Scheduled outage for 11/22/02 & Search, Avatar information

Spark

Spark

HPIC - Hatas gonna Hate
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Oct 2, 1998
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I'm busy troubleshooting the server right now to see what's cooking with it. Currently we've upgraded apache, perl, php, & MySQL to the latest versions and we're still getting high server loads.

I've temporarily (cross fingers) disabled avatars and removed inline attachments - Gold members will still be able to upload attachments, however they will not display in the thread for the time being.

Seach is still disabled for basic members. I will be shutting down the forums on Friday to rebuild the search index and do a complete forum rebuild - we'll see if any of this works come Friday. I'll also be purging some of the old attachments (older than 9 months or so) on that date. Hopefully all of this will result in our being a leaner, faster site as a whole.

Thanks for your support during these inconvenient times.

Kevin
 
Spark,

I'm concerned about purging the old images. What about places like the Busse picture archive? Will they be deleted or stay since it's a semi active thread.

Thanks,
Jay
aka Raden
 
Probably deleted. Sorry, but we've got to do something here, and deleting old images is part of the solution.

If you've got pictures you want to save, I'd so now.
 
Thanks for the heads up Spark, I'll have to look about and gather some images up!

Good luck on your fixing! must be a bear!!!
G2
 
If you are going to drop the pics, you might as well erase the thread entirely. What would be the point in reading a discussion about a series of photos that are no longer there?

n2s
 
The method of pruning attachments is a workaround since the software doesn't currently have a way to do so. Hence, I'll have no clue what attachments will be gone - it just a prune by date.

Sorry. Wish I could do more - but I'd rather lose pictures than threads.

We're looking at possibly clustering servers and seeing how that works out as well... but that won't fix the short term.

Kevin
 
Hey Kevin,
What would it take to actually fix the problem? I mean bottom line.


Phillip
 
Bottom line? I need a new server. I need a new server with a minimum of 2gB of RAM, RAID, fast SCSI drives, and 2+ 1.5ghz or faster processors. I'll then cluster that server with the existing one, and we'll have a really fast site that could handle just about anything. So, I need about $14000. That's $14000 that this site doesn't make.

The good news is I could lease it at $400 a month for 46 months. And pray we don't outgrow it in 2 years as well. :rolleyes:

Kevin
 
Spark,

Do we have to actually prune the data? Could we instead archive/backup the old threads and take them temporarily off line; doing it in a way that would allow up to load them back up after the upgrade. It is better to take the info off line for a while then lose it completely, and irretrievably.

n2s
 
No way to do so. If I could split the db, I would, though that does bear further investigation.

Kevin
 
Originally posted by Spark
Bottom line? I need a new server. I need a new server with a minimum of 2gB of RAM, RAID, fast SCSI drives, and 2+ 1.5ghz or faster processors. I'll then cluster that server with the existing one, and we'll have a really fast site that could handle just about anything. So, I need about $14000. That's $14000 that this site doesn't make.

The good news is I could lease it at $400 a month for 46 months. And pray we don't outgrow it in 2 years as well. :rolleyes:

Kevin
Click to expand...

Then why not got to the members and say "here is what we need to get right" and allow us all to kick in what we can afford to kick in. If every active member kicked in $10 we'd make a dent in that 14k,,,wouldn't we? Whether it's through donation or by "auctioning" off donated items, it seems to me we could at least reduce the cost. Is there a reason why we can't do it?


Phillip
 
I'd be willing to help out and I think most of the other members here would as well. $10.00 to $20.00 isn't that much to most of us individually, but it would sure go a long way to covering the cost of this upgrade. There would have to be a concerted effort to get to raise the money quickly. I would hate to see more and more valuable information have to be trimmed in order to keep this forum running smoothly.
 
Don't feel bad about the servers Spark this is one of the best forums around on any topic. I frequent a paintball forum (pbnation) that is so slow and crapped up it's unbeliveable. It's worst then dial up speeds around there and they let whoever post whatever whereever. This place is great even without avatars and search functions...Although I would like those back at some point :D

I notice every one else ont his thread is a gold member...hmmm...Spark I'm I part of the problem? :( I've been posting here for a good while maybe I should ante up huh. :rolleyes:
 
So this means that pictures will disappear in The Gallery as well? That is what the Gallery is all about. That would just about destroy that forum as far as I am concerned.
 
If avatars are such a problem, how come you increased the size limits on them a while back? Wouldn't it have been easier to just keep them small? Not that I didn't appreciate the bigger ones (gotta see my car!) but...oh, I dunno what my point is. If you needed money and got a fund thingy set up, Spark, I'd chip in ten bucks or so. BFC is a great place, not least because of the speed and efficiency with which it's run. *grin*

Ash

edit: Ugh, just noticed no smileys. *grimace*
 
Wouldn't bother me if you keept the avatars off if it will speed this place up.
 
Please don't delete the old pictures! They are what help make this site so unique. Some threads will be useless without the attached images. I don't find the site all that slow now that you have made the recent changes.
I'd rather have a slow site than a "reduced" site!

Ack!

Somebody send Spark $14000 soon! Or buy an upgraded membership.
-SB
 
If you want pictures in your posts, just save them on a hosting site somewhere, it is free. Then use the UBB tags to post the image in you post.

IF you really want to do it, buy a domain name and save the pics on your own website. Most cable users get a certain amount of server space with there contract anyways.

I am a computer (and general) idiot, but this looks like the solution to me.

As for the Busse Archive, I think some computer whiz type that cares about it should save all the pics to a hard drive and ehost them somewhere.

I have neither the time, skill nor inclination to do so, but someone probably does.

Get rid of the avatars if it slows things down.
 
Smilies are back up - that was my fault.
 
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