# Reducing Serverload 101



## Psionicist (Apr 27, 2002)

This will help a little...

1) Put downloadable files like asgard magazine on other, free server. This will reduce serverload.

2) Put images on other free server, a well as all other files not plain text.

3) Put the d20reviews database -or- the whole d20review thing on a separate server.

4) Force the number of posts viewed per page to 15 or 20.

5) DISABLE attachments!!! 

6) Disable unnecessary sendmail services.

7) Disable "views" on forum indexes. Unnecessary db quries.

8) Disable forum access for unregistered users, "guests". This is not the best solution but it might be necessary in the future.

The optimal changes presented here are 1, 2, 3, 5 and 8. The other options are just details for a small ammount of extra bandwidth. Option 7 is also a good thing to disable. We have enough MySQL queries already.

And finally, go to the secret moderator panel and look for this line on the frontpage: *Server Load Averages 0.69, 0.52, 0.50 94 users online (65 members & 29 guests).*. The 3 numbers (0.69, 0.52, 0.50 in this case) should be below 3, preferable around 1-2.

Over and out.


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## CRGreathouse (Apr 27, 2002)

Psionicist said:
			
		

> *7) Disable "views" on forum indexes. Unnecessary db quries.*




This one, especially, sounds quite painless.

As for the others, I'll say only this: I'm certain #8 will never happen.


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## Morrus (Apr 27, 2002)

Most of them don't apply.  

1,2,6) are how things are set up anyway.

3) can't. they were on the other server originally and moved to the main server because the other server couldn't handle it.

4,7) Good ideas.


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## orbitalfreak (Apr 27, 2002)

*Posts per page?*

I didn't realize this caused any problems on the server.  I have mine currently set at the maximum allowed.  Oh well, I'm off to set mine to the minimum, just to help out a little.  Maybe some other users will do this, too.

And if y'all others do that, post here.  Seeing more people helping out will encourage even more to do their part.


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## XCorvis (Apr 27, 2002)

Would pruning old threads help at all? You could arbitrarily remove all OT threads that are more than say, 30 days old. Or just delete everything over 3 months old? That would be unpopular, but since we can't search, people just ask their questions twice, and a lot of material is very time dependant so it's not even relevant a few days later.


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## Darkness (Apr 27, 2002)

Would turning off thread ratings help? Threads are almost never rated anyway but does the program still check for ratings when displaying the threads in a forum?


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## XCorvis (Apr 27, 2002)

I went poking around vBulletin and found a couple things, they might be worth checking out.

First, this forum is absolutely huge, with over 1 million posts. He's running 2.2.5 and I notice we are at 2.2.1. An upgrade may help.

Second, this guy's sig has a lot of optimization/help links. Some seem worth checking out.

Third, I've seen a gzip (file compression) setting mentioned in several places. You should have it set to 1. If it is higher, it will use too many resources compressing files. It's supposed to help reduce bandwidth. You might also try setting it to 0 (disable) to see if that speeds anything up. It will take more bandwidth, tho.

Fourth, it might not be vBulletin. It could be some other program causing a problem, which, combined with vBulletin, is crashing everything. I'd disable everything on the server that isn't absolutely necessary. Maybe upgrade your web hosting software as well.

Fifth, (I assume you're using linux or unix), recompile everything with optimization tags. Default installs of many operating systems (Red Hat, in particular) are set for 386 compatability and are not optimized. I think you are using a PIII, right? So you should have things set for 686 compatability. If the box runs better, the boards run better.

I'm sure you've done or looked at some of these, but I thought I'd throw them in just in case.


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## Morrus (Apr 27, 2002)

XCorvis said:
			
		

> *I went poking around vBulletin and found a couple things, they might be worth checking out.
> 
> First, this forum is absolutely huge, with over 1 million posts. He's running 2.2.5 and I notice we are at 2.2.1. An upgrade may help.
> 
> ...




vBulletin is not causing the problem.  A woefully underpowered server is.  The server itself needs upgrading.

I'll check out those links - thanks.

Not using linux or unix, btw.


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## Ashtal (Apr 28, 2002)

Curious...don't know if it's me, or the boards, but I've noticed the little black dots indicated whether or not I've posted to a thread are no longer showing up.

Has this feature been turned off, if it can be?


Ashtal - I don't trust my browser, either, though.


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## Holy Bovine (Apr 28, 2002)

Those black dot things are gone from my view too Ashtal.  Daggnabitt!


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## drothgery (Apr 28, 2002)

Morrus said:
			
		

> *Not using linux or unix, btw. *




Which, as much as it pains an unrellenting Windows advocate like me to admit, is probably not a good thing if you're running a PHP/MySQL based message board like vBulletin. Neither PHP nor MySQL are very well optimized on Windows.


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## Morrus (Apr 28, 2002)

Yeah, but the asp areas of the site won't work *at all* on linux/unix.


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## XCorvis (Apr 28, 2002)

Ah, Windows. That explains it.  

There are some SQL optimization links in #2, I think. Don't know if they do Windows, tho.


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## drothgery (Apr 28, 2002)

Morrus said:
			
		

> *Yeah, but the asp areas of the site won't work *at all* on linux/unix. *




Anyone know if there's a good ASP or ASP.NET-based message board system out there?


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## LightPhoenix (Apr 28, 2002)

Morrus said:
			
		

> *Yeah, but the asp areas of the site won't work *at all* on linux/unix. *




Which area would these be?  Is there other possible ways besides asp to implement these areas?

A server upgrade is badly needed, but I too would recommend some sort of unix/linux system for the server, it's a lot more stable.


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## Morrus (Apr 28, 2002)

LightPhoenix said:
			
		

> *
> 
> Which area would these be?  *



*

Reviews page, ad rotation etc.




			Is there other possible ways besides asp to implement these areas?
		
Click to expand...



No, because the know-how isn't available.  Liquide knows ASP.*


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## A2Z (Apr 29, 2002)

Ashtal said:
			
		

> *Curious...don't know if it's me, or the boards, but I've noticed the little black dots indicated whether or not I've posted to a thread are no longer showing up.
> 
> Has this feature been turned off, if it can be?
> 
> ...



No black dots for me either.  I was confused for a bit. I'm just glad I'm not alone.


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