closed anyone here know anything about servers?

[uglypeoople.com]

I have a website uglypeople.com that is getting tons of traffic each day. My problem is that my website is running very slow because of this huge traffic.

Anyone recommend any good servers?

Any other ideas to speed up my website?

Thanks!

 

[OgieOgalthorpe]

What type of a hosting plan do you have right now? What type of server is it hosted it and how many other sites on the server?

 

[eSology]

Several factors come into play but it sounds like you need a managed solution. If that is the case I recommend ServInt.

 

[mike031]

well... the most important factor here is the bandwidth, do you have a dedicated server with a private link? (for example.. 10, 20, 100mb/sec connection to be used up to serve your visitors with)

servers usually lag when there is not enough bandwidth.... if it's not the bandwidth then it's either a hardware issue or the server is just not capable of pulling off all those visitors... upgrade to a better (faster one.. ie; dual xeon, lots of ram and fast disks)

a great place offering managed dedicated servers with decent pricing is www.servermatrix.com they will make sure your server is operating smoothly and never lags/overloads/etc.... highly recommended... you really get your moneys worth with them, been using them for over a year now.

 

[Steen]

bandwidth alone? maybe he needs 2-8 servers split over a load balancer.

 

[mike031]

lol steen... a database driven site, ie; one that heavily relies on mysql or whatever else would need to have multiple servers but this is not the case..... his site is just pumping out tons of bandwidth, lots of pics... nothing more and nothing less'

 

[Steen]

Isn't it an image rating site? That works on SQL, does it not?

How about getting a seperate server for images?

 

[typeins]

ServInt?.. You kidding?..

I've never heard anything but bad stories.. they used to be notorious for bad service back in the day.. they may well have cleaned up their act but thats what i remember at least.

I use www.techiemedia.com Jim and Wayne over there rock best host ive ever used and ive been through a fair few.

 

[mike031]

oops... didn't notice the "rating feature"

i had this pic pop up when i opened up the site which is pretty scary!

http://www.uglypeople.com/voting.php?image_id=MTIzNjc=

 

[uglypeoople.com]

i currently have 2000GB transfer available...but i am only using 1200GB to 1500 GB.
So, i don't think its the bandwidth problem.

i have a dedicated server with intel dual xeon 2.0ghz, 4GB RAM, (2) 73GB SCSI Hard Drives, 2000 GB Monthly Transfer.

I am planning on getting a load balanced server cluster. Do you guys think that this might solve this speed issue?

I forgot to mention that it is a picture rating website.

Any other ideas and comments are appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[eSology]

ServInt?.. You kidding?..

No I am not. I may not be an expert but I have been hosting domains since 98. Over the past 7 years I have used a variety of providers and "in my book" these guys run a good business. I am also fond of DixieSys owned by Gary Harris.

 

[insomnia]

ServInt rules, has great customer service. Go to WHT and search for them. I used to host a VPS package with them and they were quite good.

 

[discdrome]

Most of the major factors have been covered here, I would just add the following.

I have gone through quite a few ISP's over the years, mainly attracted by low price, IMHO you do get what you pay for.

I had a very low cost host that offered unlimited bandwidth etc, unfortunately there architecture was not sufficient to supply unlimited bandwidth to all the customers they had got with the low prices. The result was timeouts when pinging the server 25% loss!!!

Couple of things to take into consideration with any host

* Network they have in place - Dual/Quad backbone to separated suppliers

* The connection your box has to the network

* Spec of your server

* Most important the level of support the host offers, IMHO this is where most fall down. Don't touch a host who only replies by e-mail, also I have found for me its best to have a host of the same time line, as they will have limited phone support out of hours. ( I am in UK)

Also you will find a lot of "Dedicated Server" providers actually just buy/rent them from bigger company, or are operating as an affiliate. If you were to search for a dedicated server host its difficult to know who actually owns the servers and who doesn't!

Some of the other posts here gives personal experience, which is a great point of reference.

Also by careful when going to comparison site as some of these are on an affilate basis and can be biased.

I am not trying to promote any given host here, just some points to look out for.

Good Luck

Steve

 

[unholy1]

ServInt?.. You kidding?..

I currently use them, they are very good and have excellent support.

I do use Hostway a lot these days though, easy to get on the phone and I can IM them at most times of the day. They are quite expensive but I'm a believer that you get only what you pay for.

It does seem though that you are having bandwidth problems, I'd look for a company where they you can pay for bandwitdh in terms of CIR rather than Data Transfer.
I have found in the past that having burstible CIR provides good performance even at peak times.

 

[mike031]

like i said earlier... having your own dedicated link is critical when you are pumping out tons of bandwidth x100 or towards few hundred or whatever number of visitors at any given time simultaneously..... you might not be using up your whole allotment of bandwidth by the end of the month but what you have to realize is that most likely your server is sharing the link (connection.. with maybe 50-100 other servers... probably a 100/155mbit line) which also means that your connection is capped, for example at a maximum of 5mbit... like unholy1 said you need to have your connection burst up at higher speeds to handle and serve the visitors with data better... quicker delpoyment = less stress on the system... lack of bandwidth = requests timing out and major lag for the whole system

 

[uglypeoople.com]

I am currently using ev1servers.net, formly known as rackshack.net;
i have 2000 GB data transfer and i am only using about 1200GB to 1500GB per month...so i do NOT think it's a bandwidth problem.

If i were to get a load balanced server cluster, would this solve my speed issue?

What else will make my website run faster? What type of server should i get?

I currently have a dedicated server with intel dual xeon 2.0ghz, 4GB RAM, (2) 73GB SCSI Hard Drives, 2000 GB Monthly Transfer.

What upgrades should i get to increase my websites speed? or should i just get a new server....if so, what kind?

Thanks!

 

[unholy1]

i have 2000 GB data transfer and i am only using about 1200GB to 1500GB per month...so i do NOT think it's a bandwidth problem.

Exactly, thats 2000GB total data transfer/month, but what's the maximum bandwidth on demand (CIR or Committed Information Rate)? At certain times of the day you may get requests to your server that exceed what the provider has allotted (i.e 5Mbps)

Having a Load Balanced Cluster will help in speeding up the pull of data from the backend and reduce system resource usage, but serving it to the end user relies on the CIR of the outgoing line your server. A lot of providers cap off the CIR anywhere from 1Mbps to 10Mbps and multiple requests that exceed this limit will simply result in a lag or request time out.

The hardware you have is more than sufficient even to have Windows 2003 Server and MS SQL on it and have it serve 1GBps of Data. A check of your system resorce usage during peak use should give you info if it is hardware or bandwidth issues you're having, check for kernel, memory and CPU usage.

You can try asking for 2 lines aggregated(trunked) over the same IP or over 2 IPs, or increasing you CIR to 100Mbps burstible upto 20%, this will ensure you have enough bandwidth on demand.

Hope that helps.

 

[Mr Webname]

Moved to adult since the site has adult links - do not post anything with this site's link in unless it is in the adult forum.

 

[pelican]

try to optimize your database. you might not fully utilize the RAM yet.