Forum slower for anyone else?

Maybe its just me, but over the past week or so I've noticed that the forum has been very lethargic in responding to my browser.

Its happening both at work (yay productivity!) and at home, so I don't think its a connection problem.

Anyone else getting this?

me too.

Me, too.

Me too

Oh yeah, In the time of its loading I've worked on work:)

work=bad

I've always found it to be very bad. Usually (in my lunch break of course) have this openm and a couple of other places too as Catsailor takes so long to respond. Nothing to do with my connection speed as I am on a 10MB line....

And I thought it was just me!

Thanks, I feel much better now. I've been known to screw up "perfectly good computers"

My connection icon says I an connected at 100 mbps and it takes 2-3 min sometimes. My little Road runner guy is running his butt off!!!!

Doug

I have also noticed, but I also find it more responsive depending on what time it is. I always tought it was worst when there was night in the US, and assumed some periodic job was running on the server (backup, or DB reorganization)?

Yes it has just started being real slow, I would never use the site if it was this always this slow.
Rick, time to call your web host.

It seems to have been getting slower and slower over the last month.

Each page refresh or clicked link is taking anything up to a minute to load. I usually switch back to work for a coupla minutes and then comeback to catsailor once the page has loaded. It does take a lot of the enjoyment out of the experience

PS It's just taken 3mins 17secs to upload this post

Yea, I've noticed the same for quite some time - and it's getting worse

Tad,

I'm in Houston and yes, we have a problem. Very slow............

I stopped the webpage load and hit reload several times thinking that it was not responding. Then the last time I did I walked away from the computer and there it was when I got back. Waaay Too Slowww.

Dan

I noticed as well.

Wouter

My name is Chad Clarke and I am the admin for catsailor.com. The next time you see this problem, please post to this thread the time the problem occurred as well as the number of users viewing the forum. You can find out how many people are viewing the form by clicking on the "Who's Online" link at the top of the page. I need to know the number of logged in as well as anonymous users.

We may be expieriencing a load issue on the server and this info will help me look in the logs to see if there was a problem at that time.

Thanks for your help

Slower for me also, even when there are very few people logged on. Sometimes have to double click message to get it to start downloading.
And a month or so ago the right third of the Home Page got missing again. No problem Mary I can live with it. The site is great when it gets here.
Aren't Computers fun?
Terry

Site is slooow for me too.

It's slow for me too, but it wasn't terribly slow until this morning.

Seems to be doing ok for me. I'm in Panama City and am using Knology Cable modem (Webstar). It is 1830 EST and there are 16 users online.
I haven't been having any problems lately. Sometimes it drags, but I am usually on at this time of day and it moves along fine.

-Rob V.
Nacra 5.2
Panama City

Midnight GMT - 15 Users online - Everything loading very well. Haven't had things this quick for a long time

Terry:

Right third missng is either resolution to high (use 800 x 600) or using large text option in properties setup. I bet it is large text option. When I did it I had the problem. When I went to standard text and 800 x 600 it fixed it

Doug

seems to be quite speedy at the moment.
it definitely "felt" like a processor load problem. Once I clicked on a link it would take a very long time for the server to respond, but once it did, the whole page loaded.

... now I get to go back to my 24-CD Oracle Clinical installation!

yep - better here too.

me too

Still slow here.

Maybe it's overnight backups that catch us in the UK. Rick, what time do they run ?

12 hours later and it's slow again

7:00 am here in NC, 12 users online, sloooooooooooow.

12.40pm here in the UK, 7 registered and 23 others on line and the site is flying!

I'm a happy bunny again!

7:56 and 19 users online and slow here in NC

John,

Gotta disagree. I'm getting 3second+ responses at times. V slow.

8:40 EST 11 Registerd, 13 Anon. Very slow.

Chad, thanks for listening in and helping. It's rare to have a Sysop actually make an appearance online.

It's been slow EVERY morning Eastern US time for a week or two. This morning there are about 20 total users. This morning it is slow to "connect", not a slow "paint". No response for 10-15 seconds, then...flash! The whole screen pops up.

9:04 AM EST
13 reg/23 Anon
fastest time 3 second
slowest 22 seconds
Average 11 seconds

Yesterday I had times over a minute.
Seems to be improving.
Rick

I did find some processes which did not terminate correctly and were running in the background. I rebooted the server this morning to see if that would clear things up. Let me know if anyone still sees this problem. If so, post the requested data here.

It is 12:30 pm Central Standard time here. Seems to be working fine now. Guess reboot was the answer.

Thanks,

Doug

Appears to be much better now. Still slow at times but actually useable as a single activity.

10:00am GMT 4 users online and we're slooow again!

and now.

Is the server in the states doing stuff overnight. Apprears the real problems are AM Zulu.

it was ok before I posted this.

now its slow.

