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parallax · Jul 14, 2001, 07:40 PM

Well, here's just a brief description of our current situation:

We're right now running on an old Pentium with little RAM. In order to increase performance, we tried running apache with mod_perl. Although the UBB manual implies that mod_perl works with UBB 6 (i.e., it details steps for servers running mod_perl), we recently found out from Infopop that mod_perl is in fact unsupported and they _expect_ problems.

mod_perl was running intially very well, and the speed boost was tremendous, but over time, problems accumulated (e.g., threads disappearing; thread pages losing posts). Then, a few days ago, the problems reached a point where they were intolerable, and that's when we got the reply from Infopop.

For now, I'm just going to leave mod_perl off, and when the new server arrives, the performance should be much better. <trite>"We apologize for any inconvenience."</trite>

-px

Matsu · Jul 14, 2001, 08:20 PM

See what bad karma begets. The wicked too reap their just rewards.

gorgonzola · Jul 14, 2001, 08:23 PM

Originally posted by Matsu:
See what bad karma begets. The wicked too reap their just rewards.

Did parallax tell you about the plan to DDoS Infopop already?!

parallax · Jul 14, 2001, 08:29 PM

Originally posted by Matsu:
See what bad karma begets. The wicked too reap their just rewards.

Hehe

Now the question is: Why are the fora so fast!?

I modified the apache config files a tad, but I didn't expect _this_ much of a performance boost. Perhaps I elimated all that excess swapping... Otherwise, I wouldn't know.

Matsu · Jul 14, 2001, 09:43 PM

Damn it! The heavens are aligned against me. Matsu mutters indistinct curses, hobbles back to his lair behind the beer fridge and begins conjuring anew.

Norm1985 · Jul 14, 2001, 10:14 PM

To be more specific, the system running MacNN Forums is a Pentium II 350 with 512RAM. Now you may think 512RAM is a lot, but considering we have I believe over 20,000 members and that UBB 6 is a RAM hog... That can explain why 512 really isin't much.

suprz · Jul 15, 2001, 09:53 AM

Originally posted by Norm1985:
To be more specific, the system running MacNN Forums is a Pentium II 350 with 512RAM. Now you may think 512RAM is a lot, but considering we have I believe over 20,000 members and that UBB 6 is a RAM hog... That can explain why 512 really isin't much.

just one question....why does a mac board have to use a wintel server? is it because of software compatability etc.... no sarcasm intended, i just wanted to know.

MikeM32 · Jul 15, 2001, 11:18 AM

I wonder if this was why the fora were inaccessable yesterday. I could get to the main page but couldn't access any threads at all.

Now that it's back it actually seems "snappier" than I've seen it in quite some time.

Mike

graphiteman · Jul 15, 2001, 11:52 AM

Originally posted by suprz:


just one question....why does a mac board have to use a wintel server? is it because of software compatability etc.... no sarcasm intended, i just wanted to know.

The AppleInsider boards were running on a Cube with OS X...

gorgonzola · Jul 15, 2001, 01:14 PM

Originally posted by suprz:
just one question....why does a mac board have to use a wintel server? is it because of software compatability etc.... no sarcasm intended, i just wanted to know.

Sounds odd, right?

It's because in our experience, Linux is far more stable for running servers that make heavy use of Perl. OS X and OS X Server are fine for running Apache, for example, but they start to crap out when you do extremely heavy Perl work.

Apple runs all of apple.com on Mac OS X Server 10, but the main difference is that they don't have UBB 6 calling Perl every 5 seconds. Also, they have an insane amount of hardware power and Akamai bandwidth to use, so that's not really a fair comparison. =)

Basically, we use PC hardware, but it's for Linux, not Windows.

Avenir · Jul 15, 2001, 04:16 PM

Originally posted by gorgonzola:


Sounds odd, right?

It's because in our experience, Linux is far more stable for running servers that make heavy use of Perl. OS X and OS X Server are fine for running Apache, for example, but they start to crap out when you do extremely heavy Perl work.

Apple runs all of apple.com on Mac OS X Server 10, but the main difference is that they don't have UBB 6 calling Perl every 5 seconds. Also, they have an insane amount of hardware power and Akamai bandwidth to use, so that's not really a fair comparison. =)

Basically, we use PC hardware, but it's for Linux, not Windows.

