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MartinT
24-03-2010, 07:43
These past couple of days AoS has not been its usual sprightly self with slow page rendering, long pauses after posting messages and double-posting. I'm noticing this from both home and work so it's not my end.

Is there something going on with bandwidth or your servers?

Dave Cawley
24-03-2010, 08:00
I thought it was just me! Very slow here too.

Dave

Ali Tait
24-03-2010, 08:03
Me too.

The Vinyl Adventure
24-03-2010, 08:46
Database errors this morning too

MartinT
24-03-2010, 08:57
I've also been getting e-mail notifications of old postings, causing some confusion.

Marco
24-03-2010, 09:51
Chaps,

It'll be down to the server, Bluehost. If they're having problems, then so will we :(

Everything appears to be ok now, but we'll continue to monitor the situation closely. However, these things happen from time to time. It is most certainly not to do with bandwidth, as we have only scraped the surface of our allocation! :)

If it continues, we will contact Bluehost and ask for an explanation. In the meantime, keep us posted of any problems you're experiencing.

Marco.

Themis
30-03-2010, 09:14
Things are getting worse (again) since yesterday... :(

The main problem seems to be getting to thread's details and posting. Listing topics & newposts seem to work rather ok.

Spectral Morn
30-03-2010, 09:20
Its been very slow for me as well. As my broadband subscription is not very fast..its slow anyway (compared to the rest of you I would think)but recently it has been awful.

Glad its not just me.


Regards D S D L

Themis
30-03-2010, 09:24
To be honest, it is not constant. It's ok ten minutes, then slow again...

Also, Neil, the broadband subscription has not much to do with it : a typical AoS page is between 20-40kbytes. It's ridiculously low, tbh.

(oh, and I got twice a double post this morning, although I am very careful with clicking : the forum engine has a bug somewhere...)

MartinT
30-03-2010, 10:05
Yes, slow again here too. I've got a 10Mbps dedicated fibre line at work and no-one is in, so it's not my end :)

anthonyTD
30-03-2010, 10:28
yep,
same here!!!
A...

The Vinyl Adventure
30-03-2010, 11:20
shit here too.. maybe you need to find someone else to host it for you :eyebrows:

Mark Grant
30-03-2010, 11:26
Same here, has been like it intermittently for a week or so.

Rare Bird
30-03-2010, 12:19
Ive had an ongoing thing where i read a PM, sign off but on re-signing the same message comes thru again.

Beechwoods
30-03-2010, 12:24
I've been having the same issues. It's definitely a server issue, and seems worse in the morning, though there's no real rhyme or reason to when it slows down... we will need to riase a ticket with Bluehosts but I know Steve has been in touch with the recently about another issue and their 'budget' support package shows ;) My guess is we're either sharing a box with another high traffic site, or there's some shared infrastruxcture in their datacentre that is causing a bottleneck.

It's not good :(

Mark Grant
30-03-2010, 12:27
Its not the server ( IMHO), its packet loss on the way to or from the server,

I will post some screenshots in a few minutes.

Mark Grant
30-03-2010, 13:34
A few screenshots of traceroutes.

Traceroutes created with the free version of 3d traceroute http://www.d3tr.de/
in 'as List' mode as I dont like the 3D view.

I use that because it's free, if anyone knows any better program let me know :)


Most of the screenshots captured and uploaded with http://screencap.net/ ( free :) )

---------------------
First traceroute of Art of sound forum taken just a few minutes ago:

http://screencap.net/f/e7c584b6.png



21 hops and total ping time of about 170ms.

note the 'total loss' on hop 11 washington1.level3.net

another from 25th March:

http://www.grant.karoo.net/forumimages/artofsound.jpg


loss at hop 16 and 17 Denver1.level3.net
note the ping time as high as 589 ms total sometimes.

another one from the same day:

http://www.grant.karoo.net/forumimages/artofsound-25-03-2010.jpg


lots of packet loss.

-------------------

an example of a fast and probably expensive hosting at www.avforums.com

http://screencap.net/f/cac53f69.png

only 9 hops and a total ping time of 18 ms. WOW :)

That is with global gold.
http://www.globalgold.co.uk/

-------

My own website on a server with www.1and1.co.uk

http://screencap.net/f/8925452c.png

10 hops and 31 ms fastest, some slow pings though on the first few hops at my ISP.

----------------------

A really cheap host that I have heard people suggest but never used myself is streamline http://www.streamline.net/

I found a furniture website http://www.furnitureworldcornwall.co.uk/ that is using streamline hosting as an example of a traceroute from streamline service:

http://screencap.net/f/46627905.png

10 hops and 24ms and thats a very cheap service.
Looks like streamline.net use fasthosts.net.uk

-----------

The number of hops to bluehosts ( level3.net) looks too many and it is very slow.

A forum mentions a few problems here recently:
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=932094

I would look at moving to a faster service with less hops, Streamline would be my favourite for a low cost option to try or go for it with global gold on the low cost package if that is enough.
http://www.globalgold.co.uk/dedicated/vbulletin_custom_hosting.html

Hope that helps a bit:)

(I am not a network expert, just a beginner :) )

Mark.

MartinT
30-03-2010, 13:56
Nice one, Mark, and agreed. From work, I can see all the pings from Washington1.Level3.net onwards have slow pings and display some packet loss. It's not even as bad now as it was this morning, I will double-check tomorrow.

Beechwoods
30-03-2010, 14:01
Excellent info Mark - thank you very much. Some real data to support thinking on a change of hosts. Not a trivial thing to do but definitely something we need to start considering seriously.

Marco
30-03-2010, 14:22
Excellent info Mark...


Indeed - *IF* you can make head or tail of it! :lol:

Could someone explain in layman's terms what the feck "packet loss" is and why lots of it is bad? :scratch:

Also, who's to blame for the packet loss - Bluehost or what/whom... What causes it, and how do we remedy it?

I'm afraid all this technical mumbo-jumbo goes WHOOOOSH............ straight over the top of my head!

Marco.

Steve Toy
30-03-2010, 14:22
Ticket now raised with Bluehost.

Beechwoods
30-03-2010, 14:33
Thanks Steve.

Steve Toy
30-03-2010, 14:40
An unsatisfactory outcome could see a migration. Steve Powell my guru has already offered to do it.

MartinT
30-03-2010, 14:42
If you look at Mark's first screen capture, you will see a list of hostnames going from Mark's computer (with a local IP address of 192.168.0.1), via his adsl provider and various other routers, then via Manchester, London, New York, Washington, Chicago, Denver, Salt Lake City and finally Bluehosts where the AoS is hosted.

The column labelled 'last' shows the last ping time in a series of tests, a ping being an empty packet that is sent to the far end (AoS) to see how long it takes to get there and back. The 'max' column is more interesting because it shows the maximum ping time in the test and you can clearly see that there is a problem from Washington1 onwards as the max ping time is over 0.4s. The average column then shows the average of all the tests and you can see that the majority of the US-based hops are in the red, i.e. over 106ms.

Packet loss is where the ping packet is lost somewhere along the route and never returns. This is a very bad thing and usually indicates an overloaded router along the way, unable to handle all its traffic. Again we can see from Mark's tables that all the packet loss occurs on the US side of the hops.

Nothing can be done about packet loss except to change hosting to one much nearer your target audience, i.e. in the UK or at least Europe. That way you minimise the number of hops that you need to reach the host and the result is that pages are (hopefully) served a lot quicker, provided the hosting servers are efficient and not themselves overloaded.

It's a tricky one but the question that should be asked is whether Bluehosts are giving you an unbeatable price/package for hosting? If not, then you really should consider using hosting a lot nearer your target audience as the routing is poor.