Clark,
The Forum is running slower than normal.
It's about 11:20am EST.
11 users on line + any "invisable" users

The Catamaran Sailor home page and linked pages are loading normaly. Only the forums are slow.

Chad,
There are 5 registered users and 9 anonymous at this time. I sometimes have not been able to get this thread to open at all and I have to give up and go back to the home page and start over. After third attempt, the thread finally opened, but very slowly.

After my 11:00 a.m. post, just preceding this one, it would not return me to the forum afterwards.

Chad,

Can you get rid of the pop up or rotating adds ? I always block them or scroll up on the screen so I can't see them (the moving adds are very irritating)

We don't have any pop-up ads on this web site -- just permanently positioned banner ad spaces at the top which help pay for this web site's existence.

Mary

On my page the banner on top flashes different adds and the add to the right flashes different adds. I realize that they help pay for the site but can't you keep them from flashing. You could change to a different add when you go to a different page. The way it is now I have been blocking them or scrolling down on the page so I don't see them. If I don't see them what good is the add. My point was are the flashing adds slowing down the site.

David,
The ads have always been like that and it was never a problem in the past, so I don't think that is it.

Chad,
Now I cannot even get the reply screen to open up half the time, and in all cases when I make a reply, it won't take me back to the forum after the reply is entered.

All right, make me a liar. After my preceding post at 12:01 p.m. I was returned to the forum. But I had to wait at least 3 or 4 minutes for the reply box to open up again to make this post.

Pretty slow, even without any photos/avatars

4 users logged in, 10 anonymous users


C:\Documents and Settings\1>tracert -d www.catsailor.com

Sporer rute til catsailor.com [206.251.189.210]
over maksimalt 30 hopp:

1 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms x.x.x.x
2 43 ms 10 ms 21 ms x.x.x.x
3 15 ms 11 ms 27 ms x.x.x.x
4 15 ms 18 ms 12 ms 213.184.199.225
5 22 ms 14 ms 24 ms 213.184.196.81
6 24 ms 16 ms 19 ms 213.184.212.121
7 16 ms 16 ms 25 ms 213.184.211.113
8 15 ms 31 ms 23 ms 213.184.197.45
9 15 ms 18 ms 16 ms 213.184.197.41
10 29 ms 34 ms 35 ms 193.28.236.189
11 30 ms 31 ms 30 ms 193.28.236.209
12 148 ms 35 ms 28 ms 64.213.33.173
13 129 ms 135 ms 131 ms 67.17.79.10
14 150 ms 129 ms 156 ms 208.51.134.26
15 152 ms 152 ms 152 ms 144.232.9.149
16 172 ms 148 ms 154 ms 144.232.26.97
17 164 ms 162 ms 157 ms 144.232.20.129
18 172 ms 167 ms 167 ms 144.232.8.63
19 190 ms 168 ms 166 ms 144.232.11.86
20 169 ms 174 ms 169 ms 144.232.9.136
21 329 ms 179 ms 165 ms 144.223.244.134
22 183 ms 182 ms 258 ms 216.140.5.65
23 200 ms 173 ms 207 ms 216.140.4.13
24 * * * Forespørsel avbrutt.
25 186 ms 184 ms 243 ms 208.231.96.5
26 178 ms 235 ms 184 ms 206.251.189.210

Søking fullført.



What is the load on the server? If it's around 1 or below, time to identify which subsystem is struggeling. SQL server, or HTTP server? If everything looks fine, even your uplink, check if any systems suddenly have begun waiting for DNS or IDENT checks (run dig/nslook manually).

Once again coming up to midnight GMT. No problem with advts. And everything is moving well at the moment - very slow earlier today.

The site still moves well for me. Cable modem 1850 CST. Of course there are only two registered users and 3 anon's.

-Rob Vaden
Nacra 5.2
Panama City

Sunday Morning 8:22 am, 5 of us regestered, 10 not registered. All other sites in a flash but got to CS Forum just too long. Try Who's Online after 30 sec gave up. Went out came back in <1 sec to Home.

Never changed my settings last time they fixed the Home page so the complete page shows across. Just cuts off the advertisements mostly.
Great site Mary just trying to help.

Terry

David,

I think you've been infested by trojan ad programs. I only have on ad at the top right (that's built into the page) that is the typical Catsailor fare. No popups. Try running ad-aware software...it's free.

http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-SE-Personal-Edition/3000-8022_4-10399602.html?tag=lst-0-2

Jake:

I run SpyBot Search & Distroy ever night before I signoff and find 75-100 problems to remove. I also run Adware. Both are free for private use.

Doug

It's just getting unusable now:

Ahh, good one Simon. I did not notice the statistics on the bottom of the page..

Rolf,

I'll see your 4.455 secs and raise you:

Dang, you win John!

