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Problem: Forum slow, occasional "Connection Problems" errors.

Started by Raion@BV, September 03, 2015, 03:31:14 PM

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Raion@BV

Hello!

I run SMF 2.0.10 and have a few packages installed.  Recently, my forum users have been complaining about their pages taking a while to load.

Plus, my error log has quite a few General and Undefined errors, numbering in the hundreds.

Yes, I backed up.  ;D

I was wondering if someone could diagnose my forum for me.

JBlaze

Have you installed any mods recently? Also, could you post here what errors you are getting?

Most likely the reason SMF is slowing down is that your server is reaching capacity. Have you noticed a recent uptick in site traffic? It could also be that the server itself is being overloaded by another site if you are using a shared host.

You may want to contact your host and see if they have anything to say about your site being slow :)
Jason Clemons
Former Team Member 2009 - 2012

Raion@BV

A big thanks for replying! You're the best.

Quote from: JBlaze on September 03, 2015, 03:37:30 PM
Have you installed any mods recently? Also, could you post here what errors you are getting?

Most likely the reason SMF is slowing down is that your server is reaching capacity. Have you noticed a recent uptick in site traffic? It could also be that the server itself is being overloaded by another site if you are using a shared host.

You may want to contact your host and see if they have anything to say about your site being slow :)

I did, actually, and they claimed that it was the high volume of traffic.  We have been getting more users recently, so this explains a lot.

On closer inspection, a good number of the errors have to do with a package I had uninstalled many moons ago - I uninstalled Aeva Video Mod and installed Simple Audio-Video Embedder instead.

There aren't a lot of posts on my site, but we have a number of threads with lots of posts including embedded video; do you think the embedded video posts are causing problems as well?  Should I prune the topics with lots of embedded videos?


JBlaze

Quote from: Raion@BV on September 03, 2015, 03:41:54 PM
I did, actually, and they claimed that it was the high volume of traffic.  We have been getting more users recently, so this explains a lot.
This could be it right here. It could be as simple as increasing the amount of RAM on your server.

Quote from: Raion@BV on September 03, 2015, 03:41:54 PM
On closer inspection, a good number of the errors have to do with a package I had uninstalled many moons ago - I uninstalled Aeva Video Mod and installed Simple Audio-Video Embedder instead.

There aren't a lot of posts on my site, but we have a number of threads with lots of posts including embedded video; do you think the embedded video posts are causing problems as well?  Should I prune the topics with lots of embedded videos?
Not likely. If the videos are externally hosted (Youtube, Vimeo, etc), then it wouldn't really slow down your forum. SMF is quite optimized when it comes to having many posts.
Jason Clemons
Former Team Member 2009 - 2012

Raion@BV

Quote from: JBlaze on September 03, 2015, 03:44:59 PM
Quote from: Raion@BV on September 03, 2015, 03:41:54 PM
I did, actually, and they claimed that it was the high volume of traffic.  We have been getting more users recently, so this explains a lot.
This could be it right here. It could be as simple as increasing the amount of RAM on your server.

Quote from: Raion@BV on September 03, 2015, 03:41:54 PM
On closer inspection, a good number of the errors have to do with a package I had uninstalled many moons ago - I uninstalled Aeva Video Mod and installed Simple Audio-Video Embedder instead.

There aren't a lot of posts on my site, but we have a number of threads with lots of posts including embedded video; do you think the embedded video posts are causing problems as well?  Should I prune the topics with lots of embedded videos?
Not likely. If the videos are externally hosted (Youtube, Vimeo, etc), then it wouldn't really slow down your forum. SMF is quite optimized when it comes to having many posts.

That is what I thought.  SMF is excellently coded and very efficient, so it couldn't be the videos.  Thank you for confirming my suspicions.

I think we've covered the issue, much to my relief, but here is a snippet from my errorlog.

