The MacDeskBlog

I received the new dedicated server yesterday afternoon, and have apache and mysql set up on it for the main site. Stayed up past 3am working on it. Surprisingly, I’m not dragging that much today. I’ve been running httperf on it since about 2am. It looks like it can handle about 7-9 page requests (of the front page of the site, http://MacDesktops.com/) per second right now, while simultaneously running httperf. I expect this to go down somewhat when I get the rest of my sites on it, and get the rest of the services running. In comparison, the old G3 server can barely handle 2.5-3 page requests per second while httperf is running on a separate machine.

I’m cautiously hopeful about the new server.

I need to help Michelle move this week, so I’m not sure when I’ll be able to finish setting up the new machine. I doubt I’ll finish this week. We’ll see.

I’ve noticed over the past couple of months that the rate of submissions has been falling. Since I’m still processing pictures from September right now, I’m not terribly concerned yet. Though last year at this time, I think I was backlogged all the way to May or June. So I am noticing a change. I’m not quite sure why submission rates are declining, though I certainly have some suspicions. Of course, I like some of my theories better than others. I hope that I am way off-base on at least a couple of them. Feel free to chime in on this (and on anything else) and let me and others know your thoughts on the matter.

Theory #1:
As the largest displays keep getting larger, I keep nudging up the minimum picture size for submissions. This certainly has an impact as fewer people are sending me small pictures.

Theory #2:
As more landscapes and flowers have been appearing on the site, people might be thinking of the site as a source for just those pictures. This could be a self-reinforcing cycle if true.

Theory #3:
Poor server performance and poor reliability might be driving off patrons.

Theory#4:
The financial header at the top of the page could have been driving people off.

Theory #5:
People might think that the server problems impact submissions, and are not submitting because they don’t want to bog me down. The processes are entirely separate.

Theory #6:
Maybe there actually is a problem receiving mail of which I am unaware. I’m pretty sure this is not the case though.

Theory #7:
The whole Fahrenheit 9/11 drama could be having a lasting impact.

I expect that some or all of those theories are having an impact, and almost certainly some other factors which haven’t dawned on me yet. I have bigger problems to deal with at the moment, like the house and the servers and the site redesign/rewrite and other things. But I do want to put it out there than the submission queue is the shortest it has been in a very long time. So, if you have decently large pictures to share, please feel free to send them on in using the submission form on the site. I would especially like to encourage people with Apple/Macintosh themed content, music oriented pictures, portraits of men or women, humor and other content which you have seen less of recently to send in your works. Landscapes, flowers and sunrises/sunsets will always be welcome and will continue to be posted.

And if you have any theories, opinions, insights, etc, share them below. If you’d like to ask people to submit works of a certain type, here is a chance to do so. There is a Register link to the right, which should be working now. Once you’re registered, you’ll be able to comment on posts here.

Well, the old server started melting down again already, so my hope to nurse it along for a while longer is dashed. I’ve switched back to the new server, which is already performing poorly as well. So, I just ordered a fully dedicated server, which I’ll try to get setup within the next week. Apologies for the poor performance between now and then. Please bear with me.

So, here’s what’s going on with MacDesktops these days. My current production web server is running on a Blue & White G3 with a 500MHz upgrade card in it. It’s running Mac OS X 10.0. It’s located 3000 miles away from me. The folks at NetStep are great in that they are happy to reboot the machine for me, and they’re giving me a pretty good deal on co-location fees. I can’t, however have them upgrade the OS for me, and I’d be scared to have them try anyway. I’m running out of disk space on that computer. Fortunately, I had an extra disk in it, so I switched the web server over to the new disk early this week. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

I spent a few months trying to configure a couple of Graphite G4s as my new production and development servers running Mac OS X Server 10.3. But I had a bunch of problems with them, including a bad hard drive and having the machines crash. So, I decided to cut my losses on those for the time being.

A MacDesktops patron suggested GoDaddy to me as a new hosting solution. So I signed up for a Virtual Dedicated Server with them. It looked like the right scale of solution for me, and the price was good. I was a little bit leery about being hosted on Linux again, but I administered the MacNN servers which were running Linux a few years ago. So, when my production G3 died on a Friday after everyone at NetStep had gone home for the weekend, I decided to cut over to the GoDaddy server rather than get the NetStep folks to head back into the office for me (which they would have done, had I asked). Well, you’re probably familiar with how that experiment turned out. The Virtual Dedicated Server is great under a light load, but something was causing Apache to lock up frequently under a heavy load. After about a week of that, I switched back to the G3 (using the larger hard disk).

Moral of the story so far is that a four year version of Mac OS X running on six year old Apple hardware is at least as (and probably more) robust and stable than the current release of Red Hat running on Intel hardware.

So, right now, I’m back to using the B&W G3 as the web server, while the database is still running on the Linux server. I’m pondering my options:

1. limp along as is until I can rewrite the site entirely, hoping that doing so eliminates whatever is causing Apache to lock up
2. switch to a Dedicated Server (instead of a Virtual Dedicated Server) at GoDaddy
3. get separate Virtual Dedicated Servers for the database and web server
4. keep the Virtual Dedicated Server as the database and get a Dedicated Server for the web server
5. go back to building the G4s

I’m leaning toward the first option right now, primarily because I have too much going on in the rest of my life right now (see previous post) to deal with setting up another server right now. If either or both of current servers becomes too unstable (the database, for instance, seems to bog down periodically), I’ll be forced into short term action again.

Almost as an aside, the new server environment afforded me the opportunity to try out an upgrade to phpBB which powers my Gamers’ Log site, upgrade phpAdsNew and phpMyAdmin on MacDesktops, and to try out this blogging software (which I hope to integrate into MacDesktops during that rewrite).

Well, I decided to add a blog to MacDesktops. At this point, it will mostly be to record the trials and tribulations of the foundation replacement fiasco for “the building formerly known as my house”. I’ll toss in some stuff about my site as well.

My house is 10 feet in the air right now, standing on 6 piles of logs, while the remnants of a brand new but horribly wrong foundation are being jackhammered out. The foundation demolition was supposed to take about a week, but we’re closing in on two already. The horribly wrong foundation, as it turns out, was way over-poured in some areas and way under-poured in others. The garage, on one hand, had only a 2 inch slab. The perimeter foundation, on the other, was 10 inches thick, and 34-38 deep deep, standing 10-12 inches above grade and 3-6 inches above the slab. Ugh. The latest estimate is that we’re supposed to be finished with demolition by Friday. I hope this date doesn’t slip by too. Really need to get back on schedule and back on budget.