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Getting worse
8 May 2012
12.51am
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meanmistermustard
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Out of interest what is causing the slow downs and clogging with the server? Am genuinely interested – if you can be bothered to explain it.

"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)

8 May 2012
7.37am
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Joe
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Here’s as much as I understand:

WordPress is a database-driven content management system, using MySQL and PHP. If that means nothing to you, the rest might not either.

One of the tables in the database is called wp_options (WordPress options). It’s supposed to be quite a small table which contains various basic settings for link structures, email address and so on. In its ideal state it’s quite a small entry – just a few KB in size. However, some plugins cache information there as entries called transients. The idea is that the transient data gets overwritten and uopdated when the process is next used, which is quite an efficient way to operate.

However, one or more of my plugins is creating unique transients, which might look something like transient_timeout_dsaoklg43598ueorkgjh4309834rtf – the latter bit being a unique identifier. Crucially, because it’s unique it’ll never be overwritten, because no plugin will ever use it. So the entries pile up, to the extent that yesterday I had a 5.1 gigabyte table which should only have been 180 kilobytes.

wp_options gets referred to every time a new (non-cached) page is requested, but if it’s too big it’ll end up trying to run masses of processes and run out of memory. That’s why I used to get those Gateway Timeout errors, and why yesterday things kept slowing down or crashing. So the impetus is to keep it as lean as possible. 

Now, what I need to do is work out which plugin is creating these unique entries, and ditch it. I don’t think there’s an easy way to do this beyond looking at the database size, disabling some plugins, then seeing if it creeps up again. If it doesn’t rise I’ve probably found the culprit. It’s quite a painful process but IF I’m able to finally find out where the problem lies this site should run like a dream. I’ve done enough testing and optimising elsewhere over the past weeks/months to trim all the fat. I just haven’t been able to isolate the actual problem!

In the meantime, I’ve got an automated script purging the entries, but I think it runs only once a day. Probably just about enough to keep things in check, but not a final fix.

Finally, the plugins do various things on the site, from the crumbtrail (“You are here:”) to the stats reporting, the top ten most popular pages, the maps, related links and so on. Most of them are very useful but there’s normally an alternative. I’d rather have a fully working site than one which tries to do everything but crashes all the time.

Worst-case scenario, this forum is creating the rogue database entries. At some point I’ll have to disable it to see, though I will give warning before. I don’t *think* it’s the forum though.

I hope all that made sense.

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8 May 2012
2.19pm
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meanmistermustard
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Think i get that all that. The transient data isnt getting overwritten but gets bigger and bigger due to the unique ‘file names’ (cant think of a for a better phrase) and is causing the table to basically become untenable (5.1 Gb) and cause the site to buckle under the weight (so to speak). And this is down to 1 plug-in! So is that a rogue or faulty plug-in?

Sounds very frustrating.

(If my understanding is wrong just give up trying to explain it again, it wont be worth your while.)

 

I suppose one of the small positives is that the site isnt your only source of income so whilst it will be a right pain and irritation and takes a load of time to fix its not losing you a pile of cash.

"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)

8 May 2012
5.13pm
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Joe
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That’s exactly it, yes. I was writing early this morning and might not have been completely clear, but you’ve got it.

It’s probably a badly-coded plugin rather than a faulty one, but I suppose it’s a matter of perspective.

Actually, I noticed that quite a lot of the entries looked like this:

_transient_timeout_178.73.212.242bookmark
_transient_178.73.212.242bookmark
_transient_66.249.73.76search

Each contains a visitor’s IP address, and they all end in either search or bookmark. I’ve removed the search/subscribe bar for a while to see if that stops them building up. If they continue I’ll put it back.

You’re right, this isn’t my sole source of income, but it’s important to me to keep it online. Too much downtime and my Google rank drops, people start going elsewhere and my reputation suffers. A cranky server isn’t worth that, not after all I’ve invested in getting this to where it is.

