Welcome to CF's new servers! :)

[Rep Daddy]

Here is my first PC. MAybe Erwin needs one of these babies (64k memory!)

http://oldcomputers.net/pics/kayproii.jpg

[Rep Daddy]

Here is my first PC. MAybe Erwin needs one of these babies (64k memory!)

http://oldcomputers.net/pics/kayproii.jpg

How did this post become the first instead of the last post?

[Erwin]

Welcome to CF's brand new servers! :)

A Quad Opteron running our database with 8 x 15k rpm SCSI drives in a RAID 10 PCI-X array... coupled with Dual Processor/Dual Core Opteron and Dual Xeon webservers, in a private gigabit network...

This migration to the new servers have been extremely stressful and problematic.

I've been in front of the computer for over 32 hours straight - I missed church, missed work today (I did feel unwell in any case), to do the migration. I've only had 3 hours sleep. What made things worse is that I had actually had the database server set up perfectly about 5 hours ago and we were ready to launch but the host wanted to change power supplies to the database server - when they did that, they did something bad to the RAID-10 array and they WIPED OUT THE WHOLE DATABASE. This led to some panic, the need to access the old servers to get a copy of the database, and then a fight to fix corruption of the post table due to mysql replication problems.

In any case, it's all fixed, and here we are. :)

Enjoy the speed. Me, I'm going to go to bed, so that I can return to work tomorrow. I've got meetings galore at work and after work...

God bless and thanks for the prayers - we needed it!

UPDATE: Our main webserver is choking a bit so we may have to add another one... we shall see... we are already running FreeBSD and lighttpd to reduce loads... pages are still loading very fast - it's just that loads are a bit high... Let's see how we go at peak times...

[SpaceProg]

It seems to be going a bit faster now. That's good.

[misscaffeiney]

Yay, CF is back up and running! Thanks Erwin, go have a sleep now! lol. :) Hope you are feeling better soon.

[PaladinGirl]

Wow! If I didn't know any better, I'd think I was on DSL! :D Thanks Erwin! :thumbsup:

[revolutiongames2004]

hey thanks Erwin, enjoy some well earned sleep :)
God Bless

[angelwind]

I am sorry thus became such a big issue for you Erwin...I do enjoy CF....so I am thankful for this site...(((((hugs))))

Thanj you for all he hard work....angelwind.

[J4Jesus]

Faster? Its evening and since morning I cant hardly get posts to go through. Or it logged me out or it takes 4 minutes per post. This is with like 1500 online and also not many on
ALRIGHT Erwin!! This is FAST now !!:thumbsup:
Thanks!!!!:clap:

several seconds is all;)

[full_of_faith]

Erwin, thanks for all your hard work!!! I'm glad CF is back up and running again. I haven't been on CF long, but I have to say that I really enjoy coming here. Thanks again.

[Lel]

Well, there goes my bet in the pool. :P :holy:

Running well now!

[Redeemed_Warrior]

awesome work erwin :)

[charlie_hunter]

i thought it was running faster!

respect :)

[beehoney]

Thank you for your hard work and dedication Erwin!

[blueanjel]

:wave: erwin, thank you

just one question, it seems i am not able to purchase any armor...the special items and character items are working fine, just not able to 'get armor'...is this just me or is it a bug?

thanks for any help you might be...

[bfly]

Welcome to CF's brand new servers! :)

A Quad Opteron running our database with 8 x 15k rpm SCSI drives in a RAID 10 PCI-X array... coupled with Dual Processor/Dual Core Opteron and Dual Xeon webservers, in a private gigabit network...

This migration to the new servers have been extremely stressful and problematic.

I've been in front of the computer for over 32 hours straight - I missed church, missed work today (I did feel unwell in any case), to do the migration. I've only had 3 hours sleep. What made things worse is that I had actually had the database server set up perfectly about 5 hours ago and we were ready to launch but the host wanted to change power supplies to the database server - when they did that, they did something bad to the RAID-10 array and they WIPED OUT THE WHOLE DATABASE. This led to some panic, the need to access the old servers to get a copy of the database, and then a fight to fix corruption of the post table due to mysql replication problems.

In any case, it's all fixed, and here we are. :)

Enjoy the speed. Me, I'm going to go to bed, so that I can return to work tomorrow. I've got meetings galore at work and after work...

God bless and thanks for the prayers - we needed it!
Well, thank you Erwin, I really understood everything you said. I have that same problem with my computer and aol. They speak a different language also. Wow! What length some people will go to, to put in a full day at the office.

Joking, joking, great job. Appreciate you. God Bless.

