent to you, but just be aware in case you notice things running differently.[/listu88de578d00]
Other changes may be forthcoming as well, but that's the highlights. Hopefully the move to the new DC will alleviate a lot of this strain, as will folks going back to school/work and not slumming on the forums all day, so things should get better as the month progresses. As for now, we all have to tighten our belts and suck it up.

Thanks for you support and understanding. )

Admin

02-01-2007 17:39:20

more importantly, thank you, David, for being on top of this )

Daggoth

02-01-2007 17:42:03

Thanks )

bballp6699

02-01-2007 17:43:33

I'm convinced dmorris is a bot.

TFOAF

02-01-2007 17:48:45

Yeah, the 40 posts to 20 posts a page will drastically increase the speed of loading, and limits database access per page. )

dmorris is a bot, you didn't know?

He's a new type of robot developed by a top secret government agency who knows everything and can respond and perform multiple tasks to multiple people.

manOFice

02-01-2007 17:49:27

thx!

bullseye4u

02-01-2007 17:52:39

yeah you impacted my site a lot this week hope matt will move everybody soon 8)

Veek

02-01-2007 17:59:21

You're so nice. Thnx U. <3

x323smostwantedx

02-01-2007 18:15:30

Cool,thanx

YourGiftsFree

02-01-2007 18:15:32

Thanks David!

dmorris68

02-01-2007 19:11:30

[quoted8fb35194d="bullseye4u"]yeah you impacted my site a lot this week hope matt will move everybody soon 8)[/quoted8fb35194d]
Your site is on the same box/cluster? Sorry. 8)

BTW the news blurb Matt posted on the esprit panel about people exploiting e-mail and bringing the servers down was not directed at us, AFAIK. But we were significantly adding to the problem with our recent load increase.

theysayjump

02-01-2007 19:12:03

[Insert sarcastic, facetious comment here]

dmorris68

02-01-2007 19:20:49

[quote4a3f9d7576="theysayjump"][Insert sarcastic, facetious comment here][/quote4a3f9d7576]
[Insert sarcastic, facetious reply here]

[...and a smiley] P

Daggoth

02-01-2007 19:46:18

The forum is running faster now. D

dmorris68

02-01-2007 19:51:31

Yes it is. I've implemented almost all the changes I noted above, including disabling topic reply notification. PM notification should still work.

zr2152

02-01-2007 20:02:35

Thanks David for dedicating your time and effort to make this site run more smoothly. I really appreciate it.

Tholek

02-01-2007 20:04:31

If David wasn't hitched, we'd have to get him a hooker for all this hard work. )

Then again, considering how little petty cash is available, we'd have to recommend he not look below the waist....

hehehhehe

02-01-2007 22:28:45

Thanks David!

theysayjump

02-01-2007 22:48:41

It's already 10 times better.

David for the win.

Wolfeman

02-01-2007 23:16:48

I'm sad about the email notification. I can't keep up with all the topics I talk in shrug

ilanbg

03-01-2007 06:57:33

Thanks D. You're worth your weight in gold. (Ha ha! I called you a fatty.)

johnjimjones

03-01-2007 11:24:58

David for teh win. Already noticing it to be a lot better.

bullseye4u

03-01-2007 11:57:54

[quote9335caff12="dmorris68"][quote9335caff12="bullseye4u"]yeah you impacted my site a lot this week hope matt will move everybody soon 8)[/quote9335caff12]
Your site is on the same box/cluster? Sorry. 8)

BTW the news blurb Matt posted on the esprit panel about people exploiting e-mail and bringing the servers down was not directed at us, AFAIK. But we were significantly adding to the problem with our recent load increase.[/quote9335caff12]

yeah when we gonna move to the new serves how come it got delayed? Also you using the super 3.5GB for fipg that matt has ?

dmorris68

03-01-2007 12:21:35

[quotef36e7d9e69="bullseye4u"]yeah when we gonna move to the new serves how come it got delayed? Also you using the super 3.5GB for fipg that matt has ?[/quotef36e7d9e69]
Supposed to be mid-January. They just couldn't get everything together to make the December date, so it go pushed out a month.

And I have no idea what you're talking about with the "super 3.5GB" thing.

KeithA

03-01-2007 12:50:11

[quotee9d8e921d1="dmorris68"]And I have no idea what you're talking about with the "super 3.5GB" thing.[/quotee9d8e921d1]

t-t-t-tech yourself

ilanbg

03-01-2007 13:09:03

[quotedaf5e74bd5="dmorris68"]And I have no idea what you're talking about with the "super 3.5GB" thing.[/quotedaf5e74bd5]

Noob. roll