Regarding yesterday's downtime, forum server upgrades, plugin updates

[Arynis]

Hi everyone!

Unfortunately the forum crashed pretty hard yesterday. MySQL restarts had no use, Shadowfang reported there had been crashed tables which are all fixed now. Server was also under a pretty bad load. We don't know what exactly caused the issues, if it were the flocking birds, or something else, but the tables are fixed now, and we have upgraded to the $10 server. Shadowfang made it sure the change is reversible in case we lose enough Patreon supporters, so $5 hosting is possible if the worst comes to happen. Regardless, the better specs should give MySQL some air and allow to carry the forum better during Sundays and other times. However, I do encourage everyone to donate if you feel the forum deserves a better server, or you hate all these downtime errors, or just want to help out somehow. Even $1 helps big time, and you get a shiny username and a special forum section for your efforts!  https://www.patreon.com/neoarkcradle

Plugins have also been updated, as well as MyBB to the most recent version. If anyone notices anything funny, do let us know!

Arynis

[JustGian]

Thank you for your (and Shadowfang's) work, Arynis!

Everything seems to be ok now. The only difference I noticed is that whenever I like a post, it displays something else instead of the username. Here's a screenshot.

[~Mana~]

Yeah, that seems to be happening with any and all user likes, regardless of whether their usernames are supposed to be styled or not. I noticed that this morning when the site came back online. Was the username plugin one that was updated?

EDIT: Also happens when you post.

[Arynis]

Yeah, the Style Usernames plugin has also been updated. I was wondering if downgrading the plugin might help. I'll ask Shadowfang, and/or check if there's a fix for it.

Regarding the Likes, it happened when I liked Gian's post, but now it appears fine now. Your username also appears fine now, Mana.

The only place where usernames seem permapooped is the online admin list in the ACP, but who cares about that. :V

[~Mana~]

Oh yeah, the bug is literally while you're still on that page, that's all. Refreshing fixes the bug, likely because it's loading the styles with the page load.

So perhaps it's simply a bug preventing styles from being applied when the element is generated from the form, instead printing the code?

[NeoArkadia]

Please guys, don't hammer us with F5 in the future. ;.;

[MystikX]

Found something funny.

[Arynis]

Mana: Perhaps. But if it fixes itself on refresh, that's not a big deal, is it? It'd be more bothersome if it persisted. The name bug in the ACP does persist, but who gives a shit about that.

To clarify Ark's post, site load was over 1.0 all afternoon on Sunday. Here's a nice article detailing the technical explanation regarding site load: http://www.howtogeek.com/194642/understa...e-systems/

The forum kept spazzing and continuously reported heavy load, so we assumed people were flocking to the forum and not giving it air to breathe.

...Mystik, pls.

[NeoArkadia]

Found something funny.

[Joke]

(My Head)

[Arynis]

https://github.com/lukasamd/MyBB-Style_U...s/issues/8

Yep, it does seem like the issue might be tied to the newest MyBB version, so downgrading is pointless. All we gotta do is wait.

[Arynis]

Whelp, so MySQL stopped while I was asleep. I restarted it since I just woke up, the forum is back up now.

[~Mana~]

What keeps causing these? Is it simply an overload in traffic, or just a recurring forum bug? O.o

[Shadowfang]

This is caused by a lack of memory of the server. We are currently using a server that has 1GB of memory. Most smartphones have more ^^

There is not much a program can do once it completely runs out of memory, as it would need to use memory in order to recover. More memory costs more money.

Technical stuff:
I'm gonna add a larger swapfile, so that in case the server runs out of physical memory, it will start using diskspace. Of course, once that runs out we're in a pickle, but it should give the server more air in cases of exceptional load.

[~Mana~]

Ah, that makes sense actually. I had thought the server had more memory actually, but the server is only a $10 server, so that works out. Shame we're not in a better position to improve on this aspect though. Does the current provider charge much more for an upgrade in memory?

And good to hear about the swapfile. Hopefully that'll mitigate some of the load and allow the server to hold out a little longer.

[Arynis]

The next upgrade we could take is the $20 server with 2 GB memory, but that'd be a super shaky aim without more donators since we get roughly ~$24 from Patreon post-fees.

Our next project at the moment is creating a script that auto restarts MySQL when it stops running, so no more "NAC died at 2 AM and we were both asleep" shenanigans. I decided to register at Codecademy and take some courses or ten, I completed the command line course on Monday. So to make things fun, I took it upon myself to figure out this script and write it, although Shadowfang will provide me pointers.