[BygTex]

Got double w00ts to you Erwin! :thumbsup:

[bfly]

i thought it was running faster!

respect :)
Oh, No! Where are your pants.

[Erwin]

UPDATE: Our main webserver is choking a bit so we may have to add another one... we shall see... we are already running FreeBSD and lighttpd to reduce loads... pages are still loading very fast - it's just that loads are a bit high... Let's see how we go at peak times...

[Theresasjourney]

Well I am glad to be back here but so far CF is loading slower then slow for me~~sigh.

[Renuka]

UPDATE: Our main webserver is choking a bit so we may have to add another one... we shall see... we are already running FreeBSD and lighttpd to reduce loads... pages are still loading very fast - it's just that loads are a bit high... Let's see how we go at peak times...
Good job Doc Erwin

[Utah Knight]

than you much erwin get some rest ok

[misscaffeiney]

It was really fast, then now it's slow...maybe it's everyone having too much fun now that it's back up? haha. ^_^

[Erwin]

I'm doing some tweaking. :) The speeds will vary while I figure out the best settings. I can't do this until there is traffic.

[misscaffeiney]

I'm doing some tweaking. :) The speeds will vary while I figure out the best settings. I can't do this until there is traffic.

haha Tweaking is such a funny word.

:sigh:

I think I need to go to bed.

[Erwin]

It should be faster now. But we will still need more webservers I think.

[LivingRightForGod]

Welcome to CF's brand new servers! :)

A Quad Opteron running our database with 8 x 15k rpm SCSI drives in a RAID 10 PCI-X array... coupled with Dual Processor/Dual Core Opteron and Dual Xeon webservers, in a private gigabit network...

This migration to the new servers have been extremely stressful and problematic.

I've been in front of the computer for over 32 hours straight - I missed church, missed work today (I did feel unwell in any case), to do the migration. I've only had 3 hours sleep. What made things worse is that I had actually had the database server set up perfectly about 5 hours ago and we were ready to launch but the host wanted to change power supplies to the database server - when they did that, they did something bad to the RAID-10 array and they WIPED OUT THE WHOLE DATABASE. This led to some panic, the need to access the old servers to get a copy of the database, and then a fight to fix corruption of the post table due to mysql replication problems.

In any case, it's all fixed, and here we are. :)

Enjoy the speed. Me, I'm going to go to bed, so that I can return to work tomorrow. I've got meetings galore at work and after work...

God bless and thanks for the prayers - we needed it!

UPDATE: Our main webserver is choking a bit so we may have to add another one... we shall see... we are already running FreeBSD and lighttpd to reduce loads... pages are still loading very fast - it's just that loads are a bit high... Let's see how we go at peak times...

Erwin a big hug goes to you and a big thank you for sorting this forum out. You need a well deserved long sleep to make you feel refreshed for the morning.

Applause to you and thanks again i am sure this will be fine.:clap:

[Rut]

Thank you for all the work you have done.Try and go to sleep now

[vedickings]

I remember good ol' make config; make dep; make clean; make bzlilo with Slackware. On my old 486, a build took a couple of hours.

Hey! I think that old box is the new server for CF! :D
Im unable to post a new thread, is this just me?

[vedickings]

I can't post a new thread.

[Theresasjourney]

Well I just changed my armor which took 20 minutes and so far its not even showing up~~;o/
And I kept getting server can find the page when doing my armor. My server is fine.
So I'm leaving for now~~will check later to see if bugs are out.

[Erwin]

I've just did more tweaking to the webserver lighttpd config - I'm going to leave it as it is - I think this is the best config so far... we shall see how it goes.

[Theresasjourney]

I know your working hard Erwin~~TY! I know things will be on track soon~~;o))

[PaladinGirl]

Did anyone notice the site go down for a few minutes earlier? I received a 500 error. I don't remember the text of it though. First I got that error when trying to reply to a post and then a "Could not find server" or "Page not found" message.

[Erwin]

I'm still tweaking the site. No matter what we'll need another one or two webservers - traffic is just too intense. Our database is fine, it's just our webserver now.

[PaladinGirl]

I'm still tweaking the site. No matter what we'll need another one or two webservers - traffic is just too intense. Our database is fine, it's just our webserver now.

I noticed that Erwin. It also seems to have significantly slowed down but that could be because you are still tweaking it. :) Personally I'd go with two more web servers just to be safe. :thumbsup:

[blueanjel]

is anyone else getting bumped off the site? i have had to log in 3 times in the last hour...just wondering

also, has anyone tried to 'get armor'? was not working for me, will try again...

thanks erwin, you are a hard worker :hug:

[Erwin]

I was debating whether to have many low-end webservers or to have only a few high-end ones... I think I know why more and less powerful is better than less and more powerful for web-serving. Like I said, our database's load is not even above 0.5... but our main webserver... mmm....

