Now running vBulletin

[GHDpro]

As you may have noticed, the forum software has changed! We're now back
using vBulletin. EZ had used this forum software in a distant past as well, but
as I didn't pay for a "owned" license, we had to stop using it after a while.

In the meanwhile several other software were used: Woltlab Burning Board
and most recently Invision Power Board. However this last forum software also
went "pay only" recently.

Now you can argue that vBulletin is a bloated ultra-expensive piece of crap,
but I like it personally (well, apart from the price tag). Of course this time I also
did not make the same mistake as in the past, so even if my access to
download updates expires, the license to use it won't, so we can use it FOREVER.
(in theory)

Now this conversion was the result of hours and hours of labor, but it isn't
finished yet, more things may change. The skin is already pretty "EZ-like"
though - what do you think about it? It may need a couple more tweaks,
but already looks nice.

Anyway... enough from me...

[Jale]

Great! changes are going from good to better! http://smilies.jeeptalk.org/otn/wink/thumb.gif

[Lefteris_D]

This would have happened three months ago but we chose to delay it for some time.

If you or anyone else have questions about how to use some of the features feel free to ask.

[Jet Set Willy]

The skin definitely needs sorting out a little. Blue on yellow/brown doesn't work.

[Lefteris_D]

Invision board used to accept any avatar no matter what size the picture had and simply resized it at the moment of display.

vBulletin however only checks once when you upload the avatar.

When all the users were imported all the avatars got their original sizes and that may cause some problems.

I already removed some avatars that had 4 times the size of the normal ones(Motoko, Zidane).

Please report any users that have such avatar problems in this thread so we can remove them.

[Zach]

As long as we eventually get a theme with the old blue/white colors I'll be happy

[Lefteris_D]

As long as we eventually get a theme with the old blue/white colors I'll be happy
Given the fact that the default buttons are already blue I think I'll have a blue theme probably next week :)

Btw, I increased the server load limit to 7. That should take care of some of the "Server Too Busy" messages.

[Zach]

Better up the load limit again methinks, cause its still dog slow over here

What the hell is eating the CPU ?

[Lefteris_D]

What the hell is eating the CPU ?
One of GHDpro's little toys called "Spider Scan". It runs once every hour between the 40th and 50th minute causing the server load to go high.

I've just set the limit to 9. If it happens again just be patient, it lasts only for 10-15 minutes.

[GHDpro]

Better up the load limit again methinks, cause its still dog slow over here

What the hell is eating the CPU ?
Increasing the load limit won't speed things up one single bit.
It will just mean you'll see less "Server Busy" messages, but that
doesn't mean the server isn't busy at lower limits!

As what's eating the CPU... EZ isn't the only site on this server. Futhermore,
the change to vB might cause some other problems -- certainly if vB uses more
CPU than IPB does.

Still... the load spikes should be temporary. While it might be slow at certain
times of the hour, it should be pretty speedy at all other times.

[Lefteris_D]

As what's eating the CPU... EZ isn't the only site on this server. Futhermore,
the change to vB might cause some other problems -- certainly if vB uses more
CPU than IPB does.
IPB was using double CPU power than it should. You can thank the code modifications I made for that... VB however is alot more optimized and I also disabled things like similar threads and reputation to ease the server load :)

This is a good time to swich to MySQL 4.0.22, don't you think? It uses less resources than the current version.

[Zach]

Seems to be improving already

Good enough for me.

[Lefteris_D]

Seems to be improving already

Good enough for me.
I guess I should keep my hands away from any resource draining modifications :D

[Zach]

Lest I inflict pain upon your soul

[SladeXR]

This new board is working slower for me. I got used to the previous one. I prefer phpBB - it's easy to use and load.

[Jale]

I am the administrator of a phpbb forum and it's just good, but it's not much configurable. The vBulletin board is slower the first times (I guess) so we have to wait a bit more until it's completely done.

Expect a lot of "Server too busy" messages today.

[TiredBoy]

Given the fact that the default buttons are already blue I think I'll have a blue theme probably next week :)
Oh yeah! I still remember the old white/blue scheme back in the days of...vB 1.something? That was still the best, IMO. It's honestly seemed like so long ago since E-Z last used vB.

[Lefteris_D]

Like I said the "Server Too Busy" messages only appear fr 10-15 minutes every hour when the server is at it's busiest. I bet you can stand for 15 minutes without posting.

[Lefteris_D]

Oh yeah! I still remember the old white/blue scheme back in the days of...vB 1.something? That was still the best, IMO. It's honestly seemed like so long ago since E-Z last used vB.
There is a drop down box at the bottom left corner of the screen. Try selecting the "Default Style" for something more blue-ish.

