How do you search thread archives?

POSTED BY: IndigoStarblaster
UPDATED: Saturday, September 23, 2006 18:52
VIEWED: 6460
PAGE 4 of 4

PREV PAGE 1 2 3 4

SIGMANUNKI

Saturday, September 23, 2006 6:03 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by WhoIsRiver:

First of all, this site IS on a dedicated server. MS-SQL is falling over as the database tables are a bit fucked.

If the DB was "a bit fucked" then we'd be getting more than just regular timeouts on transactions.

Quote:
Originally posted by WhoIsRiver:

Quote:

Also, why am I getting flak from this, as I am only saying that the tech should change to meet the changing needs of the site, and that the site should be re-written (backend) as it is obvious that it needs it.

It's NOT obvious it needs it. Some of the queries need rewriting or optimising. That's it.

Ok, I've been here for several years. When I first got here, no problems. BUT, before the movie came out the site started to exibite stress and now that our numbers have grown even more, it has become more than just stress. The load that this site is getting is currently more than it is able to handle for a good chunk of the time.

Btw, rewriting queries and optimising are just bandaids. Something that Haken has done in the past (e.g. disabling the archives). BUT, these are just bandaids. Something more needs to happen to rectify the source problem.

Paging is one solution (that I've mentioned above) that will buy more than just a little time. Also, moving to a lower overhead, more stable DB would be a massive improvement (MS-SQL is... slow).

It would also be wise to move a high load site over to a web server that is designed with the c10k problem in mind e.g. ligthttpd.

Quote:
Originally posted by WhoIsRiver:

Quote:

And it's obvious that the M$ tech has become insufficient given all the problems that we've seen as of late. This isn't even debatable.

It *IS* debatable. It's not the technology that is at fault - it's the SQL queries. You could port the site to MySQL and it'd fuck up just as much if the SQL didn't work optimally.

So, then you've seen the code? B/c I know I've seen the ODBC timeout errors.

Also, MS-SQL is far slower than MySQL. The switch would be an improvment even if nothing was done to the queries. It's that the DB engine itself if faster.

What metric are you using that the speed of the DB engine doesn't matter?

Quote:
Originally posted by WhoIsRiver:

Quote:
B/c I don't think that you're a developer,

I own Viral Fan Limited, a fan forum marketing company. That worked on Serenity.

And? This does NOT mean that you're a developer. Just b/c you said you set something up, does NOT mean that you coded it. Does everyone that sets up phpBB code? Clearly not. Does everyone that runs a company code? Clearly not. I could go on.

Quote:
Originally posted by WhoIsRiver:

Quote:
I think that I have to point out, that no matter how well designed a site is (backend) once in a while, it has to re-written from scratch.

No, that's simply not true.

Actually it is. The needs of a project will change over time. This means that the problem domain skews and as such so will the solution domain. Just b/c a solution fits one problem (or a family of problems) does NOT mean that the solution will fit every problem i.e. As needs change, so may the solution.

Also, just the normal maintainence will result in messing up the code over time. To keep the code base clean and readily maintainable, a re-write is needed from time to time. Or haven't you run long-term projects before?

Quote:
Originally posted by WhoIsRiver:

Quote:
The reasons are various but acouple are:

- bugs resulting from a flawed design

Do you rewrite a project from scratch because of bugs?

You miss my point completely (purposefully?).

I was NOT talking about re-writing b/c of bugs. I was talking about a flawed design (as indicated in what I wrote). Sometimes the flaws in a design will become known only after attempting implementation or even only known after years i.e. When the needs change and the

SIGMANUNKI

Saturday, September 23, 2006 6:25 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by stinkingrose:

I am married to someone who practically speaks Linux and several other programming languages. I've heard him cursing and seen how much time he puts in on just a wee bit of code.

It is amazing isn't it?

Quote:
Originally posted by stinkingrose:

A complete overhaul to take care of some (from what I have observed) minor glitches would be quite time consuming and probably bring down the whole site for days or weeks.

Nope. Developement of a new backend wouldn't be done on the production site, it'd be done on the developers personal boxes and deployed when ready. Probably after relatively long beta period.

Quote:
Originally posted by stinkingrose:

"I'm sorry, but I'm sure you didn't intend to insult this site. Could you try rephrasing your intended message?" Except you have to do it BEFORE the flame war breaks out.

Indeed! But, at the same time, I think its up to the people participating once things have hit the fan to notice when that person backed off the aggressive tone and stated his/her true feelings about the site and attempted to enter a fruitful discussion. To continue the flame war after that against them is rather non-productive.

Quote:
Originally posted by stinkingrose:

It has been experiencing some technical difficulties lately.

I recived a rare reply from Haken when I reported that the site had completely fallen down again, and he stated that he was having problems with the server. Didn't say what, but something certainly decided to nuts in a weird way.

Quote:
Originally posted by stinkingrose:

Everybody take a deep breath. Maybe if someone Haken is used to dealing with could float a PM and see if help is requested or required? Bull in a china shop's not likely to get help, old acquaintance looking for assistance friendly-like may. Has anybody tried asking Haken lately if business and/or OK-ness are occurring?

Don't think that I'm someone Haken is used to dealing with, but I just sent one. We'll see what happens.

----
I am on The List. We are The Forsaken and we aim to burn!
"We don't fear the reaper"

STINKINGROSE

Saturday, September 23, 2006 6:45 PM

Shiny! Thanks.

YINYANG

Saturday, September 23, 2006 6:52 PM

I'm gonna throw in my two cents, 'kay?

Quote:
I am only saying all this because a big scary site that people dont know how to use right off the bat by just looking at the site *generaly* *tend* to scare people away from it. (im not saying this about any current members of the site, cause this obvoulsy dosnt apply to you)

I found this site at least a month before I joined, and I had no idea what was going on. No paging? What? I still want to cry when I see over 200 posts on the same page (if my computer will even load it, and, if I may say so, it's a damn good computer on a fast connection).

This site, on average, takes twice as long to load as any other site I visit, even when everything is cached (I remember what that word means? Or... don't I? Forgive me if it's wrong; I hope the meaning still comes across.).

And, something as simple (at least, I think it's simple; I see them everywhere else) as buttons, for changing the text to bold, or the emoticons, isn't on the site? Umm... yeah. Major props go to Haken for writing this all himself, but...

Don't get me wrong - this place is really cool (although it has a really high troll factor - at least, much higher than anywhere else I've been), and (most) people are really friendly! In fact, the friendlyness factor (combined with this being the largest fan site, and I hadn't found any others yet) was the main reason why I'm still here! I don't think I would still be here if Traveler and msg weren't (I hope no offense is taken, but they were the first two that I saw who were really kind and encouraging).

How did such a simple query turn into hostilities?

::shrugs, and retreats back into lurker-dom::

EDIT: And, the other thing that makes this site really cool (y'all are really cool, even when you're a little snarky) is that it's a huge fansite devoted to a cancelled TV show that got it's own movie!

---
"What the world needs now is love, sweet love - it's the only thing that there's just too little of. What the world needs now is love, sweet love. No, not just for some, but for everyone."

PREV PAGE 1 2 3 4