[Brian90]

Congrats on the new servers!

[blueanjel]

make that 4 times...as soon as i posted the last post i had to sign in again...is anyone else having this problem?

[pdudgeon]

Ah, tweaking! yep, that explains it. and yes, i also had the same responses/same time as Paladin Doodler. just glad that we're back online.

[Erwin]

make that 4 times...as soon as i posted the last post i had to sign in again...is anyone else having this problem?
I rebooted the webserver program. I have to do it each time I tweak it.

[blueanjel]

ok, make that 5 times, every time i post i get logged off...

erwin, what do you think is happening, i would just like to know if it is just me having this problem or not...

thanks ... ;)

[Erwin]

ok, make that 5 times, every time i post i get logged off...

erwin, what do you think is happening, i would just like to know if it is just me having this problem or not...

thanks ... ;)
I just rebooted the webserver process again, so it's not just you. Okay, I'll stop now.

[Erwin]

But we may have to suffer some slow webserving speeds until I tee up another webserver.

[Erwin]

Okay, just had to try another tweak, so I reset again. :)

[barb754]

Thanks for all your hard work,but, I have DSL and it is still slow. When I hit a thread it takes so long and to post a response about 20 secs.:( I guess you are right :) have to suffer slow webserving speeds....

[Erwin]

Sorry, had to reset the webserver process again - no matter what I try, it's going to be slow. More hardware is needed.

[angelwind]

Sorry, had to reset the webserver process again - no matter what I try, it's going to be slow. More hardware is needed.


Ok Erwin...we know you are working at it.... (hugs)

[mesue]

:hug: :thumbsup: Thank you Erwin !!! :thumbsup: :hug:
I appreciate the work and long hours you put in to make this site better.
Get some rest, you should know better than to stress your self like that.
May God bless you richly :)

[Swart]

It should be faster now. But we will still need more webservers I think.

Try implementing a reverse proxy. I think you'd be surprised at the results you can get from them. I favour iChain as a reverse proxy because it is easily configured as an appliance and is quick to deploy, has a rich feature set and quite simply knocks the socks off all of its competitors in terms of performance. However it can be expensive. It's downside is that a separate LDAP authentication server is required even if you don't utilise authentication and licencing is as complex as it is with Citrix.

Cisco implement a very fast RP utilising L4 switching technology with a Cisco router running WCCP version 2 to stripe queries amongst multiple proxies and multiple web servers. Your service provider may offer this service if they use Cisco routers.

Apache (http://httpd.apache.org/docs/1.3/mod/mod_proxy.html) can be configured as a RP and so can Squid (http://devel.squid-cache.org/rproxy/).

Open Source RPs include Pound (http://www.apsis.ch/pound/), Perlbal (http://www.danga.com/perlbal/), HAProxy (http://w.ods.org/haproxy/) and LVS (http://www.linuxvirtualserver.org/). Wikipedia use Perlbal tyo accelerate and load balance their webservers, however LVS is my OS favourite as it also incorporates High Availability into its feature set.

[faithopelove]

Thank you, erwin!

[breatheprayer]

actually, my pages are loading much slower...is anyone else experiencing this?
Thank you, Erwin, for your work and dedication.
God Bless You.

[Swart]

Sorry, had to reset the webserver process again - no matter what I try, it's going to be slow. More hardware is needed.

If you like I can runup a spare server I have here as a RP into CF so that you can test it for a few weeks and see if it fulfills your needs. It won't be a "fair" test as the servers won't be local, but at least you'd get a feel for how a RP works and can improve performance.

[dianne050]

I don't know if this means anything but when i try to log on with my favorites it shows a box exployer has encountered a problem and needs to close...keeps doing that! I went into history when i came on early this morning and it lets me in, but only to the thread I had been on in the morning....when I try to go to allread or anything else the window shows up again and kicks me out!I do not know if this is because of the problems here.Thanku for all the hard work you have put in erwin !!!

[dianne050]

hello

[Flynmonkie]

Erwin, thank you as usual for your time and efforts towards making this place the best it can be :) However, I do believe there IS a point in time (after missing 32 hours of sleep would probably throw me a signal) that would constitute allowing others to help you?;) :) We can suffer a bit so you can take your time to get it going. We have done this before, and can do this again if need be!

I notice the slow load, but mostly the posts seem to be a bit nutty? It seems that every post after the down time in a thread is starting mid thread going the opposite direction. (?)

