SLOW LOADING AND ERROR MSGS

[AST3R1X]

Hi.

I have recently installed smf with TP(10 days ago). Using the theme Midnight
Since install it has been lacking in performance with slow load times and various error messages when veiwing. 
eg. page cannot be displayed (This is frequent and will occurr when moving from pages within the site. Refresh and it displays.)

the site reports the request is not valid (occasionally)

there is no server to handle this request (occasionally)

timed out message when posting or sending PM's however the posts are entered and PM's sent.(frequent)

We have only a few members 33 total and 1000 posts. Max online at one time 15.

http://www.r3dmist-squad-xbox360.co.uk/index.php

http://www.r3dmist-squad-xbox360.co.uk/phpinfo.php

http://www.r3dmist-squad-xbox360.co.uk/status.php

I am on a shared server here http://www.streamline.net/pu.php

All installed pkgs as follows

1. TinyPortal 0.983   
2. Auto Embed Video Clips 2.1.1     
3. Registered Links 1.0   
4. Fix Message Empty Error For Embed Video Mods 1.0     
5. Simple ImageShack 2.0.3   
6. SMF 1.1.4 Search "brd" Bug Fix (1.0.1) 1.0.1     
7. Xbox Live Gamer Tag 1.0     
8. SMF Gallery Lite

I have been through the forum maintainance and found nothing. Although I did notice that when optimising tables it found 52 and only optimised 25??
I have run the site in default theme and it has not made any difference whatsoever. I have used the repair tool and again all was OK.
I have not touched MySQL due to the fact that I wouldnt have a clue where to start.
Can you offer any guidance in resolving this, frustration is now setting in.

Thanks

[Rumbaar]

Well most of those things I would attribute to host issues.

Does the marquee javascript make a difference for the slowdown when removed.

Also looking at your status.php I'm not expert, but Opened vs. Open tables: 35788.625 (should be <= 80) looks like an issue, but I don't know the implications.

Also their memory usage is quite high.

[AST3R1X]

@Rumbaar

I have tried without the scrolling news and this makes no difference.  I agree it appears that there is an issue with Opened vs. Open tables: 35788.625 (should be <= 80)  and memory usage. However I haven't a clue as to what it means or how to resolve it.

[青山 素子]

Opened tables refers to the number of tables that have been opened since the last status reset (usually since MySQL was started). Open tables refers to the number of currently open tables in the database. A big difference will cause a loss in performance.

On shared servers, the difference will be high because of the nature of the hosting (there are likely over 100 individual databases per MySQL server). On a dedicated (or VPS) you can control things like the table cache, so it is in your best interest to keep the difference low as that means most of your tables are open in memory and thus faster to access.

[AST3R1X]

Thanks for the info M-c


Does this mean that the only way I have of resolving this issue is to transfer hosting company?

[青山 素子]

It isn't a major deal unless it is impacting the forum performance to a large degree. You'll see similar on practically any shared hosting.

[AST3R1X]

@M-c

I know this probably seems a minor issue on the surface but trying to work with the forum under these circs is absolute murder. I'll try to explain how frustrating it gets.
I try to create a new board, type in title and description set permissions add board PAGE CANNOT BE DISPLAYED refresh No New Board, recreate add board PAGE CANNOT BE DISPLAYED and so on If I'm lucky I get to create a new board on the third attempt normally its 5 attempts. Same when posting on threads or sending PM and you dont know if PM sent or not, sometimes it has sometimes it hasn't. Get back to forum and I have PM's galore from members who are experiencing same, these are duplicated and triplicated because members dont know the PM has been sent.  We are a new site and trying to attract new members this is not helping. 

I have admin'd another SMF forum on a shared server and never ever had anything like this. Hence I was unsure if I had some settings wrong or was it server side.

I have also used a server status tool and got the following result all in RED

Server Status for http://www.r3dmist-squad-xbox360.co.uk/index.php:

HTTP: Website is either loading slow or offline.

