Faster Server?

DarkCloud · August 13, 2001, 18:22

Is there any chance you could move to a faster server or upgrade yours?

Today, I have had trouble posting things... posting anything took about 1-2 minutes.

I only say this because I think it only happens when a lot of people post... but a lot of people will soon come here.

Provost Harrison · August 13, 2001, 19:13

I have to agree, it is being damn slow at the moment. I am just comparing it to when I am browsing the www.civ3.com and it does seem damn lethargic...

Shadowstrike · August 13, 2001, 21:44

The author of this post suggests to all denizens of Apolyton that browsing in multiple windows will allow one to use their time reading more posts rather then waiting for a post to be posted. Having said this, the author will now read posts on the EU forums while waiting for this post to load.

- Groucho - · August 13, 2001, 23:48

I, too, hope you can get a faster server. The little "page loading time" box has become an object of horrid fascination for me. I often get times in the 30 - 45 seconds. Which sounds petty, but it means that it takes too looonnnggg to flip through the forums on my work breaks.

tniem · August 14, 2001, 02:00

My load times for everything but posting has been less than a second all day on my cable line. However the post lag has forced me to browse in multiple windows for the first time since I upgraded my line. Oh well, it reminds me of the good old days...

BeBro · August 14, 2001, 06:01

Currently, with ca. 50 users online, I get pages in ca. 5 seconds with 56K, which is pretty fast for V90. But as soon as we have over 100 visitors at the same time it becomes veeerrryyy sloooooow...

DarkCloud · August 14, 2001, 15:03

The worst forum for the load times is the Civ III: Civilizations. It took me 5 minutes to post and after that I waited 3 minutes for another post, then gave up.

I'm never on with less than 100 active users, there are usually 120 registered and 20 guests on when I am.

DanQ · August 14, 2001, 15:24

Everyone:

When you are concerned about the speed of Apolyton, first take into account your connection speed and any other traffic you may have going on with your internet connection simultaneously. Second, try visiting other websites for comparison -- I know some people have already tried this, but I just wanted to go over this step nonetheless.

Third, perform a traceroute on apolyton.net (under MS-DOS prompt, type "tracert apolyton.net"). This will show you the number of 'hops' and the time you connection took with each 'hop' to get from your computer, through your ISP, along the necessary Internet backbones and finally to our server. This will show you reasonably when if/when there is any slowdown and how bad it is. Fourth, try performing just a standard ping for comparison purposes (under MS-DOS prompt, type "ping apolyton.net"). Assigning a number of what is acceptable or not is arbitrary based on personal opinion, connection speed and the number of hops required to reach Apolyton or any other website for that matter, but in my person opinion at or under 350ms is acceptable. For me for example at just this moment I performed a ping and got a response time of 202ms (average); when I performed a traceroute moments later, the biggest slowdown was in the thirteenth (of nineteen) hops with BellNexxia's backbone connection in Chicago.

Last but not least, try connecting to Apolyton at different times of the day and see if you notice any difference in performance in regards to the other points to check I have raised here. If after this you still believe that it is Apolyton's server that is a/the primary cause of a slowdown contact Tony Bolger, GameStats' Director of Technology, at <A HREF="mailto:tonyb@worldchat.com">tonyb@worldchat. com</A>.

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Dan; Apolyton CS

Urban Ranger · August 15, 2001, 05:41

The traceroutes I have done have less than 500ms on the international hops and 100ms for the local hops. Still ACS is very slow. Sometimes the brower has a hard time resolving the IP address, other times it takes a long time to initiate transfer of a page. Once the transfer begins it goes at a reasonable speed.

DanQ · August 15, 2001, 12:40

UR:

All I can think of that can be the problem with your initialization of the connection to Apolyton is either your browser and/or computer itself. How much RAM does your system have and do you have any other programs running (e.g. other browser windows, email program)?

Also, what browser/version do you use? In this case, I would recommend that you ensure that you're running the latest full (non-beta) release of your preferred browser for optimized performance.

----------------
Dan; Apolyton CS

TCO · August 15, 2001, 13:08

AaaaagHHHHH!!!!!

Dan.....

I also experienced the same slowdowns, recently. On this site only!! If multiple posters are having a problem with your site speciifically, the problem is NOT in our systems. This is common sense.