IOW
Post 1
Post 2
Post 3
Last post after downtime 6
Second to last post after down time 5
First post to thread after downtime 4

It seems if I post on a thread, then another posts, the last post is first AFTER the last post previously before the changes. Is it something within my control panel to change? It seems more of a system bug?

Another thing I noticed is the last post of a thread before going down, when the board was back up, it would show the OP as the last poster on the main board even if it wasn’t, but clicking on that link to move into the post, would take you to the true last post of the thread, actually by another member. OR if you clicked on that last posters name to enter the profile, again from the main board, it would take you to the profile of the true last poster instead of the name displayed? Hope that is an understandable explanation?

:prayer: You’re in my prayers! Have a good day with your meetings!:) GET SOME SERIOUS SLEEP!:thumbsup:

[Erwin]

I think I know the problem - we're running FreeBSD 6.0 - and only 4.x and 5.x support SMP kernels - so despite the fact that we have 4 CPUs per server, FreeBSD can only see 1 CPU... we'll have to fix this somehow... this means more downtime - probably downgrade to FreeBSD 5.x or call it a day and move to Centos... something that can support multiple processors.

[Erwin]

Actually FreeBSD 6.0 can use the SMP kernel - I don't think our host compiled the kernel with SMP - I'll get them to do it first before we look at more hardware.

[dianne050]

sorry if I seem to be repeating things.I wrote a post and cannot find it now.I was saying when i try to get into Cf using my favorites...I get a window that says Exployer encounters a problem and needs to close. I went into my history and it will let me in to the site or thread I was on this morning.If I try to go to allread or anything else..the window comes up again and closes cf off. I do not know if it has something to do with the upgrades here!

[dianne050]

Has anyone had problems logging on?

[Swart]

I remember good ol' make config; make dep; make clean; make bzlilo with Slackware. On my old 486, a build took a couple of hours.


Ha! Sounds like the 2.2 kernel! You're showing your vintage CD. :P


Hey! I think that old box is the new server for CF! :D

Hmm. The 2.6 kernel has a lot to answer for. I must admit it makes life easier, only now Linux servers need just as much grunt as a Windoze server. :(

I work a lot with SLES now. They've made it too simple to setup, and therefore to difficult to customise. I've nailed down my setup procedure and it's about 4 pages long - and that's abbreviated notes!

[MeekOne]

I think I know the problem - we're running FreeBSD 6.0 - and only 4.x and 5.x support SMP kernels - so despite the fact that we have 4 CPUs per server, FreeBSD can only see 1 CPU... we'll have to fix this somehow... this means more downtime - probably downgrade to FreeBSD 5.x or call it a day and move to Centos... something that can support multiple processors.Mega bite hugs to you Erwin for all that you do to make CF a great forum for the Lord's people! :hug: It seems like you have really went above and beyond, and know that you are truly appreciated from everyone here for doing what you do. Thank you for all the hard work you have put into this upgrade. Please take good care of yourself and get the sleep you need as well, we need you to be right as rain again. :wave:

[Swart]

Actually FreeBSD 6.0 can use the SMP kernel - I don't think our host compiled the kernel with SMP - I'll get them to do it first before we look at more hardware.

I was about to mention that...

I'm not a BSD Hack, but I would strongly recommend compiling the OS from source, if that option is available. Also using a better compiler than the standard gcc compiler can yield significant improvements in server performance.

[WesWoodell]

I take it there's a problem now? Everything is going reeeeeeeally slow.

[day2day]

I think I know the problem - we're running FreeBSD 6.0 - and only 4.x and 5.x support SMP kernels - so despite the fact that we have 4 CPUs per server, FreeBSD can only see 1 CPU... we'll have to fix this somehow... this means more downtime - probably downgrade to FreeBSD 5.x or call it a day and move to Centos... something that can support multiple processors.

Erwin it will all work out.:hug:
Thank you for all your hard work.
This is what they meant by patience is a virtue.:angel:

[CaDan]

Actually FreeBSD 6.0 can use the SMP kernel - I don't think our host compiled the kernel with SMP - I'll get them to do it first before we look at more hardware.

Get hold of Seebs. He's a BSD hacker.

[SirTimothy]

I think I know the problem - we're running FreeBSD 6.0 - and only 4.x and 5.x support SMP kernels - so despite the fact that we have 4 CPUs per server, FreeBSD can only see 1 CPU... we'll have to fix this somehow... this means more downtime - probably downgrade to FreeBSD 5.x or call it a day and move to Centos... something that can support multiple processors.

Sounds likely. We were given a wrong kernel on a server shift once (linux not BSD) which didn't have RAIDO compiled in... server tries to 'reconfigure' and we lost a whole lot of data. If you can compile the kernel yourself so you can hand-check every option, it's always safest.