[Jale]

Things seems to be calmed down right now, Lefteris :o

[TiredBoy]

I was thinking more of the white/navy, but I guess this is close enough. Loaded darn quickly, though, I have to admit.

Edit: What happened to the hidden users feature? Did I simply miss it? And I note that the mods have a nice little "Reason" box up there when editing. Nice...

[Jale]

What hidden users feature? What are you talking about? :confused:

[Lefteris_D]

What happened to the hidden users feature?
You are refering to the "invisible" users, right? That feature is disabled for everyone(including myself).

[Jale]

What happened to the hidden users feature?
Hey, that's not my original post. That's TiredBoy's...
By the way, why it's disabled? Is there any way you enable it again?

[Lefteris_D]

Hey, that's not my original post. That's TiredBoy's...
By the way, why it's disabled? Is there any way you enable it again?
It's on again for all groups that are able to post messages.


I also changed the settings to a more bandwith/cpu saving configuration. Many sites do that to reduce the server load so let's try this configuration for a couple of days as well.

Registered users should not be affected at all from the changes.

Edit: It seems to be working.

[montpics]

Good one as I like this one also. :)

No comment at the moment but I rather wait and see to see the result. ;)

[Badger]

I don't really see why we changed? What advantage has this over IPB 1.3? I personally hate the vBulletin software, its ugly, over priced and over rated.

[Jet Set Willy]

The post icons really annoy me. I like a topic with new posts to have an icon which looks drastically different from the others (my eyes suck).

[Badger]

IPB was using double CPU power than it should. You can thank the code modifications I made for that.

Lefteris.

I run an IPB, on a budget server, getting 10 times the traffic of this forum and its more heavily modified. My CPU load increase was slight but not alot. What exactly did you do to manage to 'double' it?

[Zach]

Poorly coded, poorly implimented, most likely

[Lefteris_D]

I don't really see why we changed?
Because we wanted something more solid.


What advantage has this over IPB 1.3? I personally hate the vBulletin software, its ugly, over priced and over rated.
- Ugly? If you study the template system for a few hours you will see that you can make it look any way you like. I dont plan any crazy template changes as it wont be easy to update then.
- Over priced? Yes, $160 is alot but you don't have to pay any more besides the $30 every year(optional) just to get software updates.
- Over rated? Could be... but it is still the best.
- You forgot to mention "bloated" but that depends on the features you are actually using.

If you still don't like using it.... then don't use it, I can't stop you.


I run an IPB, on a budget server, getting 10 times the traffic of this forum and its more heavily modified. My CPU load increase was slight but not alot. What exactly did you do to manage to 'double' it?
More heavily modified? I've been to Roybacer.net and I know that you have 3-4 major mods(arcade, map, garage etc). Trust me, I had ALOT more.

Keep in mind that this server does not have only EZ on it.

Do keep in mind that VB sometimes takes a couple of days to tweak it in order to work the right way.

[Badger]

What modifications did you have? In terms of what they did, could they actually warrant the server power required to run them?

I still don't see what you have done to double the CPU required, unless you have made several invisible modifications to satisfy your lust for extra buttons for to press.

[Lefteris_D]

I can't post the exact list right now but the major reason was the increased number of queries(or the more complex queries) needed. That helped in putting the extra load compared to a "clean" installation. Also keep in mind that no matter how well a modification was written it still made the code more sloppy.

Let's just forget about it, ok? IPB is no more and we have along way ahead of us with vb.

Anyway, the changes in the settings seem to be working and the robots.txt file will start working soon as well.

[Badger]

Thats not an answer Lefteris, that is a swerve.

I am asking a legitimate question about what exactly you had done to make IPB use double the CPU usage. Surely to make similar modifications to vB would make the CPU usage the same, if not more?

I just don't understand the logic in switching.

[Lefteris_D]

Thats not an answer Lefteris, that is a swerve.

I am asking a legitimate question about what exactly you had done to make IPB use double the CPU usage.
Keep away from heavy modifications and you will be fine. That's all.


Surely to make similar modifications to vB would make the CPU usage the same, if not more?
That applies to all forum software but that does not mean that I plan to do the same mistake again.


I just don't understand the logic in switching.
GHDpro likes this software and so am I. We decided that there had to be a swich at some point so we did it. Simple enough?

IPB is still great. One of the four greatest forum software(php) to be exact. The fact that we swiched does not change that.

