Topic: So Slow, its a shame

[JG]

My board runs so slow and sometimes even shows page cannot be found errors. It is redicoulous. This is on a server that servs Vbulletin forum lighting fast without even trouble.

I installed two of these forums..although great and nice and although I spent hours customizing it..
They lag and this will be useless to my site..in fact it will hurt my sites.

Why the heck is it like this? Does anyone else have the same problems.. sometimes the forum is fast and good
..then a few minutes later.. slow and dragging..and then dose not even load the page.

I do not get it. it is not my machine.. my server is very fast and not overloaded at all. It is my own
machine and is loaded with memory.

If someone from suppot can help me I will give you my URK and log in if needed.
Let me know and I will PM you the details.

[kegobeer]

SMF is optimized to work with MySQL 4.x.  What version of MySQL are you running?  How a site runs is also connected with how the server is configured.  Perhaps you should look into reconfiguring and optimizing your server?

[JG]

Did you read what I wrote? My server runs other forums lighting fast with no problems. Why dont they need me to so any re-configuring and SMF does?

[Grudge]

JG, we'd be happy to take a look but we need a link/information. Obviously SMF shouldn't run slow - and certainly not slower than a vB installation. To start a link to your forum installation and a phpinfo page would help. I assume you have no mods installed, and your error log is empty? Are you running SMF 1.0.5?

Other things which may be worth checking is that you don't have "Check avatar size each page load" enabled (If on 1.0.5 - it's since been removed). Finally, when it takes a long time to load I assume the load time at the bottom of the page matches the load time you are seeing (i.e it doesn't take 15 second to load but reports only 0.1 seconds)

[kegobeer]

Did you read what I wrote? My server runs other forums lighting fast with no problems. Why dont they need me to so any re-configuring and SMF does?

Did you read what I asked?!?

SMF is optimized to work with MySQL 4.x.  What version of MySQL are you running?

[JG]

Hi and thanks. SMF is so great and this is why I am so disapointed. This forum software is among the best of the best both feature
wise and support wise. I know that SMF funs fast and trouble free here and I would like the same with my forum without
modifying my server since the other forum softwares run fine without modification.

I have a new install of the latest SMF:

[EG]

Other things which may be worth checking is that you don't have "Check avatar size each page load" enabled (If on 1.0.5 - it's since been removed). Finally, when it takes a long time to load I assume the load time at the bottom of the page matches the load time you are seeing (i.e it doesn't take 15 second to load but reports only 0.1 seconds)

would really be worth checking this!

its been the ONLY thing that has EVER slowed any of my SMF forums down!

[[Unknown]]

There have actually been cases where vBulletin and SMF have been compared on the same server, and vBulletin has not been shown to be better in performance.

I'd guess this is one of the following:
  - SMF is misconfigured; for example, you may have the horrible setting to check avatar size on every display enabled.  If you do, turn it off.  This option has been removed in 1.1.
  - MySQL is misconfigured; just because vBulletin seems to run fine does not mean it is necessarily comparable unless they have the same data and same usage.
  - MySQL is an old or ancient version.
  - you have mods installed which are slowing down SMF's performance.

My first impressions as I see them:

1. You are running an old and insecure version of PHP.  I encourage you to pressure those with the power to do so to upgrade.
2. You are running PHP without an optimizer or accelerator/bytecode cacher.  I strongly recommend the installation of eAccelerator on any server with heavy to moderate PHP usage.
3. You have a custom theme; have you checked the error log to make sure you haven't made typos in it causing significant slowdown?
4. You do not have "Display time taken to create every page" so it is very difficult to tell how long the page takes to load.
5. You have no posts and no data; it is unlikely this is an issue where SMF is at fault, or even where MySQL is old or misconfigured; there's no data, nothing to slow it down.
6. Even your home page, http://www.megastarcity.com/, is slow to respond for me - and it's not even PHP!

I suggest you check the error log first off.  Something is obviously very wrong.  SMF cannot be slow when you have no posts, unless something else is wrong.

