# If this site was any slower I would slip into a coma!



## Sir ThornCrest (Jan 18, 2005)

Is this site really slow sometimes? Or do I walk alone on this one?


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## Turanil (Jan 18, 2005)

Everyday, the same hours (end of evening for me), it's impossibly slow beyond exasperation.

Right now, you could not believe the time it took me to access your thread and be able to answer. In fact, now i leave the place and will come back only tomorrow morning.


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## Ghostwind (Jan 18, 2005)

Slow is the normal course of all things related to this site 99% of the time. Now whenever the new server is completed and running, then we will see if it truly makes a difference.


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## kenobi65 (Jan 18, 2005)

And this is why they had a fundraising drive for a new server a few months back.

Take heart, it should get better soon.


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## Henry (Jan 18, 2005)

First, Welcome to the Forums, SirThornCrest! I hope you'll like it here.

The Bad News: This site has around 900 visitors looking at it at any given moment, and several thousand unique visitors who visit it every day. It's running on an Athlon 1.4ghz server, and its resources are stretched to the max.

The Good News: A fund raiser two months ago (early november) raised $13,000 dollars for a new server and hosting fees. The new box is 99% complete (matter of fact I need to go check on an update now), and when done will use the newest VBulletin, Dual Optern 848 chips, about 2GB (4GB?) RAM, and SCSI 15K speed hard drives; in other words, around 7 or 8 times faster than now. I'm still pegging the final transition to "End of January".

So take heart, and it will be definitely SOON.


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## BOZ (Jan 18, 2005)

slow should be no surprise.    it took me several minutes to load this thread.  but, alas, boredom at work forces me on despite the lag time.


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## Krug (Jan 18, 2005)

Excruiciating.


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## Piratecat (Jan 18, 2005)

Lordy, we're close on the new server -- and I can't wait. This is killing all of us.


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## BOZ (Jan 18, 2005)

it really would be, if i didn't have something else to do while waiting for it to load.


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## Crothian (Jan 18, 2005)

Piratecat said:
			
		

> Lordy, we're close on the new server -- and I can't wait. This is killing all of us.




some more then others.....


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (Jan 18, 2005)

Its speeding up a little more now. Wow, the site's not been that slow for a very long time.


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## The Sigil (Jan 18, 2005)

*deleted by me*

--The Sigil


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## ssampier (Jan 19, 2005)

*Slow but tolerable*

It's been fairly slow for me (10 to 15 seconds between pages and 30 seconds to a one minute for a post), but it's tolerable. I remember the days of the Wizards boards on ichat, THAT was slow (that was in the dark days of dial up, too).


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## Umbran (Jan 19, 2005)

Hey, even if it's slow, it is good.  Some things are worth the wait!


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## Truth Seeker (Jan 19, 2005)

It is my fault ....*finding a mountain dew soda bottle, and starts to get drunk*


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## jester47 (Jan 19, 2005)

*Hope we are not on new server.*

Man this place is getting slow.  I hope we have not yet gone to the new server.  That would suxor.

Aaron.


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## Allanon (Jan 19, 2005)

Luckily us europeans have it fast with most of the times at the max 600 users online during rush hours when I'm at work (rush hour starting roughly at 14:00, my complete morning is spent at near perfect speeds  (and if I guess correctly that's because around 14:00 here equals 8:00 central time in amerika, and thus all them early bird yankees are eating away at my bandwidth ).


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## Darkness (Jan 19, 2005)

BOZ said:
			
		

> slow should be no surprise.    it took me several minutes to load this thread.  but, alas, boredom at work forces me on despite the lag time.



I recommend reading the rpg.net forums (or the damnation army forums) while waiting for threads to load. 

It's what I do, anyway.


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## johnsemlak (Jan 19, 2005)

I'm going to go against the grain and say I experience few problems.  That may be because I live 8-9 hours ahead of many posters on these boards, and thus am online when many are asleep.


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## diaglo (Jan 19, 2005)

Darkness said:
			
		

> I recommend reading the rpg.net forums (or the damnation army forums) while waiting for threads to load.
> 
> It's what I do, anyway.




moi aussi.

along with teh Mortality.net, Nifty Boards, WotC, NecromancerGames, MonteCook, etc...

one of them is bound to load... before this one does.


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## Piratecat (Jan 19, 2005)

jester47 said:
			
		

> Man this place is getting slow.  I hope we have not yet gone to the new server.  That would suxor.




