Forums often inaccessible last few days

[shoegoo]

I visit the forums quite frequently, but the last few days I have been receiving a vBulletin message that the server is under too high of a load to serve my request and to please try again later (I can't remember the exact wording). Anyway, at first it was infrequent, but now it is happening almost everytime I visit the site. Is anyone else experiencing this? It doesn't seem like these boards are active enough to cause things to come to a hault like that.

[Michael]

The load bug should be fixed now... If you see this message again, please let us know.

[Michael]

I have been notified by the system administrator for the Phoronix Forums server that we are going through too much bandwidth and other resources :eek:. With that said, some optimizations are being implemented to hopefully address these issues without seriously impacting the user's browsing experience. A server load limit is being turned on with vBulletin, but if you see these alerts frequently, please post here or send off a message to Phoronix.

We are also examining other possible routes, such as moving the Forums server in-house or other avenues.

Feel free to voice your thoughts or concerns.

[Rob Williams]

How could the forums use -that- many resources? I just had the problem... it lasted for about a half hour. I was tying out a post... and bam, server load.

[Michael]

How could the forums use -that- many resources? I just had the problem... it lasted for about a half hour. I was tying out a post... and bam, server load.

The past 30 minutes there have been tweaks going on... hopefully that's all finalized. If you continue to notice the message, let us know.

I am not too sure how the forums are using that many resources, but that is what my administrator said... There's only 100 some users at this point, but there is quite a bit of page views.

Hopefully these latest settings will settle everything, but if it doesn't I will probably setup a new forum server in-house for now.

[1c3d0g]

Wow, that's odd. :-/ There aren't even many images posted in the forums, so it can't be that either. If vBulletin is the culprit, maybe you should try PunBB, it's probably the most light-weight forum software out there.

http://punbb.org/

[Rob Williams]

I'm sure Michael shares the same mindset as me when it comes to vBulletin. It's a pain in the ass, but it's feature-rich and secure. It would likely be a server specific issue, not the software to be honest. Unless modifications were made, of course.

[Michael]

The main reason the Phoronix Forums use vBulletin is due to security reasons compared against the other projects. If time allowed, I would just write my own forum software.

[1c3d0g]

Well, PunBB is pretty secure. :) It's not like PhpBB, I can assure you that.

[niniendowarrior]

I didn't know phpBB was a very insecure forum... :confused: :confused: :confused:

[1c3d0g]

O RLY? :eek: Yes, PhpBB is VERY insecure! Almost every months there's another hole somewhere. Just a few months ago 42,000+ forums were vulnerable to a serious exploit. Don't run it unless you want to get defaced or worse... :(

[Michael]

There have been a few more server issues with the forums lately, these are still being worked on.

[joshuapurcell]

There have been a few more server issues with the forums lately, these are still being worked on.
Let me know if there is anything I or others in the community could do to help with the server issues... perhaps a Paypal donation link. Giving some money towards the site is the easiest thing, but if you have other things in mind then let us know.