I spent a few hours today doing research on MySQL databases and found some really helpful information.

Many of the tables of Vizzed Board used a InnoDB DB engine type, probably half of them did. InnoDB is good for returning results that are the same every time since it caches the results but this isn't the case for vizzed, the results are almost always different so I changed all the types to MyISAM. If the InnoDB tables aren't cached, it's really really slow at loading the information which is why when vizzed transferred to a new server, the site was really slow and kept crashing because the new database didn't have anything cached for the tables with the InnoDB DB engine type.

This is probably more info than most of you understand but to sum it up, many of the pages should be faster, some a LOT faster. The only 2 pages which should take more than 1 sec to load are the forum index page and the new posts page (I'll optimize those thoroughly another time).



EDIT: Also I'd like to point out that according to my calculations, the current server can support about 666 people on the site at once (I know, a creepy number lol). It'll be pretty hard to optimize the site any more than I have already so once we start peaking at 600, I'll look into migrating the DB to its own server. We wouldn't have to worry about the problems from last time for 3 reasons: 1. I found the problem why the server migration I attempted last month didn't work out & 2. We wouldn't be migrating the files or anything to a new server so therefore there wouldn't be any DNS changes which means the "upgrade" would only take an hour at most & 3. With all the tables DB engines being the way they are now, the database will be a lot easier to migrate.

fantastic!

I've noticed an improved speed since logging in this afternoon.... not sure about the morning because I had other things going.... but right now it does seem a lot faster.

Good improvement though. Glad to see things are improving again.

geeogree : This improvement took place about an hour ago. Vizzed was down for about 10 minutes because I was making a backup on the DB, didn't want to risk messing anything up because I was doing stuff I've never done before and that can always be pretty risky.


Also I'd like to point out that according to my calculations, the current server can support about 666 people on the site at once (I know, a creepy number lol). It'll be pretty hard to optimize the site any more than I have already so once we start peaking at 600, I'll look into migrating the DB to its own server. We wouldn't have to worry about the problems from last time for 3 reasons: 1. I found the problem why the server migration I attempted last month didn't work out & 2. We wouldn't be migrating the files or anything to a new server so therefore there wouldn't be any DNS changes which means the "upgrade" would only take an hour at most & 3. With all the tables DB engines being the way they are now, the database will be a lot easier to migrate.

"the current server can support about 666 people on the site at once"

Wow lol talk about irony on a somewhat Christian forum

Good thing you researched that so I guess this means no need to make limits on owned games and what not. Probably could still run a script to erase peoples games if they have not logged in in 30 days.

JigSaw : What's even more ironic is that at the rate we're going, we'd probably hit that number by Christmas. The game limit is probably unnecessary for now but I could probably still put a limit of like 25 per a system though.

The beast cursed us to support a low amount of people !

Nice speed anyways, I am still laughing at 666 (no offensive, just a weird reference, I actually know a Christian who lives right in front of a flat which number is 666 (because in our place, there are numbers for HDB flats, which are like apartments, and each building has a number).

JigSaw : Not 30, make it 60, as some people might be on holidays or business trips, also allowed the people to request their games back completely free, so there should be another script to track what are the deleted games).

Didowe : Actually I'm leaning more toward 1 year. I think if a user hasn't played a game they own in over a year than the automated script would refund them their money for it.

I love all of this optimizing!

Yeah, 666 is weird, because this site is religious.

I also like the limiting idea.

Excellent. I've noticed a little bit how fast things are now. Keep up the good work David.

i think it is cool to know how fast the pages load i can say david07 you are cool making this site faster and i can load the games a little faster.

so much faster! my computer was always slow but on vizzed it's faster than it's ever been. thanks davideo

Haha, I just thought that was Google Chrome working it's Magic. Well, it's nice to have a website that loads fast, so, thanks!

Great job Davideo.

I've noticed a big difference in speed now,and im no longer getting log in errors and such fantastic job,666 users at once?that seems like alot but im guessing that includes guests as well I think i've seen almost 450 users online one time so that is a bit scary,you think you'll be able to boost that number at all so the server doesn't crash or anything?

Joker13 : That does include guests, yeah. Probably Tuesday I'll be getting a second server so the site's performance will double.

Wow, I have noticed the site being a bit faster than it was before. Cool.

Yeah..it's a definite improvement on the site speed. I noticed blocking the icons and avatars helps also.......keep up the good work.