-[Unknown]

[JG]

Megastarcity loads fast. I just did a reboot and that may have slowed it down when you were trying.
The forum is slow.
I posted my php info link so look at it and you will see my settings and version.
Lets get some help here please. I want to use this forum system.

[ArkServer]

its slow here..

[Ben_S]

php info does not always report the version of MySQL in use.

[JG]

It says it right at the top ben...PHP Version 4.2.2

Also sometimes I get Page Cannot Be Displayed.. not page cannot be found.

Someone from Support please address my issue.

[Isaac]

It says it right at the top ben...PHP Version 4.2.2

Also sometimes I get Page Cannot Be Displayed.. not page cannot be found.

Someone from Support please address my issue.

Did you even bother to read [Unknown]'s post?

[Thunderace]

I'm sorry to hear you are having speed problems with SMF. As a long term user and hoster I have never faced issues with speed .. (read it's not the software)

[unknown] has answered and if he has answered, you already have the best advice, follow what he said and check the relevant settings.

Hope you get it sorted m8.

Rob

[Ben_S]

It says it right at the top ben...PHP Version 4.2.2

Yes, but I never mentioned php in my post.

[JG]

Unknown:

I do not have any error in my custom style
The Php Version runs the other forums just fine.
How do I show the load time?
The other forums do not need an optimizer to load normally
I have no posts and data becasue this is new. Imagine how bad it would be with posts and data
My home page is very fast along with the other pages.

Rememebr I am not knocking this forum because I see it loads great for the others.
I just want to it work normally.

[tentronik]

Does your CMS has something like Search friendly URLs running?

Basicly try to watch the forum alone without any other php technology.


Oh, and did a user reported slow load times or is it just you?

[JG]

3. You have a custom theme; have you checked the error log to make sure you haven't made typos in it causing significant slowdown?

Where does SMF keep its error log?

[JG]

Yes I turned on search friendly URLs in SMF. I need that

[tentronik]

I didnt meant those i mean like 404SEF for mambo.

[JG]

no I do not use anything else

[1MileCrash]

Unknown:

The Php Version runs the other forums just fine.

about a thousand people asked you this:

WHAT VERSION OF MYSQL IS IN USE?

And you cant really compare like that. Saying "it runs this other software just fine". That's like saying "the snake lives just fine in the desert, why wont the fish?".

[Grudge]

JG,

If you want to give me an ftp account to your forum directory I may be able to do some debugging and work out where the slowness is being caused, other than that I don't know what to suggest - as [Unknown] said even out of date MySQL/PHP shouldn't make it *that* slow.

[Thunderace]

I just tried it . .something is hanging in the scripts that you've added to the SMF template imo .. can't tell what it is.

Load a fresh SMF and see how it runs (back up the files ofc)

Sorry I meant swap to default template

[Grudge]

I assume the server is being restarted or something?

Connection Problems
Sorry, SMF was unable to connect to the database. This may be caused by the server being busy. Please try again later.

[JG]

3.23

SMF is causing:

MySQL said:


Too many connections

to my database. this is the problem probably... now It illed everything. i have to reboot again...
Please resolve

[JG]

Grudge
Thank you SO Much.
I am rebooting now.. I will PM you the ftp info

[tentronik]

The error log is on the left bottom of the admin forum panel(version 1.1 3p).

[Isaac]

3.23

That's your mySQL Version, yes?

[[Unknown]]

I do not have any error in my custom style

So the error log is empty, yes?

The Php Version runs the other forums just fine.

It does.  I'm not saying this is why SMF is fast or slow.  I am saying it is insecure.  Like saying your door is unlocked.  Go lock it, or find the person who can.

How do I show the load time?

I named the option for you; it is in Admin -> Edit Features and Options.

The other forums do not need an optimizer to load normally

Again, I did not say it needed one.  I said that your server is not properly configured in the first place.  SMF should run perfectly fine on it with no posts, optimizer or no optimizer, but that does not mean your server is properly configured.  It's like telling you your car is almost out of gas; it needs to be filled, whatever sort of car you use.

I have no posts and data becasue this is new. Imagine how bad it would be with posts and data

As I already said, this is not caused by that.  Are you just trying to annoy me?  I assure you that will only be counter productive.  If you don't want to use SMF, don't - but I assure you this is a problem on your side and not in SMF.  I'll help you find it, but you have to be civil.

