Modifications to eOmahaForums

[BRoss]

So there are no simple HTTP-only bots out there ?

While there certainly could be unsophisticated bots that only do HTTP only, it's incredibly easy to make ones that do HTTPS (especially with all the frameworks that exist today). And with most of the internet being HTTPS these days, most newer bots are likely to handle this.

You are right - it could cut it down a little. I just wouldn't expect it to make a vast difference. But it certainly wouldn't hurt and would be a good idea.

[nebugeater]

On this morning ( Sunday) and all is good right now.

[nebugeater]

Been good for access for me the last few days. This morning ( 10/20) not so much so. Error after error and per the log there is no one really on the site no but me. About 3 refreshes for every page view. Also, everything is VERY SLOW.

[Omababe]

Lotsa errors this Sunday morning. I hope this posts.

[Uffda]

A lot of error messages this afternoon and this evening on both my iPad and laptop. Usually I get into a topic after two -three error messages

[Brad]

For a while it seemed like if the site was having problems, wait and hour and it would be better, now it seems like its always having problems.

[GenX]

For a while it seemed like if the site was having problems, wait and hour and it would be better, now it seems like its always having problems.

There have been so many errors this morning that the site is nearly unusable. Hopefully someone can get this resolved...

[Original]

I've adminned phpBB before, decade+ ago. 500s are sometimes database issues. Have you looked at the underlying Apache/nginx logs, or does your provider not let you do that?

[BRoss]

I've adminned phpBB before, decade+ ago. 500s are sometimes database issues. Have you looked at the underlying Apache/nginx logs, or does your provider not let you do that?

I've been starting to wonder if it could be a database issue. Unfortunately this site is on a shared host and are limited to the tools they provide. I haven't seen any really useful logs giving detail about what the problem really is.

[Louie]

Basically unusable still. Really a bummer, I look forward to checking this forum on a daily basis, but I haven't been keeping up because of these issues. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

[GrandpaaSmucker]

Basically unusable still. Really a bummer, I look forward to checking this forum on a daily basis, but I haven't been keeping up because of these issues. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

These Forum administrators are all gun ho to do the fun stuff like banning people and correcting posters and acting important. When it comes to the boring stuff like fixing tech issues and deleting spam you can't find one of these guys to save your life. I apologize!

[Original]

If I had to guess, I'd guess the DB (probably mySQL) is thread/connection starved. If the host won't let you get logs, not much easy way to tell.

[Bob from Omaha]

I don't understand why neither the DSM nor the KC boards never seem to have a problem yet this one does and more than a little bit. Perhaps it's time to change hosts for this forum? I'm no expert on these things and there may be a money issue as the Omaha boards aren't monetized while the DSM one is to an extent I think.

[Bob from Omaha]

Basically unusable still. Really a bummer, I look forward to checking this forum on a daily basis, but I haven't been keeping up because of these issues. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

These Forum administrators are all gun ho to do the fun stuff like banning people and correcting posters and acting important. When it comes to the boring stuff like fixing tech issues and deleting spam you can't find one of these guys to save your life. I apologize!

Well first it's "Gung Ho" not "gun ho"....I'm just guessing but gun ho sounds more like a noun than an adjective.

adjective
adjective: gung-ho

unthinkingly enthusiastic and eager, especially about taking part in fighting or warfare.
"the gung-ho soldier who wants all the big military toys"

Second World War: from Chinese gōnghé, taken to mean ‘work together’ and adopted as a slogan by US Marines.

[BRoss]

If I had to guess, I'd guess the DB (probably mySQL) is thread/connection starved. If the host won't let you get logs, not much easy way to tell.

Yep, that is what is going on. I found an interface last night that showed stats and I saw thousands of failed database connections. It seems like maybe our database has grown to a point where it's taking the server too long to return results in a timely manner. I see a lot of table scanning occurring. Adding indexes would help us here. When I get some time, I'm going to try to analyze the queries and see where we can possibly add indexes.

