New Server…Soon

[kwatt]

You may have noticed, particularly at peak times that UKW slows down a bit on occasion. There are many, many reasons for this to happen as I’ve discovered.

At first it was Amazon that was causing an issue, that was dealt with.

Then we learned that people trying to save the entire site for offline browsing was an issue, there’s not much we can do on that score really, it slows the site as it tries to access the dbase. The trouble is it’s useless and cannot be done as this is a dynamic site. 😕

Then we learn that another site on the same server is getting massive hits from Avant Go, the mobile thing, which has a totally insane way to crawl the sites it indexes. Avant Go, despite pleas, have refused point blank to help on that front and hte other site relies on it to a degree, so we’re stuffed there.

Also because the site is hosted in the US we get hit with the inevitable US wake up. 🙄

However there is good news….

UKW will be moving to a new server soon enough I hope based in London Docklands.

The new server is just a bit more powerful than the one currently in use, like by a factor of 10 or more and so is the bandwidth available in both normal use and burst. So, it will improve soon I hope, just bear with it please.

K.

[tonyclifton]

Re: New Server…Soon

Cool thought it was my laptop up the shoot as only changed it 2 months ago. Hopefully will inprove this site for the better 8)

[kwatt]

Re: New Server…Soon

I don’t think that the sheer volumes of page views that we’re recieving is helping the situation at all right now and I’m at a bit of a loss to explain the current level of hits we’re getting. Frankly, there’s no way that I can imagine that it’s down to crawlers or spiders that search the internet indexing information for the search engines. So that really only leaves people viewing the site. Why and where they’re all from I really don’t know just yet as the advanced web stats module appears to be borked right now. 😕

That will be cured though, just a matter of time really like so many things.

K.

[Alex]

Re: New Server…Soon

This may go some way to explain why I’ve found the site slow lately. I was blaming broadband, but all other sites accessed were speedy. In extreme cases I was getting time out & even site not responding errors.

One day last week I tried on Broadband on the main pcb in my office and narrowband via my lap top at the same time, there was no difference at all in speed.

It can only get better.

Alex

[kwatt]

Yeah, that’s partly the cause Alex but when you add all of the things together it just grinds to a halt.

I am reliably informed that the biggest cause is that the dbase is getting hit so much that the current server just can’t take the load, but it is a relic from a bygone age to be fair. From memory I think that it’s an old Pentium class CPU with only a 9Gb drive and 256Mb of RAM, hardly speedy by today’s standards.

The replacement is a dual Xeon job with a whole load more power to cope with current and future requirements. However the real beauty is that it is easily upgradeable, unlike the one in the US. The bandwidth available will also take a jump by (again IIRC) a factor of 10 in normal use and 100 in short bursts so, just a little improvement. 😉

K.

[Dales-Electronic]

Re: New Server…Soon

Only associated with the subject here Ken, but dont forget to put the hat around for our computer friend like last year.

[kwatt]

Good call Ian, both Trevor and Li (pronounced “Lee”) have done loads behind the scenes keeping things running and I too think it’s only fair that we offer them a little something at Christmas.

Superb idea and we’ll do just that.

K.

[johnmac11]

Re: New Server…Soon

So who do we send the cash to this year Ken, May as well get the ball rolling early to give us all time to part with the readies.

I am sure that a lot of members do not realise what work goes on behind the scenes so I think it should be pointed out what their unpaid contribution to the site does for us all.

I propose that we all should send £10 to the fund and make it a good xmas for the hidden workers

John

[kwatt]

I nominate…. Jason again, he’s good at that sort of thing. 😉

Suppose I’d better tell him though. 😆

K.

[johnmac11]

Re: New Server…Soon

NAH, dont bother telling him and he will get a shock when all the tenners start appearing 😈

John

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