One option is to crack on with the new theme, which is looking quite good already but is in a very prototype state. A bit of work and it might be good enough to trial. Switching themes can sometimes make a difference, if something was awry in the old one. Leave it with me.

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8 May 2012
7.56pm
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Another One
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I’ve been working on this all day

After all ,Thank you so much Joe

...They've forgotten all about God

He's the only reason we exist...

2 June 2012
8.27am
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Joe
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Sorry, I moved the site to yet another new server (hopefully for the last time – fingers crossed). I had to put the forum into read-only mode for a while, but it took longer than expected.

It *should* be working OK now, but there may be some problems here and there. Let me know if anything doesn’t work (avatars etc).

paul-mccartney

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2 June 2012
7.25pm
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meanmistermustard
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When i logged on to the site it said that the forum was having an upgrade, i thought those changes announced recently were here.

"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)

2 June 2012
7.58pm
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Joe
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I can split/merge posts or parts of a thread into different threads now, but haven’t tested it out. The polls are coming sooner – they’re part of an add-on which is yet to be released (a plugin within a plugin, if you like). I’m looking forward to that one.

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3 June 2012
3.26am
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mithveaen
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a-hard-days-night-ringo-8 I nearly had a heart attack when I saw that message. But thankfully it’s back *kisses the forum* a-hard-days-night-george-8a-hard-days-night-john-6a-hard-days-night-paul-8a-hard-days-night-ringo-9

Here comes the sun….. Scoobie-doobie……

Something in the way she moves…..attracts me like a cauliflower…

Bop. Bop, cat bop. Go, Johnny, Go.

Beware of Darkness… 

13 June 2012
5.10pm
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vonbontee
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Has the toolbar (for posting and editing posts) vanished for anybody besides me?

(This may be similar to the problem meanmistermustard reported on the “Forum changes” thread)

GEORGE: In fact, The Detroit Sound. JOHN: In fact, yes. GEORGE: In fact, yeah. Tamla-Motown artists are our favorites. The Miracles. JOHN: We like Marvin Gaye. GEORGE: The Impressions PAUL & GEORGE: Mary Wells. GEORGE: The Exciters. RINGO: Chuck Jackson. JOHN: To name but eighty. 

         offtopic-1.png

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13 June 2012
6.07pm
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meanmistermustard
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Ive still got the toolbar be it new posts or editing Von Bontee.

"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)

19 June 2012
7.40pm
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Joe
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Is it missing for both your accounts VB?

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19 June 2012
11.17pm
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mithveaen
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Joe, some smileys don’t work…. example the one of Ringo bending his head to the right, I click on it but it is not added to the message…

Here comes the sun….. Scoobie-doobie……

Something in the way she moves…..attracts me like a cauliflower…

Bop. Bop, cat bop. Go, Johnny, Go.

Beware of Darkness… 

19 June 2012
11.33pm
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meanmistermustard
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Same with the screaming Paul icon.

 

(Forgot all about that, apply Paul screaming icon.)

"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)

20 June 2012
9.41am
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Joe
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Thanks. I wasn’t aware of that. Looks like those are the only two that won’t work. I’ll see if I can fix them.

Can buy me love! Please consider supporting the Beatles Bible on Amazon
Or buy my paperback/ebook! Riding So High – The Beatles and Drugs

