SQL errors

[trisonic]

Martin,

 

Doesn't have to be so. This one isn't. http://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?

 

100,000 members, vBulletin, stable, NO adverts. By all means talk to the owner Brian Scherzer, tell him I sent you.

 

Best, Pete.

[martin_wynne]

Doesn't have to be so. This one isn't.

 

But would he choose vB if starting from scratch now?

 

Most vB owners were dismayed when Jelsoft in the UK sold out to Internet Brands, and nothing which happened afterwards did anything to improve matters.

 

for anyone starting now the smart money is on xenForo ( http://xenforo.com , also a UK product), in our field see for example: http://www.westernthunder.co.uk

 

But for a technical-based board you still can't beat Jim's own forum software. Traditional style, years old, but brilliant PHP coding from Aycan Gulez and solid as a rock to any size. In our field see for example http://yourmodelrailway.net

 

regards,

 

Martin.

[trisonic]

Dunno, Martin. Brian probably takes the pragmatic view that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

 

I do like the look of xenForo as used by Western Thunder. Do we know how it will stand up with a larger membership?

 

I must admit to not liking the YMR layout, to me it is too idiosyncratic in use, i.e. VNC equivalent, etc.

 

Best, Pete.

[martin_wynne]

I do like the look of xenForo as used by Western Thunder. Do we know how it will stand up with a larger membership?

 

Hi Pete,

 

Dunno yet. They had an embarrassing incident recently in which their own domain name didn't get renewed! And they don't seem to have made up their mind whether it's xenForo or XenForo. One to watch, though.

 

Martin.

[cromptonnut]

Great news Andy. If anyone doubted the wisdom of the move to Warners, the sense of that move is now clear. None of this development would have been possible on donations alone.

 

The problem seems to occur during "busy times" - did anyone take note of how many members there were before the big "MI/RM" plug in the magazine and how many new users we've gained as a result? I wonder whether all the extra users - as a result of the "move to Warners" is actually as much the cause of the problem as it is the solution?

[Andy Y]

The problem seems to occur during "busy times" ...............................

I wonder whether all the extra users - as a result of the "move to Warners" is actually as much the cause of the problem as it is the solution?

 

The SQL errors can happen at very quiet times too and it's not directly correlated to online users.

 

I can't call new users a problem; we need to build for future usage which is progressively increasing.

[ozzyo]

I do like the look of xenForo as used by Western Thunder. Do we know how it will stand up with a larger membership?

Best, Pete.

 

Hello Pete,

 

I don't find Western Thunder as easy to use as RMweb, but that could just be me.

 

OzzyO.

[DDolfelin]

Very pleased action is being taken.

Removes a very real threat of impact damage to my computer equipment.

My swear box only takes notes now.

 

Lord only knows what Andy has been going through.

Tearing his hair out I expect.

[trisonic]

The SQL errors can happen at very quiet times too and it's not directly correlated to online users.

 

I can't call new users a problem; we need to build for future usage which is progressively increasing.

 

I can attest to the fact that when I post in the middle of the night UK time I get just as many problems and there is only a handful of people on board.

That board I mentioned above, The Gear Page has grown exponentially (I'm Member 1207, or something) now 100,000. Yep, they had some issues at times - interestingly one of the things the Mods do not allow is too long threads, like Early Risers on here, they will seal the thread and start another one. The very long threads were affecting the performance...

 

Best, Pete.

[stewartingram]

Very pleased action is being taken.

Removes a very real threat of impact damage to my computer equipment.

My swear box only takes notes now.

 

Lord only knows what Andy has been going through.

Tearing his hair out I expect.

 

I heard he's got a card reader installed on the swear box now

 

Problem is it keeps crashing though....

 

Stewart

[Steve Williams]

^{I haven't a b***** clue what you are all on about, but I am glad things are likely to get better.}

[martin_wynne]

I can attest to the fact that when I post in the middle of the night UK time I get just as many problems and there is only a handful of people on board.

 

I've found the same. Posting in the middle of the night is sometimes even more difficult than during the day, with database errors every few minutes. Which tends to demonstrate that the problem is not related to congestion or the number of new users, but is clearly a software problem. What is even more puzzling is the speed with which it clears itself. A 5-minute wait followed by an SQL error. Click Reload and the page appears within half a second. Hopefully moving the database to a separate server will solve the problem. Each server can then be optimized for its task.

 

regards,

 

Martin.

[pointstaken]

After being dropped out of RMWeb with another SQL error, I logged back in and was trying to add to this thread, and guess what ?

I got this error -

"mySQL query error: SELECT t.*,xxx.* FROM ip_topics t LEFT JOIN ip_core_tags_cache xxx ON ( xxx.tag_cache_key=MD5(CONCAT('forums',';','topics',';',t.tid)) ) WHERE t.tid=56297"

 

Getting into RMWeb is beginning to resemble Russian roulette.

 

Dennis

[Physicsman]

I'm pleased to hear Andy's news. I think we all apreciate the hard work being done behind-the-scenes and we are all patient - after all, what else can we do!

