06-11-2001 04:27									#1
	This is rediculous. Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

Dan, your "wait and see if things get better...and have no plan if they don't" seems to be failing.

	06-11-2001 04:37									#2
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

I have to agree. Today has been far worse than anything last week. Sitting on your hands hoping things will get better is not a solution, unless you want to drive away regular contributors to this community.

	06-11-2001 04:48									#3
	Support Apolyton, buy Call to Power 2

GP, feel free to donate us a new server

	06-11-2001 04:53									#4
	Increase the size of your Attachments

Markos,

How much capacity are you using on the current server? What percent? How much of a server do you need for yourselves?

	06-11-2001 05:10									#5
	Remove this text

Gamestats obviously isn't big enough for Apolyton!

There must be a server willing to take on Apolyton that isn't as crap as Gamestats....SOMEWHERE! I can't believe Markos and DanQ haven't been contacted by someone...this is a great site on a poor server. It deserves to be even better site, and would be if it moved to a different and better server than Gamestats.

Just my tuppence.

	06-11-2001 05:50									#6
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

quote: Originally posted by MarkG GP, feel free to donate us a new server

Just out of interest, how much would a new server cost?

	06-11-2001 07:00									#7
	Put an end to popups!

quote: This is rediculous.

Or, as Harry Potter would say:

Riddikkulus!


What?

	06-11-2001 07:58									#8
	Enter the AD-FREE zone

GP:

A) I never said there wasn't a "plan".
B) The situation is not as simple as you have put it. Rest assured that we are working as quickly and efficiently as possible to maintain in constant contact with GameStats' Technical Department on ongoing server issues (via email, ICQ messgaes, telephone calls etc.). I cannot go into any greater detail than this.

Your and everyone else's concerns are appreciated, and we share them. We have never tried to trivialize them, nor are we doing so now. We thank you for your patience and understanding.

---------------
Dan; Apolyton CS

	06-11-2001 10:43									#9
	Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

OK, Dan.

Please keep on the problem and use all your energy AND ingenuoity to adapt and overcome these problems and prevent them in the future.

	06-11-2001 10:47									#10
	Got spare money?

Is it the bandwidth or the computer? If it's the computer, is it the CPU or the hard disk?

	06-11-2001 11:52									#11
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

<I>... prevent them in the future</I>
This is not possible. If someone where to devise a workable solution that could be adapted to any web server, they would be famous. I admire anyone who would strive to seriously seek out this resolution.

<I>Is it the bandwidth or the computer? If it's the computer, is it the CPU or the hard disk?</I>

The most recent "busy signals"/slowdowns are being caused by excessive CPU usage, and for those that aren't versed in network terminology this is different from both bandwidth usage and disk space. Bandwidth and disk space have proven to be adequate for some time now. GS Tech. is actively looking into the CPU matter in more detail as are we to the greatest extent of our ability.

For complete specifications of the server that Apolyton is on, logon to GameStats.com and see the "About: Network" page for the 'Technical Specifications' area.

----------------
Dan; Apolyton CS

	06-11-2001 11:55									#12
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization 2

You're not even on Xeons? Just regular desktop Pentium III 933's?

	06-11-2001 12:03									#13
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

I do not know if they are just "desktop" Pentium III's but they very well could be. Ask GameStats' Director of Technology (Tony Bolger) for clarification... he would know the answer and he would be one of two people who would have decided on the configuration (the other (and primary decision maker) being President/CEO Leo Campione).

---------------
Dan; Apolyton CS

	06-11-2001 22:32									#14
	Support Apolyton or Terrorists Win

quote: . . . . logon to GameStats.com and see the . . .

Dan, was this a way of telling us that you are leaving the day-to-day at Gamestats? Your message there sounded like what would be described as "frank" in diplomat-talk (not even "cordial"?); I hope it was better than that in RL. Is there also another message for us Apolyton folks in there somewhere between the lines?

IMHO, the "server busy" messages are more disheartening than the high page download times. It is especially bothersome whern trying to post as one may be wasting all their time composing the message; moreover, while one is in the midst of the situation of trying not to lose their post, the dialogue from the system is less than perfectly clear and informative.

I imagine that it is pretty safe to say that a lot of "refreshing" of that server busy page goes on in hopes of getting through, and no matter how minimal the page is, repeatedly serving it up to (discontented) customers can only exacerbate your bandwidth, cpu and customer satisfaction problems. So if the server busy screens are the result of setting some parameters in order to improve the page download times, perhaps that plan could be revisited.

The hardware does not sound terribly high-powered either, but without knowing more details what else is competing for resources and what if any relative priorities the different Gamestats users have on the system, it is difficult to really get conclusive.

	06-11-2001 23:32									#15
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

I agree the busy server is annoying to people who frequent apolyton. But I trust Dan, mark etc etc.... there probably working there arses off to figure this one out.

Btw I know traffic is extremely heavy since civ3. But I can imagine that the busy server troubles has probably restricted maximum visiting potential. not just the forums of course...but last night I noticed 600 guests logged on. Most people directly head to the forums because they have questions or issue's with the game

FG,

	07-11-2001 01:23									#16
	Support Apolyton, buy Call to Power 2

Did you consider installing TUX, the kernel space web server which holds all the web server performance records?

	07-11-2001 03:12									#17
	Browse Apolyton AD-FREE

Does TUX support PHP?

I think what Poly needs is a multithreaded web server.

Try Apache 2.0 or (gasp) IIS.

And also replace those P3 933s with dual P3 1.2GHz Xeons (with the extra cache and whatnot).

	07-11-2001 03:17									#18
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization III: Complete

dp

Last edited by Asher on 07-11-2001 at 03:44

	07-11-2001 10:45									#19
	Browse Apolyton AD-FREE

Too expensive, that's wasting good resources.

What they can do is to grab a couple more servers and build a LVS cluster farm. I think running AthlonMP 1800+ will be faster and cheaper than going the Xeon route.

	07-11-2001 10:46									#20
	Support Apolyton, buy GURPS/ Alpha Centauri

quote: Originally posted by Thue Did you consider installing TUX, the kernel space web server which holds all the web server performance records?

My guess is the backend (MySQL+PHP) that's eating up most of the CPU cycles.

	07-11-2001 11:36									#21
	Full PM-box? Change here!

quote: Originally posted by Urban Ranger Too expensive, that's wasting good resources. What they can do is to grab a couple more servers and build a LVS cluster farm. I think running AthlonMP 1800+ will be faster and cheaper than going the Xeon route.

I disagree...in fact, the 1800+ is $261 on Pricewatch, and the P3 is $260. And the P3 has double the full-speed L2 cache, which makes a big difference on servers for speed. And you don't have to buy registered RAM and big, special power supplies for the P3 like you do for the Athlon MP.

Who knows -- either would be good.

	07-11-2001 23:22									#22
	Support Apolyton, pre-order Civilization IV

<I>Dan, was this a way of telling us that you are leaving the day-to-day [operations] at Gamestats?</I>

johndmuller:

I resigned as Director of Operations of GameStats last month, effective November 1st.

As per technical recommendations, the best avenue to take is to send them directly to Tony Bolger and Leo Campione directly (Director of Technology and Director of Operations (Interim) and President/CEO respectively) -- their email addresses are listed on GameStats' website.

----------------
Dan; Apolyton CS

	08-11-2001 04:44									#23
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization: The Boardgame

quote: Originally posted by Asher Does TUX support PHP? I think what Poly needs is a multithreaded web server. Try Apache 2.0 or (gasp) IIS. And also replace those P3 933s with dual P3 1.2GHz Xeons (with the extra cache and whatnot).

Tux only serves static content. But it can pass on dynamic content to apache. But serving half the content much faster through tux would be worth it.