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Tony

Website slow lately

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18 Comments
by
Tony
, 02-16-2012 at 10:18 PM (498 Views)
The S&B website has always existed on the cheapest web servers available - called "shared" servers because several hundred websites share a single computer (called a "server"). Usually this works well, assuming everyone on the server uses a small portion of the server's resources. But sometimes bad things can happen to one website and those can cause every other website on the server to slow down.

When this occurs, a 'static' website such as one person's Wordpress blog will simply give a 404 (Not found) error and that's the end of it. But a forum like our own is a 'dynamic' website, meaning each page served is constructed on the fly as it's needed, and this can lead to chaos on an overloaded server. Person 1 clicks "new posts", but before the command completes Person 2 clicks "Post Reply" and Person 3 clicks the calendar and suddenly we have a server log full of S&B clogging up the system, even though it wasn't us that started it.

At that point the people in charge of running our server must either (or both) 1) Reboot the server 2) Suspend our account until our dead processes clear out. This is what happened earlier today when they suspended our account and you were unable to reach our website.

I wish I could say it won't happen again, but until the real culprit is located and stopped, or until we're moved to a new server with less load, chances are it probably will. Staff is keeping on top of the situation, and if the forum is down will keep everyone informed via social media.


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Comments

  1. Willis's Avatar
    Good explanation. Until someone wins the lottery and donates some dough, we'll have to be satisfied with the shared server status. Believe me, we've looked into various upgrades, but the next step up is pricey.
    BTW, you can find S&B's Facebook Page HERE and our Group page HERE
    Google+? I'm still on the learning curve
  2. chipgallo's Avatar
    How much does a year of your preferred dedicated server cost?
  3. kkrapf's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by chipgallo
    How much does a year of your preferred dedicated server cost?
    Ditto to Chip. How much would you need?
  4. chipgallo's Avatar
    A quick look finds costs between $200-$300 a month for a managed server and less than half of that for a do-it-yourself dedicated box.
  5. Tony's Avatar
    Our current host has VPS's from $18 to $90/mo. The $30/mo (360/yr) package looks like the best fit. http://www.webhostingbuzz.com/vps-hosting.php
  6. chipgallo's Avatar
    Er, this is the host that knocks you off the air with a message that implies the bill wasn't paid. Are you wedded to them for some reason or just don't want the hassle of moving?

    VPS does not necessarily equal a real, separate dedicated server. The virtualization piece requires host expertise and is something else to go wrong. Some steer clear of it. The high level ranges I quoted are for separate boxes, not virtual servers.
    Updated 02-17-2012 at 02:21 PM by chipgallo (comment on VPS)
  7. Willis's Avatar
    We can sorta view VPS as a "poor man's" dedicated server. It's implicit in its name, virtual private server. And Chip may well be right that it will have its own problems. BUT, even @ $100 a month we'd be broke in short order if we aim for a fancier package. Right now we're subsisting on a dwindling number of sponsors' largess and no one seems interested in attracting more advertisers to support what is essentially the community's website.

    We received $20 in the past year in the way of donations. We discontinued the donation "Goal Thermometer" some time ago so folks wouldn't feel obligated to part with their dough to use S&B. One of the basic premises of S&B was to provide a free service to the users. As far as hosts are concerned, I suppose all have their pluses and minuses (tho I sure don't like their heavy-handed suspension actions). I'll defer to Tony on that front.

    Sheesh, we're open to suggestions.
  8. Kensey's Avatar
    I vote for "rent a VM from Linode or Panix". The cabal I associate with likes both of them, Linode especially (but protip: don't use the Linode datacenter in Fremont, CA).
  9. Tony's Avatar
    The devil you know is sometimes preferable to the one you don't. Having been with these guys a while, we're on a first name basis with them. Not that I wouldn't change for a good reason, but right now I think they're doing everything they can with cheap shared hosting. We actually tried a different one a while back for sheptown.org and they were awful. So of course they're succeeding fantastically in the business.

    I only glanced at Linode and Panix. Both 1gb VPS's seem to be $40/mo, but oddly neither makes any mention of managed hosting, which I think is especially important for a site not run by Linux geeks.
  10. chipgallo's Avatar
    A virtual server is a server with its resources divided up by virtualization software such as that made by VMWare, Microsoft and others. It can be tuned to give a certain amount of CPU (central processing unit) time or cycles to each virtual server. The host can effectively short sheet you by either creating too many virtual servers or shaving CPU time from your VPS for some other use.

    S&B has been loading and running slow for me since I started visiting again in January. I'd turn off the ad pop ups, chat box, graphics uploads, and anything else other than basic threaded discussions to see if things improve. Slowly add the extras in, one by one until you find the resource hog(s). If you have diagnostic logging turned unusually high (lots of detail), that can bog things down too.
  11. Willis's Avatar
    Observation: we should be having this discussion in the forum.
  12. chipgallo's Avatar
    talk to the hand, he started it here.
    Updated 02-18-2012 at 08:29 AM by chipgallo
  13. Tony's Avatar
    Alas, on a shared server it's not possible to see what direct effects turning off a specific feature does. At most, if I connect with a shell (I even forget what it's called now), I can only "top" or "ps" our own processes. But I have never seen any of our procs running at much more than 0% CPU - including the lists they've sent me when they've suspended us. See https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...WlKd2VkaXA5eVE

    edit: It's "Putty" I must use to login to a shared server shell. A most annoying program that involves entering addresses and passwords manually. And then only after applying to your host to allow it.
  14. chipgallo's Avatar
    Not entirely germane, but I have used various low-cost hosts over the years for web sites (not vBulletin/MySQL though). If they annoy me with relentless "upgrade" tactics, multiple logon requirements, obscure or unavailable metrics, etc. why that is when I look for a new host. Right now SiteGround is the sweet spot for me, with the first year costing $10 and knowledgeable Joomla support folks available. I would be happy to share the $10 invite code with you (or anyone else). They make GoDaddy, POWWeb, LunarPages look like pikers. Not sure what a piker is, but daddy use to say it.
  15. cindylu's Avatar
    Well folks we may want to start the conversation soon. The site is getting incredibly wonky. I'm willing to kick in. Thanks Tony for your help and patience.
  16. chipgallo's Avatar
    The forum was fast for me yesterday (Thursday) and so far today. Whatever changed, keep doing it!
  17. Tony's Avatar
    I haven't changed anything. When it's up, we're seeing tiny CPU loads of under 1.0 with 50 people on, which is why I've always insisted there's nothing wrong with our forum. But the server did have a slowdown around 5am today and a complete failure around 8am, so I don't think it's fixed (though those could always be network problems).
  18. chipgallo's Avatar
    Restarting the server after a crash can clear out orphan processes. Is CPU the only metric they have for load?