Hope this helps?

Themis
30-03-2010, 14:49
Indeed - but can someone explain in layman's terms what the feck "packet loss" is and why lots of it is bad? :scratch:
The "traceroute" used here, sends a small information and waits for the answer of each intermediate node.
A packet loss, means that an intermediate node (a computer/router between the client and the server) takes too much time to respond. So the packet (small information sent) is considered lost.

This is not the way the forum reacts with the client (internet browser), but rather tests all intermediate nodes to see wheteher they respond on time;


Also, who's to blame for the packet loss - Bluehost or what/whom... What causes it, and how do we remedy it?

I'm afraid all this technical mumbo-jumbo goes WHOOOOSH............ straight over the top of my head!

Marco.
Bluehost is not directly at fault here, there are two possibilities:
A- The routers somewhere in between which are not doing their job. Usually routers/computers fail, but it's the provider (who makes his customers pay for the route use) who is supposed to provide sufficient replacement routers. Usually, the provider is supposed to have more routers than necessary, and to have an automatic switch. Guess what ? they have statistics and try to have as little replacement routers as possible to minimize costs.
B- Part of a backbone is not working: Internet is articulated like a "star" (a "web" to be exact) where there are several "main routes" (big and very fast, called "backbones") and a lot of "intermediate", small connections (usually made by the local internet providers).
When a route is not working, another is chosen automatically. But when a backbone fails, the other routes (and backbones) cannot send all the information and some of it is considered "lost" after a while.

I've tried to explain simply, sorry if it's not clear. :o

Marco
30-03-2010, 14:54
Yes that's much clearer now, thanks (Martin and Dimitri) :)

I'm afraid that graphs/technical terminology and me don't agree - my (arty) brain just doesn't work that way....

However, I just love the way some folk bandy these terms about as if they were common knowledge!! Ahem.... ;)

Anyway, you can rest assured that we will definitely do something about this. Stay tuned!

Marco.

Marco
30-03-2010, 15:31
I wonder why things are as slow as a wet fart in the morning, but speed up in the afternoon? :scratch:

America waking up?

Dunno about others, but everything seems fine now, and the pattern has been the same since the problems began.....

Marco.

Themis
30-03-2010, 15:36
Perhaps they have work to do on a backbone, somewhere in the States, and they deactivate it when traffic is minimal : at night.
Perhaps not.

A few years ago, when they upgraded one of the the backbones in Montpellier, it was hell in the evening for one month.

Beechwoods
30-03-2010, 16:16
Issues with whatever backbone Bluehosts uses crossed my mind as well. Getting a UK host would minimise the liklihood of these issues impacting our service, but different international hosts will have different backbone routes with different levels of reliability (I'm thinking of those bits of their infrastructure as it gets more local - the European to US backbone offers pretty limited choice). Fingers crossed this is a solveable / temporary problem; if not then moving hosts it will be (and we'll get Tapatalk loaded at the same time ;))

MartinT
30-03-2010, 16:23
May I ask who/how the hosting is paid for? Perhaps a different payment model (e.g. super-members) could help with hosting costs using a better service provider?

I realise this would be a paradigm change for AoS, but I'm just curious and inviting discussion if that's permitted.

Jonboy
30-03-2010, 20:50
Indeed - *IF* you can make head or tail of it! :lol:

Could someone explain in layman's terms what the feck "packet loss" is and why lots of it is bad? :scratch:

Also, who's to blame for the packet loss - Bluehost or what/whom... What causes it, and how do we remedy it?

I'm afraid all this technical mumbo-jumbo goes WHOOOOSH............ straight over the top of my head!

Marco.

Glad it's not just me then, thanks to Dimitri and Martin it makes a bit more sence now, i think, anyhow i will stick with the day job if you don't mind

horace
30-03-2010, 23:46
In the meantime, keep us posted of any problems you're experiencing.

Marco.

Well, my car is on the blink, one of my children is going through a difficult phase, my job sucks, my neighbours are b*****ds, Labour have f****d the country, daytime TV is an insult to my intelligence, my council tax bill is a joke and Jeremy Kyle is still alive.

How regularly would you like to be updated?

:)

Martin

Marco
31-03-2010, 00:06
Keep 'em coming, mate - I make a good agony aunt, and I even have the floral dress and bouffant wig to prove it! :lol:

Marco.

Steve Toy
31-03-2010, 00:53
Response to ticket:



Yes, and your users are correct. This isn't server related, it's ISP related. If you were to check out your site from a proxy server that did not use the same route to our server as your ISP does you would see a marked difference in the speed. You would want to contact your ISP, if you haven't already, and let them know they seem to have cached a bad route to your server, and find out what that can do to fix or change that.
Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

Thank you,
Jeremy
Technical Support Engineer
BlueHost.com
888.401.4678

Most questions can be answered by articles in our forum, knowledgebase, and video tutorials:

Forum: http://www.bluehostforum.com (http://www.bluehostforum.com/)
Knowledgebase: http://helpdesk.bluehost.com/index.php/kb (http://helpdesk.bluehost.com/index.php/kb)
Tutorials: http://www.bluehost.com/tutorials/ (http://www.bluehost.com/tutorials/)
Server Status: http://serverstatus.bluehost.com/ (http://serverstatus.bluehost.com/)

When you have a new question or issue, please open a new support ticket.

Rare Bird
31-03-2010, 05:36
Well, my car is on the blink, one of my children is going through a difficult phase, my job sucks, my neighbours are b*****ds, Labour have f****d the country, daytime TV is an insult to my intelligence, my council tax bill is a joke and Jeremy Kyle is still alive.

How regularly would you like to be updated?

:)

Martin

Horace for PM :lol:

MartinT
31-03-2010, 05:52
Response to ticket:
If you were to check out your site from a proxy server that did not use the same route to our server as your ISP does you would see a marked difference in the speed. You would want to contact your ISP, if you haven't already, and let them know they seem to have cached a bad route to your server, and find out what that can do to fix or change that.

The problem is that we don't have much choice. I've been monitoring the route again this morning and it's Level3 again who are the slow-down and they're a tier 1 provider! From home last night it was a different tier 1 provider, admittedly not as slow but still showing red. Most of us could not modify the route even if we wanted to but the key point is that many of us are seeing the same problems from different ISPs.

1607

Themis
31-03-2010, 07:19
many of us are seeing the same problems from different ISPs.
This is the response to give to the ticket answer, Steve. ;)

Themis
31-03-2010, 07:26
Same problems this morning, as expected. Computers are so predictable... :)

Dave Cawley
31-03-2010, 08:33
So sloooow today, not really usable. It's the only site that is slow, so how could it be my ISP?

Dave

Marco
31-03-2010, 09:05
If you were to check out your site from a proxy server that did not use the same route to our server as your ISP does you would see a marked difference in the speed. You would want to contact your ISP, if you haven't already, and let them know they seem to have cached a bad route to your server, and find out what that can do to fix or change that.


Could someone (perhaps Martin or Dimitri) translate the above into plain English, please?

Specifically, what is a "proxy server" and how is it different to the one currently used? :confused:

And what exactly does "cached a bad route" mean? :scratch:

Personally, I find all this rather frustrating. What use is a helpdesk if they talk to you in gobbledygook and presume you have a bloody degree in IT!! :steam:

Steve, any chance you could phone them this time (as we discussed) and get them to explain in layman's terms what's going on, so you can then relate the information in a language those of us who are non-computer literate can understand?

Marco.