[Bob from Omaha]

If I had to guess, I'd guess the DB (probably mySQL) is thread/connection starved. If the host won't let you get logs, not much easy way to tell.

Yep, that is what is going on. I found an interface last night that showed stats and I saw thousands of failed database connections. It seems like maybe our database has grown to a point where it's taking the server too long to return results in a timely manner. I see a lot of table scanning occurring. Adding indexes would help us here. When I get some time, I'm going to try to analyze the queries and see where we can possibly add indexes.

Are you sure you'll have time for this, what with all the banning people, correcting posters and acting important?

[BRoss]

Are you sure you'll have time for this, what with all the banning people, correcting posters and acting important?

Yeah...I just ignore him. Plus I'm not really an admin. I just help when needed.

I may have been wrong about this being a database issue though. That may just be a symptom. I downloaded the access logs and there are a lot of IP addresses coming from Huawei HongKong Clouds. I really doubt we have that much (or any really) traffic coming from overseas. I just blocked the IP range and the site is running much better so far.

[Omaha Cowboy]

Yeah...I just ignore him. Plus I'm not really an admin. I just help when needed.

I may have been wrong about this being a database issue though. That may just be a symptom. I downloaded the access logs and there are a lot of IP addresses coming from Huawei HongKong Clouds. I really doubt we have that much (or any really) traffic coming from overseas. I just blocked the IP range and the site is running much better so far.
[/quote]

We all really appreciate your help Paperstacks. All moderators/admins here, have full time jobs and families to tend too, as do you. So again, we really appreciate a forum member who cares enough about Omaha and this forum, to lend a hand to help fix the problem..Rather that bloviating useless and silly criticisms...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

[BRoss]

We all really appreciate your help Paperstacks. All moderators/admins here, have full time jobs and families to tend too, as do you. So again, we really appreciate a forum member who cares enough about Omaha and this forum, to lend a hand to help fix the problem..Rather that bloviating useless and silly criticisms...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

Thanks. I found that the number of hits this month more than doubled this month. And much higher than I would ever expect for this site. The access log is full of 159.138.*.* addresses with other IP addresses (likely from real members) peppered in every once in a while. In fact, there were over 145,000 records I was able to get and they were all from today.

[BRoss]

I also wanted to mention that SSL (HTTPS) is enabled for this site. You just need to use https://eomahaforums.com instead of http://eomahaforums.com.

We just need to automatically make it redirect from HTTP to HTTPS. For now, just update your bookmarks if you want to use it (I recommend doing so).

[ita]

We all really appreciate your help Paperstacks. All moderators/admins here, have full time jobs and families to tend too, as do you. So again, we really appreciate a forum member who cares enough about Omaha and this forum, to lend a hand to help fix the problem..Rather that bloviating useless and silly criticisms...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

Thanks. I found that the number of hits this month more than doubled this month. And much higher than I would ever expect for this site. The access log is full of 159.138.*.* addresses with other IP addresses (likely from real members) peppered in every once in a while. In fact, there were over 145,000 records I was able to get and they were all from today.

Just wanted to say thanks too for resolving the issue.

[Brad]

Your speaking a foreign language as far as I’m concerned, but I am sure glad you are here to help! We really appreciate it!

[BRoss]

No problem.

I also have now made it so all HTTP traffic will be automatically redirected to HTTPS.

[Coyote]

I had banned 159.138.*.* But not in the cPanel.

[Omaha Cowboy]

No problem.

I also have now made it so all HTTP traffic will be automatically redirected to HTTPS.

Excellent.. Since none of us are IT guys, your assistance is invaluable. Another beer (on me) the next time we meet up ...


Ciao..LiO...Peace

[BRoss]

The issue popped back up this morning. I found a lot more IP ranges causing 404s (page not found) coming from APNIC which I further tracked down to China.

There are still ones coming from APNIC causing 200s (page found) and will likely need to block those too a little bit later. But I have to get ready for work and there's still a lot of log to go through. But things are running much smoother again.