[Badger]

What heavy modifications did you do? I never thought EZ to be a particularly heavily modified site. You are still swerving the question.

[Lefteris_D]

What heavy modifications did you do?
Arcade, Topsites, Ratings(disabled but query still run), advanced stats(+ additional modules), security logs, gender selector(not custom field), user titles, welcome panel, ACP modifications and a few more things I can't remember right now.

Overall I think it had around 25 modifications and the database structure was a mess.

Add that to the fact that IPB also got busy messages once every hour and you get the idea as well :)

I hope that covered all your questions because I don't plan to analyze the why we changed any more.

[SladeXR]

The post icons really annoy me. I like a topic with new posts to have an icon which looks drastically different from the others (my eyes suck).

That sums me up...

What Badger said is probably very true! It's working slower. I don't wanna repeat myself but IMO phpbb rules - simple and fast!

[TiredBoy]

Actually, I find it much faster than IPB.

Is there a restriction on how much time you have to edit? I think I'm working off my memory of the really old forums, but I don't recall ever having one.

[Badger]

I'm finding it running very slow (comparible to burning board in loading times) in between the times when I am getting the server is too busy error, which I have never had before.

I'll give it a few days.

[Badger]

I've been finding it comparable to burning board in terms of loading times all day. That is of course when the server is no tto busy, which incidently is an error I've never seen before today.

I'll give it a few days though to get it optimised. Although I'm not hugely optimistic the problem will be solved.

[Lefteris_D]

The current server load setting is set to 10.00. If I make it higher you will simply get a non working board instead of a busy message and a few corrupted posts.



I'll give it a few days though to get it optimised. Although I'm not hugely optimistic the problem will be solved.
The only real solution is either a server upgrade or to remove some things hosted. None of them is in the current plans though.

[Badger]

Yeah but it worked fine before.

I'll give it a few days before passing judgement though.

[GHDpro]

The only real solution is either a server upgrade or to remove some things hosted. None of them is in the current plans though.
Or to optimize some of the scripts of the other site running on the server. Some of
the scripts (crontab btw) are horribly inefficient, running nearly continuously.

(Like a script that takes 20 minutes to finish processing but is called every 15 minutes, effectively running all the time)

[Lefteris_D]

Or to optimize some of the scripts of the other site running on the server.
Like I said again and again to Badger. EZ is NOT the only site on the server. Besides that you know I can't just start giving details about what the server does and how it works ;)

[Jale]

What is the name of the server you are using to host EZ site?

[Jet Set Willy]

Super Server 67

[Badger]

I'm still finding this to be taking 30+ seconds to load pages. Its doing the same thing burning board did.

[Splize]

Anyone els get a message sometimes saying server is too busy??




BTW how do I activate quick reply

[Danny]

You have to click this button http://forums.emulator-zone.com/images/buttons/quickreply.gif It's next to the quote button.
A bit retarded.

[Lefteris_D]

BTW how do I activate quick reply
Click this: http://forums.emulator-zone.com/images/buttons/quickreply.gif

[GHDpro]

What is the name of the server you are using to host EZ site?
Server is hosted at ServerMatrix.com
Specs: Celeron 2.4 Ghz, 512 Mb RAM, 80 Gb HD, 1200 Gb traffic/month allowed


I'm still finding this to be taking 30+ seconds to load pages. Its doing the same thing burning board did.
If it's doing this ALL the time, during ALL times of the day, then it's something related
to your browser or your connection or something.

Yes, occasionally there are "load spikes" on the server, some of which I can't properly
explain -- the server is essentially doing the same thing the whole day, so why at times
it's running very slow I don't know. BUT... this should only affect a SMALL part of day.

There is very little I can do to fix this completely right away.

[Badger]

vB has been running slow since it was installed. Problems I never had when invision was installed.

Ok, sometimes the pages are loading ok, but probably 75% of the time they are taking an age to load. Not to mention the server being too busy a hell of alot more than it was with IPB.

Is this going to be as good as it gets?

[Jale]

Give it some time. The Admin Team are trying to fix it :sleep:

[GHDpro]

Is this going to be as good as it gets?
Well...

I did the following:

- Upgraded Apache from 1.3.31 to 1.3.33 - Effect on speed: minimal to none

- Upgraded PHP from 4.3.8 to 4.3.10 - Effect on speed: minimal to none

- Installed Turck MMCache* - Effect on speed: hopefully HUGE
This is an optimizer for PHP, which promises a LARGE boost:
http://turck-mmcache.sourceforge.net/index_old.html#bench

Whether these changes have any positive effect still remains to be seen though.

