VMC site

[SIDECAR]

They seem to be having a lot of overload problems. It is now almost impossible to log on. Maybe Steve could give them a hand :p :rolleyes: .
Tim T...sidecar

[sstodvictory]

I am giving them a hand - by not going there as often.

I've relayed some thoughts, but really from where I sit I can only guess about it. I'm partial to different platforms than the ones they're using, but then, they've been around IT issues a lot longer than me.

Steve

[Daffy]

Don't take anything away from your skills Steve, I know better. Does seem odd though, did a migration to a supposedly better web-host and it blazed for me anyway for a very short time. Methinks it be a software issue from reading tween the lines. Like mega means mediocre.

[BigJim]

Given the size of the group and the number of posts they are running on the wrong platform. Our site is running on a far supperior platform. I mentioned this on the VMC site and got shot down. I've only been managing the development and deployment of mission critical web applications for the last 6 of my 25 years in IT, so what do I know?

[Frank/Coletto]

They have a person over there that knows everything about everything. Lets see, moved to the new vbulliten, that didn't work, then they moved to a new server, that didn't work. So lets limit the number of people on the site so you can effect the number one reason people join.

[Daffy]

Frank don't candy coat it tell us how you really feel. :D .
Suppose that server in the basement at the newest service at the store is overloaded? :eek:

[SIDECAR]

Now, now, We know there is only one person that can fix it. Input from others must be excluded Skywalker. :eek: Darthvader to the rescue. :rolleyes:

[sstodvictory]

A website done by volunteers is going to be built on the platforms and software resources the volunteers are most comfortable and familiar with. For me that's LAMP - UNIX/Apache/MySQL/PHP-Perl and its never let me down, including for more complex things I've built at work. I've seen the choice criteria of the VMC, and for them it was driven by support for Windows/asp, and from that MS SQL-Server (or Access for the impoverished) is the likely follower. They're paying the price for those choices in administrative overhead, but I understand why they were made. The monetary cost of Windows-reliance can lead to compromises for the budget-limited. LAMP tends to be the domain of the self-taught, or in the case of corporate IT trainees, those that have broken free from conventions.

If they're right about the shared data server limitation, things will smooth out.

Steve

[SIDECAR]

Steve, Some of the post are towards the VMC board members that think they know everything even if what you told them would save thier life. They will not let others help them and some how think they can do it all on thier own. That seems to be why a lot of good ideas go unused.
Tim T...sidecar

[Scabs92c]

Steve are you still hosting the pics?? I would think for one thing they would quit hosting them. Then they take away the avitars and post count?? How much bandwidth could that save. But yet they are still allowing tag lines??
I would say thogh the pics should go. I just dont know the numbers how much transfer they are actually useing??
Somebody has to figure something out though.
Scabs

[sstodvictory]

No, to your question Scabs.

I had to give up VicPic when I moved to a rural home. VicPic accounted for most of my total webserver bandwidth, but, the load to the actual database was negligable because the actual images were stored in the filesystem not in the database. I don't know what the VMC arrangement is. If their photosite images are stored in a relational database, and the database sits on the shared data server, and traffic to their photo resource is heavy, that could account for a big chuck of their problem. That's a lot of if's.

Secondly about VMC photo site bandwidth, a lot of it has to be caused by the way its designed. From observing how long it takes to show all the thumbs of a selected album, I deduce that in the album view, all the full-size images of the album are actually downloaded, and then the browser client resizes them for presentation as thumbs. That's a lot of bandwidth just to show thumbs, not to mention the download time. VicPic, on the other hand, generated and stored a permanent thumb for each image at the time the image was originally uploaded. When a user viewed an album, only the thumbs were initially downloaded. A full image was transmitted only after a thumb was clicked, and then only one image. If my original deduction is correct, the VMC has simply chosen the wrong kind of photo album.

Third, images that are stored in the filesystem, with only a pointer to the image stored in the database, cause very little database bandwidth. Images that are stored in a database on a separate data server cause 2X the bandwidth - 1x bandwidth to the data server and 1x bandwidth for the webserver. Webserver bandwidth is cheaper and more abundant than database bandwidth, and database bandwidth appears to be their current problem. If photosite images are being stored on a shared dataserver in the database, they could theoritically switch to a system that stores them in their webserver account filesystem. Again, more if's.

The same principle applies to images uploaded to the forums. Some forums can store attachments in the file system and some store them exclusively in the forums database. The NIVR forum allows a choice, and I've configured it to use the filesystem. MegaBBS used to store forums attachments in the database exclusively, until recently. My understanding is that an option has been added, but I don't know if the VMC has any choice. The current MegaBBS version is 2.1. The VMC is using 2.0. Here's another interesting factlet. MegaBBS 2.2, which is currently in beta testing, supports using MySQL as the underlying database. The release date of 2.2 has been delayed from the original estimate, but the authors are still saying its eminent. The VMC's webhosting account I believe comes with 3 MySQL databases included. The option of translating the VMC forums from Access or MS SQL Server to MySQL, is going to exist. A handfull of utilities are available to assist with translation, but it would still require someone familiar with both database systems. Translation would be relevant if a data server were purchased and co-located because of the RDBMS licensing issue.

So what does all this boil down to? If they could store uploaded images in the filesystem, even if they don't translate their forums to MySQL, they should be well situated with their current hosting package. If they are already doing so, then most of what I've written is irrelevant.

All this discussion about what's going on with the VMC site, in our fourms, could be stepping on some toes. I'm sorry for that. I don't want to tell anyone what to do, I'm just spitting out a rational analysis based on what I know or can reasonably guess.

Steve

[Scabs92c]

I wouldnt say stepping on toes. To be honest I havent heard of megabbs before. I just remember when they were using Icon Board and the reason for the switch they said that icon board couldnt handle the useage. I found this kind of interesting.
Chillins site didnt have problems. Sure it doesnt have the traffic that the vmc does. But its comparable now to what they had at the time of the switch over.
Ahh I am sure they will figure something out. Thats what they get paid for :biglaugh:
Scabs

[daveltb]

Looks like their still having trouble. It's down again.