Most days I find I am locked out of RC forums due to "server overload" (see below) and have to perservere before I can get in. Is anyone else seeing this or is it just me?
(09-01-2012, 09:57 PM)Mid Life Crisis Man Wrote: Most days I find I am locked out of RC forums due to "server overload" (see below) and have to perservere before I can get in. Is anyone else seeing this or is it just me?
OK thanks, beat me to it. The problem is that admins don't get the overload message, so I was unaware that the problem was persisting.
Here is a summary of what has happened since we last discussed the issues. (WARNING - pretty dull fare.)
I've just been reading the myBB forums to find out if others have the same problem. Some do, and it is probably linked to the amount of spam registrations we get. And yes, I have always had anti-spam plugins installed, but they don't seem to help as much as I'd hoped.
Anyway, after the previous problem, when the hosting company suspended the forum, I carried out the various servicing tasks within my capabilities - oiliness change, egos pumped up, a few forum nuts tightened, exhaustion checked, hot air filter changed, loosened timing belt a notch or two, that sort of thing, and all seemed well for a period. The hosting company were happy and reactivated the forum.
I also researched other forum products, and decided phpBB had some nice 'themes' (have never liked this one). Looked into installing and migrating the data from here. Could do it myself, and still might, but not sure I can spare the time and effort to do it rigorously enough. So I advertised on elance.com to see how much it would cost to get some pro help. Offers so far range from $107 to $450 though most seem to be from halfwits. Am considering haggling with an Indian chap who wants $170. Or I could do it myself.
Another option investigated is to move from the current hosting arrangement on a shared server (i.e. we share with other people, unknown), to a dedicated server or 'virtual private server', or VPS. Dedicated would be good but too expensive. VPS, a halfway house is a better possibility. The advantage with making this sort of move is that I can request the sort of configuration changes to the server that would ease the server load. On shared hosting, this option isn't available.
I'd not followed this up further as I mistakenly thought this was no longer causing trouble. That's where I am.
I'll wait to see if others are having problems before deciding what to do.
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
Just thinking off the top of my head here: this may be a drastic solution, but is it possible to close signups to the forum, and require new members to mail you in order to join? It's not like there are new members flocking to join every day. Yes, it's great occasionally to be able to make contact with new people attending events, or to offer our collective wisdom to solve a training or injury problem, but those really do only happen a couple of times a year.
Not even sure if it's possible, Andy? What do others think? I know it goes against the grain.
(10-01-2012, 08:15 AM)marathondan Wrote: Just thinking off the top of my head here: this may be a drastic solution, but is it possible to close signups to the forum, and require new members to mail you in order to join? It's not like there are new members flocking to join every day. Yes, it's great occasionally to be able to make contact with new people attending events, or to offer our collective wisdom to solve a training or injury problem, but those really do only happen a couple of times a year.
Not even sure if it's possible, Andy? What do others think? I know it goes against the grain.
I think it's a very reasonable suggestion, and yes, this is quite possible to do. In fact, in theshort term i.e. now for a few days, I will stop new registrations completely, and see if this has any effect on the server load thing.
That said, it may be existing spam members who are causing trouble. But worth a try anyway.
Thansk for the prompt.
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
(15-01-2012, 02:31 AM)Mid Life Crisis Man Wrote: Four days on and I haven't seen a single server overload. Looks like that is all it was all along! Cheers EG.
Funnily enough, I had a few error messages emailed to me yesterday (automated mails from the server) alerting me to a server overload. But all 4 came within a 5 minute period so I'm hoping that was just a blip. Do please continue to let me know of problems. I'm still looking at alternatives.
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
I'm still having problems getting on to the forum. Sometimes i get in sometimes i get that message with mybb, hey at first i thought it was something to do with me! Just thought i'd let you know.
I've tinkered a bit with the configuration and run the database optimisation scripts again. Let me know if things seem any better. If so, it might just be a case of having to do this once a week or so.
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
Right. I've just re-emerged from the engine room, where I've been tightening my nuts and polishing any knobs I could lay my hands on. Repaired a few tables while I was at it. Let's see if this changes anything.
I've also written to the hosting company to ask why we might be having this trouble, given that it's not a frantically busy forum. I'll see what they say.
I've also been in touch with someone who can advise me on whether we would be better off a) moving host b) moving forum software c) changing from the basic shared server to a 'virtual private server' or d) trying to fix the problem here. Or some other solution.
I've also reopened registrations, but these will have to be approved by me before getting activated. Should reduce spam at least. (Though recent measures seem to have helped there already).
Please report back with news -- good or bad. Thanks.
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