Generated in 4.437 seconds in which 0.759 seconds were spent on a total of 14 queries. Zlib compression disabled.

Pretty responsive just now in fact..

Generated in 1.32 seconds in which 0.754 seconds were spent on a total of 13 queries. Zlib compression disabled.


That is pretty much normal for me. I don't know what Knology is doing with their servers, but it's working for me.

-Rob V.
Nacra 5.2
Panama City

Generated in 0.748 seconds in which 0.605 seconds were spent on a total of 14 queries. Zlib compression disabled

So It's speeding up then

Generated in 2.144 seconds in which 0.663 seconds were spent on a total of 14 queries. Zlib compression disabled.

So it's UBB/server (i.e. not the database engine) taking the time as I assume the 0.663 seoconds on 14 queries is getting returned from MySQL.

Wow, check this one out!

Generated in -0.006 seconds in which 0.000 seconds were spent on a total of 13 queries. Zlib compression disabled.

I feel younger.

-Rob V.
Nacra 5.2
Panama City

5:46 am 2 registered 5 online. Found the rates at bottom of forum:
Generated in 20.439 seconds in which 19.467 seconds were spent on a total of 14 queries. Zlib compression disabled.

Then for message: much faster?
Generated in 0.523 seconds in which 0.069 seconds were spent on a total of 6 queries. Zlib compression disabled.
Whatever this means. Hope it helps.

Generated in 8.502 seconds in which 6.774 seconds were spent on a total of 14 queries. Zlib compression

T think we can all agree things are slooooooooooooow.

Yep, agreed:



PS. 2 registered and 18 guests online

I don't know what you guys are talking about but I do know this forum seems to lock up from time to time, won't open or opens very slowly. Other times it works great...
Is that due to heavy volume on the server?

14 registered and 15 anonymous users are browsing this forum. Generated in 0.082 seconds in which 0.016 seconds were spent on a total of 6 queries. 8:34AM

Timbo, Don't feel bad...I dont know either.

A bit slow, 17 Registered and 20 Anonymous users!

Timbo: The numbers indicate that the server probably is overloaded at times. Some time it's the database backend that is slow, at other times it's the forum frontend that is slow.


E.g, my latest stats.

Generated in 12.99 seconds in which 0.013 seconds were spent on a total of 6 queries. Zlib compression disabled.


The database did its work fast, but the forum frontend which runs on the webserver (I suppose this forum runs on Apache and MySQL) used ~13 seconds to generate the page. Since it varies which subsystem is slow, I guess the server is bogged down doing something else. The question is what it is doing, as I dont see a influx of new users or increased activity.

Well where do you find these speed numbers and what's a Zlib? etc...?

You find them at the bottom of each page.

Zlib is just a software library for compression of e.g. data-streams from the web server to your browser. It's not in use on this server.

Generated in 31.768 seconds in which 30.974 seconds were spent on a total of 58 queries. Zlib compression

It is a server load issue. I will discuss with Rick the options to speed things up. It is not any 1 particular subsystem, the site is just outgrowing the server.

While we had the server down today, we added more ram to it. It now
has 1.25G of ram while before it only had 512Mb. This may help
mysql run more efficiently which may help the forum run better.
So far, it seems to be running with good speed again.
Enjoy,
Rick

Thanks! The increased speed is DEEPLY appreciated!

Rick;

I don't think the problems were MySQL; I think it was UBB/PHP was the problem.



So the query was taking 0.683 seconds but the processing of the results took the other 5.3 seconds.

So the extra ram will (maybe) helping in 2 ways

1, The resultset can be kept in Ram.
2, PHP results / arrays can also be lkept in ram.

Overall good (so far)

just to add to the confusion, when logging this morning...





Now (at the time) looked that MySQL was taking the time...

Same here:

What are the specs for this server?

Generated in 9.441 seconds in which 0.67 seconds were spent on a total of 13 queries. Zlib compression disabled.


As it varies which subsystem are slow, there must be a lack of resources. Doubling the RAM to 1GB has improved the performance as I experience the forums. There are lots of things that can be done to tune a server and further improve it, but I think we should leave it to the sysadmin and Rick until they ask for ideas and tips (the linux geek factor is probably quite high on this forum).

What I have noticed, is that many of the anonymous users are reading quite old threads. I suppose they either find these threads trough search engines, or they perform searches locally on the server. Free text searches, as I suppose they are implemented in this forum, with mysql as a backend, can be quite resource intensive.
Personally, I found that turning off "View user's pictures with their posts?" under "Display" settings improved the performance.
I find the forums quite usable now, even if Simon posted a horrendous time yesterday.

Things are slowing down again!

It has been almost unusable this morning!

I have had blazing speed lately, except once in a great while. Meanwhile, we are working on upgrading all of our boxes at the datacenter.
Whenever that happens you can expect very good speeds.
Rick