[mikeyp]

ah the 4 v 1 processor problem... hope you get it sorted soon, but first, GET SOME SLEEP :P

php is a hungry beast at the best of times, very processor intensive... best of luck getting the webservers going erwin...

and to everyone else, patience please....

[dawiyd]

Sounds likely. We were given a wrong kernel on a server shift once (linux not BSD) which didn't have RAIDO compiled in... server tries to 'reconfigure' and we lost a whole lot of data. If you can compile the kernel yourself so you can hand-check every option, it's always safest.

But if you do check every option you would create a kernel with a large memory footprint, probably not the best thing for a server......or any pc in that case.

[XianSamurai]

If this has been addressed already, sorry. I haven't read through everything.

Are they still working on the new servers, because everytime I've tried coming to this site today, there is a HUGE lag. Everything is taking forever to load. (Which is why I'm not reading through this whole thread, it would take forever.)

[eladoni]

Thanks Erwin! :hu:g: :clap: :clap:

[SirTimothy]

But if you do check every option you would create a kernel with a large memory footprint, probably not the best thing for a server......or any pc in that case.

That's check as in 'make sure you've got the right ones' not as 'select'.

Timothy

[dawiyd]

That's check as in 'make sure you've got the right ones' not as 'select'.

Timothy

Ah sorry, misinterpreted on my part, i thought you meant check/select all options as opposed to some automated kernel configuration.

[Swart]

But if you do check every option you would create a kernel with a large memory footprint, probably not the best thing for a server......or any pc in that case.

It really annoys me to find server kernels not optimised and compiled with multimedia support etc. Configuring a kernel manually is really not that difficult. Using an optimising compiler makes it just that little bit tighter too.

[mikeyp]

If this has been addressed already, sorry. I haven't read through everything.

Are they still working on the new servers, because everytime I've tried coming to this site today, there is a HUGE lag. Everything is taking forever to load. (Which is why I'm not reading through this whole thread, it would take forever.)

Read post #40

[Redeemed_Warrior]

Ok, it should not be advertised as a mirror then, thats what confused me about the post at the top of this page. :)

~ ~ :) Yes I understand :) If it wasn't for the fact My forum use's it for a mirror i would be confused also:P

[MeekOne]

Ok, it should not be advertised as a mirror then, thats what confused me about the post at the top of this page. :)

~ ~So sorry to have confused you, but I still think of it as a mirror thread. My mistake. ^_^

[MeekOne]

:) Yes I understand :) If it wasn't for the fact My forum use's it for a mirror i would be confused also:PCool :cool: good to know. :)

[quatona]

Thanks for your effort, Erwin! :)
Yet, CF seems to be awfully slow since the change. But maybe that´s just me or coincidence...

[homeschooling_Momma]

its seems very slow to me too......

but I pray that it gets better soon....

we have to give it a chance...everyone works so hard to make this site great :D

[Iron Lion]

yeah its VERY slow for me too.

[Taylor43]

Thankyou for all your hard work praying you got much needed rest and you had a good day!
Love
Taylor

[J4Jesus]

Faster? Its evening and since morning I cant hardly get posts to go through. Or it logged me out or it takes 4 minutes per post. This is with like 1500 online and also not many on

[Greg the byzantine]

Yes I don't mean to be rude, I really do apreciate all the work you do Erwin, and I love the site. BUT right now CF is running at about a snails pace, I mean VERY slow. I guess there are some unforseen problems and I hope all goes well, but I mean man it is SLOW.

[meganahan]

*grin*

I haven't been on CF for very long, but it has quickly become an important part of my day. I miss it. Need it. or at least want it.

The snails pace is rather painful though.

Erwin, I am thankful for all the hours you put into the place keeping it running. I will be patient and wait for you to have a bit of sleep, time to work, time to take care of your family, time to take care of other parts of your life, but I'll be glad when the speed picks up again.

[VictorianVelvet]

It takes 1 minute and 9 seconds for a page to load for me. :o

[Morgaine1205]

I'm up to about 1 minute and 45 seconds - I use DSL.... Don't mean to sound like I'm complaining tho! :)

[CaDan]

It really annoys me to find server kernels not optimised and compiled with multimedia support etc. Configuring a kernel manually is really not that difficult. Using an optimising compiler makes it just that little bit tighter too.

I remember good ol' make config; make dep; make clean; make bzlilo with Slackware. On my old 486, a build took a couple of hours.

Hey! I think that old box is the new server for CF! :D

[Erwin]

Refer to the new announcement thread. :)

[prodigy4god]

Im hungry ? what should i eat?