Themis
31-03-2010, 09:12
Translation:

If you lived in another continent (in Asia or South America, for instance) you wouldn't experience these problems.
You could contact your ISP so that he could change the continent for you. :lol:


The guy has -obviously- answered without analyzing the problem. :)

Marco
31-03-2010, 09:20
Lol - thanks Dimitri :)

'Bland and inept' doesn't even begin to describe the quality of the response.

Do you get my point though - why do these people automatically assume that you have a fecking in-depth knowledge of IT??

They should explain things in plain English!

Marco.

Themis
31-03-2010, 09:35
Help Desks usually choose amongst predefined answers. The choice is often done on a keyword:

For instance: Performance issues = Advice to contact local ISP

This choice is probably good 90% of the time, but sounds out of context for the 10% left. Insisting should oblige them to choose another predefined answer and -eventually- better analyze the issue. ;)

Alex_UK
31-03-2010, 09:46
Another user to add to the list who is experiencing very slow page loading on AoS and only AoS - absolutely nothing to do with users ISPs, that was either a very poor diagnosis or a fob off...

MartinT
31-03-2010, 09:59
Could someone (perhaps Martin or Dimitri) translate the above into plain English, please?

A proxy server is one on the internet that you can use to fetch your pages for you. In other words, it acts for you by proxy. Their assumption is that by doing so we could see a good route into Bluehosts and therefore the fault is at our end. Dimitri has it right, though; you could only fix this by us all moving to a different continent so that the routing is wildly different. As I said earlier, the problem is with at least two tier 1 providers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tier_1_network) so there is no way that we can change the routing. Many of us are experiencing the same problems and most, if not all of us, are probably routing via our local well-known tier 2 provider known as BT (not Dimitri, who probably routes through France Telecom). The problem is not in the UK (or France)!

The helpdesk response looks like it came from a scripted handler and has not had intelligence applied.

Dave Cawley
31-03-2010, 10:04
So all our ISP's are slow, and the AOS server is not. And all our ISP's work just fine on all other URL's

How odd?

DAve

MartinT
31-03-2010, 10:08
So all our ISP's are slow, and the AOS server is not.

The trace routing proves otherwise, Dave. The problem is with the routing and possibly their servers (although the routing issues are preventing us from measuring their server response times). Their e-mailed response is clearly disingenuous.

Themis
31-03-2010, 10:09
The problem seems to be between NY and Chicago, anyway. Or the pipe to NY.
All European connections are obliged to take the same route from UK to New York, afaik. We can't change that.
It's not the Salt Lake servers (where Bluehost is).

Steve Toy
31-03-2010, 11:46
My response to Bluehost:

Our users access the site from different ISPs across Europe and all are reporting the problem. It is worth noting that the problem is at its worst in the morning here in Europe while America sleeps.

Perhaps repairing the database my help but unfortunately one of my administrators who does this for me (I'm not terribly IT literate) cannot access the control panel because Bluehost periodically change my passwords without my consent. If I wanted a password change I could action it myself.

I would like to avoid having to migrate.

Themis
31-03-2010, 14:03
Well put Steve. ;)

Marco
31-03-2010, 17:42
Latest reply from Bluehost:


Hello,

Can you please run a new tracert when the problem is happening and then copy the results into this ticket? Thank you for your patience.


Thank you,
Susan
Tech Support Engineer
BlueHost.com


Perhaps Martin T or Mark Grant (both being somewhat IT-literate) could do this so we could copy the results into the complaints ticket? :)

Cheers, chaps!

Marco.

MartinT
31-03-2010, 17:55
Will do tomorrow morning!

Marco
31-03-2010, 18:37
Nice one, mate - cheers! :cool:

Marco.

Mark Grant
31-03-2010, 18:46
Has been OK for me today, no lost packets today, not online or by royal mail.

I will check at about 09:00 tomorrow as that's when its bad most days.

MartinT
01-04-2010, 05:04
Here's one I did from home this morning, showing an alternative route via xo.net but still almost as poor as the level3 route many of us have seen on previous days. I'll check later on to see if it's worse from work.

1614

MartinT
01-04-2010, 06:07
It's not slow at work this morning, so I'll leave further measurements until it shows its customary tardiness later on.

MartinT
01-04-2010, 07:05
Now it's showing signs of tardiness. Here's a new traceroute from work, showing routing via Level3.

1615

REM
01-04-2010, 07:33
Just logged in, it took 15 secs + 25 secs to be redirected to the home page. New Posts took 15 secs to come up and accessing this page took nearly 30 seconds.

I think I will probably have time to make a coffee while this post uploads:rolleyes:.

Mark Grant
01-04-2010, 08:12
Always about the same time of day when this goes slow.

http://screencap.net/f/eb2f2eb6.png

-

Looking at another site in the USA www.avsforum.com ( home cinema forum)

Also going through level3 but not as many hops so less time, and no lost packets on this one:


http://screencap.net/f/3d73f721.png

-

MartinT
01-04-2010, 08:32
Nice example there, Mark, showing packet loss. That's probably the best example to send to Bluehosts, not that I think they can do anything about it.

Hey - I passed 1,000 posts and didn't even notice. Now what was it that Marco promised me when that happened.....?

Themis
01-04-2010, 08:35
I did some more tests, it seems that the problem is rather on the forum servers.

The ping delays and the Denver lost packets have a low influence on the catastrophic resulting response time. There's something else.

Keep annoying the Hotline, they'll end up taking a correcting action. ;)

The Vinyl Adventure
01-04-2010, 08:40
its doing some mad shit today .. loads of double posts from people

Marco
01-04-2010, 09:46
Hey, I thought you liked quirky! It helps keep your mind alert ;)

Anyway, thanks guys for the info. We'll pass it on to Bluehost and report back :)

Marco.

Stratmangler
01-04-2010, 10:03
Very slow here today.
I've been irritated by the speed thing quite a few times recently. Speed usually improves later in the day.
My ISP is Orange.

The Vinyl Adventure
01-04-2010, 10:37
talk talk at home, bt at the shop, 02 on my phone all affected by the same problems ... isp my chuddies!!

Alex_UK
01-04-2010, 11:05
Frankly, it is virtually unusable today, not sure how much longer I can put up with it to be honest before I won't bother even trying.

(Orange ISP -
http://www.speedtest.net/result/768134834.png)

DanJennings
01-04-2010, 11:33
http://www.speedtest.net/result/768159176.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

muahahaa

Stratmangler
01-04-2010, 11:43
According to this my download speed is fine.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/768164399.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

The truth of the situation is that for 95% of the test time my download speed did not exceed 0.6Mbps - at the end of the test the pointer went off the scale.

MartinT
01-04-2010, 12:12
Here's mine - not ADSL but my leased line at work!

http://www.speedtest.net/result/768190796.png

This is all harmless fun but it doesn't get the problem, fixed, does it? :)

Mark Grant
01-04-2010, 12:29
The only disadvantage of being away from a city, with no choice in ISP as no BT in this area:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/768199474.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

Has nothing to do with the forum problem though :)

Themis
01-04-2010, 12:30
Here is mine :

http://www.steinski.com/wp-content/uploads/298blog_censored_2.jpg

As you can see, it's bigger. :lol:

Beechwoods
01-04-2010, 15:47
The fact that the issues we have seem dependent on time of day definitely suggest host / bandwidth issues as has been discussed. We will be doing a database repair shortly though - not sure if this will do anything mind. To be honest there's not much we can do from this end to change things, but the situation is obviously not good and needs to be resolved... Hopefully Bluehosts will come up with something.

Rare Bird
03-04-2010, 10:38
Beyond a joke this morning, took me 15 mins to post two posts..

Spectral Morn
04-04-2010, 08:33
Beyond a joke this morning, took me 15 mins to post two posts..

