SMF Support > Server Performance and Configuration

Optimizing board for minimum server impact.

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lyrae:
Hi there,

I have an SMF board that I just set up for a site that launched today. The site consists only of the message board. We expect to have about 7000 members within a few weeks. Already today our host has expressed (in the form of account suspension) extreme objection to the amount of server load the board is creating. At the time they suspended the account the board had about 200 members online. We don't expect this amount to be a normal thing (maybe 100 at higher points of the day), but we should account for more rather than less.

We are not on a dedicated plan because the site is run by a non-profit collective and has no ads but rather is supported by donation -- we're not sure we can afford a dedicated server. However we have a supposedly good plan with 600GB transfer and 30GB of space, so we thought we would be okay. However I suppose server load is a bit of a subjective thing, and they don't seem happy.

My question is, how can we optimize the board settings for better performance? What settings and features should we consider disabling to avoid resource suck? How should I set the software to optimize tables, and what difference does this make? I guess ultimately the question is, how can I make this board's footprint on the server smaller?

[Unknown]:

--- Quote from: lyrae on April 21, 2005, 02:23:48 PM ---I have an SMF board that I just set up for a site that launched today. The site consists only of the message board. We expect to have about 7000 members within a few weeks. Already today our host has expressed (in the form of account suspension) extreme objection to the amount of server load the board is creating.
--- End quote ---

Interesting.  200 shouldn't be that bad, for a newish forum.  Would you be willing to post a link, so I can look at your statistics?

Can you post the version information in Admin -> Support and Credits, and some specs about your server?


--- Quote ---We are not on a dedicated plan because the site is run by a non-profit collective and has no ads but rather is supported by donation -- we're not sure we can afford a dedicated server. However we have a supposedly good plan with 600GB transfer and 30GB of space, so we thought we would be okay. However I suppose server load is a bit of a subjective thing, and they don't seem happy.
--- End quote ---

Do you know how many other people are on your same server?  Can you ask them what the server load was, exactly (I'm asking for load averages)?


--- Quote ---My question is, how can we optimize the board settings for better performance? What settings and features should we consider disabling to avoid resource suck? How should I set the software to optimize tables, and what difference does this make? I guess ultimately the question is, how can I make this board's footprint on the server smaller?
--- End quote ---

There are many things you can change, but what you should do greatly depends on MySQL version and the number of posts and members you currently have.

-[Unknown]

lyrae:
Thanks so much for replying -- I will get some server specs and get back to you this afternoon or evening. I definitely don't know how many sites are hosted on the same server, but it will be interesting to hear. I'm at work, which makes dealing with the host while receiving confused emails from users a little stressful. I had to dry out the armpits of my shirt in the office bathroom's  hand dryer. HA

The URL is http://www.stillepost.ca/ and here's the support & credits info.

Version Information:
Forum version: SMF 1.0.3 (more detailed)
Current SMF version: SMF 1.0.3
PHP version: 4.3.8
MySQL version: 4.0.24-standard
Server version: Apache/2.0.50 (Fedora)
GD version: bundled (2.0.23 compatible)

[Unknown]:
Your forum shouldn't have had a negative effect on your server with those statistics.  Strange.  In any case, you might try running the following queries in phpMyAdmin.  What is phpMyAdmin?

ALTER TABLE smf_log_search
TYPE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE smf_log_online
TYPE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE smf_log_topics
TYPE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE smf_log_floodcontrol
TYPE=InnoDB;

See if that makes you see improved performance.  You may also wish to turn on "Display time taken to create every page" under "Edit Features and Option" to see what that shows.

Also, make sure you have "Check the avatar size every time it is displayed" under Edit Features and Options off.

-[Unknown]

[Unknown]:
Any more information on this?

-[Unknown]

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