FTP: There seems to be a problem connecting to FTP

MAIL (Pop3): There seems to be a problem with the Pop3

MAIL (SMTP): Failed connecting to SMTP

MySQL: The MySQL seems to be offline.

Once again I wouldnt know where to start to resolve these probs.

I really do need some advice from the vastly more knowledgable and experienced.

Thanks

[青山 素子]

I try to create a new board, type in title and description set permissions add board PAGE CANNOT BE DISPLAYED refresh No New Board, recreate add board PAGE CANNOT BE DISPLAYED and so on If I'm lucky I get to create a new board on the third attempt normally its 5 attempts. Same when posting on threads or sending PM and you dont know if PM sent or not, sometimes it has sometimes it hasn't. Get back to forum and I have PM's galore from members who are experiencing same, these are duplicated and triplicated because members dont know the PM has been sent.  We are a new site and trying to attract new members this is not helping. 

Sounds like a problem with mod_security. Some hosts put up very restrictive rules with it that can cause problems with many pieces of software. Try the suggestion at Having problems with mod_security? and see if that helps.

I have also used a server status tool and got the following result all in RED

Server Status for http://www.r3dmist-squad-xbox360.co.uk/index.php:

HTTP: Website is either loading slow or offline.

FTP: There seems to be a problem connecting to FTP

MAIL (Pop3): There seems to be a problem with the Pop3

MAIL (SMTP): Failed connecting to SMTP

MySQL: The MySQL seems to be offline.

A lot depends on what that tool is doing and how the server is configured. There might be some false positives going on. Can you provide a link to the tool?

Also, none of those problems are resulting from an opened/open table database statistic.

[AST3R1X]

@ M-c

Thanks for that I shall have a read and see if it helps.

Sorry I should have posted the link for status tool before

http://www.iwebtool.com/server_status?domain=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.r3dmist-squad-xbox360.co.uk%2Findex.php

I have used a few and they all say the same. The MySQL showing offline is confusing.

[AST3R1X]

@ M-c

I've just gone through the files there was no ".htaccess" file on the server. I followed the instructions put it on and the site is still up. I will monitor it now and see if things improve.  I would never have thought to look at mod security.

Fingers crossed and thanks for the advice, I'll report back re progress. 

[青山 素子]

That tool's an external tool, so it isn't very useful at all. The MySQL part is especially unhelpful since you shouldn't be able to connect from the outside anyway.

[AST3R1X]

That tool's an external tool, so it isn't very useful at all. The MySQL part is especially unhelpful since you shouldn't be able to connect from the outside anyway.

Thanks for the advice its just that Im trying everything in desperation to identify the problem.  It appears that the htaccess file I uploaded has not made any difference either. Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhh Its just so frustrating.  I am seriously considering moving hosting company but I dont want to end up in the same boat.

[青山 素子]

Ask you host if they are using mod_security. The newer version of it won't let users disable it like that, and it is responsible for white pages like you describe 90% of the time.

While I'm thinking about it, does the forum error log show any entries at the time this happens?

[AST3R1X]

I've put it to the hosters and awaiting reply. The forum error log shows nothing. I have gone through each of the forum maintainance processes and the only thing that shows is on the optimising tables. ie. 52 tables found  optimised 25. What happened to the other 27? Everything else shows OK. ie. Congratulations NO ERRORS FOUND.

[青山 素子]

Optimization removes overhead. When a database table grows, it uses up more disk space. When items are deleted, the space isn't reclaimed. This non-used space is called overhead. For tables with lots of transactions, it works out well because the table grows and stays around a fixed size while entries are added and removed.

However, sometimes you'll get a one-time size increase. Optimizing the database causes the space to be reclaimed. It also acts as a bit of a defragmentation, so it can potentially speed things up if there is a lot of overhead.

[AST3R1X]

Thanks for your assistance. You can mark this as resolved.  I changed hosting company problem solved. Thanks to Tick at TPHosting  My site now runs like a dream.