[Uffda]

The issue popped back up this morning. I found a lot more IP ranges causing 404s (page not found) coming from APNIC which I further tracked down to China.

There are still ones coming from APNIC causing 200s (page found) and will likely need to block those too a little bit later. But I have to get ready for work and there's still a lot of log to go through. But things are running much smoother again.

Thanks for Your volunteer work... things are running smoothly this morning.

[nebugeater]

If I had to guess, I'd guess the DB (probably mySQL) is thread/connection starved. If the host won't let you get logs, not much easy way to tell.

Yep, that is what is going on. I found an interface last night that showed stats and I saw thousands of failed database connections. It seems like maybe our database has grown to a point where it's taking the server too long to return results in a timely manner. I see a lot of table scanning occurring. Adding indexes would help us here. When I get some time, I'm going to try to analyze the queries and see where we can possibly add indexes.

Thnaks for looking at this. !!!

[Louie]

I didn't mean to sound too harsh, just a long time user who has grown accustomed to this site's accessibility.

[BRoss]

I didn't mean to sound too harsh, just a long time user who has grown accustomed to this site's accessibility.

No worries. It's been frustrating trying to find the root cause and I had not had a lot of time to dig deep. But I am now more familiar with the tools provided by the host.

It turns out that our site has been under a DDoS attack from China. But we now know ways to combat it so the server doesn't overload.

[Admin]

Sorry the forum was briefly down.

[Louie]

Sorry the forum was briefly down.

We appreciate your expediency in bringing it back online!

[Garrett]

Am I having a Mandela moment or is there a new development subforum for Lincoln?

[Uffda]

Am I having a Mandela moment or is there a new development subforum for Lincoln?

There is that and lots of other shuffling/reorganizing. At first I thought I had clicked the wrong link as the forums looked different than what I have seen for years.

[Garrett]

Am I having a Mandela moment or is there a new development subforum for Lincoln?

There is that and lots of other shuffling/reorganizing. At first I thought I had clicked the wrong link as the forums looked different than what I have seen for years.

Yeah after I made this comment I saw a bunch of reshuffling. Lightly unsettling after all these years!

[nebraska]

Proposal to modify the Urban section to include Maple to Center, west to 90th Street. This 3.5 mile x1.5 mile area is decidedly urban, including the newly defined TOD zoning area.

[nebport5]

Proposal to modify the Urban section to include Maple to Center, west to 90th Street. This 3.5 mile x1.5 mile area is decidedly urban, including the newly defined TOD zoning area.

This had been debated for years. I'd even say extend it to 680 as the western boundary. I believe Dodge St. still changes to "West Dodge" after 72nd St. It's still bizarre to me that the Crossroads redevelopment is in "Suburban Development".

[Busguy2010]

I agree that urban Omaha extends well beyond 72nd street, but at the same time, having a well known solid dividing line makes categorizing topics and finding a topic easier. It's just that urban Omaha has extended West of this line over time.

Maybe a good boundary would be within I-80/ I-680 and north of the county line, but then I wouldn't know what to call it, and on top of that, there would be urban and suburban types of developments in both forums.

I think the current setup is good and totally sufficient, but maybe there are some changes worth consideration.

[Busguy2010]

Maybe call them
Omaha Development Forum (bound by I-680/I-80/Missouri River/Harrison St.)
Suburban Omaha Development Forum (everything outside that boundary, but still in the metro area in Nebraska)

[Brad]

Were basically set with 72nd street being the split. Otherwise we would need go through 990 topics, 20 pages for the Urban Section as well as 885 topics and 18 pages for the Suburban section and individually move each thread that needed to be moved from on section to the other.

If the Urban VS Suburban really bothers people, it would be 10,000 times easier to rename them to "East of 72nd Street" and "West of 72nd Street".

I would also like to point out that after 16 years, the fact that the number of topics in Urban and Suburban is so close, we obviously have it split in a good location. You don't want one form way busier than the other, otherwise good discussion gets buried too fast.