Speed increase going from 0.13 to 1.0.2? Topic is solved

[cwaz13]

Hi,

I'm a happy user of CMSMS 0.13, but if there's one major issue I have it's the speed.  The site I'm using it on seems to run pretty slowly.

Would an upgrade to 1.0.2 give me some speed increases?

As far as upgrading goes, I have the whole site exactly how I want it -- including CSS and hard changes to the Calendar 0.7 templates.  If I upgrade (and/or get the latest Calendar 0.7.4), will I lose those aspects and have to redo them?  Or will everything stay intact?  I guess those -- and of course the speed -- are my biggest issues when considering upgrading.

Thanks!
Chris

[nils73]

Do you mean backend-speed? The backend in 1.x is much faster than 0.1x versions. However, front-end speed wasn't that bad on CMSMS at all - eventhough it could be better.

Of course you might lose hard-coded changes in Calendar module - so backing up the whole thing would be recommended (in fact it is always recommended to backup files and db before upgrading anything). But I guess that everything will still work when using the update-scripts in install-folder.

Regards,
Nils

[cwaz13]

I actually did mean the front end (for the actual user browsing the site). 

On a T1 connection at work, it takes about 4-5 seconds to load each page, on both sites I've built with 0.13.  This is in IE6 and Firefox.  A possible clue is that in Firefox, the status bar at the bottom says, "Waiting for domain.com..." for about 3-4 seconds, THEN loads the page fairly quickly.  (IE6 says "Opening page..." for the same 3-4 seconds before I see it actually load).

This leads me to believe (hope) there may be a setting somewhere that gets a response from the server without that 4-second delay.  Am I missing anything, is this something that's been addressed in 1.0, or is this just how it is?

Thanks!

[superdataman]

Is it possible that you have a firewall or caching issue on the corporate network that consumes some time? Have you tried to access the same site from outside your corporate network?

[cwaz13]

Thanks, but no, this isn't a problem with other websites we view or host; only my CMSMS site.  D'oh.

[cwaz13]

Also -- just noticed this -- we have a placeholder .html page up right now.  When we go to any of the .php pages (CMSMS pages), we get the 4-5 second delay.  This happens no matter how many times we visit the same page, so it doesn't help if it's cached (if it's even cached) or anything.

However, if we visit the .html page on the same server, it loads instantly. 

Any ideas?  Does this sound CMSMS-related, general PHP-related, or shared host-related?

[moorezilla]

Are both your web server and your database on the same machine, or are they split?
How much memory is allowed for php? Sometimes this can slow things down if it's less than 16.
If the machine has too little ram or a bunch of vhosts on it, mysql can slow down pretty dramatically.
Have you bitched at your hosting provider yet?
Do you have any image calls to external sites that don't have width and height set?

Another test you could do is to install a couple other php/mysql applications and see if they run slower/faster than this one.

[cwaz13]

1) The site is on a shared host (globat.com).  The host and the database are all at Globat, but I'm guessing it's possible or likely that they're physically on different machines.

2) I'm not sure how much memory is allowed for PHP on the shared host... I'll check into that.

3) I talked with a support rep about the slow load time, and he told me it was traffic related.  High load on the shared host = slow PHP for me.  And while that makes sense, I run a personal site, also hosted by Globat, with an Invision Board (PHP forum) that runs perfectly fast on Globat's servers at the same time of day.  The support guy claimed it could be higher traffic on one of their servers than another, but that wouldn't be the case any time of day, every day.

4) No, no image calls to external sites.

5) Maybe I'll try installing my Invision Board on this exact server, under this client's account, just as a test.

Beyond that, I can't figure it out.  I'm taking it from the replies that a 4 to 7 second delay in loading EVERY page of a CMSMS site on a T1 connection is not normal...? 

Also, pages in the back-end in 1.0.2 run incredibly slow -- worse than the front-end.  Literally over 30 seconds to load a content page for editing, another 20-30 for the FCKeditor window itself to load, and then another 30+ seconds once I hit Submit.  I'm talking literally over 1 1/2 minutes to edit and save a single page.... I know that can't be normal.

[cwaz13]

Any other suggestions?  Would installing 1.0.2 from scratch (and importing the old database, etc) help, or does that not make a difference?

I'm really at a loss here; this CMSMS site runs painfully slow, with the back office taking up to a minute per page to load.  Doesn't seem like others have that problem, so it sounds like it's something on my end, but I don't know what.  My host doesn't seem to have any clue what's going on, instead choosing to blame it on traffic (which can't be the case because it was the same at 2:00 am).

[Ted]

You need to get an opcode cache installed on the server.  Basically, the overhead is from loading the code (and disk access) and not the actual program.  PHP is a dog by nature because of it's load-everytime mechanism.  An opcode cache removes that overhead and makes pages really fast.  Any production web server without one should be shamed. 

Some examples of opcode caches are eaccelerator or APC.  Pass that along to your hosting company and see what they think.

[gavinhowells]

I seem to have the same problem where by it stalls for 7 - 10 seconds when calling for a page but only when viewing the site on my PC .  When I use my Mac it loads instantly. 

Gavin

[cwaz13]

Yeah, my host told me they don't have an accelerator installed, and have been giving me the "we're aware of the performance issue and assure you it will be fixed soon" runaround for several weeks now. 

Does the lack of an accelerator seem the most likely culprit?  I seriously can't edit a page in the admin area in less than 1 to 1 1/2 minutes.... d'oh.

[Ted]

Well, it sounds like an overrloaded server to me.  If they're aware of the performance issues, then I'm sure it's not just you or CMSMS.  A opcode cache should significantly reduce to load of the server globally...  assuming it's all php that's causing the load in the first place.

[Pierre M.]

...However, if we visit the .html page on the same server, it loads instantly...

If your hoster doesn't set up an opcode, may be it has enabled Apache's mod_cache ?
http://forum.cmsmadesimple.org/index.ph ... l#msg44814
mod_cache with 1/4 hour delay could squash most of performance issues of not so often updated sites.

PM

[moorezilla]

I recently installed the latest eaccelerator and it helps significantly.

Also... it's in these forums a few places, but just to say it again, raising the php memory limit in php.ini seems to help performance a lot.

If you can do either of these, it does make a difference.

The apache cache fix sounds good as well, though I haven't tried it yet.