It took 30 seconds to bring up this page. Though I had only minor hassle editing a post of mine earlier.

Seems to vary in hassle factor but late AM (8am to about now)is worse than early AM (after 12) or late afternoon/evening in my experience. However as I have not been on as much recently due to illness, it may well be worse for others.


Regards D S D L

Beechwoods
04-04-2010, 09:32
Seems ok now, but 9-9.30's shite most days.

The Grand Wazoo
04-04-2010, 11:53
I gave up earlier - it was more sluggish than a slow-worm on the slow train to Slack City.

DSJR
04-04-2010, 12:01
... and here's me thinking it's my cr@p computers...

Dave Cawley
04-04-2010, 12:55
It's time for a new provider I think?

Dave

Beechwoods
04-04-2010, 14:05
All things are being considered, but obviously getting the current provider to return to their previous performance would be the best result, at least short-term. At least the poor performance is just confined to certain times of the day. Hang in there and it will be dealt with, one way or another.

Dave Cawley
06-04-2010, 07:33
Guys

The AOS forum has now reached the critical stage for me. It took 10 minutes to make a post. I don't have time for this, sorry guys.

It happened to me with www.dartmouth.tv eventually I moved the whole thing to a new host, never looked back!

Anyone wanting me please e-mail directly to Dave@SoundHiFi.com

Thanks

Dave

Stratmangler
06-04-2010, 09:09
I agree with Dave - this has gone too far, and the current site hosts have not done anything to improve the situation. This morning has been beyond a joke, with pages taking ages to load.

Site migration looks to be the best option.

pwood
06-04-2010, 12:47
Well at least I know its not my ISP (Plusnet) thats causing the slowdown. Never had a 10min wait but 1 min was the average earlier on so I gave up.

The Vinyl Adventure
06-04-2010, 13:21
yeah i agree, this morning it was as bad as its been, it seemed to be doing that slightly annoying double posting thing again too!

Steve Toy
06-04-2010, 16:41
I have sent the traceroutes as requested and chased up a response but to no avail as yet. Migration is becoming increasingly likely.

Rare Bird
06-04-2010, 16:52
Do you need a migration number like you do when you change ISP?

Dave Cawley
06-04-2010, 17:02
Do you need a migration number like you do when you change ISP?

No

Steve Toy
07-04-2010, 12:01
I have been on the phone to Bluehost. The chap was very helpful. I asked him to send me an email that I could paste here to explain to everyone what is happening. It came in within five minutes.

Now that the forum is back up, here it is as well as the one that followed it:


Currently the server is under a DDOS attack. This is where someone who has a network of bots is sending millions upon millions of requests for the web pages from the accounts on this server. This just causes the server to be overwhelmed by page requests and stops loading everything else in order to process all the fake page requests. We are currently working to resolve it and don't have an estimated time when it will be over at this time.



To understand why there is no estimated time, please read a little about what a DDOS attack is and how it affects a net work. Here is an article from wikipedia about DDOS attacks.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denial-of-service_attack (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denial-of-service_attack)



Hello,

I just spoke to you on the phone about the DDoS attack on the server which is why your account is experiencing slow loading times.

Let us know if you need anything else.

Thank you,
Dan
Technical Support Engineer
BlueHost.com
888.401.4678

Beechwoods
07-04-2010, 12:18
Well thank Barnabus it's back anyway. Had me worried for a while. Are Bluehosts stating that the regular 'slow running' we've seen over the last few weeks have been the result of persistent DDOS attacks? Or just today's outage?

Thanks for chasing this Steve.

The Vinyl Adventure
07-04-2010, 12:24
that was barmy this earlier today, i think there was nearly an hour down...

Spectral Morn
07-04-2010, 12:24
Way to many data drop outs today and Opps sorry we can't find that page messages from Google...

I was beginning to think AOS was gone :(

Blue Hosts server may be under attack, but that can't have anything to do with the slow running over the last few months....can it?



Regards D S D L

Spectral Morn
07-04-2010, 12:25
that was barmy this earlier today, i think there was nearly an hour down...

I gave up and worked on something else instead.....


Regards D S D L

Marco
07-04-2010, 12:43
Guys,

Trust me, I feel your pain! :rolleyes:

Ok, the latest feedback from Bluehost (explaining the recent problems and what partly caused the downtime earlier):


Currently the server is under a DDOS attack. This is where someone who has a network of bots is sending millions upon millions of requests for the web pages from the accounts on this server. This just causes the server to be overwhelmed by page requests and stops loading everything else in order to process all the fake page requests. We are currently working to resolve it and don't have an estimated time when it will be over at this time.

To understand why there is no estimated time, please read a little about what a DDOS attack is and how it affects a net work. Here is an article from wikipedia about DDOS attacks.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denial-of-service_attack


Sorry about the trouble, we are currently implementing our anti-DDOS measures to combat the issue and get the server back up and running to peak performance as soon as possible.

Thank you,
BlueHost.Com Support
http://www.bluehost.com


Our intention is to give them some reasonable time to fix the problem, given that until recently the service has been near faultless.

However, it's still my intention to move the server to a UK-based hosting site, as this should mean that the likelihood of any further problems like this is minimised, and we are looking into various options in terms of costing, etc.

This matter will be put to the management team and voted on in due course.

Rest assured that we will update you A.S.A.P when any new information is available on the server situation. Thank you for your patience - let's hope that things start to improve now :)

Marco.

Steve Toy
07-04-2010, 13:23
I would only move to a UK server as a last resort. The VFM is good, over the last 2+ years service has been good, bandwidth is colossal. Nothing is perfect and the UK option will simply be expensive for reasons of economy of scale. We are a global site and the internet is a global phenomenon.

I hate change for changes sake.

Marco
07-04-2010, 13:28
It's not change for changes sake, Steve - it's entirely the practical and sensible thing to do. The recent problems have served simply to highlight the inadequacies of the situation.

It makes sense that a UK-based forum should have a UK-based server. If I have to pay for it out of my own pocket I will do it, so cost is not an issue!

We'll put it to the vote later and see what others think :)

Marco.

Steve Toy
07-04-2010, 13:47
The recent problems have simply given us an excuse to invoke unnecessary and pointless changes. The grass is always greener etc.

This is a very recent problem and one I'm fairly confident will be solved. If it isn't, then and only then should we move.

Marco
07-04-2010, 13:58
Like I said, we'll put it to the vote later....

Marco.

MartinT
07-04-2010, 14:03
Congratulations to the team for your patience in challenging Bluehosts about the matter. I understand your pain and know how frustrating it can be when you have a problem that is out of your control to resolve and have frustrated users (us) who are all a bit pissed off with it. A DDOS attack is nasty and makes my blood boil - if I could only get my hands around the neck of the perpetrator :steam:

Anyway, if cost ever becomes an issue please don't dismiss my posting earlier about the idea of super-users and the like. Don't let a great forum like AoS go down for the want of a little funding.

Marco
07-04-2010, 14:09
Thanks for your support, Martin - and don't worry, as long as I'm one of the owners of the site that won't happen!


A DDOS attack is nasty and makes my blood boil - if I could only get my hands around the neck of the perpetrator


I'd kick the cocksuckers responsible into kingdom come in the most evil and vindictive way imaginable - and take great pleasure in it too!! ;)

Anyway, on a more positive note, what's your opinion of my suggestion to move the site to a UK-based server?

As someone who works at a high level in the IT industry, I'd value your opinion, particularly on what the potential benefits (and any negatives) would likely be :)

Marco.

Steve Toy
07-04-2010, 14:10
I like the idea of superusers and also a donate facility.

The DDOS attack was not Bluehost's fault so unless they are able to repair it there's no need to move.