Someone hasn't read the previous posts in this thread -- probably because the server wouldn't load them.  

No, the new server is screamingly fast. ETA less than 2 weeks.


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## AGGEMAM (Jan 19, 2005)

If this site was any slower ... we should all be exchanging mail adresses and mail each other instead.


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## Morrus (Jan 19, 2005)

The new server has been bought, built and is now in place!  Now we need to migrate all the data from the old server to the new one, do a bunch of testing and configuring, and we'll have lift off!


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## Crothian (Jan 19, 2005)

Ya!!  Ya!!!  Ya!!!!!


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (Jan 19, 2005)

Crothian said:
			
		

> Ya!!  Ya!!!  Ya!!!!!



 Don't you mean Ia!! Ia!!! Ia!!!!! ?


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## jester47 (Jan 19, 2005)

Ftagn!

My thread got merged.

A.


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## BOZ (Jan 19, 2005)

Piratecat said:
			
		

> No, the new server is screamingly fast. ETA less than 2 weeks.




*jumps for joy!*


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## Michael Morris (Jan 20, 2005)

Less than 2 weeks?  Try less than 4 days.  (and that's the Scotty estimate if you catch my drift).


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## Crothian (Jan 20, 2005)

Cool, thanks Michael!!


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## Len (Jan 20, 2005)

Piratecat said:
			
		

> No, the new server is screamingly fast.



Yeah right, because only Adlon, Morrus and Morris are using it. Wait a few days and we'll see how "fast" it is.


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## Steve Jung (Jan 20, 2005)

That's true. Has it been Crothian-tested?


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## Crothian (Jan 20, 2005)

Steve Jung said:
			
		

> That's true. Has it been Crothian-tested?




no


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## Truth Seeker (Jan 20, 2005)

Crothian said:
			
		

> no




no need for the test...the database has *crothian* written all over it


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## Michael Morris (Jan 20, 2005)

Ok, we're pushing this back to Friday so Deathe can help out. In the meanwhile I'll begin configuring non-database items on the server.


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## thalmin (Jan 20, 2005)

Will the post counts for each of us be retained, or will Crothian have to start all over? (Then we can have a pool for when he gets his first 1000.   )


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## Truth Seeker (Jan 20, 2005)

thalmin said:
			
		

> Will the post counts for each of us be retained, or will Crothian have to start all over? (Then we can have a pool for when he gets his first 1000.  )



EEP!!! wait...thats' sounds promising...okay, lets see if he can do it with 5 days...wait, 3 days. after the new seve is up.

I wager a 10 bill on that.


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## LightPhoenix (Jan 20, 2005)

I just woke up, and this thread has gone by!!!!


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## Zappo (Jan 20, 2005)

The database is being copied over, so the postcounts will stay (assuming no technical problems).


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## Adlon (Jan 20, 2005)

Ok, heres a bit for you guys wondering about the speed of the new server ....

When we initialized the RAID array, the mirror transferred at 65MB/s...... That means you'd be able to copy a complete CD to your hard drive in about 12 seconds.

Recompiling the kernel took a little over 5 minutes from start to finish, including the config time.


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## diaglo (Jan 20, 2005)

Adlon said:
			
		

> ...including the config time.





config.sys
autoexec.bat


Adlon,

my mang ... you are talking my language. IYKWIMAITYD...

3.11ed for Workgroups here we come....


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## JoeBlank (Jan 20, 2005)

thalmin said:
			
		

> Will the post counts for each of us be retained, or will Crothian have to start all over? (Then we can have a pool for when he gets his first 1000.  )




Profiles have total posts and posts per day. Crothian is posting at an average pace of 22.16 posts per day, so it would take him about 45 days to get to 1000.

Moot, since post counts will not be lost, but interesting nonetheless. Just goes to show Crothian has perseverance on his side as well as frequency of posts. He keeps at it, day after day after day.

edit: just checked my own profile, .92 posts per day.


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## Knight Otu (Jan 20, 2005)

So, I'm a little confused now - has the data backup happened already? I never saw an announcement, but a few posts seem to indicate there was one. If so, shouldn't the gaming action forums be closed, as was discussed earlier?