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20 June 2012
5.49pm
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Joe
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a-hard-days-night-john-1a-hard-days-night-john-4a-hard-days-night-john-5a-hard-days-night-john-3a-hard-days-night-john-7a-hard-days-night-john-2a-hard-days-night-john-6a-hard-days-night-paul-3a-hard-days-night-paul-7a-hard-days-night-paul-8a-hard-days-night-paul-5ahdn_paul_06a-hard-days-night-paul-11a-hard-days-night-paul-10ahdn_paul_01a-hard-days-night-paul-4a-hard-days-night-paul-9ahdn_paul_02paul-mccartneya-hard-days-night-george-3a-hard-days-night-george-9a-hard-days-night-george-2a-hard-days-night-george-10ahdn_george_07ahdn_george_05ahdn_george_08ahdn_george_01a-hard-days-night-george-4ahdn_george_06a-hard-days-night-ringo-5a-hard-days-night-ringo-2a-hard-days-night-ringo-12a-hard-days-night-ringo-7a-hard-days-night-ringo-15a-hard-days-night-ringo-14a-hard-days-night-ringo-13a-hard-days-night-ringo-4a-hard-days-night-ringo-10ahdn_ringo_09a-hard-days-night-ringo-6a-hard-days-night-ringo-11a-hard-days-night-ringo-8pete-beststuart-sutcliffebrian-epsteingeorge-martinmal-evansneil-aspinallyoko-ono_01blue-meanieapple01apple02hearttwo-virginsstay-on-topic

All seem to be working now. I found out I could reorder them too, so I did. HTH.

Can buy me love! Please consider supporting the Beatles Bible on Amazon
Or buy my paperback/ebook! Riding So High – The Beatles and Drugs

Don't miss The Bowie Bible – now live!

20 June 2012
10.27pm
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mithveaen
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yaya thanks!!! And thanks for the reorder.. so let’s see we have now all John… all Paul… all George. all Ringo… former crew and ew.. Meanies… apples hearts John and Yoko in the buff   and stay on toipic!!!

 

a-hard-days-night-ringo-15a-hard-days-night-ringo-15a-hard-days-night-ringo-15 Thank you Joe!!

Here comes the sun….. Scoobie-doobie……

Something in the way she moves…..attracts me like a cauliflower…

Bop. Bop, cat bop. Go, Johnny, Go.

Beware of Darkness… 

10 July 2012
4.59pm
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vonbontee
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Joe said

Is it missing for both your accounts VB?

…Sorry, I missed your reply and never got back to you, Joe! Yes, the toolbar is entirely missing for both of my accounts. The smileys are all visible but I can’t copy/paste or drag them. And these problems occur on three different computers so that’s likely not an issue. Weird…

GEORGE: In fact, The Detroit Sound. JOHN: In fact, yes. GEORGE: In fact, yeah. Tamla-Motown artists are our favorites. The Miracles. JOHN: We like Marvin Gaye. GEORGE: The Impressions PAUL & GEORGE: Mary Wells. GEORGE: The Exciters. RINGO: Chuck Jackson. JOHN: To name but eighty. 

         offtopic-1.png

https://rateyourmusic.com/~Myo.....Von_Bontee

13 July 2012
3.20pm
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Joe
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Oh. Sorry, I’ve no idea why that is. People occasionally report anomalies that I can’t really check – it’s often to do with their computer setup, but this doesn’t seem like that’s the case. Perhaps you should start a third account…

Can buy me love! Please consider supporting the Beatles Bible on Amazon
Or buy my paperback/ebook! Riding So High – The Beatles and Drugs

Don't miss The Bowie Bible – now live!

19 July 2012
4.42pm
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vonbontee
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Joe said

Oh. Sorry, I’ve no idea why that is. People occasionally report anomalies that I can’t really check – it’s often to do with their computer setup, but this doesn’t seem like that’s the case. Perhaps you should start a third account…

A bushelful of apples to you for that fanciful suggestion, Joe! (Only I can’t actually GIVE ’em to you, y’understand…)

GEORGE: In fact, The Detroit Sound. JOHN: In fact, yes. GEORGE: In fact, yeah. Tamla-Motown artists are our favorites. The Miracles. JOHN: We like Marvin Gaye. GEORGE: The Impressions PAUL & GEORGE: Mary Wells. GEORGE: The Exciters. RINGO: Chuck Jackson. JOHN: To name but eighty. 

         offtopic-1.png

https://rateyourmusic.com/~Myo.....Von_Bontee

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