My home page is very fast along with the other pages.

It won't even load for me now.

3. You have a custom theme; have you checked the error log to make sure you haven't made typos in it causing significant slowdown?

Where does SMF keep its error log?

Admin -> View Forum Error Log.

And you cant really compare like that. Saying "it runs this other software just fine". That's like saying "the snake lives just fine in the desert, why wont the fish?".

It isn't, in this case.  There's something wrong with the configuration of the forum or server, whether or not other software runs fine.  This isn't an issue of snakes and fish.

to my database. this is the problem probably... now It illed everything. i have to reboot again...
Please resolve

This means what it says; too many connections are being made to your database.  I've attached a status.php script; please upload it to your server and provide a link to it.

-[Unknown]

[JG]

Unknown thanks. I appreciate this. I am sorry if I am not coming off a civil..but really, I am and I love this forum. That's why I am trying to get it working for me the way it does for others. In fact I own an extra vb license but I'd rather get this working. It is so much cleaner and has Real features. what a community should be about... community!
I uploaded the file

[1MileCrash]

i will trade you my SMF license for your vB license.








(to sell it of course)

[[Unknown]]

Okay... first let me note:

The server is already very much overloaded.

That said, SMF shouldn't be so slow to load even withstanding that.  However, your load averages are "11.28, 9.85, 5.62" which is horribly high, they should be under 2.0.  Memory usage is, luckily, fine... except MySQL clearly cannot keep up with the number of (vBulletin, mind you) queries being sent to it - as I type it has 39 concurrently running processes, which shouldn't be.  This is, mind you, under the same account you have installed SMF under - it could be worse server wide.

However, your server is only getting about 6 queries per second, which isn't very much.

As for CPU usage, httpd is using well over 100% which is clearly a bad thing.  Still, if that software is able to continue on the same server reason dictates that Apache must be free enough to do other things.  Especially as the status script loads fine.

From Grudge's test data it looks like making the connection to MySQL alone - which is one line - takes half a second, which is almost unforgivable.

From this data, it is painfully clear that my suggestions about overall improvements to the server (bytecode caching, MySQL version within the last two major stable releases, etc.) would be of significant and important effect (whether you continue using vBulletin or not.)

-[Unknown]

[Kindred]

Holy bejezus...   it's a wonder anything is runing at ANY speed with a server load like that!

well, he's done something...
It seems to be running much faster now...    Although I see some definite template errors scattered here and there...

[JG]

Holy Crap.. Thats an eye opener Unkonwn!

I just logged an and Grudge did something good because it is MUCh faster now.

[1MileCrash]

word. it's like blazing now.

[Grudge]

Right, I took a look at the server and after much debugging found the problem - Server Friendly URL's.

Regardless of what the server may or may not have reported - server URL's were killing the forum. Once I pinpointed it and turned the setting off it started running at a normal speed. So - do not turn on the server friendly URL option! Now, I don't know *why* the option isn't working - but it caused two major problems:

1) The session rewrite function was taking forever, I have no idea why - maybe [Unknown] could suggest why?
2) The server does not support the rewriting of the URL's. If I went to forum/index.php/board,1,0.html it would error. Now I assume this is the server not supporting mod_rewrite or php not running in the correct mode.

Basically, it's working now. I'm no technical expert on mod_rewrite so maybe [Unknown] will see this reply and fill you in on why it's not working. In the mean time at least it should be running at a reasonable speed?

Also, note that MySQL was running very slow but seemed to pick up speed after the first five minutes of my testing :/

[JG]

Grudge thank you so much. You took time to help me and I appreciate it.

I wanted to have SE friendly URLs because SEs are very important to me.

I will have to upgrade as Unknown mentioned and them I am sure i will be able to use the feature.

[Thunderace]

SMF support .. you've gotta love it 

[Ben_S]

I wanted to have SE friendly URLs because SEs are very important to me.

In honesty, they make little difference, google et all are more than happy with the standard url's see http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Asimplemachines.org&start=0&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:unofficial

[JG]

Ben thats good news!