Marco
07-04-2010, 14:20
That's by the by, Steve. The fact is the more I think about the idea of a UK-based server, the more I like it, and the idea had come to me before. This recent situation has simply crystalised my thoughts :)

If the majority of people want it, then it will happen - simples :cool:

Marco.

Dave Cawley
07-04-2010, 14:38
As I said, I like Webfusion, ultra fast and no down time.

I would subscribe as a superuser and/or as an advertiser as I do on VE !

Regards

Dave

Steve Toy
07-04-2010, 15:25
I have concerns with trade members becoming superusers. He who pays the piper etc.

As things stand trade members don't pay for anything which means they don't buy anything either.

Dave Cawley
07-04-2010, 15:32
But it is OK for a Trade Member to be a Moderator and Administrator!!

Dave

Steve Toy
07-04-2010, 15:36
Yup! In the one particular case, certainly.

Dave Cawley
07-04-2010, 15:39
One rule for................

Dave

Steve Toy
07-04-2010, 16:13
Dave, we don't have "rules" as such, remember!

Dave Cawley
07-04-2010, 16:24
OK, one Ethos for........

MartinT
07-04-2010, 16:46
Anyway, on a more positive note, what's your opinion of my suggestion to move the site to a UK-based server?

As someone who works at a high level in the IT industry, I'd value your opinion, particularly on what the potential benefits (and any negatives) would likely be :)

There is no single answer to that question and you will, as a team, need to make an informed decision. I would start by mapping where your users are in terms of countries. Remember that UK hosting will benefit the UK and the rest of Europe (because their routes go through the UK to cross the Atlantic). US hosting will benefit other global members more, especially those from Asia and Australia, as well as our American members of course.

The question of pricing is something to consider, as well as whether there are any excess use quotas (quite common with some providers). You want to be careful not to commit to an open-ended agreement where charges can go through the roof as membership increases, or hosting capacity grows (from, for instance, lots of locally hosted photos).

Also check the SLA (service level agreement) for any other gotchas, especially commitment to repair and alternative arrangements should the server farm go up in smoke. It could be embarrassing if you find AoS down for a couple of weeks and there was no commitment for alternative hosting to tide you over.

What about backups? Some websites have been severely caught out (and, famously, one went down permanently), because there was no proper backup policy. Is there an offsite backup policy such that the whole website could be restored should the worst happen?

Check the small print for DDOS countermeasures - no point migrating only to find the new hosting company suffering from the same problem.

Hosting is a minefield and there is nothing that beats the personal touch and a really good support team. I recently migrated the school's web hosting for three websites to ICUKnet because I get fantastic support and the other measures discussed above are in place.

Whatever you do, I'm sure that the AoS membership will be behind you. From my POV, AoS has enriched my love of music and hi-fi and I'd like to see it continue. This in spite of my still moderating the hi-fi conference in CIX, which used to be the largest forum in the UK.

I would be happy to contribute a sum of money to the project as a super-user because the value for money for me would be high.

Good luck with your team meeting!

Rare Bird
07-04-2010, 16:53
OK, one Ethos for........

Put a cork in it for gawd sake ;)

Alex_UK
07-04-2010, 21:48
OK, I'm kind of with Steve on this one - my ISP (Orange) have been great for 5+ years, then suddenly it went to rat shit. (Hours of no service, slow etc.) Clearly, I was not the only one affected, many other screaming customers - it took them nigh on 6 weeks to solve what must have been a complicated problem, but now service is resumed, everything is A1 again. I very nearly moved provider, but gave them a reasonable (some would say more than reasonable) time limit to resolve.

Someone else I know on the same ISP, experienced the same problems, and voted with his feet, after only a couple of weeks. His new provider is giving him a quarter of the speed he was getting with Orange, so whilst his immediate problem was fixed quicker, he now regrets moving.

If you have been happy with Bluehost in the past, agree a line in the sand where they need to resolve the problems by, an d give them that time to fix it. I think the UK server thing is a bit of a red herring, to be honest - the forum has always been fine before, not UK based, and probably will be again.

Dave Cawley
08-04-2010, 08:21
Hi Marco

We'll put it to the vote later and see what others think (server)

Any news and did you vote on superusers? And if dealers could advertise?

Still ultra slow this morning, timeouts, database errors..................

Regards

Dave

Alex_UK
08-04-2010, 08:35
Still ultra slow this morning, timeouts, database errors..................

Strangely, it is back to normal for me today! (Must be because I said nice things about Bluehost! ;))

Beechwoods
08-04-2010, 08:44
It's been slick for me on both my mobile, and work and home laptops as well.

I also checked the Database for errors last night and there were none, so can't explain the database errors bit.

Mark Grant
08-04-2010, 08:50
Last night was fast, this morning the same as Daves comments, slow, timeouts, database errors and then all of a sudden very fast for a few minutes.

When it is working OK it is plenty fast enough, just not all the time though at the moment.

Filterlab
08-04-2010, 19:10
All seems well now. I've just run tests on Firefox, Opera, Safari, Sunrise and IE8 on OS X 10.6, XP and 7 - all fine.

MartinT
10-04-2010, 09:40
More slowness and database errors just now.

Mark Grant
10-04-2010, 09:47
I did not like to post about it again but most mornings are the same, night times cant be really fast and reliable.

anyone else getting this:

http://screencap.net/f/998815c3.png

Blank screen with ''an error occurred while processing this directive''

A thread about it from years ago at bluehost forum:

http://www.bluehostforum.com/showthread.php?t=4843

Mark

Stratmangler
10-04-2010, 11:16
I did not like to post about it again but most mornings are the same, night times cant be really fast and reliable.

anyone else getting this:

http://screencap.net/f/998815c3.png

Blank screen with ''an error occurred while processing this directive''

A thread about it from years ago at bluehost forum:

http://www.bluehostforum.com/showthread.php?t=4843

Mark

I've had the same screen on a couple of occasions - I've just hit F5 to refresh the page and it's cured that problem.

The wider problem appears to be that Bluehost aren't getting to grips with and sorting out the issues that are causing this BB to run so painfully slowly.

Rare Bird
12-04-2010, 10:50
Ok today is an utter annoyance, it's not getting any better, so thats it for me

Stratmangler
12-04-2010, 11:30
Waiting for 90 seconds plus for a post to upload is unfortunately appearing to be the norm now, and it's a rather tedious process.

Bluehost do not appear to be getting to grips with the issue.

If it were my site I'd have given them 48 hours tops to sort the issues.
By now the site should have been migrated elsewhere.

Beechwoods
12-04-2010, 12:17
We are working on a plan to migrate. This involves identifying the best host (cost, performance) to move to as well as the logistics of moving. Things have been awful the last few days so it doesn't look like Bluehosts are getting on top of it.

When there's news I'll post back here.

Stratmangler
12-04-2010, 12:21
Thanks Nick

Sorry to keep rattling on about the problem, but it's good to know that you've got a decent gameplan - things are intolerable as they stand.

Themis
12-04-2010, 13:47
Thanks Nick.
It's even getting worse: last night it was not great. It's the first time the forum is slow in the evening.

MartinT
12-04-2010, 13:56
Good news, guys. It didn't look like Bluehosts were taking the problem seriously. Horrible intermittent performance all day today.

Jonboy
12-04-2010, 18:02
We are working on a plan to migrate. This involves identifying the best host (cost, performance) to move to as well as the logistics of moving. Things have been awful the last few days so it doesn't look like Bluehosts are getting on top of it.

When there's news I'll post back here.

