| On the old XMB system we frequently had the system lock up and the message board would stop working. However the webteam could always connect to the server using a direct admin connection. From that connection we could see the CPU was not being used excessively and the system responded quickly to any system commands entered - it was only the website that was affected. Further analysis indicated that the number of users extracting information from the database was overloading the system.
To remedy this problem, we undertook to update the message board to newer (better supported) software - the vBulletin system you see now. This software is much better at extracting information from the database and we no longer suffer from this problem, However now the database is working quickly, it has highlighted the next bottleneck - that of the amount of memory required to run the system. My current analysis of the situation is that we need more memory on the server box to allow better performance and in turn to allow more users onto the system (remember we have temporarily reduced the number of allowed users to limit the loading of the system). This lack of memory afftects the webteams access even via the direct admin entry points and so we cannot reboot the system as quickly as we could previously. Sometimes it can take us 30 mins to get into the system to restart it.
The box we have was set up 3 years ago, and only has 256Mbytes of memory - if you go to any high street store these days to buy a PC, 256Mbytes is regarded as the absolute minimum- yet we are trying to run a website for over 100 simultaneous users!
I have been in touch with our current ISP with regard to upgrading the memory, but so far the options they offer are not very attractive - e.g. 50% increase in monthly payments to get extra memory. I haven't finished negotiatons with them yet, so there may still be opportunities for improvement. Meanwhile I am also talking to other ISP's to get comparative quotes on a suitably sized server.
Our current ISP contract expires on 14th July, so we have to pay for the current system up to that date whether we use it or not - therefore in the short term I'm afraid we may have to put up with some inconvenience. After the 14th July, we will either have agreed an upgrade with our current ISP or we will be moving to a new ISP system. Which way we go depends on the prices and options I get in the next few days from ISP's and this is all then subject to presentation and agreement on future actions at the forthcoming MT meeting on 1st July.
We realise it's very inconvenient to you all (and to us in trying to keep the server up and running), but we are working on solutions that unfortunately have some time limitatons due to contractual arrangements.  |