*) I knew about it's existance, but Lefteris persuaded me to actually try to install it...

[Badger]

Well so far so good. It loading fine just now.

[Lefteris_D]

Whether these changes have any positive effect still remains to be seen though.
Most PHP scripts are getting a speed boost when using optimizers. vBulletin should be no exception.


Well so far so good. It loading fine just now.
You happen to post at a good time. The real test starts in around 5-10 minutes when its peak hour again.

[Lefteris_D]

It has been over three hours since my last post. I can definitely say that MMCache did it's thing because the load is 1/3 of what it used to be before GHDpro installed it. During that time the load hit the "red" marker only a couple of times and that was only for a few seconds.

We might try Zend Optimizer at some point but that is not certain yet.

[Badger]

It appears to have worked this end too.

[GHDpro]

Ok, if you noticed any downtime in the past 30-45 minutes, it would have been me.

I've now completely updated pretty much every large piece of software on the server.
We're now also running MySQL 4.1.8 (upgraded from 3.23.58 -> 4.0.23 -> 4.1.8).

Hopefully there won't be any issues with this new MySQL version...

[Lefteris_D]

Err... better go check the syntax of your backup scripts. The commands at mysqldump changed a little bit. I found that the hard way.

[GHDpro]

Err... better go check the syntax of your backup scripts. The commands at mysqldump changed a little bit. I found that the hard way.
My backup scripts have been working fine on "s05", which is running MySQL 4.1 as well.
But the true cause of the error was in the GRANT tables, as I PM'ed you...

[Lefteris_D]

"--opt" is enabled by default so there is no need for that in the syntax. I also added "--add-locks" to prevent corruption while backing up. You might want to try that.

Btw, nice work on the phpMyAdmin but.... Collation = latin1_swedish_ci???

Never mind, I'll figure that out myself as everything else seems to be fine.

[GHDpro]

Er... I suggest we keep this conversation in PM only... this thread seems like an echo.

[Lefteris_D]

Umm... right. I guess everyone knows by now what we've been doing all day today :dry:


I'm going to leave the announcement regarding the busy messages there for a couple of days just in case.

[SladeXR]

Bravo! I think it's working much faster now!

[Lefteris_D]

I finished updating the forum to version 3.5.2 a few minutes ago. Feel free to report any bugs here.

[alcoatjez]

It seems that after this update I can't use the quick reply and the other advanced buttons, such as 'insert link' anymore. I'm using Firefox 1.5. I have to admit I just formatted and reinstalled everything, so it could also be a problem on my end. Perhaps there are other users with Firefox 1.5 who can comment on this.

TIA, alcoatjez

[Jale]

Why everyone has problem with Firefox? Not only this forum, but other people in this forum do. I don't have problems with the quick reply button :mellow:

I don't know what is the difference with this version of vBulletin besides the bug fixes, but the only notorious thing is the sub-folder icon.

[Lefteris_D]

I also have firefox 1.5 and there seems to be no problem. Try to play with it's settings a bit.

The subfolder feature icons always existed. The difference is that I activated them just a couple of days ago.

[Jale]

Well, all we need is a new skin and change the http://forums.emulator-zone.com/images/style-emulator-zone/statusicon/forum_old.gif icons as well. I can volunteer to make the icons if you don't mind.

[Lefteris_D]

The current skin(brown) matches the site's colors so changing it would be quite hard.

If you want to make such icons feel free to try.

[alcoatjez]

Try to play with it's settings a bit.

Could you please tell me with which settings? This is the only board that doesn't work for me.

TIA, alcoatjez

[Lefteris_D]

This is very strange. I don't really know what to say.

[Jale]

Be more specific. Firefox version, error messages, etc.

[alcoatjez]

Firefox version 1.5 (not beta). None of the buttons which show while posting work (f.e. bold, italic, hyperlink). Also the smilies to the right when you post don't work and also the quick-reply button. These are just not clickable for me, but they do show their label when my mouse is on them. I use some add-ins for Firefox (fasterfox, pdfdownload and forecastfox), but I also used these before I got the problems.

TIA, alcoatjez

[Lefteris_D]

Have you tried cleaning your browser's cache?

[alcoatjez]

Have you tried cleaning your browser's cache?

Lefteris_D is tha man! It works! I have no idea why, since I have this problems since the install, but it works!
Thanks a lot, Lefteris_D :)

[Jale]

Lefteris_D is tha man! It works! I have no idea why, since I have this problems since the install, but it works!
Thanks a lot, Lefteris_D :)
...

:dry: