View Full Version : The relatively informal "is MoFo loading better now?" thread
Yesterday morning we had some more downtime issues due to a weekly backup routine, and in the process Rob pointed to an inefficiency in the post ticker query. Nothing terrible, but the query gets called a lot, so inefficiencies can add up.
I rewrote the query and last night came and went without the usual downtime or database errors. And, anecdotally, the site has seemed much faster since.
So, how's it going for everyone else since yesterday? I'm cautiously optimistic that this may have been cause of a fair number of our troubles.
Cobpyth
07-29-13, 10:57 AM
The site is loading like a race car at the moment.
Miss Vicky
07-29-13, 10:59 AM
:up:
Skepsis93
07-29-13, 11:02 AM
Yup, very smooth at the moment.
Nice. I'm pretty giddy at the idea that this last change might have been the source of a lot of the problems.
The Rodent
07-29-13, 11:14 AM
Taken me 30 minutes to post in here just now...
Might be down to the mahoosive thunder storm outside right now... TV is down, internet playing up...
Typical.
Site is working faster though since last night...
The Rodent
07-29-13, 11:17 AM
Question: Was the thing that was playing up... the Box Office Top 10 on the main page?
Hmmm. Keep me posted on that; hopefully it's just the storm. Were other sites having trouble too, for example?
Re: box office. Nope, that's cached. It was the post ticker (This Just In...). Not a particularly inefficient query, but one that gets called a lot.
The Rodent
07-29-13, 11:22 AM
Ah... yeah it's the storm... TV is skipping and the internet keeps disconnecting... I use mobile dongle thing for my surfing, it's really temperamental... sometimes the thermostat in the hallway is enough to make the dongle bin the signal.
Loading noticeably faster now.
Nausicaä
07-29-13, 11:41 AM
Seems to be loading fine and dandy here. No problems today.
Godoggo
07-29-13, 12:19 PM
Yeah, there is a big difference between today and the last two days. By a lot.
Couldnt get on at all the past few hours. Just would not load.
linespalsy
07-29-13, 08:34 PM
same here. no thunderstorms today and other sites were loading fine.
Yeah, we had some downtime this afternoon, but as weird as it sounds I think it was a coincidence! The server's having the hard drive replaced and it's been fast when it's been up, so I'm still cautiously optimistic...
Harry Lime
07-29-13, 08:39 PM
If you ditched the post ticker altogether would that help speed things up at all?
Nah, don't think so. It should be fine now that it's rewritten.
Loading seems nice and smooth at the moment however is anyone else having problems trying to do searches? At best I'm getting about a 50/50 rate of success.
Thursday Next
08-05-13, 05:09 PM
Not sure this is really related to loading times, but I've had trouble getting on the site a lot over the last couple of weeks.
And now some of the images seem to have been replaced by random avatars.
Not sure this is really related to loading times, but I've had trouble getting on the site a lot over the last couple of weeks.
It may be, depending on the timing. We had some serious server issues and made some changes in response on July 29th, which is when I created this thread. It seems, anecdotally, as if these changes have caused the site to load much faster when it's up, and I'm trying to confirm that by asking others. That would cover the last week or so.
And now some of the images seem to have been replaced by random avatars.
Not sure what you mean by this, but it sounds unrelated so I'll send you a PM.
Also worth pointing out that there are two questions: speed and uptime. I'm almost positive that speed is significantly increased when the site is up, and that's what I'm trying to confirm. But we've still had some downtime problems. I'm fairly certain we're having much less trouble on that front, as well, but I wanted to make a distinction between the two. :)
Deadite
08-05-13, 06:50 PM
It was horrible for a while, got better, then worse, then better but still worse.
It's weird for me.
Sometimes it's super fast, sometimes the page won't load at all.
Harry Lime
08-05-13, 06:53 PM
Yeah, the site still can lag behind like an old man with a cane. Plus the downtime that seems to run on a schedule. When it's working properly everything is faster, though.
The Rodent
08-07-13, 09:19 AM
Ok... it's taken me over an hour and 4 attempts and I'm unable to post in my Top 50 Franchises thread... see if this post will go through.
May I ask why the server is the way it is? Sometimes I try to log on but can't access the website.
That's kind of what we're trying to figure out, but the stuff that happens in the middle of the night ET (afternoon your time) is usually server maintenance. We're working quite hard on trying to sort all this out, though.
Just so everyone knows, a new server is probably a given before long. But there's a lot of research to do and the cost is significant, so it won't happen immediately. In the meantime, I'd love to find a way to get the one we're on running decently again to remove the imperative of switching for a bit. We'll see what we can do.
honeykid
08-08-13, 10:20 AM
Thanks for the heads-up, Yoda. :up:
Occasionally the site wont load, but its alot better than it was. I dont know if this has anything to do with it, but I was having trouble loading MoFo in particular, and I decided to shut down a DivXUpdate file (which runs constantly in background) from my task manager. After I did that its loaded fine. DivXUpdate files broken my balls a few times before on other things, and just throwing it out there.
honeykid
08-23-13, 02:08 PM
It's been really bad this afternoon/early evening.
