Stability Issues

[GeekMaster]

We seem to be experiencing more stability issues as time goes by.

I'm wondering if the messages table should be pruned.  That's the table that contains all of the posts and there are over 666,900 of them.

I would like to cut that number by 50% if possible.

I propose to remove threads that have had no replies for 90 days.

Give me a list of threads that you think should NOT be removed.  I have not yet decided when to do this so you have some time to think about it.

Thanks,
Mike

[one strange sentence]

"Is this an issue of bandwidth or the level of service at which your database exists?" he asked, dimly aware of certain considerations but not really knowing a fucking thing about databases. "What I'm getting at is, if even fifty people were to pony up even five or ten bucks apiece, would that et you operate at a higher level?

"That said, I wouldn't have a problem with pruning topics older than X number of days," he added. "If I find myself desperate to unearth all of my old offensive remarks and such I can use the WayBack Machine."

[longpig]

"What I'm getting at is, if even fifty people were to pony up even five or ten bucks apiece, would that et you operate at a higher level?

I'd be up for that.

This could be a fun trawl through classic threads.
I think we should keep this one http://chrunners.net/forum/index.php?topic=37544.0

[Belgian Lace]

Prune after 90 days.

Otherwise, we'll all turn into a bunch of imaginary hoarders.

Let them go.

[GeekMaster]

Is this an issue of bandwidth or the level of service at which your database exists?

"Yes", the GeekMeister replied, "those are always factors to consider."

"But", the High Priest of Geekdom continued, "It is more likely that the causes lie in our stars or, rather, elsewhere. Given that optimizing tables or restarting the MYSQL daemon often fixes the immediate problems I would say that the major issues are within the database."

"So", His Most Holy of Holy and Grand TechnoBabbleGivers proclaimed, "there will be blood of the database variety."

[AVP]

I'd be up for that.
This could be a fun trawl through classic threads.
I think we should keep this one http://chrunners.net/forum/index.php?topic=37544.0

Damn you Andy! I knew this would link to the THC thread, I knew it.
But you wrote "trawl" instead of "crawl", so I was hoping it wouldn't be that link.
Talk about "stability issues".
Andy, they even talked about it on The Emmy Awards! I was all "ahhhhh"!

  Mike, Sir CH, O Captain My Captain,
I have zero clue what "levels of database and bandwiths" are.
I've only been here about 9 months, so my opinion doesn't really count.
Obviously I love it here, I would be willing to pay.
But, my thought would be to delete the threads that have had no reply in 365 days, NOT 90 days.

[one strange sentence]

But, my thought would be to delete the threads that have had no reply in 365 days, NOT 90 days.

"180 days," he bargained devlishly, aware that he was negotiating with a pair of Jews and that this was akin to trying to outmaneuver LeBron in the paint.

[AVP]

"180 days," he bargained devlishly, aware that he was negotiating with a pair of Jews and that this was akin to trying to outmaneuver LeBron in the paint.

I AM ROARING WITH LAUGHTER!

[AVP]

Otherwise, we'll all turn into a bunch of imaginary hoarders...

...with imaginary friends, living in an imaginary clubhouse with our very own imaginary reality show. 

[Belgian Lace]

Whatever you do, please consider deleting the "Last Post Wins" thread now.

[gebuh]

what about archiving data over a certain age to a different table?

[GeekMaster]

what about archiving data over a certain age to a different table?

We could do a dump of the db before the trim (good practice anyway) and keep that forever, even create a separate db to make it easy to retrieve items.  I really want to get the total size of the online database cut way down.

[this place is so lame]

I propose to remove threads that have had no replies for 90 days.

Well that take out about half of my arsenal.   

[LilyLily]

Whatever you do, please consider deleting the "Last Post Wins" thread now.

This! 

or

1!

or

I agree that thread sucks.

[longpig]

Whatever you do, please consider deleting the "Last Post Wins" thread now.

That frakker should have died with the rest of the PRT.

Damn you Andy! I knew this would link to the THC thread, I knew it.
But you wrote "trawl" instead of "crawl", so I was hoping it wouldn't be that link.

It's a CH classic.   And I'm hoping that this thread will bring up juicy threads that you and I weren't here to witness. So far, no joy. Go and bump my poor 'Save our threads' thread. Please?

[GeekMaster]

This! 

or

1!

or

I agree that thread sucks.

I posted an announcement to that effect in that thread causing gnashing of teeth and pulling of hair.

I will announce the locking of the thread an hour or two ahead of time, lock it, let the last poster have a couple of seconds of empty triumph and then delete it.

[AVP]

I will announce the locking of the thread an hour or two ahead of time, lock it, let the last poster have a couple of seconds of empty triumph and then delete it.

"It's good to be the king." -Mel

[Hobie1]

Take all the really shitty threads and post them in the PRT en masse.

[kemibe]

I'm thinking based on my limited knowledge of relevant issues that keeping the number of server requests/database queries down might keep disruptions to a minimum. That could mean doing things that would be effective but possibly unpopular, like requiring people to log in before they can so much as read the board, ditching the proprietary search engine in favor of a site-specific (and free) Google one like many sites have, and dispensing of extraneous features that rustle the DB such as who's logged on and other stats most could do without. Just a thought.

[GeekMaster]

I'm thinking based on my limited knowledge of relevant issues that keeping the number of server requests/database queries down might keep disruptions to a minimum. That could mean doing things that would be effective but possibly unpopular, like requiring people to log in before they can so much as read the board, ditching the proprietary search engine in favor of a site-specific (and free) Google one like many sites have, and dispensing of extraneous features that rustle the DB such as who's logged on and other stats most could do without. Just a thought.

Quite right.

In fact, as we post I am investigating an apache issue.  It seems to run out of memory as the number online reaches about 60.  I have made the configuration changes that I can to reduce apache resource usage but the log shows it continuing to happen.

I created a support ticket to see if the host can do something on the system configuration side.

As for the database [fingers crossed] since the trim, there have been no crashes [/fingers crossed].  While it is too soon to say that the trim eliminated them, for the moment that factor has been addressed.