lately the forum is playing up again

gtfpv · 04-01-2011, 01:51 PM

it seems to be a hit and miss weahter you can log on here lately . and sometimes opening a page takes 3 minutes or more . i dont know why but this site seems to have continual issues .
cheers .

svo347 · 04-01-2011, 02:09 PM

My end seems fine mate??

gtfpv · 04-01-2011, 02:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by svo347

My end seems fine mate??

yeah some times its super fast . and others randomly impossibly slow . and sometimes i get the oops there is a probblems with this site , the internet cannot connect to it .
this is why i ask here . could be my computer , but it's only this site that it ever happens on .

XRGhia · 04-01-2011, 02:24 PM

Same here... I just go onto another forum I regular on and just stay on here browsing for a little while then I try aff again and its fine.... WierdM

Are you by anychance with tpg?

Kryton · 04-01-2011, 02:24 PM

mines the same.

Paxton · 04-01-2011, 03:19 PM

Same here.

Optus and Mac OS.

**gregaust** · 04-01-2011, 04:52 PM

Been pretty good for me ,big improvement on a few weeks ago, occasionally might take a little longer..

I always go to " new posts " but only get a max of 8 pages now , used to be 20 ??. Has that changed too ???

Geez Louise · 04-01-2011, 04:55 PM

Russ changed the number of new posts to 200 Greg

to assist with the server load.

pulpist · 04-01-2011, 04:57 PM

Gets a tad slow around 9am/9pm, so I guess that these would be the peak times for traffic on the forums server.

chrisfpv · 04-01-2011, 05:01 PM

Same here.

Jason[98.EL] · 04-01-2011, 07:03 PM

also have been having issues getting on

I just shut down and re load but that doesnt always work

**redxm** · 04-01-2011, 07:06 PM

Doesnt seem to be an issue here, although I have fast speed connection.
The 'new posts' being limited isnt great. I used to be able to log on and read the last couple of days posts if i was away with work etc

buggo · 04-01-2011, 07:09 PM

Same thing for me. I go to the 'downforeveryoneorjustme' site, by the time I realise 'it's not just me', it's back online. But if I don't do that, it takes ages. coincidence...

Mickxr8 · 04-01-2011, 09:28 PM

Same here, but it usually happens early morning or evening.
I think it`s all you greedy easteners stealing our internet

(only joking)

T3man · 04-01-2011, 09:29 PM

Yeah it's bloody frustrating - has been happening for months all told. Comes good for a coupla days then starts locking up again. Why does it always do it when I'm ready to "post quick reply". Damn thing locks up and takes 10 mins sometimes to let you back in. Then sometimes the post has gone up and sometimes not. Giving me the sheets real good today as it's been off more than on. It will probably lock again when I try to post this.

Geez Louise · 04-01-2011, 09:34 PM

I clear out my cookies with CCleaner and it appears to log me back on...

I know a server upgrade is coming. We just need a bit more patience.

Frustrating at times yes...but well worth it when you do get logged back on hey?

BENT_8 · 04-01-2011, 10:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Geez Louise

Frustrating at times yes...but well worth it when you do get logged back on hey?

Agreed! im sure if it could be rectified easily they would be all over it by now.

Easily the best run car forum i've visited, im happy to persevere!

vztrt · 04-01-2011, 10:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Geez Louise

I know a server upgrade is coming. We just need a bit more patience.

Seems the biggest issue was when they migrated to the server they're on now. But this site is huge with so many members so its not gonna be a walk in the park.

Geez Louise · 04-01-2011, 10:50 PM

Exactly. We all love this site and Admin are aware of the issues, so a little patience is required. With the amount of users on here, picking a time to do an upgrade is going to be hard as the site will be down for awhile.

**gregaust** · 04-01-2011, 10:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Geez Louise

Russ changed the number of new posts to 200 Greg

to assist with the server load.

Thanks Louise, now i just got to check in more often

buggo · 04-01-2011, 11:02 PM

Thanks geeze louise, you talk like a moderator btw

any spots opening soon???

