(Welcome to the) NEW Chiefsplanet SERVER!!!!

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by scho63

What DB is this is using?

MariaDB 10.0.38. Most of the tables are MyISAM. I've debated messing around and seeing what would happen if I changed the POST table (which is the problem) to InnoDB, but it would likely take hours to change it and hours to change back if it still sucks. Plus, it could also royally break stuff. So I've decided I'm probably not the best one to do it.

At some point, if we decide we're just going to live with this software forever, we may need to consider pruning the database down. I've mulled over something like cloning the site and DB, then putting it at a different URL as a pure archive (no new posts), then pruning the active CP site down to just threads/posts from the past 5 years or something. Constantly sorting a 13 GB table almost has to be the biggest issue. There are better ways of doing the query in newer versions of vBulletin, but the queries in this version suck donkey balls.

The one hardware upgrade that I wonder might help would be to move to a server where we could throw the entire database onto SSDs rather than HDDs. I could be wrong, but it seems like IO is probably the issue, so moving the DB onto a drive that would respond a lot faster might help. Maybe.

So for what it's worth, here are the options as I see them:

• Live with what we have. Possibly try a few things that probably won't help much. The end.
• Try a hardware upgrade (new server with SSDs for storage maybe). Might not really help much. Tough to say. But could work. Very time intensive for AC.
• Prune the database. Some loss of functionality (couldn't bump a 15-year old thread, which can be fun sometimes). Moderate amount of time for AC.
• Move to completely different software. We'd gain a lot of features in "modern" software, but we'd lose some functionality people are used to here for sure. Rep would work differently. Thumbs would work differently. Categories and prefixes would work differently. Mod options like thread bans might not work. It would almost certainly fix the lag issues, but there are plenty of sites out there that have gone under due to major functionality changes, so it's not a decision to make lightly. Would be an insane amount of work for AC and high amount of work for others like me and Bearcat to try and tweak all of the settings to make things as familiar as possible.

[limested]

Originally Posted by DaFace

MariaDB 10.0.38. Most of the tables are MyISAM. I've debated messing around and seeing what would happen if I changed the POST table (which is the problem) to InnoDB, but it would likely take hours to change it and hours to change back if it still sucks. Plus, it could also royally break stuff. So I've decided I'm probably not the best one to do it.

At some point, if we decide we're just going to live with this software forever, we may need to consider pruning the database down. I've mulled over something like cloning the site and DB, then putting it at a different URL as a pure archive (no new posts), then pruning the active CP site down to just threads/posts from the past 5 years or something. Constantly sorting a 13 GB table almost has to be the biggest issue. There are better ways of doing the query in newer versions of vBulletin, but the queries in this version suck donkey balls.

The one hardware upgrade that I wonder might help would be to move to a server where we could throw the entire database onto SSDs rather than HDDs. I could be wrong, but it seems like IO is probably the issue, so moving the DB onto a drive that would respond a lot faster might help. Maybe.

So for what it's worth, here are the options as I see them:

• Live with what we have. Possibly try a few things that probably won't help much. The end.
• Try a hardware upgrade (new server with SSDs for storage maybe). Might not really help much. Tough to say. But could work. Very time intensive for AC.
• Prune the database. Some loss of functionality (couldn't bump a 15-year old thread, which can be fun sometimes). Moderate amount of time for AC.
• Move to completely different software. We'd gain a lot of features in "modern" software, but we'd lose some functionality people are used to here for sure. Rep would work differently. Thumbs would work differently. Categories and prefixes would work differently. Mod options like thread bans might not work. It would almost certainly fix the lag issues, but there are plenty of sites out there that have gone under due to major functionality changes, so it's not a decision to make lightly. Would be an insane amount of work for AC and high amount of work for others like me and Bearcat to try and tweak all of the settings to make things as familiar as possible.

Moving DB to own server on SSD’s would help quite a bit. Moving to a small cluster on SSD’s more. Move to a cluster that also shards the tables across multiple instances even more so.

[dirk digler]

Originally Posted by DaFace

MariaDB 10.0.38. Most of the tables are MyISAM. I've debated messing around and seeing what would happen if I changed the POST table (which is the problem) to InnoDB, but it would likely take hours to change it and hours to change back if it still sucks. Plus, it could also royally break stuff. So I've decided I'm probably not the best one to do it.

At some point, if we decide we're just going to live with this software forever, we may need to consider pruning the database down. I've mulled over something like cloning the site and DB, then putting it at a different URL as a pure archive (no new posts), then pruning the active CP site down to just threads/posts from the past 5 years or something. Constantly sorting a 13 GB table almost has to be the biggest issue. There are better ways of doing the query in newer versions of vBulletin, but the queries in this version suck donkey balls.

The one hardware upgrade that I wonder might help would be to move to a server where we could throw the entire database onto SSDs rather than HDDs. I could be wrong, but it seems like IO is probably the issue, so moving the DB onto a drive that would respond a lot faster might help. Maybe.

