Anti-Server-Load Measures

[DeepO]

Bah, I had cable 2 years before telenet was even founded... and still no download quota one a normal account

And Mark, even if you're having a bit of a problem keeping up, please don't delete features... turning them off on busy moments is cool, turning them off completely... ouch.

DeepO

[Jmaster]

So what is the limiting factor here: bandwith or CPU usage? Usually for a web site it's bandwith but since the forums are dynamic and feature-laden I bet it's CPU usage. Each requires a different approach: disabling avatars saves bandwith while disabling extra stats saves CPU power.

Is it possible to switch people to a special, lightweight style in heavy loads? I can see the warning on the Poly forums now: Warning, Load Level Exceded! Lockdown in Progress! Or maybe not.

Less features but more members posting. It's a sacrifice we willingly make.

[MarkG]

So what is the limiting factor here: bandwith or CPU usage?

cpu/memory usage

Is it possible to switch people to a special, lightweight style in heavy loads?

this is actually happening, with things like avatars, icons, etc being turned off

[Jon Shafer]

Originally posted by MarkG
nice
it would be interesting to know their server setup(for example the infogrames which have a record of 2500 users forums are now based on 3-4 servers)

Peh, yeah, because of all the UT2k3ers. Slowed the whole damn thing down, it was down for a week while they were upgrading the servers, and before then you could never get on. And I've lost half my (4000 post) PC due to pruning... Some people have lost 8000 even.

Erm, anyways.
Yeah, Infogrames has a knack for absorbing other forums and getting a ton of users that way.

[Jmaster]

An idea to lower the load (may even be workable, if it is possible): disable 'search all open forums' in the search box at high load levels. Not disable the search, no, we like the search, but to disable searching all the forums if needed. I believe that searching is load-intensive, and making users guess where their search term lies is better then telling them to not search at all which would lead to monster double posting.

[MarkG]

thanks for the suggestion

the current state(server capacity, site traffic) doesnt require further measures. in fact most of the measures mentioned in the first port are only enabled for less than 30 minutes a day

[Sirotnikov]

Instead of simple "high traffic load" messages, why not spice it up with: "why not visit this page" with references to Apolyton's non-forum pages, and news items.

If say, a very high load traffic load is at it's peak - why not put a page saying:

Forum is busy. Why not visit [section name (Civ III)]:
[list of section news (latest Civ III news)]