Thats good to hear Nick that you have a plan, is it a cunning one :lol:, i have pretty well given up trying to read or post anything over the weekend,

i wonder what's happening on the Wam, not slow over there :ner:

Beechwoods
12-04-2010, 20:25
:ner:

Marco
13-04-2010, 15:58
Ok, Steve's spoken with Bluehost and we have just had the following exchange by email:

From Steve:


This follows a phone conversation. Given a lack of any fixed date or timetable to resolve the issue migration may be necessary but we do get a pro-rata refund

------Original Message------
From: Bluehost Support Team
Subject: About your bluehost.com account
Sent: 13 Apr 2010 15:59

Here is that article that I was talking about with the Performance.

http://helpdesk.bluehost.com/index.php/kb/article/000486

Thank you,
BlueHost.Com Support
http://www.bluehost.com


To which I replied:


Lol - that doesn't tell me a lot!

What did they actually SAY regarding the situation, and what were the answers to the specific questions I gave you earlier to ask them?


To which Steve replied:


They were just vague and said this is an issue with a shared server. I pointed out that we're too small to warrant the enormous expense + we've been ok for the last two years until 3 weeks ago.

It is likely that who we share with does something like send/receive a lot of data at the times when it's most critical.


To which I replied:


Thanks - so the problem is not due to a (whatever it was called) attack, which is the excuse they gave us the last time!!

They just bullshitters, Steve, so we need to move from Bluehost A.S.A.P.


.....and so it's ta-ta to Bluehost. We will now be moving from them and will report back when the migration to a new hosting site has been completed.

Nick, we need to have a discussion about this with the whole of the management team at everyone's earliest convenience :cool:

Marco.

Barry
13-04-2010, 17:50
Today was particularly bad, especially around lunchtime.

Regards

The Grand Wazoo
13-04-2010, 17:57
It's getting bad in the afternoons & evening too now.
It's making me think twice before I switch on.

REM
13-04-2010, 18:40
Was the worst it's ever been for me today. Morning and mid afternoon were just impossible, nothing worked, gave up.

Now just a few hours later it's as good as it's ever been, crazy:scratch:.

Mark Grant
14-04-2010, 08:31
Working well this morning, the first morning that has been OK for a while for me.

Pleased to see that it will move :)

Mark.

Dave Cawley
14-04-2010, 08:33
Me too on both!

Dave

MartinT
14-04-2010, 08:36
Yes, it's been good here this morning too.

Themis
15-04-2010, 17:56
We will now be moving from them and will report back when the migration to a new hosting site has been completed.
Amen. :)

HighFidelityGuy
16-04-2010, 09:29
It's good to hear this is getting sorted out. All the problems have been driving me nuts recently. Good luck with the migration! :goodluck: Don't forget to make a backup first. ;)

Rare Bird
21-04-2010, 10:56
:steam: This morning

DanJennings
21-04-2010, 11:30
yep, it's gone a bit shite again....

Alex_UK
21-04-2010, 20:31
I only bother at night now. Even then it is still slower than it ever used to be.

Joe
21-04-2010, 21:54
And then my posts just get deleted. Fuck it, I'm off.

Rare Bird
21-04-2010, 22:55
Fuck it, I'm off.

:D

dave2010
22-04-2010, 14:43
Chaps,

It'll be down to the server, Bluehost. If they're having problems, then so will we :(

Everything appears to be ok now, but we'll continue to monitor the situation closely. However, these things happen from time to time. It is most certainly not to do with bandwidth, as we have only scraped the surface of our allocation! :)

If it continues, we will contact Bluehost and ask for an explanation. In the meantime, keep us posted of any problems you're experiencing.

Marco.I find this website very slow, and I was about to post a new thread when I discovered this one. Looks like others have noticed before me. Pity though, as the board has some good people writing here.

Any realistic chance of improvement?

Barry
22-04-2010, 15:34
At the moment (16:25 Thursday 22.04.10), it is the worse it has ever been for me. I can't read my notifications.

Will attempt to post, but may have to give up. What's going on -it never used to be this bad?

Regards

Marco
22-04-2010, 16:49
Guys,

All I can do is offer our apologies.... Things seemed to be better for a few days, so we thought Bluehost had sorted out the problem.

However, that's blatantly not the case!

Therefore as of tomorrow, we will be commencing the procedure of moving the site hosting to another supplier.

In the meantime, please bear with us until the change is successfully effected.

Marco.

MartinT
22-04-2010, 16:50
If your time is accurate, Barry, it took 9 minutes to post that message! It's been bad for me too, just trying again now.

John
22-04-2010, 16:51
Marco or Steve should be along soon to clarify
I know they are looking at other options and think this will now become a priority as everyone is having very serious issues longing on
Marco beat me to it

Barry
22-04-2010, 18:12
If your time is accurate, Barry, it took 9 minutes to post that message! It's been bad for me too, just trying again now.

Hi Martin,

I can well believe that between successfully logging on and eventually placing that post, it did take 9 minutes. In the end I gave up; my coffee maker could make a pot of coffee faster than I could read my PMs ! :steam:

Things are much better now (fingers crossed)! :)

Regards

Beechwoods
22-04-2010, 22:58
Having considered a number of options, we have decided upon a new (UK based) host and will be putting the migration wheels in motion over the next day or so. There will be some disruption on the way, which we will advise members about once the timetable becomes clear.

Thanks for bearing with us. Normal (perhaps better than normal!) service will be resumed shortly...

The Vinyl Adventure
22-04-2010, 23:00
Good luck with it guys, it sounds like you have made the right choice!

Beechwoods
22-04-2010, 23:03
Thanks Hamish, and thank you for your help too. It was very much appreciated.

MartinT
23-04-2010, 05:56
Good luck with the migration!

Beechwoods
28-04-2010, 12:19
Can we close this thread now ;)

HighFidelityGuy
28-04-2010, 13:05
Nice work on the migration chaps! The forum feels sooooooo much faster now! Cheers! :cool:

MartinT
28-04-2010, 13:36
Great work guys, very impressive now.

Marco
28-04-2010, 13:44
Something badly had to be done, but we wanted to make sure we chose well and got the right supplier.

Hopefully now the user experience will be enhanced accordingly - enjoy :cool:

Marco.

MartinT
28-04-2010, 13:57
Can we close this thread now ;)

I started it, so be my guest :)

As a matter of interest, which hosting did you go for?

Marco
28-04-2010, 14:02
Global Gold, Martin :)

Marco.

Mark Grant
28-04-2010, 14:08
Pleased the move went well, it is fast now :)

Good choice of host :)

http://screencap.net/f/bff3b851.png


Mark.

Beechwoods
28-04-2010, 15:34
Thanks for the recommendation Mark!

Spectral Morn
28-04-2010, 15:50
Slow Forum....not any more "warp 10 captain".............................>:)



Regards D S D L

Beechwoods
28-04-2010, 16:09
It's so fast, we'll rip spacetime and pages will end up loading yesterday!

Alex_UK
28-04-2010, 22:15
...Although unfortunately the space time continuam thingy has gobbled up half a day's posts... Not the end of the world I guess - especially if we are now back to normal speed - thanks chaps.

Beechwoods
28-04-2010, 22:17
I'll raise this with Global Gold tomorrow. Thanks for the heads up everyone.

The Vinyl Adventure
28-04-2010, 22:24
It does seem quicker already, fingers crossed the hicups are nothing ...
I was quietly glad when it when chris pointed out the issues that I wasn't going to get a phone call :)

Themis
28-04-2010, 22:28
:clap: :cool:

The Grand Wazoo
03-05-2010, 00:25
I should have mentioned it yesterday after I came back from a few days away but I'm very impressed with the zip that the new server is displaying.
Great stuff & long may it last!
Well done guys.

