Changes Behind the Scenes

[Dyyryath]

Well, it took a little longer than expected, but things are now back up and running. I had a pretty good list of things that I wanted to do while I had the servers down, but once I got started I just couldn't seem to stop. I wound up doing quite a bit more than I had originally anticipated. Sorry for the extra delay, guys!<br><br>For those curious, the backend server that hosts Free-DC has been upgraded from Mandrake 8.2 to Red Hat 9.0. I <i>almost</i> put it on Gentoo, but decided I was already running behind schedule (Gentoo installs tend to take awhile), so I guess that'll have to wait for another time. Other changes include additional RAM, a change to the system's RAID settings, and some additional cooling for certain hardware components. <br><br>Finally, I've moved several CPU and database intensive tasks (mostly Arachnid stuff) from this server to another more powerful system which should make the forums run a little snappier (especially late at night).<br><br>Along with the OS upgrade, we've gone from Apache 1.x to Apache 2.x. This, along with some other software 'upgrades' will make the move to the new site design go much more smoothly. When will that happen you ask? That's a good question. Probably not until after the holidays, but almost certainly in the first half of January.<br><br>So what now? For starters, everyone needs to keep an eye on things for the next week or two. If you find anything that isn't working like it should, you can either <a href="mailto:dyyryath@zerothelement.com">email me</a> or <a href="http://www.free-dc.org/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5112">post it in this thread</a>, where I've already had to deal with <b>Paratima's</b> sharp eye. <img src=http://www.free-dc.org/images/news/icon12.gif>

[Dyyryath]

Things seemed kind of slow this morning so I started poking around a bit. Turns out that the server didn't like some of the new RAM that I installed yesterday and was only recognizing 256mb of it. Ugh.

I took the server down for about 10 minutes to swap out the RAM it didn't like with some other that I had around here and Voila! Now we've got 1.5gb like we're supposed to. Things should be much speedier around here now. :D

[the-mk]

Could you tell me/us more about your machines that are hosting the forum, the stats-engine, the stats-server itself and so on?

I'd like to know how many gigahurtz the machine has where I get my stats from :crazy: :smoking:

And I'd like to see something :shocked:

[Dyyryath]

The machine that hosts the Free-DC site, the forums, and the web portion of the Arachnid stats site is relatively modest:

Athlon 1400
1.5gb PC133 SDRAM
4 x 80gb 7200rpm IDE in RAID 5

The system that serves as a backend for Arachnid is a little more powerful as it has to handle multiple databases with millions of rows of data in each:

Dual Athlon MP2600
2gb DDR SDRAM
7 x 36.4gb 15000rpm SCSI Ultra160 in RAID 5
Adaptec 3210S hardware RAID -w- 128mb onboard cache

The site is sync'd to my backup server every three hours to ensure that nothing gets lost in the event of a hardware problem:

Dual Athlon MP2400
2gb DDR SDRAM
4 x 36gb 10000rpm SCSI in RAID 5
5 x 18gb 10000rpm SCSI in RAID 5
PERC 2/DC hardware RAID -w- 64mb onboard cache

[magicfan241]

well, DPAD is missing from the overall stats on the front page!

/me goes back to picking the nits

magicfan241

[the-mk]

A question: is it just me or are the arachnid-stats slower now?

It takes some time until the table of users or teams is completly loaded in my browser. I think it is since you made those back end changes, Dyyryath. Nothing bad, just wanted to mention it.

BTW: Your servers are really great! A RAID on each one and so much memory! Wow! :shocked:

[pointwood]

The F@H stats are borked :cry:

[Dyyryath]

Hmmm...the database appears to be having issues. I'm looking into it now.

As for Arachnid being slower: that appears to be Apache 2.x vs Apache 1.x with mod_perl. I need to get the new install using mod_perl as well. I'll try to do it sometime this week...

[Paratima]

It's a sporadic thing. Can't make it happen on command. Sometimes happens several times in a row.

==> None of the buttons on the top right of the screen will fill in (user cp, register, calendar, etc.). Or (looking at this now on another screen) none of the "new post" buttons on the left are filled in. Also many "server/dns" errors. Then they vanish - everything fine. Then, Boom, they're back. Very strange.

Note: I've only noticed this on my last remaining Win98 box, running IE5.5. Hmmm. :scratch: Maybe it's time for format c: , install SuSE & Mozilla.

[magicfan241]

It is not win98, I have it running with netscape 7.1, and am posting it right now Besides when the LAN card screws up (more freqently now), everything loads fine. I still have to upgrade this machine (PIII 600, Slot 1....), but I still need it for my LAN parties when we have 8 people.

[Death]

Originally posted by Dyyryath
[B]The machine that hosts the Free-DC site, the forums, and the web portion of the Arachnid stats site is relatively modest:

Athlon 1400

The system that serves as a backend for Arachnid is a little more powerful as it has to handle multiple databases with millions of rows of data in each:

Dual Athlon MP2600

The site is sync'd to my backup server every three hours to ensure that nothing gets lost in the event of a hardware problem:

Dual Athlon MP2400


And what DC projects installed on them?

[the-mk]

May I guess? Is it distributed folding and chessbrain? Is that right Master Dyyryath? :Pokes:

That's much firepower! More than I have at home :D

[Dyyryath]

the-mk's right. ;)