Quote[Thu Sep 03 13:49:17 2015] [notice] [client 37.187.167.171] mod_rbl: 37.187.167.171 is listed in RBL.
[Thu Sep 03 13:49:17 2015] [notice] [client 192.187.96.98] mod_rbl: 192.187.96.98 is listed in RBL.
[Thu Sep 03 13:49:17 2015] [notice] [client 92.222.17.17] mod_rbl: 92.222.17.17 is listed in RBL.
[Thu Sep 03 13:49:18 2015] [notice] [client 192.187.96.98] mod_rbl: 192.187.96.98 is listed in RBL.
[Thu Sep 03 13:49:18 2015] [notice] [client 77.220.64.150] mod_rbl: 77.220.64.150 is listed in RBL.
[Thu Sep 03 13:49:18 2015] [notice] [client 89.200.143.43] mod_rbl: 89.200.143.43 is listed in RBL.
[Thu Sep 03 13:49:18 2015] [notice] [client 192.187.96.98] mod_rbl: 192.187.96.98 is listed in RBL.
[Thu Sep 03 13:49:18 2015] [notice] [client 37.187.167.171] mod_rbl: 37.187.167.171 is listed in RBL.
[Thu Sep 03 13:49:18 2015] [notice] [client 192.187.96.98] mod_rbl: 192.187.96.98 is listed in RBL.
[Thu Sep 03 13:49:18 2015] [notice] [client 103.10.62.224] mod_rbl: 103.10.62.224 is listed in RBL.
[Thu Sep 03 13:49:18 2015] [notice] [client 210.211.126.218] mod_rbl: 210.211.126.218 is listed in RBL.
[Thu Sep 03 13:49:18 2015] [notice] [client 92.222.17.17] mod_rbl: 92.222.17.17 is listed in RBL.
[Thu Sep 03 13:49:18 2015] [notice] [client 192.187.96.98] mod_rbl: 192.187.96.98 is listed in RBL.
[Thu Sep 03 13:49:18 2015] [notice] [client 89.200.143.43] mod_rbl: 89.200.143.43 is listed in RBL.
[Thu Sep 03 13:49:18 2015] [notice] [client 77.220.64.150] mod_rbl: 77.220.64.150 is listed in RBL.
[Thu Sep 03 13:49:18 2015] [notice] [client 192.187.96.98] mod_rbl: 192.187.96.98 is listed in RBL.
[Thu Sep 03 13:49:18 2015] [notice] [client 216.27.27.81] mod_rbl: 216.27.27.81 is listed in RBL.
[Thu Sep 03 13:49:18 2015] [notice] [client 192.187.96.98] mod_rbl: 192.187.96.98 is listed in RBL.
[Thu Sep 03 13:49:18 2015] [notice] [client 89.200.143.43] mod_rbl: 89.200.143.43 is listed in RBL.
[Thu Sep 03 13:49:18 2015] [notice] [client 192.187.96.98] mod_rbl: 192.187.96.98 is listed in RBL.
[Thu Sep 03 13:49:18 2015] [notice] [client 77.220.64.150] mod_rbl: 77.220.64.150 is listed in RBL.

Kindred

Actually -- if you have a bunch of videos, and are using AEVA or SAVE, it CAN slow down the system -- because every video/link does a host lookup or something similar to get the video content.


that error could also be indicative of a poorly configured server...      that is some sort of blacklist module...  and checking a bunch of stuff against the blacklist could take resources
Слaва
Украинi

Please do not PM, IM or Email me with support questions.  You will get better and faster responses in the support boards.  Thank you.

"Loki is not evil, although he is certainly not a force for good. Loki is... complicated."

Raion@BV

Quote from: Kindred on September 03, 2015, 03:53:29 PM
Actually -- if you have a bunch of videos, and are using AEVA or SAVE, it CAN slow down the system -- because every video/link does a host lookup or something similar to get the video content.


that error could also be indicative of a poorly configured server...      that is some sort of blacklist module...  and checking a bunch of stuff against the blacklist could take resources

Hmmm.  It looks like I might have to prune those video threads after all. 

My server is managed by a hosting company that uses Cpanel; are you suggesting that I should look into my own configuration, or is that entirely the problem of my host?

Illori


shawnb61

We have hundreds if not thousands of video links thru AEVA.  No slowdown. 

I'd look very closely at your overall traffic - via awstats.    Yes, it is possible to get crawled to death by search bots.   That is what happened to our site when we had similar issues. 

I went thru a several-week period of analyzing awstats & detailed logs daily, & taking actions to cut off resource hogs.   
Address the process rather than the outcome.  Then, the outcome becomes more likely.   - Fripp

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