Alex_UK
03-05-2010, 05:48
Yes indeed - speed is no longer a problem as far as I am concerned, good work.

Kris
06-05-2010, 16:16
Is it just me or is anyone else experiencing very slow page loading times?

:(

Rare Bird
06-05-2010, 16:22
Like lightning this end Kris

Marco
06-05-2010, 18:00
You're on your own there, Kris! Super-fast here, too :)

Marco.

The Vinyl Adventure
06-05-2010, 18:05
You should rename this thread slow forum (fixed)

MartinT
06-05-2010, 18:07
Fast forum!

Mark Grant
06-05-2010, 18:18
Lightning fast here :)

The Vinyl Adventure
06-05-2010, 18:26
yeah, it smells a bit of marcos feet, but its def quick

Marco
06-05-2010, 18:59
Haha - it's you with the mutant's toe, freako-boy! :lol:

;)

Marco.

The Vinyl Adventure
06-05-2010, 20:08
Il post the photo again if ya not careful!!

Mike
26-07-2010, 20:53
Is it just me, or is the forum on a 'go-slow' again? :scratch:

Just thought I'd ask if others are having problems as my PC has also been playing up lately... so it could be just at my end.

Barry
26-07-2010, 20:57
Is it just me, or is the forum on a 'go-slow' again? :scratch:

Just thought I'd ask if others are having problems as my PC has also been playing up lately... so it could be just at my end.

I had problems this evening: tried 'restart' and then everything was OK.

Mike
26-07-2010, 20:58
Hmmm... as soon as I posted that everything started whizzing along as normal! :)

Techno Commander
26-07-2010, 21:31
It was being problematic earlier this evening, but appears to have improved slightly now.

Beechwoods
26-07-2010, 21:39
I was having problems with the Telegraph website earlier this evening :o... I wonder if it was something more widespread.

Spectral Morn
26-07-2010, 22:50
Glad to read its not just me.

Every so often the forum goes slow. Its been happening for the last few weeks on and off and at no fixed time. I call it treacle time.

However today was particularly bad. Refresh did not help me much. I should point out though that it was not as bad as it was in the dark days before the move to the new host.


Regards D S D L

Marco
27-07-2010, 07:10
Well it must be the Welsh air, chaps, as everything's been fine here! :)

Marco.

MartinT
27-07-2010, 07:37
It was a tad slow yesterday but I put it down to our connectivity!

Steve Toy
27-07-2010, 08:24
I'm having problems with my connectivity generally. Ordering A CD off Amazon.fr last night took ages. One page during the ordering process too three minutes to load but oddly enough AOS is a veritable and consistent AOSis of quickness! :)

Reid Malenfant
27-07-2010, 13:43
However today was particularly bad. Refresh did not help me much.
I'll second that ;) I can't really comment about the last few weeks though :lol:

I wondered if it was my end, however ebay & a few other sites were runnung as fast as normal. At one point i lost the server on here altogether for about 10 seconds & page loading was slow to say the least at times :scratch:

The Vinyl Adventure
27-07-2010, 14:11
im not having any problems at all... the new hosting seems to have been a good choice!

Spectral Morn
27-07-2010, 17:03
Working fine today :)

Regards D S D L

Spectral Morn
27-07-2010, 17:05
I'll second that ;) I can't really comment about the last few weeks though :lol:

I wondered if it was my end, however ebay & a few other sites were runnung as fast as normal. At one point i lost the server on here altogether for about 10 seconds & page loading was slow to say the least at times :scratch:


Yes that happened to me as well....:scratch:


Regards D S D L

Reid Malenfant
27-07-2010, 18:10
Yes that happened to me as well....:scratch:


Regards D S D L
You don't happen to be on BT broadband do you? Different ISPs appear to act in different ways, at least that's the experience i have found :scratch:

Jonboy
27-07-2010, 18:22
perhaps its them pesky kids all on thier PS3's and Xbox's or even Facebook night and day for the duration of the summer holidays, mines ok at the moment

Beechwoods
27-07-2010, 18:26
The Domino's Pizza (http://www.dominos.co.uk/) website is currently playing up badly, but I got my order in :phew:

Jonboy
27-07-2010, 18:34
Ah Bollocks i'm to late i cant get on it, looks like sausage and chips for me then

Beechwoods
27-07-2010, 18:38
It's Two For Tuesday - you can't go wrong with a deal like that!

Jonboy
27-07-2010, 18:42
It's Two For Tuesday - you can't go wrong with a deal like that!

Double bollocks then

MartinT
27-07-2010, 18:51
The Papa John's around here is pretty good and they deliver super quick.

Spectral Morn
27-07-2010, 19:19
You don't happen to be on BT broadband do you? Different ISPs appear to act in different ways, at least that's the experience i have found :scratch:


No :scratch:

Regards D S D L

Beechwoods
27-07-2010, 19:35
The Papa John's around here is pretty good and they deliver super quick.

Domino's now have realtime order tracking so you can see if your pizza's in Prep, Bake, Quality Control or out on Delivery. No more anxiety about what's happened to your dinner!

Truly they are a nerd's dream when it comes to fast-food delivery ;)

Reid Malenfant
27-07-2010, 20:07
Domino's now have realtime order tracking so you can see if your pizza's in Prep, Bake, Quality Control or out on Delivery. No more anxiety about what's happened to your dinner!

Truly they are a nerd's dream when it comes to fast-food delivery ;)
Damn that's so sad :lolsign: Order it & wait, honestly i bet you get frustrated waiting for the kettle to boil 2347

MartinT
27-07-2010, 20:26
Domino's now have realtime order tracking so you can see if your pizza's in Prep, Bake, Quality Control or out on Delivery

I don't need *quite* that amount of detail :)

Alex_UK
27-07-2010, 21:18
Double bollocks then

:eek:

I prefer double pepperoni Jonboy, but each to their own! ;)

The Grand Wazoo
27-07-2010, 22:53
Domino's now have realtime order tracking so you can see if your pizza's in Prep, Bake, Quality Control, out on Delivery. ...........or being 'interfered with' because you didn't give 'em a tip last time.

Beechwoods
27-07-2010, 22:55
That's the 'quality control' step!

The Grand Wazoo
27-07-2010, 23:04
..........oysters? Are these the topping of the week?

Barry
27-07-2010, 23:08
..........oysters? Are these the topping of the week?

Yuk!

StanleyB
05-10-2010, 06:47
Has anyone been experiencing loading problems with AoS on their mobile phone since the new footer banner was added? It takes at least 1 minute to get the main page up, if ever.

Beechwoods
05-10-2010, 07:11
No problems here Stan, and I'm using a 3G connection now... it's only 31kb, and should cache the first time it's loaded. Taken in combination with the size of the main banner it's smaller than the original single graphic used to be at one point... I'd be interested to see what other members experience is.

I'm using an iPhone with Safari.

MartinT
05-10-2010, 07:11
It's not too bad for me, Stan, using my HTC HD2 and Opera. Everything draws before the banner so I can get on with reading the postings while it's loading that.

Ali Tait
05-10-2010, 09:32
Using htc Desire,and no problems here,loads very quickly.

DSJR
05-10-2010, 13:14
My mobile phone is an ancient Nokia 3110 brick and it's got to the point I daren't show it to anyone.

Internet on a piddly screen? I can barely see text clearly these days as it is - and yes, I do have my eyes tested regularly.....

Marco
05-10-2010, 13:21
Indeed (although there is nothing wrong with my eyesight). I don't know how anyone can suffer it, but each to their own....

Still, it shows the buggers are keen to keep in touch with the shenanigans on their favourite forum when they're out and about! :respect:

;)

Marco.

