Forum Performance Issues

Lyzet

New Member
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6
Hey my forum is having major performance issues once in a while, so i ran a test.


Analysis and Recommendations

Code:
TOTAL_HTML - Congratulations, the total number of HTML files on this page (including the main HTML file) is 1 which most browsers can multithread. Minimizing HTTP requests is key for web site optimization. Y
TOTAL_OBJECTS - Warning! The total number of objects on this page is 29 which by their number will dominate web page delay. Consider reducing this to a more reasonable number. Above 20 objects per page the overhead from dealing with the actual objects (description time and wait time) accounts for more than 80% of whole page latency. See Figure II-3: Relative distribution of latency components showing that object overhead dominates web page latency in Website Optimization Secrets for more details on how object overhead dominates web page latency. Combine, refine, and optimize your external objects. Replace graphic rollovers with CSS rollovers to speed display and minimize HTTP requests. Consider using CSS sprites to help consolidate decorative images. Using CSS techniques such as colored backgrounds, borders, or spacing instead of graphic techniques can reduce HTTP requests. Replace graphic text headers with CSS text headers to further reduce HTTP requests. Finally, consider optimizing parallel downloads by using different hostnames or a CDN to reduce object overhead.
TOTAL_IMAGES - Caution. You have a moderate amount of images on this page (18 ). Consider using fewer images on the site or try reusing the same image in multiple pages to take advantage of caching. Using CSS techniques such as colored backgrounds, borders, or spacing instead of graphic techniques can help reduce HTTP requests.
TOTAL_CSS - Caution. The total number of external CSS files on this page is 5 , consider reducing this to a more reasonable number. Because external CSS files must be in the HEAD of your HTML document, they must load first before any BODY content displays. Although they are cached upon subsequent requests, CSS files slow down the initial display of your page. Combine, refine, and optimize your external CSS files. Ideally you should have one (or even embed CSS for high-traffic pages) on your pages. You can optimize CSS files using shorthand properties, grouping, and then minify and GZIP compress them to reduce their footprint. Remember to place CSS files in the HEAD and JavaScript files at the end of the BODY to enable progressive display.
TOTAL_SIZE - Warning! The total size of this page is 545878 bytes, which will load in 114.59 seconds on a 56Kbps modem. Consider reducing total page size to less than 100K to achieve sub 20 second response times on 56K connections. Pages over 100K exceed most attention thresholds at 56Kbps, even with feedback. Consider optimizing your site with Website Optimization Secrets, Speed Up Your Site or contacting us about our optimization services.
TOTAL_SCRIPT - Caution. The total number of external script files on this page is 5 , consider reducing this to one or two. Combine, refactor, and minify to optimize your JavaScript files. Ideally you should have one (or even embed scripts for high-traffic pages) on your pages. Consider suturing JavaScript files together at the server to minimize HTTP requests. Placing external JavaScript files at the bottom of your BODY, and CSS files in the HEAD enables progressive display in XHTML web pages.
HTML_SIZE - Congratulations, the total size of this HTML file is 9558 bytes, which less than 50K. Assuming that you specify the HEIGHT and WIDTH of your images, this size allows your HTML to display content in under 10 seconds, the average time users are willing to wait for a page to display without feedback.
IMAGES_SIZE - Warning! The total size of your images is 292949 bytes, which is over 100K. Consider switch graphic formats to achive smaller file sizes (from JPEG to PNG for example). Finally, substitute CSS techniques for graphics techniques to create colored borders, backgrounds, and spacing.
SCRIPT_SIZE - Warning! The total size of external your scripts is 126825 bytes, which is over 20K. Consider optimizing your JavaScript for size, combining them, and using HTTP compression where appropriate for any scripts placed in the HEAD of your documents. You can substitute CSS menus for JavaScript-based menus to minimize or even eliminate the use of JavaScript.
CSS_SIZE - Warning! The total size of your external CSS is 116546 bytes, which is over 20K. Consider optimizing your CSS for size by eliminating whitespace, using shorthand notation, and combining multiple CSS files where appropriate. By using labeled container cells and descendant selectors you can target chunks of HTML content efficiently without the need to embed extra claases and styles.
MULTIM_SIZE - Congratulations, the total size of all your external multimedia files is 0 bytes, which is less than 10K.