In fact one of the main reasons why I choose SMF is because I found it ALL OVER google! Thats what is important to me

[tentronik]

What is the server feature called which enables friendly search URLs at an appropiate speed?

[Thunderace]

JG for your info i'm quite into SEO and I have seen 0 difference between my SEO URL SMF forums and non SEO.

SMF is very well spidered.

The search engines move fast and I think they have overtaken this issue personally.

[[Unknown]]

2) The server does not support the rewriting of the URL's. If I went to forum/index.php/board,1,0.html it would error. Now I assume this is the server not supporting mod_rewrite or php not running in the correct mode.

It doesn't use mod_rewrite, just Apache's path info.  I should note, however, that there are known bugs in PHP 4.2.x's output buffering, and while SMF generally works around them it's possible that another could have surfaced in this configuration (since basically every option seems to be enabled in the configure?)

I would still, and in light of this information even more, suggest updating PHP.

What is the server feature called which enables friendly search URLs at an appropiate speed?

"Being configured properly" and "not using CGI mode".  To be fair, I was always against adding this feature into SMF by default because it is so server specific.

-[Unknown]

[JG]

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You SMF people!

[erockza]

My forum never use to be slow... it is starting to go slow now... its quite a large one as well sorta.

http://www.ausfx.com/forum [nofollow]

http://www.ausfx.com/status.php [nofollow] Could a dev here please review my status and offer suggestions on my settings and other things.

thanks very much
 

[[Unknown]]

Please start new topics for new requests...

You load averages are currently okay, under 0.20.  Swap usage is okay.  You've got zombies, which probably means Apache is segfaulting or quiting unexpectedly most of the time.

MySQL is not configured properly, and the query cache is not enabled.

For me, your forum is very quick to load.  However, the Google ad seems to be very slow, and may be making it feel sluggish.

-[Unknown]

[erockza]

Where would I go to make sure query cache is enabled? And can only the host config MySQL?
Is there anyway to get rid of the zombies other then a shotgun ... jokes
k sorry will post a newy nxt time

[[Unknown]]

Where would I go to make sure query cache is enabled? And can only the host config MySQL?
Is there anyway to get rid of the zombies other then a shotgun ... jokes
k sorry will post a newy nxt time

I'm afraid all of these things can be handled only by your host or with root access.

-[Unknown]

[erockza]

Load averages:     1.14, 2.46, 2.32
Current processes:    126 (123 sleeping, 2 running, 1 zombie)
Processes by CPU:    httpd (19) 2.2%, [pkgacct (1) 1.1%, (other) (48) 0.9%
Memory usage:    98.363% (1011644k / 1028484k)
Swap: 14.56% (298228k / 2048276k)

This was around 6 on the load averages before... and that memory usage seems to never shift from 98% :S

Question what is the recommend LENGTH of login log ? I have my forum set to show the last 300mins ... is this a bad idea?
Or doesn't it make a difference to forum speed?

Also would any host be able to make mysql run good with SMF .. or is it pretty much hte same procedure for any forum software?

[[Unknown]]

Load averages:     1.14, 2.46, 2.32
Current processes:    126 (123 sleeping, 2 running, 1 zombie)
Processes by CPU:    httpd (19) 2.2%, [pkgacct (1) 1.1%, (other) (48) 0.9%
Memory usage:    98.363% (1011644k / 1028484k)
Swap: 14.56% (298228k / 2048276k)

This was around 6 on the load averages before... and that memory usage seems to never shift from 98% :S

Memory usage shouldn't move around too much - it's good that swap is low and memory usage is high, although swap is a *little* higher than it should be.  You've still got a zombie there, which isn't good at all.  What's funny is CPU usage is low.

Question what is the recommend LENGTH of login log ? I have my forum set to show the last 300mins ... is this a bad idea?
Or doesn't it make a difference to forum speed?

Doesn't matter at all.

Also would any host be able to make mysql run good with SMF .. or is it pretty much hte same procedure for any forum software?

It's pretty much the same - the things I recommend for server configuration would be good for any PHP software you installed on your server.

-[Unknown]