Friday, March 28, 2003
Major Upgrades Coming This Weekend
Posted by Jason Dunn in "UPDATE" @ 03:02 PM
Over the weekend, we're going to be implementing some major changes in the back-end systems on our site. Among other things like upgrading to the latest edition of phpBB (2.0.4), and doing private testing of the mobile forums and subscriber services, our lead developer Fabrizio has come up with a much-needed database caching system. You might not notice, but our Web site has service restarts at least once a day due to the server load. In short, we've maxed out our hardware and need to move to something better. Until that happens (and we have the funding to do so) we have to make the best of what we have now.
Most of you probably don't realize this, but our front page is very dynamic, created from database content. Each story in the middle column represents one entry in the phpBB database, with the forum formatting stripped off. Our side columns are also database elements, as are all ads. This means that every time you visit the front page, there are around 30 database queries in addition to HTTP requests to download every image. The net result is heavy load on our server. The beauty of this new caching system is that instead of the middle column triggering 20+ database requests, it will only trigger one. This will result in a faster, more responsive server with far less load.
Now here's the downside: in order to make it work, we had to eliminate the custom time zone setting. By Monday, when you check the site, the news will be stamped with the server time (MST) rather than your preferred time. There was no way to avoid this, so while I loathe ever taking away services from this site, the benefits far outweigh the costs. I think once you see this in action, you'll agree!
UPDATE: I should point out that the time in the forums will still be based on your preferences. It's only the front page that will be locked into Mountain Time (+1 hour past Pacific Time).
Most of you probably don't realize this, but our front page is very dynamic, created from database content. Each story in the middle column represents one entry in the phpBB database, with the forum formatting stripped off. Our side columns are also database elements, as are all ads. This means that every time you visit the front page, there are around 30 database queries in addition to HTTP requests to download every image. The net result is heavy load on our server. The beauty of this new caching system is that instead of the middle column triggering 20+ database requests, it will only trigger one. This will result in a faster, more responsive server with far less load.
Now here's the downside: in order to make it work, we had to eliminate the custom time zone setting. By Monday, when you check the site, the news will be stamped with the server time (MST) rather than your preferred time. There was no way to avoid this, so while I loathe ever taking away services from this site, the benefits far outweigh the costs. I think once you see this in action, you'll agree!
UPDATE: I should point out that the time in the forums will still be based on your preferences. It's only the front page that will be locked into Mountain Time (+1 hour past Pacific Time).
