Why is TRF loading so slow lately?

[Dan Pierce]

This is without doubt my favorite forum of any kind. But lately, maybe since the upgrade, it has slowed to a snails pace. Please note, this is in no way directed at the mods or any members. I'm sure it's a technical computer thing. It's just frustrating when you can't reply to posts or even visit TRF because the page will not load. It seems to be happening more often too. I read JJ's post but I have trouble just trying to read TRF.
Rant over.
dP

[mdx77]

Originally Posted by Dan Pierce

This is without doubt my favorite forum of any kind. But lately, maybe since the upgrade, it has slowed to a snails pace. Please note, this is in no way directed at the mods or any members. I'm sure it's a technical computer thing. It's just frustrating when you can't reply to posts or even visit TRF because the page will not load. It seems to be happening more often too. I read JJ's post but I have trouble just trying to read TRF.
Rant over.
dP

Didn't you hear......pledge members get preferential treatment over "standard users".......

[BiG JeEzY]

I have experienced the slowing occasionally too Dan. It tends to come occasionally and at random times.

[jasonbellevue]

And to dispel that Pledge Member myth, Kurt was referring to...

I too am experiencing the occasional slow down. I thought it was just my PC, I had flushed the DNS, used Mozilla instead of IE, cleared IE's cache, I even turned off my Firewall temporarily. My PC is malware, spyware, adware and virus free. I even went on to my other 'puter, which is a Mac, same problem.

It seems to happen only to the TRF site. To reiterate what Dan said earlier, it's not directed to the hardworking people behind the scenes of TRF, just as an FYI.

[Lol-x]

The system runs smoothly 95% of the time.

However the server does do a back-up every day, and that can slow things down, whilst that process is occurring.

The software is going to be upgraded again very soon, to a new fully supported version called 3.7.0 Gold. Please be patient. Hopefully this will have a positive result on things.

If not then we will look further at what can be done.

At the bottom of each page you will see something like this:

Rolex Forums generated this page in 0.14058995 seconds (72.44% PHP - 27.56% MySQL) with 10 queries

The percentage ratio should be around 75%/25% with about 10 queries.
The above example shows a very fast server with a response time of just under 3/20ths of a second.
Now during backups this will slow down, but only for a short while.

[2careless]

There are usually a number of factors affecting a perceived performance issue:

1. end to end performance. When you start the page, time it right after you press the "ENTER" button until all text/graphics finished loading on your screen. Note that this measurement entails multiple round trips of data packets transmitted from your pc to the server and back. On most web page loading, this starts by the client asking for the URL's html page, the server generates the page (note that the server runs an application service called PHP, which generates web pages dynamically), the time taken for the reply packets to go back to the client, and the time for the client to draw the page on screen, then the browser will decide on what further graphics it is to load, etc.
This is an iterative process that goes on until all the materials that are supposed to appear have all appeared on screen.

2. transmission latency - in simple terms - how long does it take for a packet sent from the client PC to the server, and vice versa. Usually the "outgoing" and "incoming" transmission latencies are the same, but it is only correct when the packets follow the same incmoing and outgoing paths between the client and server. The usual measurement of this outgoing and incoming latencies combined is called the "ping" time. This term came from sonar - when you "ping" a target, one measures how long it takes for the echo to come back, thus the distance between the sonar and target can be calculated (of course the density of the water has to be taken into account to represent the speed of sound in water but that is just too complicated). This "ping" time varies a lot during different times of the day, as well as network loadings, etc. For example, from my computer to the forum currently is at 250ms ping time. Note that if you send more bytes along the wire, the ping time will be longer because one has to factor in the total time elapsed of sending the long packet.

3. Server processing time - This is the time measured between the server receiving a request to the server starting to send out the reply. This is usually the number "Rolex Forums generated this page in 0.1455... seconds..." By and large this number is tiny compared to the transmission latencies.

So, the total end to end performance is roughly equal to server processing time + many ping time round trips (because it may take many requests before all the contents are displayed!).

It is possible to find out your "ping"time to the server. In a PC, start up a command prompt (Start -> run and type "cmd" (without quotes), OK), then type "ping www.rolexforums.com", ENTER. This should print out the ping time in milliseconds. The higher the number, the higher the latency. 20-80ms is good, 100-300ms is mediocre, anything over 400ms is slow.

