Why are the WBF servers so slow? PLEASE READ FOR FINAL UPDATED ANNOUNCEMENT

[dminches]

I am finding it very slow to download images embedded in posts.

 

[Steve Williams]

As I said we have been working in this for the past 4 weeks and have found what we feel is a fix for years to come An announcement will be made shortly. FWUW we are all noticing the slowdown. It’s real but we are fixing it shortly.

 

[Steve Williams]

The fix will also correct the elastisearch errors

 

[matthias]

Today, a simple search:

Oops! We ran into some problems.
A server error occurred. Please try again later.

 

[Al Stewart]

Yep. It has been that way for the last 48 hours at least.

 

[Steve Williams]

We rebooted the server as it is running at capacity as we have so many members on. It is our goal to launch the new server in the coming week. It has taken us almost 2 months to move everything across snd verify its integrity. We are working on the final updates to our plug ins and barring any bugs when we test it is our goal to launch next week. Those who are in the alpha test group for Taiko understand how bugs can creep in with each new update. We apologize for the issues and thank everyone for understanding.

 

[admin1959]

We are on it. We are aiming for a server move next weekend. We will inform all members of the exact day this will happen. To get to that stage, we have to complete many tasks in this order:

1. Update Xenforo
2. Update PHP
3. Update MySQL
4. Update Ads Manager.
5 Update Xenporto.
6. Update UI.X framework (big update)
7. Update Classifieds
8. Test the home page and video pages (which are custom built)

All of these updates have to be individually tested for bugs and breaking the site. All the plugins we use are made by different companies or coders (freelance).

If we charge ahead and update enmass, I guarantee the forum will break, and we will be in a bad place indeed. Possibly loose the whole forum and data set going back 6 years.

We also want to reduce forum offline time for the server move. Once all the testing above is done on a mirror forum and server, it has to be done all over again on the Iive forum, and try to do it in 24 hours to reduce down time.

I hope that explains things. We are working hard on it.

 

[Steve Williams]

This has been a monumental task as our database is huge. We all need to give a huge shout out to Julian who has worked on this every day for the past few months. The good news is barring any bugs our hope is to launch next week

 

[Pokey77]

I don’t know why, but I thought that the new server was already on line. Now I understand I was wrong.

 

[matthias]

I don’t know why, but I thought that the new server was already on line. Now I understand I was wrong.

This was my understanding as well.
Thanks @Steve Williams and @admin1959 for clarification.

 

[Steve Williams]

When the site goes live on the new server we will likely be down for 12-24 hours

 

[Steve Williams]

A quick update on our status re the new server .....last week we began adding the updated versions of the plug ins that make the looks and function of our site so nice and one of these did in fact introduce a bug into the system that we have been trying to squash. After over a week of trying and working with the developer of this plug in which was indeed designed for Xenforo platform, turned out to be inoperable in the newest Xenforo version. The app developer threw in the white towel and admitted to us that it won't work on this newest version even though his app was the newest version as well. We very much wanted to find an answer to this dilemma as the app served a very important function, namely allowing us to create promoted threads where we could move interesting threads forward to the special section of "promoted threads" seen in the black nabber at the top of each page . Going forward we have hired a Xenforo programmer to fix the issues that had arisen . The programmer has told us that this is indeed fixable and he has begun work on this giving it his top priority. We will keep everyone in the loop but I want all members to be aware of what's going on.as it has taken now several months to get to this point where we saw the end if the tunnel only to discover this bug. Suffice it to say this has slowed down our hope for launch this week. In the interim the biggest issue seems to be our search function which goes down and requires a restart of the new server. As an FYI we are presently back to the standard Xenforo search function which hiccups as our database is so huge. We also have the famed Elastisearch which drills down to 3 symbols but it is even quirkier on our present Xenforo version. We have a mirror version of this that we have been developing to bring everything current with the latest Xenforo version which we are moving to. I can say with certainty that Elastisearch does work perfect in our testing of this mirror version. Computer programing is not my thing but Julian has been working on this daily now for months and we hit this bug with our final plug in which slowed us now to the point where I have hired a Xenforo programmer to help in this final piece of the puzzle. Julian and I discussed our options, one of which was to eliminate this plug in completely and we would be finished. Having said this both of us as well as some of the members we surveyed all felt that the "promoted threads" button in the Nav Bar serves a very important function ion bringing topical and interesting threads to the front where they can be easily found and appreciated by all.
So once again I bring this news to keep everyone in the loop and as always I thank everyone for their understanding. Many of us here are involved in the Taiko Alpha testers program in the development of the new XDMS control app which has taken well over a year as every new update brought with it a bug that needed squashing and we all had to learn patience as these things happen. We alpha testers however did see the end of the rainbow and the fruits of their labor. The only alpha testers in this new update have been Julian and I. Julian is a complete perfectionist and will never release something with which he is not 100% pleased with. The good news when all of this is done is not only will we be using the most current Xenforo platform but we will be on a much quicker server which we desperately need as the number of users (members and lurkers) on daily has been the reason we have seen such slow down. Please check this thread periodically for news of the update. We are so close that we were heartbroken when we thought adding this final updated plug in would bring us to the final line this week or next only to find this bug appearing and the app developer throwing up his arms in defeat. We feel it is an important function to have and this is the reason I have hired the Xenforo developer to help make this happen

