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Thread: Changes Behind the Scenes

  1. #1
    Administrator Dyyryath's Avatar
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    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!

    For those curious, the backend server that hosts Free-DC has been upgraded from Mandrake 8.2 to Red Hat 9.0. I almost 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.

    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).

    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.

    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 email me or post it in this thread, where I've already had to deal with Paratima's sharp eye.

  2. #2
    Administrator Dyyryath's Avatar
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    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.
    "So utterly at variance is destiny with all the little plans of men." - H.G. Wells

  3. #3
    almost retired the-mk's Avatar
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    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

    And I'd like to see something :shocked:
    the-mk

  4. #4
    Administrator Dyyryath's Avatar
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    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
    "So utterly at variance is destiny with all the little plans of men." - H.G. Wells

  5. #5
    Minister of Misinformation magicfan241's Avatar
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    well, DPAD is missing from the overall stats on the front page!

    /me goes back to picking the nits

    magicfan241

  6. #6
    almost retired the-mk's Avatar
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    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:
    the-mk

  7. #7
    25/25Mbit is nearly enough :p pointwood's Avatar
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    The F@H stats are borked
    Pointwood
    Jabber ID: pointwood@jabber.shd.dk
    irc.arstechnica.com, #distributed

  8. #8
    Administrator Dyyryath's Avatar
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    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...
    "So utterly at variance is destiny with all the little plans of men." - H.G. Wells

  9. #9
    Ancient Programmer Paratima's Avatar
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    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. Maybe it's time for format c: , install SuSE & Mozilla.
    HOME: A physical construct for keeping rain off your computers.

  10. #10
    Minister of Misinformation magicfan241's Avatar
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    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.

  11. #11
    Unholy Undead Death's Avatar
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    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?
    wbr, Me. Dead J. Dona \


  12. #12
    almost retired the-mk's Avatar
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    May I guess? Is it distributed folding and chessbrain? Is that right Master Dyyryath?

    That's much firepower! More than I have at home
    the-mk

  13. #13
    Administrator Dyyryath's Avatar
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    the-mk's right.
    "So utterly at variance is destiny with all the little plans of men." - H.G. Wells

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