Forgive me, as I am a retard about things like this, but how come you can't run a PPC copy of Linux? Still incompatibilities? I know what you're saying though, we might even have a Compaq (ewww) computer at the Apple reseller that I work at... to run the phone systems.

suprz · Jul 15, 2001, 05:06 PM

Originally posted by gorgonzola:


Sounds odd, right?

Basically, we use PC hardware, but it's for Linux, not Windows.

linux? thank god!

i hate windows

thanks for the info gorgonzola

[ 07-15-2001: Message edited by: suprz ]

Norm1985 · Jul 15, 2001, 05:13 PM

Originally posted by suprz:


linux? thank god!

i hate windows

thanks for the info gorgonzola

[ 07-15-2001: Message edited by: suprz ]

Trust me, MacNN wouldn't betray us.

They wouldn't use Windows because of course they are Mac fans and also Windows is inferior to Mac OS X, Mac OS 9, Linux, and xBSD in serving capabilites.

gorgonzola · Jul 15, 2001, 06:58 PM

Originally posted by Avenir:
Forgive me, as I am a retard about things like this, but how come you can't run a PPC copy of Linux? Still incompatibilities? I know what you're saying though, we might even have a Compaq (ewww) computer at the Apple reseller that I work at... to run the phone systems.

Well, if you're not running Mac OS, why get a Mac? That's basically the reason.

PC hardware is cheaper and will run Linux faster. For about 1/3 the price, we can get a machine that will run Linux much faster than a machine we could get from Apple.

We all run Mac OS/Mac OS X at home and in offices, but the servers are exclusively Linux (and the AI server is being moved to Linux -- I'm not counting that durn Cube).

Scotttheking · Jul 15, 2001, 07:50 PM

I'll take the cube when you are done with it.
It can't be any more unstable then my rev 1 B&W G3.

graphiteman · Jul 16, 2001, 01:55 PM

Gorgonzola, do you know when the AppleInsider forums will be back up?

groverat · Jul 16, 2001, 02:58 PM

We got any ETAs on the server, etc...?

Also, will the AI boards remain at the trusty UBB v5.1(?) or will you guys try to inflict the horrors of UBB6 on us as well?

A dedicated PII-350 w/ 512m should be fine for the AI boards, I guess, better than what we have now, anyway.

Also, someone mentioned something about changing ISPs for the AI boards, what's the deal with that?

parallax · Jul 16, 2001, 04:03 PM

Originally posted by groverat:
We got any ETAs on the server, etc...?

Also, will the AI boards remain at the trusty UBB v5.1(?) or will you guys try to inflict the horrors of UBB6 on us as well?

A dedicated PII-350 w/ 512m should be fine for the AI boards, I guess, better than what we have now, anyway.

Also, someone mentioned something about changing ISPs for the AI boards, what's the deal with that?

Next Monday, hopefully (deja vu all over again

)

graphiteman · Jul 16, 2001, 04:44 PM

Any way this could be expedited?

Bodhi · Jul 16, 2001, 05:10 PM

With RAM being so cheap these days, wouldn't it help to throw another 512MB into the current server running these boards?

gorgonzola · Jul 16, 2001, 07:20 PM

We're going to put more RAM in nuke, and AI forums will be up next week. The UBB will definitely stay at UBB 5, since UBB 6 is the worst product ever released (a little bit worse than Word 6.0, I'd say), and we're switching ISPs from that crappy place we had before to the Boston facility where nuke and hole live.

The hosting company's OWN SITE isn't accessible, so AI isn't doing *that* badly!

AI forums should be solid after we finish all the moving and whatnot.

c0rvette · Jul 16, 2001, 07:35 PM

.. and us bawstonians will be speedy

Bodhi · Jul 16, 2001, 08:08 PM

gorgonzola-

Thanks man, yourhelp in this situation is really appreciated!

Is there still some talk of a re-design of the forums at AI?

gorgonzola · Jul 16, 2001, 08:17 PM

No redesign is in the works, afaik...

graphiteman · Jul 20, 2001, 01:54 PM

Are the AI forums still on track for a Monday "relaunch"?

groverat · Jul 21, 2001, 12:29 AM

Next monday, hopefully == two weeks

Let's just say I stopped holding my breath.

Keep it up, guys, I know you're busy with MacWorld and updating MacNN proper's servers. Get to us when you get a chance, much appreciated.

[ 07-21-2001: Message edited by: groverat ]