# Recurring Board Slowness



## BSF (Nov 4, 2003)

Hello,
We keep having the boards slow down.  It appears that bringing down the board and bringing them back up helps.  Does this appear to be a hardware issue on the server?  Or is it an OS issue?  Or is it a software issue?

Hmm, actually, that is less important.  The important thing is - Is there any way I can help?  

I know you guys have good technical resources to call upon already, but I wanted to volunteer "just in case".  For what it is worth, I am a Network & System Administrator for my real job.  So, if there is anything that I might be able to do, feel free to email me.


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## Dimwhit (Nov 4, 2003)

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's a hardware issue and that buying a new server will fix the problem. Don't know when that will happen, but I think it will.


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## Piratecat (Nov 4, 2003)

I need to ask Thomas Heretic. Closing the boards for ten minutes and then re-opening them seems to clear everything up, and it's happening at the approximate same time every day.


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## diaglo (Nov 4, 2003)

if you want a record of when the boards go down. visit Nutkinland, WotC, Mortality, and/or Dragonsfoot.

i post to threads there when i can't get on here.


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## reapersaurus (Nov 4, 2003)

Piratecat said:
			
		

> I need to ask Thomas Heretic. Closing the boards for ten minutes and then re-opening them seems to clear everything up, and it's happening at the approximate same time every day.



Sounds like a RAM problem to me.
MAYBE the transaction logs or temporary memory space for transactions, but I doubt it.


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## Staffan (Nov 5, 2003)

Sounds like there's a process that leaks memory - that is, demands a chunk of it and then forgets to release it when it's done.


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## BSF (Nov 5, 2003)

Possibly, but it doesn't seem like that would hit at the same time each day for the past few days.  As well, stopping the board doesn't necessarily terminate programs.  It will terminate connections and it would probably free up processor cycles.  

I am inclined to think that there is another process running on the server that is competing for processor cycles.  However, it could be a matter of traffic being generated as we have time zones on the East Coast hitting lunch around the same time as the West Coast is getting a start on the day.  (Yes, I know we have members from all over the world, but I suspect a lot of traffic is generated from North America.)  This could manifest as a problem with the TCP connects, or as a problem with database logs.

Of course, it could be several other things as well.  We are just kind of guessing.  I'm sure they will figure out the cause and get it resolved.


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## reapersaurus (Nov 5, 2003)

BardStephenFox said:
			
		

> Of course, it could be several other things as well.  We are just kind of guessing.  I'm sure they will figure out the cause and get it resolved.



That's certainly an optimistic approach.

It sounds like it's a very difficult-to-pin-down problem - those don't have the best success rate of being exactly tracked down.
Usually the computer has to be reformatted and reinstalled to fix difficult problems.
Or upgraded or a new server put in.


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## BSF (Nov 5, 2003)

reapersaurus said:
			
		

> That's certainly an optimistic approach.
> 
> It sounds like it's a very difficult-to-pin-down problem - those don't have the best success rate of being exactly tracked down.
> Usually the computer has to be reformatted and reinstalled to fix difficult problems.
> Or upgraded or a new server put in.




With the information we have available to us it is hard to track down.  There very well could be more information available that somebody is already working on.  The hard aspect will be if it is a transient problem.  One that appears but nobody can find the relicable cause for it.  Those are nasty.  But, I will be optimistic and assume that they can track the problem down and design a resolution plan.  The big question comes down to whether it is quicker and more effective to rebuild than it is to correct.


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## alsih2o (Nov 6, 2003)

BardStephenFox said:
			
		

> Possibly, but it doesn't seem like that would hit at the same time each day for the past few days.  As well, stopping the board doesn't necessarily terminate programs.  It will terminate connections and it would probably free up processor cycles.
> 
> I am inclined to think that there is another process running on the server that is competing for processor cycles.  However, it could be a matter of traffic being generated as we have time zones on the East Coast hitting lunch around the same time as the West Coast is getting a start on the day.  (Yes, I know we have members from all over the world, but I suspect a lot of traffic is generated from North America.)  This could manifest as a problem with the TCP connects, or as a problem with database logs.
> 
> Of course, it could be several other things as well.  We are just kind of guessing.  I'm sure they will figure out the cause and get it resolved.




with apologies to gary larson....

 what the potter heard..

 "Possibly, but it doesn't seem like that would hit at the same time each day for the past few days.  As well, stopping the board doesn't necessarily terminate programs.  It will terminate connections and it would probably blah blah blah.  

I am inclined to think that there is another blah blah blah that is nlah blah blah blah.  However, it could be a matter of traffic being generated as we have time zones on the East Coast hitting lunch around the same time as the West Coast is getting a start on the day.  (Yes, I know we have members from all over the world, but I suspect a lot of traffic is generated from North America.)  This could manifest as blah blah, or as a blah blah blah blah blah.

Of course, it could be several other things as well.  We are just kind of guessing.  I'm sure they will figure out the cause and get it resolved."


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## BSF (Nov 6, 2003)

Thanks! You made me smile.

Yeah, I probably slip into the computer geek mode too easily.  Sorry about that.  It's what I do all day at work.


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## JoeBlank (Nov 6, 2003)

What I say: "That one made me laugh out loud, alsih20. Nice work."

What the potter hears: "blah blah alsih20 blah blah"


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## Steverooo (Nov 7, 2003)

Well, from where I sit, the boards become unusable about 11 AM CT... for whatever that's worth...

I sure hope Morrus goes ahead with the server upgrades, soon!


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