So for what it's worth, here are the options as I see them:

• Live with what we have. Possibly try a few things that probably won't help much. The end.
• Try a hardware upgrade (new server with SSDs for storage maybe). Might not really help much. Tough to say. But could work. Very time intensive for AC.
• Prune the database. Some loss of functionality (couldn't bump a 15-year old thread, which can be fun sometimes). Moderate amount of time for AC.
• Move to completely different software. We'd gain a lot of features in "modern" software, but we'd lose some functionality people are used to here for sure. Rep would work differently. Thumbs would work differently. Categories and prefixes would work differently. Mod options like thread bans might not work. It would almost certainly fix the lag issues, but there are plenty of sites out there that have gone under due to major functionality changes, so it's not a decision to make lightly. Would be an insane amount of work for AC and high amount of work for others like me and Bearcat to try and tweak all of the settings to make things as familiar as possible.

As an IT person I would do the last option because I hate keeping around super old software just because. And if you were going to do that and the cost wasn't to bad I would move it to Azure or AWS.

The downside of that is probably no way to import accounts and post history outside of that there is no feature that I couldn't do without that I depend on. People would get used to it.

[limested]

Originally Posted by dirk digler

As an IT person I would do the last option because I hate keeping around super old software just because. And if you were going to do that and the cost wasn't to bad I would move it to Azure or AWS.

The downside of that is probably no way to import accounts and post history outside of that there is no feature that I couldn't do without that I depend on. People would get used to it.

Upgrading to newest VB would be seamless minus a few feature losses.
Migrating to another software such as Xenforo would be pretty much the same as they have conversion scripts. Just more time consuming.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by dirk digler

The downside of that is probably no way to import accounts and post history outside of that there is no feature that I couldn't do without that I depend on. People would get used to it.

so all accounts and history are wiped out, on purpose. How do you think that’s going to go over with the posters?

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

so all accounts and history are wiped out, on purpose. How do you think that’s going to go over with the posters?

Just to clarify, a move to either a new version of vBulletin or a move to Xenforo would both allow for accounts, threads, and posts to be migrated over (as limested mentioned earlier). Not sure about Discourse. Still a **** ton of work though.

[Dante84]

Originally Posted by DaFace

Just to clarify, a move to either a new version of vBulletin or a move to Xenforo would both allow for accounts, threads, and posts to be migrated over (as limested mentioned earlier). Not sure about Discourse. Still a **** ton of work though.

Any idea what clearing out a subforum of 2Million posts would look like from a time ROI standpoint?

I'm sure there would ad revenue lost by deleting a forum that nets a lot of views.

In terms of performance improvement, what would that do?

And how much of a time investment would it take from you/AC/etc...?

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by Dante84

Any idea what clearing out a subforum of 2Million posts would look like from a time ROI standpoint?

I'm sure there would ad revenue lost by deleting a forum that nets a lot of views.

In terms of performance improvement, what would that do?

And how much of a time investment would it take from you/AC/etc...?

Clearing it out wouldn't be a huge hassle. Wouldn't make a huge dent in our issues though. And you can bet it'd piss some people off pretty fiercely.

[dirk digler]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

so all accounts and history are wiped out, on purpose. How do you think that’s going to go over with the posters?

BRC change is inevitable that is just life. As Daface said you can keep a read-only archive if you are feeling nostalgic

Originally Posted by DaFace

Just to clarify, a move to either a new version of vBulletin or a move to Xenforo would both allow for accounts, threads, and posts to be migrated over (as limested mentioned earlier). Not sure about Discourse. Still a **** ton of work though.

If that is the case then moving to Xenforo sounds like a good plan. you could do a new server migration to VBulletin it looks like as well.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by dirk digler

BRC change is inevitable that is just life. As Daface said you can keep a read-only archive if you are feeling nostalgic




If that is the case then moving to Xenforo sounds like a good plan. you could do a new server migration to VBulletin it looks like as well.

I've liked Xenforo for years, but there's no question it would be a massive undertaking - initially for AC, and in the long-term for anyone else who pitches in to help make it look and work well. It would be a complete, ground-up redo in terms of look and feel.

[suzzer99]

Originally Posted by DaFace

Just to clarify, a move to either a new version of vBulletin or a move to Xenforo would both allow for accounts, threads, and posts to be migrated over (as limested mentioned earlier). Not sure about Discourse. Still a **** ton of work though.

Whatever we go with - auto-loading gameday and draft threads w/o having to refresh would be amazing for this forum. Which is also something I like about discourse - it has no pages - just endless scroll.

[Fish]

Originally Posted by suzzer99

Whatever we go with - auto-loading gameday and draft threads w/o having to refresh would be amazing for this forum. Which is also something I like about discourse - it has no pages - just endless scroll.

**** that...

[007]

Originally Posted by suzzer99

Whatever we go with - auto-loading gameday and draft threads w/o having to refresh would be amazing for this forum. Which is also something I like about discourse - it has no pages - just endless scroll.

We already use discourse for chat here. That's all it's good for.