Thanks for the 'bouquet', Mancunian... we get enough brickbats!

Yes, a forum community can become quite a big part of a person's life if they are a real enthusiast in a certain area. We see this very clearly sometimes in cases where someone is creating a bad atmosphere and we have to ban them. Some people get very upset and it's almost as if we've taken their family away.

Crash is right, it is the volume of spam we get from overseas that is causing problems, unbelievable amounts that have steadily built up over our years of operation. The actual member traffic shouldn't cause a problem even on our busiest days, as we do lease our own dedicated server.

We are currently researching whether a big injection of extra RAM might do the trick or whether it's best to just bite the bullet and lease a new, much more powerful server. The issue of how to address the problem should be resolved shortly and the changes effective within about a week.

Thanks for bringing the matter to our attention. We can just as easily suffer from "maybe my own computer is the problem" syndrome as you can, so member feedback is very useful.

Management,

The paging file is little more than [free] quasi hard-drive RAM and the below RAM tweak is a well known one with PC Gamers who need all the RAM they can get. Worth a try anyway as it can only improve things regardless.

Increase the paging file [swap file] size to 2 1/2 times [no more] your present RAM size for both min. and max. paging file size. Here's how: Right click my computer/properties/advanced tab/click on performance 'settings'/advanced/under virtual memory click on 'change'/tick 'custom size'/ 1000mb = 1G of ram, so if you have 1G of ram set both min. and max to 2500mb or 2 1/2 times whatever RAM size you have/click on 'set'/OK and re-boot.
Note*Setting both min. and max. to the same size stops paging file fragmentation and useless and constant auto. re-sizing.

Also turn off your auto indexing service which uses a lot of RAM [uselessly] but is not required for most PC usages and especially for what your doing.

Here's how: Right click 'my computer' /manage/double click Services and applications/click on 'Services'/ scroll to and single click on 'Indexing services'/under service description in the left column, click on 'Stop this service'/now double click on indexing services to open it /under 'startup type' select 'disable'. close and re-boot.

You will have a marked free up of RAM space and a general system performance increase with the above tweaks. Stability will not be affected and in fact will improve stability.

If you want some advice on how to stop spam [without expensive software] just using certain settings and command lines, let me know. I get ZERO spam with Outlook Express without any special software.

Cheers.

The symptoms of extreme sluggishness reappeared early this morning when almost no one else was using the system.

So perhaps the server gets clogged up following late night activity and can't figure how to unclog itself.

A reboot would probably get things moving again.

It's probably worthwhile trying to verify if reboots fix the problem. If so then throwing more hardware at the problem might be a waste of money.

Black Viper:

This guy has been around for a very long time and his XP services/Email set -up guides are highly respected by good Tech. sites.

Here is his email set up guide [without buying software] for Outlook Express to avoid SPAM.

http://web.archive.org/web/20041115...ail/filter1.htm

Odds on the problem is to do with services stopping and starting when in standby mode. If your tech goes into the event viewer on the server he will see various services marked with warnings. If the site is going offline during the night (I've experienced this also), then your email exchange server will also be affected. Also ask him to turn off power saving mode on the network card, USB devices, and modem. Power saving mode also sends the server offline with limited use.

The symptoms of this server are pretty much inline with the troubles I face when called out to a business. Increasing ram is the fix that techs suggest when they cannot fix the software Ram will not fix these problems. If you really want an improvement in the server, upgrade the hard drives to double the size - you could even be running out of room, also make sure the backups are writing correctly - sometimes backups that fail write back onto the original drive causing slowdown and a full drive.

__________________
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Thank you all for the advice. The server is Linux, not Windows so although some of your recommendations are valid they are not necessarily appropriate in this scenario.

My background is one which has had me providing 2nd and 3rd level support for the entire workstation and server fleet for Australia's largest retailer Coles Myer along with close ties with HP and Microsoft for nearly a decade.

I have a thorough understanding of the current hardware and setup and am working with Management to determine the best course of action based on a cost benefit basis.

__________________
- Rikki
OZmium Support

NOTE: All posts are my personal comments which may not be the view of OZmium Management.

Oh well Chrome, there goes our moment of 'tech' glory!

PS. My next tip was to GO LINUX!!!

Okay, we've upgraded to a much better (and more expensive!) server, so it should go like a cut cat now

Thanks for the feedback and please let us know if the problems reappear.

Happy Christmas to all our forum members and visitors and successful punting in 2007.

Good on ya.

Have a great Xmas and a prosperous New Year!

Whoops.

Due to a miscommunication with Rikki, it turns out the migration has not occurred yet. Rikki is still working on the problem of minimising downtime.

I'll let you know here when the migration to the new server occurs.

A very happy and prosperous 2007 year to you, too.