Can anyone tell me how to increase performance? i'm a bit of a noob, and i know no coding at all, so i need translation, and possible solution?


Thanks so much in advance!
 

Ghan

Administrator - Servers are fun
Staff member
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888
What kind of issues are you having? What type of server are you running the forum on? What forum software is it? What database software are you using? Is it possible to view any server statistics like disk I/O or CPU usage that might give some clues as to the problem?
Unfortunately, just saying that you have issues is rather vague. Some more information would be helpful. :)
 

Lyzet

New Member
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6
Oh sorry ghan!

Loading time, and when you post, edit something, and just jump from forum page 1 to page 2, it takes ages.

Hostmonster.com is the host, and its vBulletin 4.1.1 and uhm, im not sure about the rest of the questions you were asking .... :(
 

Ghan

Administrator - Servers are fun
Staff member
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888
Based on that I'm going to make a guess and say that your problem is the host. Cheap shared providers such as Hostmonster typically oversell their servers into oblivion so that they can maximize their profit. The result of this is that you have tons of people on one box all trying to share the same resources and it just doesn't work.

How busy is your site? If the database is small, it might be possible to test the site on a server that is known to perform well and see if there is any difference. I'm not sure what forum software you have, but if it is vBulletin, then I might be able to get a feel for how much slower it really is. Here is a vBulletin forum that I have setup for someone on a fast VPS server: http://www.kineticgamers.com/forum/forum.php
How does that compare to your site's speed?
 

Lyzet

New Member
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6
>How does that compare to your site's speed?


Basicly said, 100000000000 times faster :p this is instant load, and mine is like on a good day 5 seconds load time, bad day 50 seconds
:S
 

Ghan

Administrator - Servers are fun
Staff member
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888
I'm going with my original suspicions. It's the host.
How does the speed compare to TheHelper.net here?
 

Lyzet

New Member
Reaction score
6
I'm going with my original suspicions. It's the host.
How does the speed compare to TheHelper.net here?

Still alot better, but they promised world best ULTIMATE performance..

Can it has anything to do with the fact that the host is US and im EU?
 

Ghan

Administrator - Servers are fun
Staff member
Reaction score
888
That might have a slight effect, however, both the site I linked to you and TH.net are hosted in the US as well. I would be very doubtful of any promises about "best performance" when dealing with a shared host as well.
 

monoVertex

I'm back!
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460
but they promised world best ULTIMATE performance

And you seriously believe everything on the Internet? :p

Joking apart, there are many hosting providers who slap words like "ultimate", "best", "infinite" in front of the attributes of their services, but that is just to get them more money, most of the times, the reality will be far from what are they advertising.
 

Lyzet

New Member
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6
And you seriously believe everything on the Internet? :p

Joking apart, there are many hosting providers who slap words like "ultimate", "best", "infinite" in front of the attributes of their services, but that is just to get them more money, most of the times, the reality will be far from what are they advertising.


No no, i actually dont, but i'd just think that when they had those awards, all those customer satisfaction reports, and even such a nice live chat support, that what they stated must have been true..

The control panel and everything is awesome... would hate to swap host
 

Lyerae

I keep popping up on this site from time to time.
Reaction score
105
Chances are a new host would have the same control panel, unless they use a custom one. cPanel is pretty widely used (assuming cPanel would be the one they use).
 

Lyzet

New Member
Reaction score
6
Ok so i have another question if someone dosent mind :p i thought it was easier and cleaner than starting a whole new thread.

If i have my 'domain.net' for my forum, and im getting a website, how can i make my website 'domain.net' and just make the vbulletin forum domain.net/forum ?

Atm u connect to my forum using .net
 

UndeadDragon

Super Moderator
Reaction score
447
Instead of installing the forum on the root path (/), just create a new folder and all the files should go inside the new forum folder.
 

UndeadDragon

Super Moderator
Reaction score
447
Yeah, that's the root path for the actual website. I suppose it's not the actual root though :p

You can just create a folder inside /public_html/ and install it in there.
 

tooltiperror

Super Moderator
Reaction score
231
A common de facto standard for forums is to install them at /forum/.
 
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