 

[Gregadd]

Speed cost money.
"Never look a gift horse in the mouth."

 

[Steve Williams]

The long wait is finally coming to an end. I have been eagerly waiting the chance to finally make this announcement. We have been working in the background on a mirror site where we have been moving over our database and updating all of our plug ins to work with the most current version of Xenforo which is what we have been working on. IOW we now have the most up to date version of Xenforo as well as all of our plug ins. Julian and a Xenforo coder have been working incessantly in the back ground to make everything functional. The pain we are feeling is that our forum has grown enormously in the past 6 months thanks to everyone here. As a result our old server is gasping for air as we have all found it to be woefully slow. Yesterday we completed everything and we did the final eyes on to look for bugs as we felt ready to move everything over and go live with the new server. I have always wanted to have the best and fastest search engine and purchased Elastisearch 2 years ago but it has never worked as expected on our server. I am happy to report that it works flawlessly on the mirror site. Yesterday however we discovered that the "advanced search drop down was absent" and obtained an updated Xenforo patch and our search function is very impressive

The Forum is now moving this server to a new dedicated server 1st May 2024. We expect this move to be completed end Thursday 2nd May 2024.
We are sorry for the inconvenience. During this transfer to the LIVE site the forum will be down and in MAINTENANCE mode until Friday when we are hoping to finally flip the switch to our new server and all new updated plug ins. A huge shout out to Julian and our coder for getting us to the finish line

Please check back Friday am, where we should be back up and running! It has been an epic, and we are all exhausted accomplishing this work, which is required as the forum is getting 235% more traffic than in 2023. We are very excited about the future at WBF.

 

[Ron Resnick]

A big thanks to Julian and Steve for doing all of this work, and for keeping the forum infrastructure running smoothly!

 

[Steve Williams]

Thanks Ron


One last thing for all members that is very important. Should anyone find anything that seems broken or not right please report that here in this thread so that we can immediately look into it. The final piece to this very big puzzle will be this last migration across to the new server. Nothing should break but one can never be certain. Even in doubt please report it here

 

[Steve Williams]

Well we finally did it. It was truly an epic task but as Neil Armstrong said “the Eagle has landed”

The transfer started yesterday afternoon and was complete at 0130 this morning but Julian, our Xenforo coder and I have been repairing all issues that needed to be addressed. To our eyes everything so far works.

I am asking all members that if they spot anything unusual that they report it here so we can immediately address it

This has taken us 3 months to bring to fruition. I’m hoping everyone now no longer will complain that the site is slow. Try the new search function where Elastisearc will drill down to 3 symbols

Once again we could not have brought this across the finish line without the help of Julian and our xenforo coder

And a huge thank you to everyone for being so patient with everything that has been problematic Doing all of these updates as well as moving to a much faster server has been truly daunting

Even though everything looks the same I can tell you it’s got the latest version of Xenforo as well as updated versions of all plug ins

 

[J007B]

Welcome back, you've been missed. Thank you for all that Voodoo you do, so well......

 

[Ron Resnick]

THANK YOU STEVE AND JULIAN!!!

 

[Kingsrule]

Bravo and thank you!