Lets Talk About Extreme condition of smf

Started by Shrink, June 09, 2012, 09:09:13 PM

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Shrink

HEllo Friends,
This topic related to discussion of Possible problems occur in smf.
1)Boards-
lets Think about boards. How many boards we can add in smf. If it depends on  that particular database, then how to decide that limit. What are the possible errors & difficulties in such huge number of boards. 

Arantor

Theoretically you can add a maximum of 65534 boards. Practically, any more than 100 or so is going to give you performance problems and it's going to be hard for users to find anything. History shows that humans simply cannot mentally process too many choices at once and at any given time, going above 6 items without some kind of a break is simply too hard for our brains to easily deal with.

Instead of asking what the 'possible' problems are, why not ask about your actual plans and I'll tell you whether SMF can accommodate them or not? That way instead of getting 'probably' useful answers, you'll get actually useful ones.

abhirupmanna

Quote
" When there is a will there is a way. If there is no way make one "

Please do read my blog
I would love to hear your comments.

Touchline Reporter : for the hardcore soccer fans

Shrink

Quote from: Arantor on June 09, 2012, 09:13:48 PM
Instead of asking what the 'possible' problems are, why not ask about your actual plans and I'll tell
Ok. please visit my site www.shrinkdworld.com Now i am needed to add 38 new boards. This site is about indexing of pages. I prefer forum system because availability of lots of plugins & facilities. And mainly this is free.
i discuss this topic so any problem could come i can know it.   

Shrink

2) Next condition is how may post the smf system can handle without any difficulty??

Shrink

Quote from: Arantor on June 09, 2012, 09:13:48 PM
History shows that humans simply cannot mentally process too many choices at once and at any given time, going above 6 items without some kind of a break is simply too hard for our brains to easily deal with.
Nice Point.. thanks. It will help me in arranging by board on front page!  :)

vbgamer45

Quote from: Shrink on June 11, 2012, 11:31:30 AM
2) Next condition is how may post the smf system can handle without any difficulty??
Really depends on your server hosting configuration.
This board has
3,160,739 Posts in 390,518 Topics by 289,694 Members.
But there are other boards with 10's of millions of posts.
Good example of extremely customized site http://warriorcatsrpg.com/
Community Suite for SMF - Take your forum to the next level built for SMF, Gallery,Store,Classifieds,Downloads,more!

SMFHacks.com -  Paid Modifications for SMF

Mods:
EzPortal - Portal System for SMF
SMF Gallery Pro
SMF Store SMF Classifieds Ad Seller Pro

Arantor

The theoretical maximum of SMF is 2 billion posts. The largest SMF forum I believe I've seen has 10m posts.

Again, practically, it's more than you'll ever need to deal with.

Shrink


Arantor

Theoretically? 8 million unique topics. Practically, more than enough. This forum, which has 3 million posts hasn't even hit half a million topics yet.


Why are you so bothered by the theoretical maximums of SMF that are unlikely to be hit on any forum you're likely to run?

Even the single largest forum in the world is smaller than these theoretical figures.

Elmacik

#10
Will this "how many .... can be?" questions and " .... billion" answers pairs go on like that? :)

These numbers are not SMF-bound actually; it's all about the database column specification and it can theoretically be extended even if it hits the maximum; even to theoretical infinite.
Home of Elmacik

Arantor

That's not strictly true, there are certain places in SMF where it will expect values to be within certain bounds such that just altering the DB structure on its own is not ideal - and don't forget that PHP has issues with dealing with numbers greater than the 32 bit boundary (since it's never clear whether a given installation is 32 bit or 64 bit)

Elmacik

Ahh yes; and it is still possible to extend by customizing things. So then? :) I mean, no need to force the mind behind the limits.
Home of Elmacik

Shrink

nice discussion guys.... I am asking these things because i am mechanical engineer.. I have very less knowledge about  these things. These limits help me to decide future planing..

MrPhil

Software is something easily changed, much more easily than nuts and bolts and physical objects. Start with SMF, and if at some point you manage to outgrow it (very unlikely), you can switch to something else for very little cost or time. You're suffering from paralysis by analysis -- like your forum choice is going to be something cast in stone for the next 50 years while the investment is paid off! You can change it next month if you want to.

Shrink

It is really need to change ? if yes, then please suggest what is better option for me.

Arantor

-sigh-

No, that's not what he said. He said that you really don't need to worry about any of these limits because if ever they *were* a problem, they could be changed.

The odds of you hitting any of SMF's limits are basically nil, no forum run on SMF has yet hit these limits, in fact even the largest forum in the world is still below these limitations.

MrPhil

Dealing with software requires a much different engineering mindset than dealing with hardware. The investment is cheap (SMF is free; your time is the only cost). It's easily changed if necessary. You don't have to sweat so much about making the right choice up front (with detailed analysis) and worry about lifetime costs and payback periods. If you made the wrong choice, it's fairly quick and cheap to switch to something else, especially if you haven't gone far with it. SMF is certainly a good initial choice, and you will hopefully find it satisfactory for the life of the project.

Compare this to a design choice when building a car. Once it's off the drawing board (or CAD system) and the design is made and suppliers tool up and materials are purchased, it becomes very expensive (in both time and money) to make a change (see gas tank, Pinto). Your choice for forum software is practically no cost and takes almost no time to change, if needed. Stop analyzing this thing to death and start installing!

Shrink

NIce reply thank you guys.. Now let me find something more intresting for this discussion.. :D

live627

Quote from: Shrink on October 12, 2012, 01:41:51 AM
Now let me find something more intresting for this discussion.. :D
Like what? Something totally stupid and bizarre like how many people can sit on SMF until it breaks? Heh. Try to answer THAT one.

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