Slow forum at evenings.

[AlbertP]

To me it also seems that it's getting worse.
Often I get SQL Error 1040, Too Many Connections.

[Aevum]

I should have waited to speak, I got those errors too later today (around 18.30 GMT+1) but it started to work fine again later on.

[sjonesy]

isnt just you, happens to me all the time.

[The-Wizard]

for the first time yesterday i got the SQL Error 1040

wizard

[trollboy]

Here too there are problems. At any time of the day both the forums and community can be zipping along and then just stop. Eventually they start giving DB errors. Maybe they are victims of their own success?

Recommendations to the DB admins

1. If used, make sure that query cache is no more than 64MB. More sounds like a good idea on paper, but MySQL can start spending more time managing the cache than running queries.
2. Again if used, defrag the query cache daily. These sites get a lot of inserts and running a "FLUSH QUERY CACHE" on the server can really help.
3. Look at indexes. I've noticed a lot of joins in the queries displayed when the DB barfs and if the indexes are correct then both sides of the join will have an index.

Just a starting point, but they can make a heck of a difference.

[altair4]

What in the h-e-double-toothpick was the last hour and a half all about. Talk about slow - holy frijoles . Is this forum under attack - seriously. It started getting noticeably slower at 146 users but it had been much higher earlier and then it basically just stopped.

[ThistleWeb]

I'm rapidly losing patience in Mint and it's forums. I've lost count of the number of times it just times out or errors. I have no idea what's causing it, it used to be worse than this. Different parts of the site were migrated to different servers to address it which seemed to make it better for a while. It's seemingly back to what it used to be. Even the IRC channel times out so you can't even connect to that.

Mint is aiming at being a mainstream distro, aiming to get a lot of users yet what impression does it send of the project itself if the main two parts of the community, specially the support side are down for hours at a time on a regular basis?

Tonight I started thinking about just deleting my account here and removing the Mint channels from my IRC autojoin. Every time Mint is down it loses credibility as a potential mainstream alternative.

[wayne128]

For 1-1.5 hours, I get

Code: Select all

General Error

SQL ERROR [ mysql4 ]
Too many connections [1040]
An sql error occurred while fetching this page. Please contact an administrator if this problem persists.

very bad.

[Roken]

There is obviously a serious sql error that the admins need to look at (I get them regularly, too, and like most people, in the evening GMT).

I've also noticed the IRC problem, but less of an issue since xchat wanders off to find an alternative route and usually finds it in a few seconds.

I'm guessing that the forums either need to move to a new host (not server) who are capable of delivering, or talking in strong terms to the host that they have. I'd prefer NOT to see talk of quitting from people like TW who do a lot of good on both the forums and IRC.

[tdockery97]

I'd prefer NOT to see talk of quitting from people like TW who do a lot of good on both the forums and IRC.

+1

I used to have hair - then I became a Forum Mod.

[ThistleWeb]

I'd prefer NOT to see talk of quitting from people like TW who do a lot of good on both the forums and IRC.

+1

I used to have hair - then I became a Forum Mod.

Hair is over rated; Magic 8 Ball doesn't need such frivolous distractions to be all knowing

[tdockery97]

[Roken]

I still have a full head of thick, luscious hair. Granted, it's no longer on my head and has migrated to my back, shoulders, chest, ears and nose, but there's a still a full head's worth there.

[viking777]

It has just taken me 15 minutes to get to this thread, (156 users online). I don't know how long it will take to actually make this post, that can sometimes take ages as well. This problem is too serious to ignore any more, it needs to be fixed. I know web hosting costs money but whoever is hosting this site is not giving any kind of value for whatever you are paying them.

EDIT. 7 minutes for the post to be recognised then another 15 minute wait to load the next page - You cannot be serious!
Not only will experienced people leave the forum, but anyone new to Mint and looking for information will simply choose another distro if this carries on. It is exactly the same on Opera btw (usually on FF) and the community website is equally unusable.

[Habitual]

...anyone new to Mint and looking for information will simply choose another distro if this carries on.

30 seconds is all you have to get and/or keep a person's attention.

They will move on if this keeps up.

[trollboy]

Is the forum / community busier than normal?

Mint has had a big write up in Linux Format with lots of mentions of the forums and community with developers urging reader to visit both and join in. An modest increase in traffic can have a massive impact when there are a few dodgy queries / indexes and some bad configuration going on. All those people will be getting a bad impression at the moment. Which is a pity as LMDE is the best distro I've found and I understand that the main edition is nearly as good

Now how do I contact Clem?

[altair4]

Is the forum / community busier than normal?

That's the thing that doesn't make much sense here. It started to get slow a few hours ago so I checked to see how many users were connecting ( including guests ) and it was 147. Then the forum basically shut down.

As I write this the number of users is 193 and everything is fine although as I mentioned earlier it's even faster if I don't log into the forum and just browse as guest.

[trollboy]

Well, if community shares the same DB server and there are several hundred connections from there as well that would make a big difference. I've contacted Oscar799 and offered to look through the configs to see if anything leaps out as badly done.

[wayne128]

for last two hours.
I could not get into the forum.
to post this it took me another 20 minutes.

that is very bad.

it has now become the worst websites over all the 30+ I commonly browse.

[Habitual]

I just spent the last hour trolling through 50 some odd pages over at UbFo because I couldn't get on over here.