Thus, in order for the web page to load faster, there are generally 3 options -
1. load more objects/stuff at once - there are parameters one can set in thebrowser to restrict how many concurrent requests the browser can send to a remote server. I think for normal IE this parameter is set at 2, a small number. One can change this parameter to say 10 but if you're not confident enough to modify it you should refrain from changing these things. I'm not going to explain how this can be done as I don't want to be responsible if people screw up their machine... However, if you're technically competent, follow this link: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/282402

2. move to a better ISP. Your connectivity to the Internet is governed by mainly 2 factors - one is your speed to the ISP, and second is how "connected" is your ISP to his upstream peers. You can change the first factor by moving to a faster plan, but for the second factor you really haven't got much choice but to move to a better ISP. For testing the 2nd factor you'll have to check with other customers of the same ISP if they are having latency/performance issues and collate those information with your own experience.

3. complain to the server asking the server admin to check if the server is highly loaded or the server side ISP is having bottlenecks. Usually if the server is designed correctly in the first place, the load on the server should be monitored and upgrades to both server capacity as well as server ISP connectivity should be executed. That's why servers are so expensive to run. The monitoring and upgrade planning can cost a lot of money!

One note though. there is really not much one can do to reduce the ping time once you've got a good ISP. If you're living far away from the server (e.g. I in Australia and rolexforums server in Chicago), the physical distance does play a part in your perceived performance and nothing can be done to make electrons move faster...

I hope I haven't lost everyone...

Kai

[Dan Pierce]

Many thanks to the mods here at TRF. Hard work done with not much thanks. TRF has been running much smoother lately. I know ya'll have been working real hard and just wanted to let ya'll know we appreciate it.
dP

[Lol-x]

Kai
Thanks a lot for going through all those informative steps, that's great

[Lol-x]

Dan since your initial post on 26 March a couple of changes have been made, one in particular was to cache more of the forum. It seems like it has made quite a bit of difference, save for those odd occasions. Nevertheless, generally speaking I have found the forum to be functioning more smoothly in the last few weeks.

Thank you for your concern and feedback, you can go out for a ride now ride safe

[toph]

Originally Posted by 2careless

I hope I haven't lost everyone...

Kai

sorry i couldn't keep up!- i did try

I think understand the basics though. I have been on here about three weeks now and i can only remember a delay once. I think great work is being done by all involved.

[Dan Pierce]

Originally Posted by Lol-x

Dan since your initial post on 26 March a couple of changes have been made, one in particular was to cache more of the forum. It seems like it has made quite a bit of difference, save for those odd occasions. Nevertheless, generally speaking I have found the forum to be functioning more smoothly in the last few weeks.

Thank you for your concern and feedback, you can go out for a ride now ride safe

Thanks Steve. I always ride safe. It's those "others" on the road that scare the hell out of me.
dP

[Lol-x]

There will be upgrades performed in the next 7 days to hopefully improve the operation of the forum in terms of both speed and stability.

So if you see the forum down you know it is because we are working on making it better for you

[jasonbellevue]

Steve, a big thank you for all your hard work to make our TRF experience very enjoyable. It is much appreciated by yours truly.

[Uncle-AJ]

I've been experiencing great difficulty with the forum lately. It's taken me a good 10 mins to eventually get this page opened. I use "ONSPEED" to quicken things up on the Internet but I have to turn this off to get TRF to load. I'm at a loss as to why this should be happening.

[Prince]

Originally Posted by Uncle-AJ

I've been experiencing great difficulty with the forum lately. It's taken me a good 10 mins to eventually get this page opened. I use "ONSPEED" to quicken things up on the Internet but I have to turn this off to get TRF to load. I'm at a loss as to why this should be happening.

You have been logging on at the same time that JJ is online, Adrian. Problem solved!!!

[Uncle-AJ]

Every time I reply to a post, I get this message.

Network Error (tcp_error)


A communication error occurred: ""
The Web Server may be down, too busy, or experiencing other problems preventing it from responding to requests. You may wish to try again at a later time.

This message generated by Cache-1-kho1; For assistance, contact your network support team.

Your request was categorized by SmartFilter as 'Forum/Bulletin Boards'.
If you wish to question or dispute this result, please click here.

[JJ Irani]

Originally Posted by Prince

You have been logging on at the same time that JJ is online, Adrian. Problem solved!!!

Yeah, that's right.....blame it all on me!! How the hell do I keep getting dragged into these threads?

[Prince]

Originally Posted by JJ Irani

Yeah, that's right.....blame it all on me!! How the hell do I keep getting dragged into these threads?

[f16570]

And I thought it was my crappy computer.





Oh it is.