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## Berandor (Jan 20, 2005)

JoeBlank said:
			
		

> Profiles have total posts and posts per day. Crothian is posting at an average pace of 22.16 posts per day, so it would take him about 45 days to get to 1000.
> 
> Moot, since post counts will not be lost, but interesting nonetheless. Just goes to show Crothian has perseverance on his side as well as frequency of posts. He keeps at it, day after day after day.
> 
> edit: just checked my own profile, .92 posts per day.



 You know, if Crothian would post NOTHING for THREE YEARS (join date 01-18-02), his post count per day would still be above 10.


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## Piratecat (Jan 20, 2005)

Knight Otu said:
			
		

> So, I'm a little confused now - has the data backup happened already? I never saw an announcement, but a few posts seem to indicate there was one. If so, shouldn't the gaming action forums be closed, as was discussed earlier?




Not yet! We were going to, but now we're waiting until Friday night. Sorry for the change.


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## Knight Otu (Jan 20, 2005)

Ah, thanks for clearing that up!


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## Henry (Jan 21, 2005)

WORD OF WARNING TO THOSE WHO HAVE YOUR HOPES UP:

There may be a period of time where Michael has to configure various hacks, alterations, etc. So there may be some weirdness after the changeover. So as in any major overhaul of a forum, keep hope and goodwill flowing, and take any sudden, "sorry folks, got to take the boards down a second" with good cheer.

Mike, Thomas Heretic, and Adlon are some top-drawer talent, but there's always a chance for a glitch or two during the process...

...and God, yes, I can't wait either.


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## Truth Seeker (Jan 21, 2005)

Henry said:
			
		

> WORD OF WARNING TO THOSE WHO HAVE YOUR HOPES UP:
> 
> There may be a period of time where Michael has to configure various hacks, alterations, etc. So there may be some weirdness after the changeover. So as in any major overhaul of a forum, keep hope and goodwill flowing, and take any sudden, "sorry folks, got to take the boards down a second" with good cheer.
> 
> ...




Ya know, stop the tease...it is so, nerve wracking ....as they say, the proof is in the pudding. If the site is down for while, I am prepared, ready to backtrack a few tons of news articles(stop screaming Michael  )my XBL is running hot, andddd, got D&D books to lookover.

I am ready this time...awaiting the chip that will empower Enworld!.

Nuff said.

And oh, a small tiny request, just have enough backup in case Crothian assualts the boards in a frenzy...LOL


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## SpiralBound (Jan 22, 2005)

It occurs to me that all this excitement over the new server is to a certain extent setting everyone up for a certain measure of an emotional letdown.  After all, while the new server will be a lot faster which will be great, it's not really going to be any different in any other respect that I've heard anyone mention.  Visiting and posting on Enworld isn't going to look or feel any differently, it'll just run smoother.  There won't be any new features or a dramatically different look or layout to the Enworld site.  On the good side though, that does mean that we'll still have access to an excellent online resource for roleplaying!


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## LightPhoenix (Jan 22, 2005)

Actually, ENWorld will now have the following features:

1) It will now make your breakfast and get you the local edition of the newspaper.

2) It will have your children, should you desire.  Configured for all genders!!!

3) NEW AND IMPROVED POSTING!!!  (actually the same) 

4) Eric Noah's grandma will actually be staring at you through the site, ready to chastize if you use harsh language.

5) Smell-o-posting!


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## BSF (Jan 22, 2005)

Stability and scalability will be all I am looking for.  The best compliment for the implementation team would be that we don't notice anything except a speed increase.

Of course, that is unlikely to be the case.  They are also upgrading code and that requires making sure all the assorted code tweks need to be re-implemented.  Moving a site of this size to a different server is an arduous, detail intensive process.  Unfortunately, there will almost assuredly be some sort of problem that crops up.  For many of us, we will take it in stride because we understand the potential pitfalls, or because we are generally understanding folk anyway.  But there will be a few that will unreasonably be irate/grumpy/whatever and will complain needlessly.  

In the last week, I have migrated two major servers from aging hardware to brand new hardware at the company I work for.  It is a tough process.  I am sure the implementation team will do an excellent job.  There may be problems that crop up, but I am willing to give them the time and support that they need to complete the transition.  By definition of the migration, we will have a period of brief pain.  But the payoff will be a stable, scalable server that can perform well with the load that EN World generates.  

So I don't feel any particular potential for a let down if that is "all" they accomplish.  Even accomplishing that will be a notable event.  Especially from folks that are volunteers instead of paid staff.  Not that they don't have the skills, or the potential, but they are giving up their time from doing other things right now.  I appreciate that.


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