New webserver at 70.86.84.162

August 6, 2005 5:36 PM

The new webserver is up and ready to go. It's at 70.86.84.162 and I'd like a few folks to test it out before moving the DNS over. To hit this server instead of the current one, for now you need to edit your hosts file, adding www.metafilter.com, metatalk.metafilter, and ask.metafilter.com mappings to the new IP. It runs off the same exact database server which is separate, so test comments will be seen on both the new web server and the old one. So far in testing the new server is going smoking fast.
posted by mathowie (staff) to Uptime at 5:36 PM (37 comments total)

Oh if you do this (append your HOSTS file and restart your browser), you should see "(new server)" in the footer of MetaFilter.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 5:37 PM on August 6, 2005

Fast.
posted by Kwantsar at 6:00 PM on August 6, 2005

From preliminary tests, the front page of metafilter's new and old servers both measure how long the queries take to grab, process, and display.

I'm frequently getting queries for the front page of mefi on the old server of about 2000ms, or two full seconds (this is really slow).

The new server is frequently showing 800ms and less (still slow as less than 500ms is a good guideline), and they're hitting the exact same database server. the interface for the new server is actually slower, since the request isn't via private network lan address like the old server has).

So hopefully this is a sign the increased horsepower will result in a more reliable, speedier site (I can dream, can't I?).
posted by mathowie (staff) at 6:02 PM on August 6, 2005

Works fine here.

Front page: page rendered in: 687 ms

Earlier today the old server was clocking in at 1500ms+.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 6:04 PM on August 6, 2005

There seem to be a lot more advertizements.
posted by delmoi at 6:06 PM on August 6, 2005

Hmm, I guess the ads are for logged-out only. Intresting.
posted by delmoi at 6:08 PM on August 6, 2005

matt: if you're going to keep the old server, maybe you should setup round-robin DNS or some other sort of load ballancer.
posted by delmoi at 6:09 PM on August 6, 2005

It took forever to login via the blue login page.
posted by riffola at 6:13 PM on August 6, 2005

Also, I noticed that this thread showed 7 comments (7 new) while I was on the new server, but mine was the last one I could see (which was #4 in this thread). I had to drop the new IP out of my hosts file before I could see the other three posts. Since they're using the same DB server this shouldn't matter, but I thought it was worth reporting.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 6:15 PM on August 6, 2005

Actually I can't seem to be able to login at the new server.
Also page rendered in: 359 ms
posted by riffola at 6:15 PM on August 6, 2005

I'm not going to keep the old server delmoi
posted by mathowie (staff) at 7:31 PM on August 6, 2005

Matt, having a whole lot less traffic on the new server might also have something to do with the speed....(yes I know the database is on a separate server and both old and new are sharing, but still the web server load has a bearing with overall performance).
posted by FieldingGoodney at 7:43 PM on August 6, 2005

Front page renders in 350-375 msec for me. Login seems very slow indeed.
posted by swordfishtrombones at 8:06 PM on August 6, 2005

656 - 672 ms
posted by puke & cry at 8:19 PM on August 6, 2005

What a cool site admin.
posted by The Jesse Helms at 8:22 PM on August 6, 2005

529ms for the front page, login was pretty snappy, and AskMe loaded much faster than usual. Very slick!
posted by realcountrymusic at 9:48 PM on August 6, 2005

Weird, metatalk isn't tracking new comments/posts, but the other sections are.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 11:08 PM on August 6, 2005

Seems to be working fine! Frontpage loads in around 650 ms.
posted by Narnia at 1:16 AM on August 7, 2005

Don't forget to add bukkake.metafilter.com to your hosts file too, for extra-speedy MetaFilter bukkake action!
posted by grouse at 3:36 AM on August 7, 2005

mathowie, what are the specs on the new server? Just out of curiosity?
posted by killdevil at 7:57 AM on August 7, 2005

Also, have you thought about using a static caching proxy like Squid to improve performance of the site? Squid will run on Windows Server right alongside the web server... and your page load times would be one tenth of the 600ms or so I'm seeing on the new server.
posted by killdevil at 7:59 AM on August 7, 2005

It's my understanding that Squid wouldn't help much with MetaFilter, as some pages are already generated to static HTML, and those that aren't contain different information for each logged-in user.
posted by kindall at 9:12 AM on August 7, 2005

killdevil, here are the server specs. The tests I've done with proxies have usually caused more problems than they solve. For now, all the db queries for major pages (all front pages and comment pages) are cached in web server memory, to minimize processing.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 10:04 AM on August 7, 2005

Averaging around 800 ms, extremes at 640 and 1025.
posted by solotoro at 11:00 AM on August 7, 2005

I've moved DNS to the new server, so in the next day or two, everyone should be hitting the new server.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 12:28 PM on August 7, 2005

Looks like the "new comments/posts" bug is affecting all pages now.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 12:33 PM on August 7, 2005

Feels faster, yay!
posted by catachresoid at 1:38 PM on August 7, 2005

OK, now all posts and comments are new since my last visit.

Yay! New stuff to read!

:)
posted by mr_crash_davis at 2:14 PM on August 7, 2005

Also, post count is increasing on AskMe, but refreshing individual threads isn't showing the new posts.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 2:24 PM on August 7, 2005

i don't have any new comments/posts on any sections.
posted by puke & cry at 6:21 PM on August 7, 2005

pancakes and bunnies for all.
posted by blue_beetle at 10:20 PM on August 7, 2005

I'm seeing the new server now (finally) and all my comment counts are working again, for the first time in two days.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 12:36 AM on August 8, 2005

Ditto on the comment counts working. Good job.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 8:34 AM on August 8, 2005

I get the new server but new comments count is not working for me.
posted by riffola at 10:58 AM on August 8, 2005

No new comments here either.
posted by smackfu at 12:52 PM on August 8, 2005

New comments are being a bit buggy for me (I've removed the entries to my host file...related?). As near as I can tell, I can only see them for the current date on MeTa - the green and the blue are showing new comments just fine, though.
posted by solotoro at 2:16 PM on August 8, 2005

Weird, now all the link and comment counts work everywhere except metatalk for me, which isn't tracking new posts.

I'll revisit this in a day or two and make sure it's back to normal.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 3:11 PM on August 8, 2005