 

On average I'm now getting SQLs every 20 minutes and it often takes 5 minutes+ to get back onto the site. So any kind of improvement will be very welcome. I suppose it serves us all right for being RMweb addicts!!

 

Jeff

[Penlan]

......Lord only knows what Andy has been going through. Tearing his hair out I expect.

I think he's completed that task

[Kenton]

is clearly a software problem. ...Hopefully moving the database to a separate server will solve the problem. Each server can then be optimized for its task.

 

regards,

 

Martin.

 

Have always blamed the software, too many bells and whistles simply slapped on without good planning or software coding. Just as with Microsoft's monstrosities, most of it is unwanted by users and just expands to fit available memory and processor speeds.

 

I'm not quite sure why, but I always had the belief that we were already running on dedicated servers (not necessary dedicated to RMWeb but one for the database and one for the web).

 

Whate I find peculiar about the problem is the apparent randomness of these errors. One day RMWeb is virtually dead the next, or sometime later, it is running with incredible speed and consistency. One thing I have noticed is that nearly every error SQL has the word 'moderator' or 'cache' in it.

 

Having seen several hosting changes over the years, I do wonder if it (fresh installation) will really resolve the problem and that in a few months (after a few IPB updates) we will be back to square one.

[Andy Y]

I'm not quite sure why, but I always had the belief that we were already running on dedicated servers (not necessary dedicated to RMWeb but one for the database and one for the web).

 

Whate I find peculiar about the problem is the apparent randomness of these errors. One day RMWeb is virtually dead the next, or sometime later, it is running with incredible speed and consistency. One thing I have noticed is that nearly every error SQL has the word 'moderator' or 'cache' in it.

 

Having seen several hosting changes over the years, I do wonder if it (fresh installation) will really resolve the problem and that in a few months (after a few IPB updates) we will be back to square one.

 

We have been running on one dedicated server (solely RMweb) with the database and software on the same drive.

 

You're right on the inconsistency; it just doesn't help pin it down. The fact that the error frequently has mod or cache in the string isn't conclusive either I'm afraid as every forum and therefore topic has a moderator and most things involve a cache at some point or another. In fact different users may see different errors at the same time and may not even relate to the action you've tried to carry out or even the one that clogged it up.

 

The hosting change isn't just about the performance and stability; it's also about data security (given earlier events), resources and access to support within the same timezones. We've been over-dependent on Jim as an individual and I'm very grateful for the times he's dug us out of the muck but what would happen if Jim wasn't available? I'd be stuffed.

[beast66606]

Multi core/cpu, multi disk machines( important with big databases), stripe the database across the disks, high speed network connections and plenty of RAM - but you probably know that.

 

PS - I think Andy's hair disappeared in RMWeb 2 - Attack of the Muppets (I think RMW2 was the time when we had a high incidence of bullmuck spreaders and trolls, who Andy was removing on a regular basis)

[PhilH]

SQL, ramrimrom, dodooronron, new servers.....

 

 

I'm thinking bigger elastic band.

[The Stationmaster]

SQL, ramrimrom, dodooronron, new servers.....

I'm thinking bigger elastic band.

I think it's a bit like moving to a set of independent valvegear for the middle cylinder and doing away with the steam reverser, sort of.

[DDolfelin]

"I think Andy's hair disappeared in RMWeb 2"

 

I wasn't going to mention it.

[BoD]

The transition has been planned for one of our quietest times towards the end of July/early August.

 

I'll volunteer to be one of the 15% if that's of any help.

[Guest Belgian]

Yes, we must be patient - has anyone seen an improvement of the past 6 weeks or so?

 

An Example: Wrote post with link to another site with photo.

 

Hit post. Dreaded flashing green thing. Nothing happens. Hit reload to retrieve lost message - get SQL message. Eventually get back in and message totally disappeared... couldn't be bothered to re-write.

 

Best, Pete.

 

Edit: Sorry that was today approx 30 mins ago.

Ironically, just trying to 'like' this particular post resulted in the 'Dreaded flashing green thing' for about a minute . . .

 

However, in reply to your first line, no, I haven't seen any improvement, rather the reverse. In a couple of instances I had written a long posting and then got the green thing followed by the SQL message and lost my remarks. The first time I rewrote it but the second time, like you, I just gave up and left the site for a couple of days.

 

JE

[beast66606]

The first time I rewrote it but the second time, like you, I just gave up and left the site for a couple of days.

 

It's been said several times, hightlight your text (Ctrl+A on windows), and copy to the clipboard (Ctrl+C on Windows), if you don't do anything else it's in the paste buffer, or open notepad and paste into there (Ctrl+P on Windows) - then if it goes wrong, it's a copy and paste exercise to repeat your posting.

[cromptonnut]

It's been said several times, hightlight your text (Ctrl+A on windows), and copy to the clipboard (Ctrl+C on Windows), if you don't do anything else it's in the paste buffer, or open notepad and paste into there (Ctrl+P on Windows) - then if it goes wrong, it's a copy and paste exercise to repeat your posting.

 

CTRL-P brings up the "Print" box - don't you mean CTRL-V for paste?