The Gunslinger45
08-23-13, 02:11 PM
Working just fine for me right now.
honeykid
08-23-13, 02:11 PM
Now it is, otherwise I would've have been able to post. There's been at least two Database errors this afternoon.
Quick update: I'm going to be removing various features for a day (each) or so to see if they might be causing some of the problems. This morning, I removed the avatars from the home page, because they're generated by a dynamic resizing script. That's my first, best guess as to which feature--if any--might be contributing to the server reboots.
So, don't worry; there's no plan to ditch the avatars. :) I just need to try to narrow down the list of issues. If it turns out something is a problem, like the avatars, there are usually ways to work around it so we can still use them in a different way on the tech side.
honeykid
09-09-13, 04:21 PM
Cool. This past weekend's been an absolute bitch for me.
The avatars are back. AM I NOT MERCIFUL?
That's the good news. But it's also bad news because it means I'm pretty sure they weren't a primary cause (maybe contributing, if there is no one cause). As annoying as it might be to have to rework them, it'd be worth it if it meant isolating the problem. But at this point it's pretty tempting to assume the problem is just the server itself, and that we need to move. Which I'm researching as we speak and might happen a little sooner than planned. I'll keep you guys posted on that, of course.
Big news: we've officially purchased our own dedicated server! This'll be hosting a handful of other sites of mine, but MoFo will be the largest by far at first, and it should have far more resources than it needs to load quickly.
I'll probably be spending some time over the next few days getting things ready, with an eye towards making the switch sometime next week. Hang in there!
The Rodent
09-27-13, 03:41 PM
Cool... the site has been down for near 11 hours today...
Skepsis93
09-27-13, 03:46 PM
Great news!
Harry Lime
09-28-13, 04:39 AM
Big news: we've officially purchased our own dedicated server!
That will make a huge difference. I have an idea of what they can cost, or the range at least, hope it wasn't too much.
teeter_g
09-28-13, 12:32 PM
I cannot wait for this new server! I had trouble getting on here today.
That will make a huge difference. I have an idea of what they can cost, or the range at least, hope it wasn't too much.
Yeah, that's not as exciting, seeing as how this is pretty much a labor of love already and my friend Rob has hosted the site for free for years. I did get a slightly better deal than I'd expected, at least.
Anyway, I'm starting to familiarizing myself with it; should be doing a lot of setup work over the next couple of days to get the basic stuff (FTP, database, email) setup.
Rob's been helping me setup the new server today, and it's going well. We've officially got a test file up and it's loading great. Still looking at a switchover this week. Can't wait to see how the site runs on this new box. It should really fly.
The Rodent
09-29-13, 09:27 PM
http://i1163.photobucket.com/albums/q552/The-Rodent/YodaComputer_zps6314554f.png (http://s1163.photobucket.com/user/The-Rodent/media/YodaComputer_zps6314554f.png.html)
The Rodent
10-15-13, 12:39 PM
Just had a crash on the site.
I got an HTTP Error screen saying that the web address may have been wrong.
Tried to bypass by going into my history and tried to go straight to a thread and kept getting a screen saying I didn't have permission to view.
Lasted for about 40 minutes.
Yeah, same here. Don't worry. The good news is that the server's load wasn't the problem. Might have been a slight security issue, though. That's it's own challenge, but the server is still handling MoFo with tons of room to spare.
There's bound to be a little of this since we're still getting everything set up, but yeah, the good news is that it isn't downtime in the old sense (IE: server can't handle things), just in the growing-pains-and-transitioning-sense. Sorry all the same, though!
The Rodent
10-15-13, 12:44 PM
Cool.
Thought I'd mention it, I thought there was something serious gone wrong being a new server etc.
That'd be a bummer. Get a new server and it blows a gasket within the first month.
Thanks man, appreciate it.
Yeah, that was the big horror scenario originally: that the problem was with the site and not the server. It's pretty exasperating since we had all those issues, and I know downtime is downtime is downtime, but it's definitely the "good" kind in the sense of being about server configuration and boring stuff like that. The server itself is still purring like a kitten. :)
Well, I think we're good now. There was a routing problem at the data center. Thankfully, it had nothing to do with load, or MoFo, or anything we did wrong. Just a mess up on their end. Server should be flying again.
Hope that didn't trigger any PTSD-style flashback for you guys.
The Rodent
12-01-13, 01:09 PM
I just clicked on my handedness thread and got a screen like this...
Just a temporary glitch?
wintertriangles
12-01-13, 01:11 PM
IT'S GREAT I think, who knows I'm no expert :high five:
I generally tell you if I see problems though, so take my silence as an advantage
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