Forum upgrade 11-Jun-2011 - FEEDBACK

[Big'G' 0]

I don't always get to see the whole of the page i'm trying to read, this is on all pages if I refresh it sometimes cures it but not always,

I use Mozilla.

[Andi 2,147,483,647]

Ok, apologies if any of you spotted a little bit of down-time this afternoon, but that was for a good reason!

 

I have purchased a second dedicated server, and have setup the second server to be a 'slave' to the first one - essentially duplicating the site LIVE as it's being used.

This means that if the main server decides to explode in a fiery mess, one quick DNS change and the site is back up in a minute or two.

This second server will also take snapshots of the site at various times, meaning that if attacked, or all wiped, we can 'roll back' to an earlier time where the data exists.

 

I couldn't have fathomed where to start with this if it wasn't for the great assistance of t700bes who has been Linux coding away most of this afternoon getting it up and running. And of course, it wouldn't have even been possible without your donations.

 

So thank you, and here's to 100% uptime! :)

[bristolbaron 11]

good work and well done t700bes !!

[Andi 2,147,483,647]

Cheers, bb!

Toby's been a star. Very impressed with his ideas and solutions to a neat backup setup.

Nice to have a new member just offer up so much support just 'cos he felt like it!

 

Also lucked out of the dedicated server too, as I received a higher spec CPU than the one I ordered (ordered a cheapo Celeron, but received a 2Ghz AMD Dual Core) so if we do have to revert to fallback, the site shouldn't suffer much in terms of speed.

 

S'all good!

 

Thanks Donators! Without you guys, I would struggle to afford the upkeep on here. I hope you like that I'm putting the donations to good use in making sure the site stays online! (And not filling me with cake or anything.. lol)

 

---------- Post added at 08:25 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:24 AM ----------

 

Unrelated, does anyone know any websites where you can buy cake and they support Paypal...?

 

(Kidding ;))

[t700bes 1]

Cheers Andi

 

I am making minor adjustments during afternoons (site isn't used as much then) to speed things up.

 

Here is a list of things I have done, if anyone is interested:

 

1. mySQL slave replication to another server. So as you post a message, it updates 2 databases. If the main server goes offline, we switch to the backup and all's good. Also we can now backup from the slave server... This means it wont be slow should anyone want to browse the forum when backups are happening :)

 

2. Convert some tables to Innodb - This should speed up the forum a lot as the posts table is MyISAM meaning when someone is selecting a page, and someone is updting, you have to wait until the other person fininshes. This shouldn't happen anymore and should be INSTANT!!

 

3. General mySQL tuning like using its caching.

 

Any comments / suggestions welcome (tell Andi, he's the boss).

 

Cheers

[Andi 2,147,483,647]

Well, if you thought the site was quick before... whatcha think now? :)

I'm getting instant pages at the moment... Thanks t700bes !

[t700bes 1]

Its all in the detail :)

 

Let me know what you think everyone else. If something is slow, drop me a PM and I can see why its slow :)

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Was very slow and clunky for me on IE7. IE8 showed a marked improvement but it still slows up pulling the adverts down, for me at least. This is on my work machine. IE9 on Windoze 7 at home is about the same. No where near as quick as it used to be on the old format. Forums engines, like operating systems, are becoming far too bloated these days.

[swiftkid 1]

Probably totally irrelevant but wheres all the emoticons gone?

[Andi 2,147,483,647]

Probably totally irrelevant but wheres all the emoticons gone?

 

If you want the full list, you need to 'Go Advanced' then click [More] under the smilies on the right.

 

Was very slow and clunky for me on IE7. IE8 showed a marked improvement but it still slows up pulling the adverts down, for me at least. This is on my work machine. IE9 on Windoze 7 at home is about the same. No where near as quick as it used to be on the old format. Forums engines, like operating systems, are becoming far too bloated these days.

 

The amount of data vB uses for each page is immense in comparison to phpBB. All the CSS, Javascript, Mod tools we have, etc etc etc... so yes, it is a lot more to churn through. And IE is slow at processing any site with Javascript, so you'll be the bottleneck on that one.

[swiftkid 1]

I don't even have a list andi

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Yeah IE is not the best, that's for sure :D I hate it in fact, when it gets stuck on something and just sits there hogging all the processor threads and memory.

 

Can anyone recommend a decent browser that's lightweight, fast and doesn't try and take over my desktop? I used to use Opera and Firefox but they've gone all 'IE' fatness these days and they don't support a lot of Sharepoint controls, which I need for work.

[Andi 2,147,483,647]

I don't even have a list andi

 

Then you don't have the Advanced Editor. In your preferences.

If you're an iPad user - you can't have it all, I'm afraid!

 

Yeah IE is not the best, that's for sure :D I hate it in fact, when it gets stuck on something and just sits there hogging all the processor threads and memory.

 

Can anyone recommend a decent browser that's lightweight, fast and doesn't try and take over my desktop? I used to use Opera and Firefox but they've gone all 'IE' fatness these days and they don't support a lot of Sharepoint controls, which I need for work.

 

Not a Chrome lover then?

[t700bes 1]

+1 for Chrome

[swiftkid 1]

I'm on google chrome, I have the advanced message editor, just no emoticons anywhere :s

 

:cheers: yay, found them after some setting alterations

Edited July 6, 2011 by swiftkid

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Not a Chrome lover then?

 

At work, not a chance. Googleupdate.exe is not allowed through the firewall.

 

Why does everything have to be in the sodding 'cloud' with them? Just gimme the darn install files already....

 

I keep reading good things about Chrome 12 though, so I'll try it at home later.

 

---------- Post added at 06:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:52 PM ----------

 

Hard pushed to detect much of a performance difference between IE9 and Chrome 12 to be honest. I must have a sluggish machine :D

[ziderapple 0]

Chrome FTW

[Wullie 1]

I've just changed to Chrome and must admit I was pleasantly surprised at how much faster everything is.

[Andi 2,147,483,647]

At work, not a chance. Googleupdate.exe is not allowed through the firewall.

 

Get Chrome Portable.

No install mess, all still works, and leaves no trace.. ;)

http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/google_chrome_portable

[Kevin Bacon 5]

New dual core work machine with a tonne of RAM + Windows 7 = LOADS frickin better! :D

 

Will check out the portable download, cheers Ghandi :D

[andy 0]

Forum seems to be running like lightning today!

[OllieVR6 0]

I've been having a weird issue on the forum that started only recently (not sure exactly when...a couple of weeks ago maybe).

 

Anyway, it was taking ages to load pages to the point where Chrome was hanging. I've made it better by changing back to the forum default of how many posts to display per page, but it was running fine on the highest number ever since the we changed to the new software a few months back so not sure what's different.

 

Any ideas? Has been happening on my Chrome at work and home. I don't use other browsers these days so haven't done any testing at this stage.

[t700bes 1]

Sounds like a possible SQL issue, Could you replicate it? If so we can look on the server to see whats going on...

[OllieVR6 0]

It's odd, I thought it might be hanging when the quick reply editor was loading, but now I'm leaning more towards the attachment add in as it's worse when I look at a members thread page which has lots of pictures attached.

 

If it's just me then I'll try a few things, it just puzzles me that it happens at work and home.

[Portent 0]

I was getting a lot of hanging and noticed the browser was waiting for google +1. So I disabled it in settings --> profile --> +1 --> off. It seems to have helped so far.