Author Topic: Help Wanted: IT Guru  (Read 7763 times)

Offline GTX_Admin

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Help Wanted: IT Guru
« on: January 04, 2012, 05:40:28 PM »

Folks,

As you know we have been gradually dealing with some technical teething issues since we set up this forum  We have been gradually working through these, solving where we can.  Jon (aka jcf) has been especially hard working in this regard.

That said, neither myself or the other moderators is what we would really call an IT Expert.  We work with the limited knowledge we have along with a good dose of the old 'trial and error'...hence why some of these issues have taken longer to resolve.

Moving forward though, we would like to recruit an IT Guru ( or even a half guru...) to help in a more permanent way.  As such, I am asking for volunteers to help out.  Please either reply here or PM me in regards to this.  All offers of assistance will be seriously considered.

Alternatively, if you know someone who you believe could help but who is not already a member here, then please also let us know.

I look forward to your replies.

Regards,

Greg
All hail the God of Frustration!!!

You can't outrun Death forever.
But you can make the Bastard work for it.

Offline Rickshaw

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Re: Help Wanted: IT Guru
« Reply #1 on: February 15, 2012, 10:25:40 PM »
Dunno if I'm a guru but 25 years under my belt in IT with 20 of it as SysAdmin might qualify me to help.   Tell me your troubles and I'll see what I can do.

Offline jcf

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Re: Help Wanted: IT Guru
« Reply #2 on: February 16, 2012, 02:21:37 AM »
Dunno if I'm a guru but 25 years under my belt in IT with 20 of it as SysAdmin might qualify me to help.   Tell me your troubles and I'll see what I can do.

Aloha Brian and welcome,

The primary issue has been session timeouts and/or server connections.
Now supposedly we can have 200 MySQL connections at any given time,
to an 'unlimited' number of databases. I've been following hints in the
SMF Online Manual and support forum, and the simple stuff I'm able to
play with without difficulty. However, some of the suggestions and hints
go off into IT Secret Squirrel Decoder Ring territory and I'm loathe to try
any of it without more straightforward guidance.

Any thoughts, on general methods to reduce the server connection troubles?

Regards,
Jon

 :icon_fsm:

 
“Conspiracy theory’s got to be simple.
Sense doesn’t come into it. People are
more scared of how complicated shit
actually is than they ever are about
whatever’s supposed to be behind the
conspiracy.”
-The Peripheral, William Gibson 2014

Offline Rickshaw

  • "Of course, I could be talking out of my hat"
Re: Help Wanted: IT Guru
« Reply #3 on: February 16, 2012, 07:13:44 PM »
I have to admit I'm not a DBA - thats a whole different kettle of fish compared to SysAdmin'ing.

If you tell me which software (and the version) you're using under which OS, I'll have a sniff around.  You'd be better to send me a PM than announce it openly (OPSec in these sorts of things can be more important than you might realise in the face of unknown readers).    Often its knowing the right questions to ask as much as anything else when doing this sort of thing and I have sources through work which might be willing to answer specific questions about DB matters.

Offline Frank3k

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Re: Help Wanted: IT Guru
« Reply #4 on: February 16, 2012, 10:57:29 PM »
Jon,
 Can you post a link to the manual and the particular issue? It would be easier if more eyes are on the problem.

Offline jcf

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Re: Help Wanted: IT Guru
« Reply #5 on: February 17, 2012, 02:10:32 PM »
Hi guys,
here is the link to the manual:
http://wiki.simplemachines.org/

... and the relevant text from the GoDaddy support response to Greg's query:

Please be aware that we allow up to 200 simultaneous MySQL Database connections per MySQL user.  The error message you supplied can come from exceeding this limit.  You will want to optimize the web applications database accesses and make sure database connections are being closed.


Thoughts?

Thanks,
Jon
 :icon_fsm:


“Conspiracy theory’s got to be simple.
Sense doesn’t come into it. People are
more scared of how complicated shit
actually is than they ever are about
whatever’s supposed to be behind the
conspiracy.”
-The Peripheral, William Gibson 2014

Offline Rickshaw

  • "Of course, I could be talking out of my hat"
Re: Help Wanted: IT Guru
« Reply #6 on: February 17, 2012, 05:00:32 PM »
OK, you may have already done this but have you followed the instructions on this page - http://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/Forum_Maintenance to:
Quote
    * Find and repair any errors - Going to this page will search for any possible errors in your database. Usually, these errors are caused by improper conversions, modifications gone wrong, or data corruption. It's a good idea to check this once and a while, just in case.
[...]
Database

    * Optimize all tables to improve performance. - Using this functionality causes SMF to instruct the database to attempt to reanalyze and reoptimize the tables in your database. It's not a good idea to do this too often, because it can take a long time.


It appears that this is intended to be a "user friendly" system - which invariably means that you have extremely limited ability to make major changes to it.   In theory, using the commands they do give you access to, should enable you to administer it for most tasks.  As the message you quoted, talks about you needing to "optimize the web applications database accesses" that should be covered by the page mentioned above which covers, "Optimize all tables to improve performance".  While the first page, the one entitled, "Find and repair any errors" should do just that.  I'd perform the "Find and repair any errors" one first and then the "Optimize all tables to improve performance" second.

overscan

  • Guest
Re: Help Wanted: IT Guru
« Reply #7 on: May 31, 2012, 08:37:08 PM »
I may be able to help ;)

Any shared hosting will have database issues like these. Whatifmodelers used to get them a lot at peak times. Quite simply, there will be lots of database access from bots, spiders, as well as ordinary users. You don't have a great deal of control over how many queries can get generated by the forum. You should have "Use a persistent connection" turned off in "Server Settings" - "Database" to reduce the load on the shared server.

Turning on "Display time taken to create every page" in Features and Options - Layout will put the number of queries used at the bottom of the page. Bear in mind that simply loading the Secret Projects homepage takes 7 queries. Viewing a page in a topic - 19 queries. 

You may be able to get better hosting. The only real answer - something like Linode - a Virtual Private Server. Costs $19.99/month though, and you need a tame UNIX admin to look after the server.

Offline jcf

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Re: Help Wanted: IT Guru
« Reply #8 on: June 01, 2012, 01:14:17 AM »
Thanks for the tips, Paul.  I'll check into the settings.

Cheers, Jon
“Conspiracy theory’s got to be simple.
Sense doesn’t come into it. People are
more scared of how complicated shit
actually is than they ever are about
whatever’s supposed to be behind the
conspiracy.”
-The Peripheral, William Gibson 2014

Offline GTX_Admin

  • Evil Administrator bent on taking over the Universe!
  • Administrator - Yep, I'm the one to blame for this place.
  • Whiffing Demi-God!
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Re: Help Wanted: IT Guru
« Reply #9 on: June 01, 2012, 07:06:47 AM »
Thanks Paul, much appreciated.
All hail the God of Frustration!!!

You can't outrun Death forever.
But you can make the Bastard work for it.

overscan

  • Guest
Re: Help Wanted: IT Guru
« Reply #10 on: June 01, 2012, 11:25:41 AM »
Ultimately, if 250 queries need to be made to support the activity of users on the site, and your host only allows 200, something has to give.