Splitting the Forum

[Arantor]

The SMF software supports roughly 10k categories, 100k boards, and 10mil messages are supported without further modification.

Um... no.

In a stock installation the figures are quite a bit out.

Category ids are tinyint(4) unsigned, meaning you get theoretical max 255 out of it.
Board ids are smallint(5) unsigned, meaning you get theoretical max 65535 out of it.
Topic ids are mediumint( unsigned, meaning you get theoretical max 16777215 out of it.
Message ids are int(10) unsigned, meaning you get theoretical max 4294967295 out of it.

Circumstances can mean these figures can be halved, however, but those are the stock limits. If you have modified them in this mod, I would be very, very careful if you have modified everywhere these limits are implicitly applied.

I would note that I know of an SMF forum with currently 70.7 million posts and none of these limits have been hit. Others, however, have such as an implied 65535/per day limit in the stats tracking.

[DenDen60]

The SMF software supports roughly 10k categories, 100k boards, and 10mil messages are supported without further modification.

Um... no.

In a stock installation the figures are quite a bit out.

Category ids are tinyint(4) unsigned, meaning you get theoretical max 255 out of it.
Board ids are smallint(5) unsigned, meaning you get theoretical max 65535 out of it.
Topic ids are mediumint( unsigned, meaning you get theoretical max 16777215 out of it.
Message ids are int(10) unsigned, meaning you get theoretical max 4294967295 out of it.

Thanks for the clarification Arantor.

Now, if I understand what Dougiefresh, it really does not matter since, again, if I understand properly, the mod creates another instance of SMF.

I hope I got this right. Otherwise, I will need to look at how to increase these maximums, especially the categories and the boards.

[Kindred]

I don't think that this mod creates another instance...

AFAIK, it uses the same database tables with additional fields to define what is displayed where...

[Arantor]

This is also my understanding of how the mod works, and trying to create such a monster is going to actually have many, many bottlenecks under load that cannot be fixed.

SMF is not designed to function in the fashion in question, it was simply never designed to scale in that fashion. The correct solution would be to run multiple installations and use something (that currently does not exist) in the fashion of IP.Connect to have one master and many slaves for the purposes of authentication.

[DenDen60]

This is also my understanding of how the mod works, and trying to create such a monster is going to actually have many, many bottlenecks under load that cannot be fixed.

SMF is not designed to function in the fashion in question, it was simply never designed to scale in that fashion. The correct solution would be to run multiple installations and use something (that currently does not exist) in the fashion of IP.Connect to have one master and many slaves for the purposes of authentication.

Ok so what would it take to create this something?

[Kindred]

A massive amout of code and someone with enough time and desire to write it...

[Arantor]

Such a bridge need not be huge, but it is fiendishly complex and is pretty much what I had been advocating from the off with this particular use case, but while I have the skills, it doesn't seem viable for me to do it unless I charge a stupid amount ($75-100 per forum network) to actually make it worth even close to the time for me to do it.

[DenDen60]

Ok, So if you look at the hierarchical structures of my communities, see attachment, what would you recommend? (This is what I am developping as we speak, using th Split Forum mod.)

The top community (the global practice), is the place by which people will join.

[DenDen60]

Such a bridge need not be huge, but it is fiendishly complex and is pretty much what I had been advocating from the off with this particular use case, but while I have the skills, it doesn't seem viable for me to do it unless I charge a stupid amount ($75-100 per forum network) to actually make it worth even close to the time for me to do it.

Arantor,

Considering the hierarchy of my communities, could I start using this MOD and then move to bridges?

[Arantor]

Considering how bridges actually work, the answer would logically appear to be a no.

Then again, given that I see currently one possible customer for such a bridge, there's no incentive for me to do it for anything less than several hundred dollars for my time...

[DenDen60]

Arantor, would there be another way to do this. 7 years ago, we did it by creating a mod that used one database for members and a routine that exchange information between different instances of SMF. Users did not have to registered for each instance per se. The mod was installed on each forum and the members were register automatically.

[DenDen60]

Here are the three mods that were created when I did my first "proof of concept in 2007. The mod links different instances of SMF to one user database.

[Arantor]

That is pretty much the approach I have been advocating this entire time... even before you started with this mod.

[DenDen60]

So would it be complicated to upgrade this mod to function with SMF 2.09?

[Arantor]

Complete rewrite.

[DenDen60]

Complete rewrite.

How much $ ?

[DenDen60]

Let's imagine that I start with the split forum mod, when would the process of adding sub forums really affect the users?

If I start with 25 sub forums and 10 000 members, will it be problematic? What about when there are 50 sub forums and 100 000 users? 100 sub forums and 250 000 users.

Thanks for your help.

[dougiefresh]

@denden60: You might want to read this topic: Share user database for 2 (or more) different forums.  I dunno if it would help you, but it might be worth looking at.....

[DenDen60]

Thanks Dougiefresh. I remember that post and even participated in it. From my understanding of the discussion it seems to me a problematic approach.

[DenDen60]

Now, if I understand what Dougiefresh, it really does not matter since, again, if I understand properly, the mod creates another instance of SMF.

No, this mod doesn't create anything but the APPEARANCE of another instance of SMF.  By restricting what is chosen by the database, I can effectively output multiple forums using the same code....  Keep in mind that it does NOTHING to prevent overloading the server.....

Then the question is at one point, adding sub forums, starts to affects the overall functioning of SMF and impedes users' experience?

Should I pay now to have Arator rewrite the mod or wait until we reach a threshold and then make changes.