Geez Louise · 04-01-2011, 11:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by buggo_gt

Thanks geeze louise, you talk like a moderator btw

any spots opening soon???

Sorry about that...I should get my speech looked at...

That is a very nice compliment though. Thank you

ZDI-970 · 04-01-2011, 11:25 PM

i agree it may be frustrating at times, but theres not much more the admins can do, they work bloody hard already lol
and it is around peak times that the server is slow

**russellw** · 05-01-2011, 09:03 PM

I can happily report that the new server is running in test mode at the moment - I had hoped to get it operational during the Xmas break but migrating all the little add-ons is a time consuming process that has to be fitted in around more mundane things like earning a living.

The two big add-ons (the gallery and portal) are both running fine so now it is just a matter of testing the other 5 add-ons (reputation, Sales Yard scripts, warning system, Auto PM and jump to last post) before testing can commence with a small test group.

Load testing has been completed as per the charts below.

By way of explanation, there are two things critical to server performance for this type of server. Available memory and CPU capacity. In simple terms, each user request is handled by an apache server process each of which takes a small amount of memory (it can vary) and a small amount of CPU capacity so that it can work.

At the same time, the server processes use some of each too - searches (one of the worst) take quite a bit of memory and CPU while they are executing.

What happens currently (as can be seen in the graphs) is that as the number of concurrent users increases, the available free memory goes down and the CPU utilisation goes up. When free memory gets low and CPU gets over 75% utiliisation then the server can't create more apache processes and we get the slow downs described above. This is made worse by the fact that we limit the number of apache worker processes that can be running at any one time to 300 - which is a limit that is a balance between saving memory and serving all the requests. Note that this is 300 concurrent processes and most of the requests on the server are answered in milliseconds (once answered the apache worker is available again). Experience shows that it takes about 900 active users to actually reach the 300 worker limit although this can be impacted by other server housekeeping activities (such as the ones that run each hour).

Free Memory

In this graph we can see the impact that increased number of concurrent users have on the available free memory on the current server whereas the new one has 4x the actual base memory which helps protect it from memory degrading performance.

Note: the new server simulation tests actually hit the server harder than real users do because of the way the scripts run and because that server is configured to allow 1000 concurrent apache workers.

CPU Utilisation

In this graph we can see the impact that increased number of concurrent users have on the CPU utilisation for the current server - anything over about 80% (equates to 700 users) starts to degrade performance and limit the number of worker processes.

Server Load

On Unix servers, the two metrics mentioned above (and a couple of others) are combined to provide a server load index. Basically this should be in single digits and ideally below 2.5 but as you can see it climbs rapidly as the user numbers increase on the current server where the new one doesn't hit 2.5 until 1500 users and that could probably be improved with a bit more tweaking than it has had.

Cheers
Russ

Geez Louise · 05-01-2011, 09:33 PM

Awesome stuff!

Thanks for all the effort you put in Russ. Definitely appreciated.

naddis01 · 05-01-2011, 09:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Geez Louise

Russ changed the number of new posts to 200 Greg

to assist with the server load.

Just wondering if this is a permenant change?

Geez Louise · 05-01-2011, 09:55 PM

I dont know...I read it in another thread in site support that russellw posted in.

russellw is the best person to ask.

gtfpv · 05-01-2011, 09:56 PM

hey RUSS thanks for the info . it gives me an insight on how much is involved in this stuff . cheers .

SpoolMan · 05-01-2011, 10:27 PM

The constant hardware upgrades are not cheap; the site just keeps growing….. If you like what you get here at AFF and want to put a little back in, Donating Members Status starts at $20 for 12 months subscription.
Info link to DM.
http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=52951
All administration and moderator work on this site is done without payment.

Road Games · 05-01-2011, 10:42 PM

I would happily be a mod on this site as i spend almost 6 hours a night on here..
Oh and my car is no longer linked to it ...