Speeding up CMS

[robinmarek]

Hi guys -

I have read through the previous threads about speeding up the CMS but I am struggling a bit. I know that it can be down to the server you store your files / database on but 2 particular sites I do (both are under the same hosting) the sites take 10-20 seconds to load. They both have quite a lot of modules on (FEU, custom content, forum, news, blog, formbuilder, members directory, etc)

Would contacting the hosting and upgrading the package help at all? I am at a bit of a loss really... I'm not sure what I'm looking for when it comes to speeding up the CMSMS site.

Any help very much appreciated...

[Ted]

It comes down to the host.  Modules can slow down a site to a certain extent because of the amount of resources that are loaded, but ultimately it comes down to having a host that can handle what you need.

The main cmsmadesimple.org site runs CMSMS with roughly .1 sec render times.  I'm not really a hosting expert, but I've tuned the server enough to handle it properly.  Hosting companies that just put PHP on a server without any tweaking aren't really trying -- or they may just be overselling their servers (more likely the case).

You can contact them and see why they say.  It's possible that they'll be gracious and help you figure it out.  But more likely, it's time to shop around for a better/faster host.

[robinmarek]

Thanks very much Ted, I figured as much but didn't want to go straight in without doing some research first... not really sure what I need to be look for with their php or what to ask them for really. Maybe they'll take a look at the site.

[jtcreate]

Can you expand a bit on the tuning techniques for the server that would help the CMSMS sites run faster? I have full control over my server, but am not sure where to start. If I can give them a list, tech support will handle all the php/mysql/etc. tweaks.

Thanks!

[Ted]

Number one thing you want to do is install an opcode cache module into your PHP.  When you see numbers on their sites saying that it'll speed up sites 5 to 10x, it's no joke.  The idea behind it is that PHP is loading and compiling your code on every invocation.  These modules take that compiled code and cache it so that on next request, it's just pulled from the cache and ran immediately.  I've had most success with http://eaccelerator.net/ and http://xcache.lighttpd.net/.

There are all kinds of other tricks you can do as well, but this is first and foremost.

[jtcreate]

Great suggestion. I'm looking into getting it installed right away. Thank you.

[Pierre M.]

Basic tuning also happens at the webserver level before requests hit PHP. Good webserver software has a tuning section in its documentation. Webservers host big static files well (PNG, Jpeg, Gif) and have fast server side cache features. Sometimes you can even enable reverse (caching) proxying to cache (say, for some minutes) what PHP has build.

And, of course, under the webserver level, there is the OS level (process priorities, filesystems...) and under the hardware (RAM, network...)

Pierre M.