[Oscar]

Originally Posted by JJ Irani

Yeah, that's right.....blame it all on me!! How the hell do I keep getting dragged into these threads?

It's called the Tall Poppy Syndrome............

[Lol-x]

I've found the forum to be performing quite responsively of late, now that the software has been upgraded in many ways.
However, sometime each day the server does perform a back up and at that time, which is sheduled you may occasionally find a lack of responsiveness.
At the same time, the problem could be with your network connection or indeed even your web-browser.
If you are on Microsoft windows I suggest using Firefox and if you are on Mac I suggest you use Camino.
Both browsers can be downloaded for free off the net, and I find they work much more smoothly than either Microsoft Explorer and Apple Safari.

You could try this:
http://www.liutilities.com/products/...ows/banner/13/

[Uncle-AJ]

The slowness only seems to occur on TRF.

I use a variety of computers and web browsers. At home on my desktop I have IE7, which is said to use less memory than Firefox. When I'm at work I use a laptop with Windows XP Pro and Firefox. If I'm in an Internet Cafe I use a Mac Book with Firefox and Safari. My modem is the same for everything, except if I'm using WiFi, it's a 3.5G HSDPA modem.

All my systems are optimised with Advanced Windows Care V2 and regularly defragged. I accept it may be a problem at this end but I can't figure out why it should just be with TRF and why I can't log on at all if I use ONSPEED.

Edit
I've just downloaded and installed the latest version of Advanced Windows Care V" and this has made a slight difference, although I still can't use ONSPEED. My download speeds for the software was reasonably quick.

[Lol-x]

See in the blue strip along the bottom of the page there are some loading statistics.
The page should typically be generated in around 0.2 seconds with around 75/25%

Also if you go to your command prompt and type in after the C:\ ping www.rolexforums.com and see what results you get. You should get a result less than 300 milliseconds.

If you do get these results then you are going the same as everyone else (I expect) and the result should provide very goods speed.

So if you get these kind of results (and they may vary slightly) then you will need to look at other reasons for your lack in performance of the forum.

[Uncle-AJ]

I pinged again and got these results. My troubles seemed to start when the server was relocated and don't seem to have got any better. I'm wondering if any other members in the same part of the world suffer similarly as we have to go through the Internet police firewalls.

Sorry for the delay but the cricket was on TV.

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\AJ>ping www.rolexforums.com

Pinging rolexforums.com [67.43.0.250] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 67.43.0.250: bytes=32 time=365ms TTL=44
Reply from 67.43.0.250: bytes=32 time=369ms TTL=44
Reply from 67.43.0.250: bytes=32 time=356ms TTL=44
Reply from 67.43.0.250: bytes=32 time=358ms TTL=44

Ping statistics for 67.43.0.250:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 356ms, Maximum = 369ms, Average = 362ms

C:\Documents and Settings\AJ>

[nikhsub1]

AJ, it must be something on your end, the 'Internet police firewalls' as you put it are the likely cause. The server has been running very well as of late the only thing I can suspect is that it is your end. If there were more complaining of slowness from other areas of the world as well, I'd begin to think it was a more widespread problem.

[Uncle-AJ]

I guess I'll have to live with it.

[JJ Irani]

Originally Posted by Uncle-AJ

I guess I'll have to live with it.

I guess that would be much better than having to live with me, uh Adrian?

[Prince]

Originally Posted by JJ Irani

I guess that would be much better than having to live with me, uh Adrian?

Truer words were never spoken, JJ...

[mailman]

Originally Posted by nikhsub1

AJ, it must be something on your end, the 'Internet police firewalls' as you put it are the likely cause. The server has been running very well as of late the only thing I can suspect is that it is your end. If there were more complaining of slowness from other areas of the world as well, I'd begin to think it was a more widespread problem.

I get the slowness and knocked off every once in a while with IE and Firefox.

[Lol-x]

ONSPEED was principally designed to speed up dial up connections. I don't know much about it, but if you are having trouble using the forums with ONSPEED then that seems to be consistent with about 50% of those that have tried ONSPEED and found that it was unsatisfactory. I cannot say for myself as I have never tried ONSPEED.

If you have a broadband connection then you should not need to use ONSPEED.

I find that the forum is very quick these days and the statistics at the bottom are not to be ignored.

This is what I got on loading this page and it is typical of the speed of the server in responding to a command and generating a page:
Rolex Forums generated this page in 0.17206597 seconds (70.96% PHP - 29.04% MySQL) with 13 queries

Maybe Scott can advise with reference to UTC time the hours when the server is doing a backup.