AFF Server Updates

**russellw** · 30-01-2014, 09:51 AM

Good morning

There may be some interruptions to AFF during the day today as we perform some preparatory work ahead of a php upgrade in the early hours of Friday morning.

These interruptions will be short in duration (less than 10 minutes) but the php upgrade will result in a 30 minute outage from about 0100 Friday morning.

Regards
Russ

**russellw** · 30-01-2014, 10:41 AM

The first stage is an update to about 30 core modules and I have started this now. It will probably slow the server a little over the next couple of hours but it shouldn't actually cause any loss of service as these are designed to be replaced in situ.

Cheers
Russ

**russellw** · 31-01-2014, 02:32 PM

The test PHP upgrade broke the test server so I am identifying what needs to be done to fix that before doing it on the live server.

Cheers
Russ

**russellw** · 01-02-2014, 12:42 AM

The php and other system upgrades have been completed successfully after a short (10 minute) outage window.

Best regards
Russ

MrEL · 20-03-2014, 07:43 AM

Is this now why the forum is so slow?
It used to be good but now anything I do on it takes a week to either load up or post.
I have no issues with any other sites so its not my connection.

**russellw** · 20-03-2014, 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrEL

Is this now why the forum is so slow?
It used to be good but now anything I do on it takes a week to either load up or post.
I have no issues with any other sites so its not my connection.

Speed tests indicate that we have improved page load times so perhaps you are pulling older pages (pre-upgrade) or page elements from your browser cache.

We still have some optimisation to complete (some gzipping and jpeg compression) and that work is continuing.

Cheers
Russ

Sox · 20-03-2014, 10:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by russellw

Speed tests indicate that we have improved page load times so perhaps you are pulling older pages (pre-upgrade) or page elements from your browser cache.

We still have some optimisation to complete (some gzipping and jpeg compression) and that work is continuing.

Cheers
Russ

Is any of the stuff you're still doing having an effect on hitting the 'New Posts' button?

It won't update, though interestingly it doesn't even update if I hit refresh.
I have to clear the cache each time I want it updated.

Started this afternoon sometime.

naddis01 · 20-03-2014, 08:23 AM

No issues here.

**russellw** · 20-03-2014, 10:33 PM

Quite possibly - we changed the caching method today from memcache back to the APC op-code cache which serves frequently used page elements out of a dedicated cache.

It will probably take a little while for browsers to catch up as they may have to wait for some objects to expire before refreshing them.

Clearing the browser cache should help in the short term until the week has passed that most objects are set to expire in.

Cheers
Russ

**cs123** · 20-03-2014, 11:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by russellw

Quite possibly - we changed the caching method today from memcache back to the APC op-code cache which serves frequently used page elements out of a dedicated cache.

It will probably take a little while for browsers to catch up as they may have to wait for some objects to expire before refreshing them.

Clearing the browser cache should help in the short term until the week has passed that most objects are set to expire in.

Cheers
Russ

Not sure if the problem I am experiencing is caused by your upgrade Russ but I have noticed that some pages are caching in my browser now, so I am not seeing new posts.

**russellw** · 20-03-2014, 10:35 PM

For those who are interested - this covers the 7 hours the cache has been in in use:

File Cache Information

Cached Files 514 (65.4 MBytes)
Hits 7,296,819
Misses 571
Request Rate (hits, misses) 276.86 cache requests/second
Hit Rate 276.84 cache requests/second
Miss Rate 0.02 cache requests/second
Insert Rate 0.02 cache requests/second
Cache full count0

User Cache Information

Cached Variables 34 (1.0 MBytes)
Hits 7,580,098
Misses 2,436
Request Rate (hits, misses) 287.67 cache requests/second
Hit Rate 287.58 cache requests/second
Miss Rate 0.09 cache requests/second
Insert Rate 0.25 cache requests/second
Cache full count 0

**russellw** · 21-03-2014, 03:13 AM

Possibly caused by another change I made rather than the cache change - I've reversed that one so we can see what happens over the next 12 hours or so. I noticed that notifications hadn't updated without a forced page reload.

Cheers
Russ

**cs123** · 21-03-2014, 08:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by russellw

Possibly caused by another change I made rather than the cache change - I've reversed that one so we can see what happens over the next 12 hours or so. I noticed that notifications hadn't updated without a forced page reload.

Cheers
Russ

Thanks Russ, that fixed my caching issue.

Sox · 21-03-2014, 08:30 AM

Things already seem to be working as normal this morning.

ratter · 21-03-2014, 09:33 AM

I still cant get "new posts" or even posts from todays posts under the quick links, the most recent post on my laptop shows up as approx. 10.30 pm yesterday

**cs123** · 21-03-2014, 09:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ratter

I still cant get "new posts" or even posts from todays posts under the quick links, the most recent post on my laptop shows up as approx. 10.30 pm yesterday

It looks like some pages were being cached on your PC and that behaviour should have changed now. You'll need to clear your cache as well.

ratter · 21-03-2014, 10:26 AM

cleared my cache and history, restarted my lap top and still no change, I'm using windows 8 but would not think that should make a difference??

ratter · 21-03-2014, 10:29 AM

ok, repeated it a second time and looks like it's fine now, thanks for the help

**supershifty** · 21-03-2014, 01:30 PM

I was having difficulty editing a post yesterday arvo.

I had edited it once and submitted it, then realised I'd left out some detail, so edited again (2nd edit) and submitted. When the post showed up the previous edit was gone and the new edit showed, so I edited again (3rd time) and added in with the original edit info, submitted it and behold my 2nd edit was gone and the new edit showed. I got the ****s and just added the info in another post.

All good today, everything is working perfectly.

As for flushing the cache - can anyone give me a pointer on Win7 without losing all my cookies? I must be doing it wrong - I'll kill the first person that says "go apple" lol!

Cheers!

**cs123** · 21-03-2014, 01:54 PM

Probably the easiest way is to hit F5 and that will force a reload of the page you are on. Just do this for each page that isn't refreshing properly

Or buy a Mac....

**supershifty** · 21-03-2014, 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cs123

Probably the easiest way is to hit F5 and that will force a reload of the page you are on. Just do this for each page that isn't refreshing properly

Or buy a Mac....

Thanks for that Chris.

I know where you live - lol!

Cheers!