Our server is slow...

mosc · Posted: Mon Aug 09, 2004 2:20 pm Post subject: Our server is slow...

Our server has been slow lately. Not really the server, but we are on a slow network which we share with a friend. Not much I can do about it in the immediate future, but I'm in the process of migrating to a new server. Maybe in a week we'll be running on it. It'll mean the forum will be down for a few hours when we actually make the switch, but it should be worth it.

I'll announce the move about 48 or 24 hours before we make the change, assuming the testing goes well.

Does anyone volunteer to help test out the new server? It will entail posting and reading messages to make sure it has good responsiveness and all that. I'll set up a test forum on the new site with a copy of the database.

play · Posted: Mon Aug 09, 2004 7:58 pm Post subject:

I should be around for that. I mostly lurk on the board all day anyway ::)

mosc · Posted: Mon Aug 09, 2004 9:03 pm Post subject:

Thanks...

Hmmm... I found a db configuration error which I just fixed. Seems to have speeded up post submission considerably. Smile

Oskar · Joined: Jul 29, 2004 Posts: 1714 Location: Norway

mosc · Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2004 12:38 pm Post subject:

elektro80 · Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2004 6:38 pm Post subject:

You have fixed an error already?? Great!
What makes the server slow? Graphics ?
I once made a sus´ystem in webdna that would send all graphics to an external server.. or .. actually.. many external servers.
The scheme was this:

a directory structure for all grahics files
a mirroring function to an external graphics server(s)
all incoming files were added to the local dicretory structure and served from this location
a database for the graphics
a mirroring function using ftp .. later "Retrospect ftp service "
the database checked for local and external files and all files existsing both places were served from external sources ...

This meant that 99.99 of all outbound traffic from the "main" server was text only.
I later set up a system for duplicate external servers and a system for administering a kind of semiintelligent load distribution
In a way.. that is done here already, but I wonder if this is not possibly to extend in some way

mosc · Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2004 7:38 pm Post subject:

It's not graphics, and like you suggested elsewhere it's not the database. The main problem is long delays in posting messages. The screen refresh seems to hang after the data base has been written. The system does a lot of stuff after a post has been loaded - updates counters, indexes, sends email notifications, etc. Maybe there is some bug in all this.

What I fixed was optimizing the database, but I don't think that does too much to speed up the posting operation.

elektro80 · Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2004 7:42 pm Post subject:

What else is running on the server? The main system is php.. and do you have something runing on the server that could slow down the execution of the PHP?

mosc · Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2004 7:54 pm Post subject:

Well, I won't get into that here. But most of the time the cpu is loafing. When I observer slow posting, it's independent of cpu load.

elektro80 · Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2004 8:00 pm Post subject:

Hmm.. weird. I guess this does not apply here.. but I have seen dynamic web site coding ( not php ) that for some reason messed about with client state excessively.. and this could make the code exceution run very slowly. but you don´t really have any client side stuff going on here at all do you?

elektro80 · Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2004 8:03 pm Post subject:

Anyway.. I am waiting for the OS X Server 10.4 update. That one comes with a community chat server too. Any interest in a electro-music.com instant messenger service?

mosc · Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2004 8:03 pm Post subject:

No, there is precious little client side stuff on PHPBB. That's nice, obviously. Laughing

elektro80 · Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2004 8:06 pm Post subject:

Great,,, obviusly.. Very Happy

seraph · Posted: Thu Aug 12, 2004 4:08 pm Post subject:

mosc · Posted: Thu Aug 12, 2004 4:12 pm Post subject:

Good tip. I've been doing that but I'm concerned about the wait. It should not wait. It seems that it does sometimes. I just made some big database server adjustments. I hope that helps. Even if we are moving off of this server within a few weeks, it's good learning experience. It will apply on any server we end up on...

seraph · Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2004 1:18 pm Post subject:

just for the fun of it:
open 2 windows on the forum of electro-music.com
on window A write a post and click "submit". While you are waiting to see that one appear go to window B and click "View posts since last visit". You'll see that the abovementioned post is already there.
Am I the Editor or what Question

elektro80 · Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2004 1:27 pm Post subject:

Yeah... I know. Howard and I have been discussing this a lot. When I first noticed this I thought it was caused by me sobering up. I am happy to tell that this was not the case.

elektro80 · Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2004 1:29 pm Post subject:

Anyway... ignore that one.. Shocked