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photon · 03-04-2009, 07:20 PM

For 10,000 users? We're talking multiple front end servers and probably multiple database servers as well... that's RedFlagDeals level traffic, we're not there yet.

There's really two separate issues at work here.

First is the server itself. Up to a certain level the server itself was actually working very well, during the Leopold deal the server was working hard but not really in trouble. The problem is when you go from 20 requests per second to 100's of requests per second. That stresses every aspect of the server, and basically overwhelms them all, be it processor, disk input/output, or memory.

We can do some things to help with this. Adding memory is something we've been thinking about, and it might be worth doing to see how it helps; memory is relatively cheap. Processor upgrades are possible, but are not cheap, the cost would almost be the same as the server cost in the first place strangely enough! Disk upgrades would also be more expensive and would require a new enclosure for them.. any additional space we take up would increase the monthly cost (double it or more).

There are some more software things we can do to try and help with this, and we'll probably look at doing them by the draft too (install lighttpd or a different http server than Apache for those curious to reduce memory and CPU footprint).

The other factor is bandwidth. During the Leopold deal, the server wasn't really the problem, it was the bandwidth. Everyone's waiting for the data to make its way through the pipe while the server is also waiting.

This is pure $$ to upgrade, and it's not cheap.

However we've done one thing to help.. the reason we could even set a new record for users, and that the board was more usable than last year, was because of that. We offloaded the image files onto a content deliver network; so all the image files, avatars, and CSS files get served from somewhere else, which reduces the load on the server drastically. At one point the load on the image server was 2 times our total bandwidth connection for the server. So that's good, that helped significantly.

The other thing which I will do is ask for a temporary increase in our bandwidth for one day. The host seemed amenable to this. This will help a lot as well. I wasn't able to get this in place until well after the Jokinen deal today, but next time I'll know to do it in advance.

So anyway that's a summary.

The thing is anything we do such as going to the next increment of bandwidth, or adding another server (thus requiring more space at the facility) results in a very significant increase in monthly cost. So even if we added a 2nd server with a fund raising drive, that's not the most significant cost.

I'm being vague about the numbers because a) in some cases I don't know them and b) they're Bingo's #'s to share or not.

As far as donations and such, those tend to ebb and flow while monthly costs don't

There's always options such as having a monthly membership for additional benefits, but I don't think Bingo is warm to that idea, as that can separate the user base, the donators feel better than those who don't, or a special access area for donators, or whatever. Keeping it open and equal has its merits.

03-04-2009, 07:20 PM	#2
photon The new goggles also do nothing. Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Calgary Exp:	For 10,000 users? We're talking multiple front end servers and probably multiple database servers as well... that's RedFlagDeals level traffic, we're not there yet. There's really two separate issues at work here. First is the server itself. Up to a certain level the server itself was actually working very well, during the Leopold deal the server was working hard but not really in trouble. The problem is when you go from 20 requests per second to 100's of requests per second. That stresses every aspect of the server, and basically overwhelms them all, be it processor, disk input/output, or memory. We can do some things to help with this. Adding memory is something we've been thinking about, and it might be worth doing to see how it helps; memory is relatively cheap. Processor upgrades are possible, but are not cheap, the cost would almost be the same as the server cost in the first place strangely enough! Disk upgrades would also be more expensive and would require a new enclosure for them.. any additional space we take up would increase the monthly cost (double it or more). There are some more software things we can do to try and help with this, and we'll probably look at doing them by the draft too (install lighttpd or a different http server than Apache for those curious to reduce memory and CPU footprint). The other factor is bandwidth. During the Leopold deal, the server wasn't really the problem, it was the bandwidth. Everyone's waiting for the data to make its way through the pipe while the server is also waiting. This is pure $$ to upgrade, and it's not cheap. However we've done one thing to help.. the reason we could even set a new record for users, and that the board was more usable than last year, was because of that. We offloaded the image files onto a content deliver network; so all the image files, avatars, and CSS files get served from somewhere else, which reduces the load on the server drastically. At one point the load on the image server was 2 times our total bandwidth connection for the server. So that's good, that helped significantly. The other thing which I will do is ask for a temporary increase in our bandwidth for one day. The host seemed amenable to this. This will help a lot as well. I wasn't able to get this in place until well after the Jokinen deal today, but next time I'll know to do it in advance. So anyway that's a summary. The thing is anything we do such as going to the next increment of bandwidth, or adding another server (thus requiring more space at the facility) results in a very significant increase in monthly cost. So even if we added a 2nd server with a fund raising drive, that's not the most significant cost. I'm being vague about the numbers because a) in some cases I don't know them and b) they're Bingo's #'s to share or not. As far as donations and such, those tend to ebb and flow while monthly costs don't There's always options such as having a monthly membership for additional benefits, but I don't think Bingo is warm to that idea, as that can separate the user base, the donators feel better than those who don't, or a special access area for donators, or whatever. Keeping it open and equal has its merits. __________________ Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position. But certainty is an absurd one.