12-02-2002, 09:50 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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We're a Little Too Clever For Our Own Good
Most of you will have noticed that this site has been up and down today like a yo-yo - we've had three complete melt downs where processes have gotten completely out of control, resulting in a server too slow to process anything. Here's why...
Web-site functionality is a double-edged sword. On one hand, our integration of the front page with phpBB is very functional and useful. It allows us to mine the database in different ways, exposing useful elements like the last ten posts, the top stories, number of responses to each post, a survey, and more. The problem is that for each one of those clever integrations, it requires a query to our database. Each query requires RAM and CPU resources to process - I believe our opening page has in excess of 25 SQL queries, and when 1000's of you are visiting every day, the net result is an overloaded server. Dynamic sites may be "cool", but they're brutal on a server if not designed to scale with large amounts of traffic. Every time you visit the opening page, if you're cookied, you get logged into the phpBB forum. Clever, yes, but resource consuming like you wouldn't believe!
We're working on several ways to combat this problem, including the potential removal of some of functionality of the opening page. We're going to try and implement a caching solution that will reduce the load, but if that doesn't work something has to change - we can't continue to offer rich functionality if it kills the site on a regular basis. Thanks for your patience in this while we work through the issues, and I'll keep you informed of any changes that we need to make that will impact your use of the site.
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12-02-2002, 10:04 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 47
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I personally don't use the "last ten posts" and "top ten stories" thingies... never really noticed them to be honest with you. Perhaps they could be disabled by default and users who prefer can enable them in their preferences?
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12-02-2002, 10:05 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 157
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Jason,
Is there any way to have the query results cached on the server? The home page doesn't change that often. It would be cool if you only fired a refresh event to the home page when the database content changed.
__________________
Charles Pickrell
Sacramento Mobiole Computing SIG
A chapter of the NorCal Mobile Computing SIG
www.mobilecomputingsig.com |
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12-02-2002, 10:06 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 143
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I like everything that the front page of Pocket PC Thoughts has to offer, and I don't want to see ANY of it taken down. Well, maybe the ads! :wink: Anyway, perhaps you ought to switch to another server. Perhaps Microsoft will allow you use of some of their gigantic bandwidth because you are a site deticated to their product...?
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12-02-2002, 10:08 PM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 15,171
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Charles Pickrell
Is there any way to have the query results cached on the server? The home page doesn't change that often. It would be cool if you only fired a refresh event to the home page when the database content changed.
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Indeed, PDABuzz only updated last 10 posts once every 5-10 minutes or so, IIRC, and served it statically to everyone.
Wes, if you're reading - did you encounter any of these problems and did you have any novel ideas as to how to resolve it?
--bdj
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12-02-2002, 10:25 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 170
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As someone said... make stuff static, and make it update every x minutes. 5 minutes should be short enought, and save you tons of bandwidth/cpu cycle. Yeah I know conceptually a fully dynamically website is very cool, and toying around with SQL is fun, but there's a price to pay. Another option is to make the stuff to the right (top ten posts, etc) optional, such that default users don't see it. Betcha a good percent of ppct users will not even miss it.
Anyone critizicing the ads... how you think we get this for 'free'? Jason and team are EXCELLENT and if I could help them by buying stuff throught their ads for the same price I would elsewhere, and from merchants that Jason and team trusts, then I will. I also open ads on the site often, I find interesting stuff AND contribute a bit to keep ppct running... just my 2cents!
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12-02-2002, 10:27 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 170
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Hey BigDaddyJ, that's an IBM XT!! The original PC, at 4.77 Mhz, my father bought one when I was young. So cool all his geek friends came over and basicly spent a weekend at our place enjoying the machine! When my father upgraded to a hellishly fast 16Mhz 286, he left me that. I began programming in that computer!!
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12-02-2002, 10:30 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Charles Pickrell
Is there any way to have the query results cached on the server?
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"...We're going to try and implement a caching solution that will reduce the load..." :lol:
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12-02-2002, 10:36 PM
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Mystic
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,768
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Thoughts is great
Quote:
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Originally Posted by KyleC
I like everything that the front page of Pocket PC Thoughts has to offer, and I don't want to see ANY of it taken down.
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I too like what Thoughts has to offer. It is my one for-sure place to stop each day. Since cookies can auto-login you into the forums, perhaps that is a feature that should be turned on by advanced users otherwise it is disabled?
__________________
Jonathan (JonnoB)
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." -Edmund Burke
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12-02-2002, 10:36 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 88
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Now you're not actually suggesting that we visit the site less often to reduce the load....are you???? :lol: 8O
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Linear Mode