P.S You have a reply on the 'Technics SL-1500 Cartridge' thread.

Reid Malenfant
31-12-2010, 20:46
It just took me about 3 minutes to get from the home page to an open new reply on here :steam:

Someone been getting the server pi**ed as all other browser windows i have open respond in less than a second :scratch:

I'd like to add that this isn't an isolated incident & every so often the whole lot times out (though not today i might add) & has not been available for more than 5 minutes on one occasion :mental:

I think that 3 minutes for 3 clicks is taking the mickey a tad, what's going on & why? :scratch:

Am i the only one that gets this bloody great delay sometimes?

Ah well, back to the :cool: & choons :eyebrows:

Beechwoods
31-12-2010, 20:53
I noticed it a few minutes ago. It's not something we get that often since we moved from the US datacentre, in my experience... we are on shared infrastructure though so if one of the other forums hosted on the same farm gets hammered we feel it a bit.

We'll keep an eye on things. I have a service that monitors availability and page load time... fingers crossed it's not the shape of things to come!

Reid Malenfant
31-12-2010, 21:03
Cheers for the reply Nick, at least i'm not the only one then :rolleyes: There was me thinking BT fessed it all up (they do sometimes :eek:)...

Happy new year to you & yours chap :)

Beechwoods
31-12-2010, 21:04
Thanks Mark - likewise!

MartinT
31-12-2010, 21:08
I've noticed a few general slow-downs, Mark, but then today was expected to be an exceptional day bandwidth-wise and it's not really surprising. I think the AoS site is holding up well at the moment.

Happy New Year to you all.

Reid Malenfant
31-12-2010, 21:19
<snip> I've noticed a few general slow-downs, Mark, but then today was expected to be an exceptional day bandwidth-wise

Happy New Year to you all.
& why the heck didn't i think all these people wishing each other a happy new year would slow down www :doh:

Just to add to it :eyebrows: All the best for the new year to all members & their families :)

Cheers Martin ;)

Darren
31-12-2010, 23:35
If you have a smartphone then you should really be laying out a couple of quid for tapatalk - it's much faster than a regular browser for forums like AOS.
I mostly view AOS via tapatalk.

Beechwoods
01-01-2011, 07:29
I use Tapatalk quite a bit too Darren. I live the way you can keep tabs on threads you've participated in really easily, and replying to PM's is a sinch with it versus trying to use a regular mobile browser. It's getting better all the time, IMO. And it does save a lot of pinching and zooming!

MartinT
01-01-2011, 12:45
Because Tapatalk has focused on the <insert expletive> iPhone, there is still no Windows Phone version as far as I can see.

Beechwoods
01-01-2011, 13:40
There's a Blackberry and Nokia client I think. Windows 7 won't be far behind&hellip;

MartinT
01-01-2011, 13:46
I'll keep an eye out for it, unfortunately I have Windows Phone 6.5 and won't be able to upgrade for another year. Actually, I prefer 6.5 to 7 but I think developers will target the latter.

Alex_UK
09-01-2011, 21:23
Am I the only one finding it very slow tonight? Doesn't appear to be my ISP as getting good results from SpeedTest, and other sites are fine, but AoS is very slow and appeared to be down for a while? Is it just me?

Reid Malenfant
09-01-2011, 21:33
Not just you Alex, it appears ok now but earlier i was waiting for a couple of minutes for pages to change :steam:

Alex_UK
09-01-2011, 21:35
Not just you Alex, it appears ok now but earlier i was waiting for a couple of minutes for pages to change :steam:

Yes, it has got better in the last few minutes, so probably just a blip.

Jac Hawk
09-01-2011, 22:05
For me it's still a bit slow, think Marco needs to pedal faster or something:lol:

MartinT
09-01-2011, 23:01
It took an age for pages to open earlier this evening, a bit better now.

Spectral Morn
10-01-2011, 00:03
I have been finding things a bit slow too recently but tonight has been okay so far.


Regards D S D L

MartinT
10-01-2011, 07:28
think Marco needs to pedal faster or something:lol:

LOL! Do you think it's direct drive? ;)

Beechwoods
10-01-2011, 07:46
I will raise this with the people who manage our hosting.

Alex_UK
10-01-2011, 07:48
It seems fine today Nick - may just have been traffic on the servers given it was Sunday evening - already the most popular time for surfing and even more so as there was bugger all worth watching on telly!

Beechwoods
10-01-2011, 07:52
Thanks Alex, but to be honest we shouldn't see slow-downs due to other people's traffic. I should be able to pull some stats and see what they say.

Marco
10-01-2011, 09:28
Yup, dude, please do, as the slowness was rather annoying last night.

Things don't seem to be as super-quick now as they were when we first moved from Bluehost - why I don't know :scratch:

Marco.

Beechwoods
10-01-2011, 12:05
Will do. Do remember that it's been holiday time over the last few weeks. This has meant we've been seeing the kind of traffic you'd expect at peak time on weekends, during evenings in the week.

I still believe though that performance should be more consistent. I will be making this point.

Spectral Morn
10-01-2011, 18:15
just had a forum outage......:(


Regards D S D L

Beechwoods
10-01-2011, 19:20
It must have been for less than 2 minutes as I get an alert when the site drops for more than 2 minutes. We've had 99.46% uptime in the last month, and that takes into account Global Gold restarting the server every night at 5am during December!

leo
12-01-2011, 16:52
It used to run fine for me on here but have noticed its been running much slower lately, sometimes timing out when trying to post

Barry
12-01-2011, 20:52
It's none too snappy tonight (9:50, 11.01.11)!

Rare Bird
12-01-2011, 21:34
I get pissed off & just sign orf.

Beechwoods
13-01-2011, 07:29
I have written to Global Gold, our hosts including stats showing slower page performance in the evening. I have also said that users have experienced timeouts. I have pointed out that our profile of concurrent user log-ons does not come close to the maximum concurrent usage included in our package. We expect performance to be more consistent on this basis. I will let you know what we hear back.

Alex_UK
13-01-2011, 09:09
Thanks Nick. I had several timeouts last night, so does seem to be an evening thing as fine during the day.

Beechwoods
13-01-2011, 09:41
Global Gold report that they are investigating an issue with the servers and they'll let me know what the diagnosis / fix is... hopefully we're moving in the right direction...

Beechwoods
14-01-2011, 17:14
Global Gold are monitoring our service closely tonight and over the weekend.

If anyone has any timeouts or slow page loads (you know the thing) please post here with a note (slow page load / timeout / how long were you waiting, what time) so I can update our ticket with each occurrence and they can tie their findings with the approximate time of your reports.

Thanks everyone.

Reid Malenfant
15-01-2011, 19:37
Just had a drop out & lost the forum, not for long but i thought i'd let you know Nick. Time was about 7:34PM & i lost the site for about 10 seconds...

Slowed down some at 8:15PM

The Grand Wazoo
15-01-2011, 20:53
Fourteen seconds to load this page just now and similarly for the last five minutes.

Beechwoods
15-01-2011, 20:57
Thanks chaps - keep the reports coming, I appreciate it...

Reid Malenfant
15-01-2011, 21:19
Failing to respond for a good while at about 9:17PM :rolleyes:

Beechwoods
15-01-2011, 21:21
I got it then as well!

Reid Malenfant
16-01-2011, 19:13
Is it me or am i the only one waiting for pages to load again? 7:12PM ;)

Beechwoods
16-01-2011, 19:19
It's been fine for me :scratch:

Reid Malenfant
16-01-2011, 19:23
Aye it's fine now Nick, it just had a few minutes or less of waiting 20 seconds for pages to load :rolleyes: