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Billikens.com Server Problems


SluSignGuy

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The day I ask people to support Billikens.com...Billikens.com crashes during the first game.  That's 2020 for ya.

In sum, it is looking like we will need to upgrade the server.  Regrettably, due to the holiday, my web hosts sales team is on holiday until Monday - so things may not be fixed for the LSU game.

Tonight, I have already tweaked some settings to put less demands on the server.  Tomorrow, when the server is more stable, I will tweak some things in data base world to aim to improve performance.  But overall, I suspect my tweaks will have marginal impact - and we may run into the same problem on Saturday. 

My apologies for this inconvenience, especially at the beginning of the season.

Everyone have a good, safe holiday tomorrow.

Steve

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As a small update, I am nervous that problems will not be resolved until after the holiday weekend.   This is frustrating because the season just started - but the holiday weekend (and businesses/support being at lower capacity) will likely limit how much I can fix things.

I appreciate everyone's support and patience - trust me, I wish everything was working I bet more than most.

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5 minutes ago, RUBillsFan said:

Crappy situation, but understand that everything is out of your control at this point.  Thanks for all the hard work and for letting us play in your sand box.

Whatever happened to to “Performance Mode”?  I always thought that name was hilarious.

Performance mode was removed a few software versions ago.  Manually, I have tried to disable a number of superfluous features to try to reduce demands on the server some.

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I wanted to warn individuals that we are still having server problems.  I cannot upgrade the server until Monday at the earliest.  I am still trying to troubleshoot how to make things better, but I would be surprised if the server stayed online during the SLU/LSU game.

I am sorry for this inconvenience.

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7 minutes ago, drkelsey55 said:

When will we be able to get the home page again?

 

I will likely wait at least until tomorrow if not until the server is upgraded on Monday/Tuesday.  I am overall trying to reduce the demand on the server as much as possible.

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For an update, today I worked out with the hosting company our upgrade plan. The order will be processed in the morning, and I hope to be migrated to the new server on Wednesday or Thursday. If need to upgrade again, we can. There will likely be a hiccup or two, but I will do my best to minimize these.

In a small warning, we may go through a server switch again in April or May when I will likely explore other hosting options. I am avoiding switching web hosts now to minimize disruption during the season.  We may ultimately stay put, but I want to do my due diligence.

I appreciate everyone’s patience during all of this.

Steve

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Steve:  Every device I have ... PC, tablet, Iphone .... is bookmarked for 'Billikens.com' but every one of them takes me directly to the message board forum and not the main page with news articles, schedule, tweets, etc.  As a matter of fact, even doing a web search and picking the site noted as "Billikens.com -- For the Fans by the Fans"  take sme right back to the Message Board forum.  What's up with that?  Update problem?

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8 minutes ago, Taj79 said:

Steve:  Every device I have ... PC, tablet, Iphone .... is bookmarked for 'Billikens.com' but every one of them takes me directly to the message board forum and not the main page with news articles, schedule, tweets, etc.  As a matter of fact, even doing a web search and picking the site noted as "Billikens.com -- For the Fans by the Fans"  take sme right back to the Message Board forum.  What's up with that?  Update problem?

This is intentional.  I am redirecting all of the traffic from the main page directly to the message board.

In sum, I am trying to minimize the resources used by other aspects of the site (e.g. loading the front page) in order to make sure the message board keeps working.  Every time someone loads the main page, it uses up a bit of resources.  Given over 95% of users directly click a message board link on the main page, I am temporarily cutting out this step so only one page loads instead of two.

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I was surprised to log in yesterday and see a 10+ page GDT. I couldn't even get the site to load over the weekend. Tried a couple times, once during the LSU game, to no avail. So maybe the server issues aren't impacting everyone equally, FWIW.

Regardless, sounds like things will be running more smoothly by the time the UAPB game rolls around.

Thanks for the hard work, Steve. I know this has caused some undeserved stress over the past week.

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Regrettably, there was difficulty in getting a new contract for a server upgrade this week - and we will still be on the old server this weekend.  If you want the details, I can share via PM.  But lets just say I am disappointed in my hosting company, as the delay is not technical but bureaucratic.

Throughout the last week, I have made many tweaks to Billikens.com on the backend to place reduced demand on the server.  Last week during the LSU game, some were able to participate in the GDT.  My hope is that we will not completely crash tonight.  However, overall I regret that we are experiencing any problems at all.

My apologies for this inconvenience, and I thank you for your patience.

Steve

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13 minutes ago, SluSignGuy said:

Regrettably, there was difficulty in getting a new contract for a server upgrade this week - and we will still be on the old server this weekend.  If you want the details, I can share via PM.  But lets just say I am disappointed in my hosting company, as the delay is not technical but bureaucratic.

Throughout the last week, I have made many tweaks to Billikens.com on the backend to place reduced demand on the server.  Last week during the LSU game, some were able to participate in the GDT.  My hope is that we will not completely crash tonight.  However, overall I regret that we are experiencing any problems at all.

My apologies for this inconvenience, and I thank you for your patience.

Steve

GD lawyers

 

j/k  😄

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1 hour ago, SluSignGuy said:

 But lets just say I am disappointed in my hosting company, as the delay is not technical but bureaucratic.

My apologies for this inconvenience, and I thank you for your patience.

Steve

Frustrating to hear this, Steve.

Hypothetically, do you know how much more another hosting service might cost? I'm happy to kick in some more money, and I'm sure we can get some other posters to also contribute more especially if it makes your time commitment to our board easier to manage.

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