Seriously, in the entire history of this site, it has very rarely been the poster's computers or ISP which was slowing down ONLY THIS site. Why do you always want to troubleshoot by looking at the LEAST LIKELY factors causing the slowdowns. Instead of the MOST LIKELY.

(Don't get upset. I appreciate the job you do, love the content and the forums and the community yada yada...but you are not troubleshooting in the most common sense manner.) You kinda remind me of the electricians on the boat who would always want to check mechanical sources of pump failure when (as we all know) the fault is almost always in the circuitry or the motor...

(smileys:

)

tniem · August 15, 2001, 13:15

Dan,

Apolyton is loading very fast for me. All pages load immediately including all forum threads.

The lag is coming when we post. I don't know if it is the server is being overloaded with new posts or what. But that is when everything slows down and we have to wait, as much as a couple of minutes for the server to accept the change.

I now have two browser windows open to ACS. One is uploading my reply and the other reading the next thread.

TCO · August 15, 2001, 13:54

The lags are associated with certain times of the day...

DanQ · August 15, 2001, 14:15

GP:

I am troubleshooting in the most logical manner available to me; as I am not the technical administrator for our server, I am doing the best that I can based on the information presented. However, I am not experiencing any slowdowns in the forums myself and others too that I have heard from are also not experiencing slowdowns. So, it seems logical to investigate other possible sources for the slowndown than just it being on our end.

I am not saying that it is entirely on the poster's computer and, in fact, the RAM/browser question was the first time I have asked it because of the details presented to me. I have already talked about traceroutes/pings, time of day, connection speed, other connections open etc. and this seemed to be the next logical step. You never know... multiple posters having problems doesn't mean that it's automatically at our end. It could be that they have the same ISP or their ISP's use the same Internet backbone for their service.

All that said now, try accessing the site at different times of the day if possible. This seems to be a consistent component. We know that we have had a traffic increase in the past week or so, and that's when the slowdown appears to be happening. I do agree that it is in part a problem on our end but it is only temporary and there are other factors to take into account. At this point, my next question would be if anyone is experiencing this slowdown in any other section of Apolyton then the forums and, if so, exactly where and what you were trying to access/do. If the problem persists for more than a week, then we'll look at digging deeper.

---------------
Dan; Apolyton CS

P.S. Don't get me wrong -- I do appreciate your constructive criticism, GP, but you have to recognize that I am not an administrator over our server and can only provide so much assistance and offer only so many suggestions. I am not always trying to say it is not on our end nor have I ever taken this position.

TCO · August 15, 2001, 16:07

Ok Dan.

For what it's worth. I'm 90% sure that the problems are time specific, are on "your end" and are related to lots of people being on the server at the same time. I think this matches all the symptoms we've heard.

Urban Ranger · August 15, 2001, 22:53

Dan,

It doesn't seem to be my computer and/or browser since I have no problems with other websites and the slowdown appears to be time specific. Not only time specific but sporadic as well, i.e., during the same time frame the connection is usually slow but speeds up sometimes. I am just wondering if there's some errant program being run on the server.

DanQ · August 16, 2001, 02:06

Hi again UR.

No, I don't believe it's any program running amock but rather simply a traffic related issue. If you are finding the problem persistently aggrevating, try accessing the site at different times of the day where possible.

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Dan; Apolyton CS

OneFootInTheGrave · August 16, 2001, 05:02

I have the same expeRIence

, that in the eveneings it, or rather late night here in UK it takes ages to get the post trough.

Shadowstrike · August 16, 2001, 21:16

It seems to have gone downhill today. I couldn't even browse Apolyton during the day, and now, I'm actually able to get anywhere, though very slowly. Considering that I'm on a cable connection, and within walking distance of the server, if it is indeed in Toronto, this is not a good sign.

DanQ · August 16, 2001, 23:22

Shadowstrike:

Please contact Tony Bolger (credentials/email address above) -- overseeing the technical end of the GameStats servers which Apolyton is on is his responsibility and area of expertise.

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Dan; Apolyton CS

Shadowstrike · August 17, 2001, 16:19

Don't worry Dan, we need to place our anger somewhere.....

We're not mad at Apolyton itself, we're just mad, like any irrational visitor should act.

*secret*

+1 to post count! MUWHAHAHAHA!

*end secret*

Ahem.... nobody saw that...