Caudata.org moving again

[John Clare]

Hi all,

I'm sure you're aware of just how slow the site has gotten in the last few months. Well, enough is enough. I'm preparing to move us at some point in the next 10 days.

I will post to the forum to let you know when the move is going to take place, at least 12 hours in advance of actually moving.

The actual move will take place over about 2 days for most people. For between 24 and 48 hours you may experience "read-only" mode where you can see the old server, but we've actually copied caudata.org to the new server. In this situation we can't let you post on the old server because we would have to copy the site _again_ after moving it. The reason for the 24-48 hour delay is that the pointers on the internet that let your browser know where to find caudata.org can take that long to update. In my experience last year moving frogforum.net most people were viewing the new site within 12 hours.

This will be our 5th or 6th move (haha I'm losing count) since the site started in February 2001. We're still here, so don't lose any sleep over it! Any questions? Post them here please.

John

[Kaysie]

Thanks for trying to keep the forum up to par, John. Glad you're handy with computers!

[nai live]

Your hard work at keeping this forum going is appreciated , thanks.

[Kaiseric]

Thanks for being attentive and taking action John! My newts will appreciate the faster load time.

[R3bel]

This is probaly a silly question, probs cose i dont fully understand, but how can you move a website? It dosent make sense to me.

[Kaiseric]

He's changing the company that hosts the domain.

[Jenste]

I think they mean they are going to be moving between website hosts.

[Cam]

Originally Posted by rebel

This is probaly a silly question, probs cose i dont fully understand, but how can you move a website? It dosent make sense to me.

The files for the website are hosted (stored) on a physical hard drive on a server somewhere. He will be moving all of the files to a new hard drive on a new server with more bandwidth (higher speeds).

[dad of axle]

Thank you John I really appreciate this site, it is a lifeline for me and My axie if we are ever in need of help, and I enjoy the posts on the forum,

[Molch]

Originally Posted by rebel

This is probaly a silly question, probs cose i dont fully understand, but how can you move a website? It dosent make sense to me.

it means, from now on caudata.org will play on channel 34 on your TV

(hey, I don't understand any of that either)

...so...it was slow? I never noticed. In fact, I thought it was fast, compared to sites like CNN etc. But then, I have the slowest connection in the universe.

U da man, John!

[Kaysie]

Just to reiterate: other than the short outage, this shouldn't affect anything else on the forum. You shouldn't notice anything different, other than the faster loading time. You can still access the forum from the same ol' web address, and post in the same ol' threads.

You want to see turmoil? Wait 'til we get a software upgrade!

[StewRat]

Is it possible that those envolve stuff has added to the slowness - or even possibly has created a false impression of slowness?

I hadn't been on the site for a while and then came back after the envolve ribbon was added. Since then I have experienced a latency that is quite intrusive.

By that I mean clicking on a link and nothing happens for a while, maybe ever. moving between threads for example.

I *think* the envolve stuff is constantly polling, so a click has to be registered by the server before the next envolve connection, otherwise it is overtaken by envolve - maybe not, but thats the way it feels - like I have to jump in between envolve cycles.

Just mentioning it as not everything is solved by throwing CPU and bandwidth at it ...

[snow4aaron]

John, thank you for the continued hard work.

[John Clare]

Originally Posted by StewRat

Is it possible that those envolve stuff has added to the slowness - or even possibly has created a false impression of slowness?

It is very low impact because most of its work is carried out on envolve's server, not ours. In any case, everything should be fine soon when we move. Tentatively, I'm aiming for moving on Friday this week. There will probably be some minor hiccups after the move, like attachments not loading properly or some such issue, but those are straightforward fixes and only last a day or so.

[Chris & Linda]

So I can pump up my photo album John?

[John Clare]

Update for everyone. I've now chosen and started a contract with a new host (i.e. bought and paid for). The plan right now is to move on Friday. I will update you as it happens.

Originally Posted by hitower1575

So I can pump up my photo album John?

Sure!

[John Clare]

Update. I may actually move the site later today. Just to let you know.

[Alejandro]

I am more than willing to contribute with some money if necessary. Thank for your hard work.

[StewRat]

Originally Posted by John

It is very low impact because most of its work is carried out on envolve's server, not ours. In any case, everything should be fine soon when we move. Tentatively, I'm aiming for moving on Friday this week. There will probably be some minor hiccups after the move, like attachments not loading properly or some such issue, but those are straightforward fixes and only last a day or so.

I won't labour this as it may all work itself out, but I speak from some experience ...

The envolve servers are doing the work, which means no extra load on yours. So far so good.

But.

Evrything they load is an extra connection from site users' browsers to *their* server - and they are refreshing what they do constantly.

So when I am on a caudata page, envolve are making several connections every minute to their server from my browser.

I have been espaecially experiencing problems with going "back" through caudata pages and I am concerned that it is because the flow is something like

I am on a page - everything is loaded
While I'm reading, envolve is updating its stuff every few seconds
I click "back" and my browser kicks into life and goes "rigth, lets find that last page"
But before it can do that, envolve steps in and says "i'm updating my stuff" and it takes precendence.

Dont get me wrong - none of this is tested or empirical, but (sorry - again) from experience, add ons like that envolve stuff can be responsible for more connections, latency and load than the rest of the site.

I wont mention this again, honest.

[John Clare]

The server was getting worse and worse and worse long before we got envolve chat. The only realistic way to make the determination about envolve is after we make the server move. I've had in mind to move servers for at least 9 months. We have envolve chat for just a few weeks now.