How is it for you? - Performance of Brew Cabin

[84-1093879891]

As most of the Brew Cabin Irregulars know, I'm planning on upgrading to a brand new spangly version of the Brew Cabin in the very, very near future. However, the performance level of this current version, and the lack of effective. meaningful support I've received from my current hosting company leads me to question whether I'm wasting my time installing a brand new engine in what appears to be a knackered old jalopy of a web server.

The response time of this current service is, for me, quite poor (compared to other message board systems I've observed), and the new system seems equally sluggish, despite the software being much more streamlined. In fact, I've witnessed the very same software operating on other servers at a frightening pace, yet it does tend to dawdle along on this server, for some reason.

For the money I'm currently paying, I've been offered a vastly expanded web space, with enhanced bandwidth, load balancing and lots of little extras that should, in theory, make life much simpler for me, but the task of shifting everything over to the new host and re-configuring all the gubbins in the background is quite daunting, so I don't want to do it if there's no real need.

Is anyone else experiencing slow response times, 404s, stalls, delays or any other annoying defects? Please add your comments to this thread so that I can judge whether this is something I should pursue.

[hooly1]

I get the threads misssing ie old ones its say page 1 2 3 etc but sometimes, there not there. not all the time. I love the old threads are they staying ?

TRY www.pcadvisor.co.uk for some advice on the web desin page, there is some good experts on this stuff on there.

[alan ditchfield]

I have noticed a significant slow down in logging replies and waiting for topics to appear when clicked on over the few months i have been a member, but you can live with that, if its going to cost a fortune then dont bother. But is this not just a problem that can be fixed instead of replaced as i said a couple of months ago it was a lot faster.?

[Sean Buxton]

Can't remember exactly, but in the last 4/6 weeks, access to the main forum page has been noticeably slower and similarly moving between topics within the Brew Cabin has also been the same. When I joined, access seemed pretty much instantaneous using a slowish version of broadband. The system has never stalled, ete, etc. I think having access to archived material is excellant and would certainly like that to be preserved if possible. Cheers.

[Alan Collinge]

No stalls or errors but access to the forum and loading different pages in the forum seems to have slowed down to a snails pace just recently.

Everything else seems fine.

Edit
Submitting that reply took ages but I didn't time it so I will time how long this edit takes to submit.


(Edited by Alan Collinge at 9:41 am on July 29, 2004)

[Alan Collinge]

Well the edit submitted instantly so I'll time this new post.

Edit
Sorry it took so long to report my findings, I had to answer a telephone calll which lasted for 75 minutes!

However, that posting took 95 seconds to submit.


(Edited by Alan Collinge at 11:11 am on July 29, 2004)

[TarmacLady]

Isn't this where we enter the comment about finding some way for all of us irregulars to send Tony some financial assistance for putting in so much work to benefit so many?

Whether it's a tenner in the post or a PayPal button on the site...tell what you need, Tony.

[Alan Collinge]

Well I've only used this site for my current DIY project. Cost so far running at 3.5k. Estimated total close to 4.5k. A lot of money but I reckon that I couldn't have done it without Tony's help - correction: couldn't have done it properly without Tony's help.

If I'd got the professionals in it would have been 9 to 10.5k so I reckon I can spare a tenner!

Do you take Visa? :-)

[steve r]

Hi Tony,
Hope you are feeling better.
I mailed slowasshit.net at the beginning of the month about the speed of their server and continual page not found error messages, their reply is in the "picket fencing" thread saying the problem has now been fixed.
Although I'm not getting any error messages now the server slows down markedly from around midday.
I think a gremlin is at work in the brew cabin, if you have a look at the previous topic "great site" the post was made today but the last post is showing as Jan 19th.
Maybe the problem is two fold and could be corrected with the new software and a well aimed kick at Claras servers.

As well as tea the brew cabin has been known to run on Jamesons (not scottish scotch)

Best regards
Steve

[84-1093879891]

The plan is that the new Brew Cabin (v3) will contain every post ever made, right back to 2001 (was it?) The posts from before then were made on a non-compatible forum (v1) and the best of 'em were archived when I set up this forum (v2).

One of the problems with v2 is that, although all the old posts are still there, it doesn't actually display them. F'rinstance: the Block Paving section reckons it has 3 pages, when, in fact, there are over 500 posts, at 20 posts per page, therefore 25+ pages. They can be accessed via the Search tool, but, because of a falling out between Unix running on an Apache server (don't ask - it'll only make you dizzy!) and the software, the 'display' instructions can only cope with around 200 posts in total.

V3, as I said, will (hopefully) return all those posts from yesteryear, and that is not dependent on whether I stay with my current hosting company or move to the new company. The costs involved in moving to a new host are relatively minor (or as minor as any costs can be for a website that doesn't make money), but it's the time, hassle and inconvenience factor that concern me more.

I think I'll see if Clara can actually improve their service over the next 2 weeks, and then, if there's no noticeable change for the better, I'll make plans to migrate everything over the course of a weekend or a couple of late nights/early mornings during the week.


More comments welcome.... :)

[LandscapeMann]

I have only discovered this site a few weeks back. But I have read a great deal of the info the entire site. And indeed it is quite a site to see.
No problems. I am just on a modem and things may seem a bit slow somtimes. But then again I am slow pretty much all the time.

So your upgrades sound exciting. I would love to load a bote up with my exccavator, my skidder. Concrete saw, plate tamper, truck with dump trailer. and my
EZ-Go dump body workhorse 350.
Paddle across the big pond and give you a hand. Of course you would have to train me on the computer stuff.
How about different levels of site support for ones that wish contribute.

You seem very adept at comming up with unique interesting terms. Keeps my mind exersizing fingering them out.
As you well know, time is money. I would explore sponership and voluntary levels of contibutions

[windy meadow]

Tony, I just wanted to let you know that this site seems to be loading pages faster this week. Not as slow as it has been.
Don

[84-1093879891]

It's amazing how a threat to take ones business elsewhere always seems to expedite repairs, innit! ;)

[chrisevans]

Absolutely agree with TarmacLady and Alan Collinge with the financial assistance for Tony. I'm in the middle of laying two cobbled patios and a path in my back garden, a project that I would never have embarked upon myself without the information this fantastic site provides and also not forgetting the continued support that the forums provide (and in hindsite I've asked some pretty daft questions at times!!). The project is progressing nicely by the way - photos will be posted on completion. I estimate that the professionals would have charged 6-7k for this project - DIY cost approx 2.5k! So a financial contribution is the very least this very grateful DIY'er can do.