Could my database errors be caused by the Arcade?

[The Librarian]

I'm having HUGE database errors.

HostGator shut me down yesterday for excessive connections.

Today they say:
You're having database issues. Looks as though your queries are failing to disconnect and are left hanging. This causes a load on the server because the queries are constantly running in the background.

I only have 1300 members - 600 of which are listed as "active" Most users online averages 40-50. The most ever was back in June when I had 96.

I only had 32 games loaded... but I'm worried so I removed 12, leaving 20 online.

Right this minute there are 37 members and 8 guests online. .. of those TWO are listed as playing a game.

I need to figure out what's happening... so I thought I'd start here.

Could this program be causing the problems? If so, how do I fix it.

My members are enjoying it so I'd hate to have to remove it completely.

Thanks!

[Roxie]

Remove it and see if you still have excessive connections. What other mods do you have?

[The Librarian]

Remove it and see if you still have excessive connections. What other mods do you have?

Is there some place where I can see the connections myself? Right now I'm relying on HG to tell me.
I've disabled the arcade now and am waiting to hear from HG.

In addition to the arcade I have:

Bills PayPal Donate
Inactive User Reminder Emails - just added this Saturday but it's small and I was already having problems - in retrospect I shouldn't have done it.
vBadvanced CMPS
Yet Another Awards System
Zoints Thread Tags

[cheat-master30]

Is there some place where I can see the connections myself? Right now I'm relying on HG to tell me.
I've disabled the arcade now and am waiting to hear from HG.

In addition to the arcade I have:

Bills PayPal Donate
Inactive User Reminder Emails - just added this Saturday but it's small and I was already having problems - in retrospect I shouldn't have done it.
vBadvanced CMPS
Yet Another Awards System
Zoints Thread Tags

I think inactive users thing was what caused me problems as well, sends out an email every single day to you and one to every inactive member until they return I think... Either way, that probably was what got me suspended before, so try disabling it.

The others I don't know. Don't need vBadvanced myself, so I cannot comment, and Yet Another Awards System just failed to work for me. So yeah, try disabling the inactive user thing and the arcade, see what happens.

Oh, and if that's a problem with the arcade, I'm screwed (over 120 games currently).

[Mark.B]

I believe that this is actually a problem in the arcade. I'm on a semi dedicated server and yet every so often we get a bunch of database errors, all stating max_user_connections exceeded and all showing act=Arcade&do=newscore as the script.

The hosts tell me as well that we often have sleeping connections.

Something in the arcade is not behaving as it should, of that I am now certain.

[MortysTW]

I've got 3747 games installed at the moment and the issues I've had in the past with too many connections wasn't from my arcade.

Depending on the quality of your vbadvanced modules, that could be a serious issue. I use vbadvanced myself.

Problem with vbadvanced, is that every module/block makes its own connection. THere isn't one nice command that says "I need all this data, let's go in once and get then come back out and close the door."

Each module goes in, goes out, next goes in, goes out. And that's if it was coded well. Not all of them close the door behind themselves, thus leaving your connection time nasty.

And as I did a quick search to better help you, I realized you've already got your answer here.

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=243255

Please update posts in other locations when something is solved or almost solved so people like myself don't waste my time simply to restate what you've already found out elsewhere.

It just takes away time that I have very little of to donate here to lighten the load for MrZeropage.

[The Librarian]

I've got 3747 games installed at the moment and the issues I've had in the past with too many connections wasn't from my arcade.

Depending on the quality of your vbadvanced modules, that could be a serious issue. I use vbadvanced myself.

Problem with vbadvanced, is that every module/block makes its own connection. THere isn't one nice command that says "I need all this data, let's go in once and get then come back out and close the door."

Each module goes in, goes out, next goes in, goes out. And that's if it was coded well. Not all of them close the door behind themselves, thus leaving your connection time nasty.

And as I did a quick search to better help you, I realized you've already got your answer here.

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=243255

Please update posts in other locations when something is solved or almost solved so people like myself don't waste my time simply to restate what you've already found out elsewhere.

It just takes away time that I have very little of to donate here to lighten the load for MrZeropage.


Morty, thank you for taking the time to research this for me.

I'm STILL not certain what is or was causing my problems... I'm at this moment not sure whether my problems are solved.

I had *never* heard anything about vBadvanced being a problem. This is news to me. I'll look into it, so thanks for mentioning it.

My current situation is this:

- BECAUSE of all the database errors I felt I had to do something
- the only real advice I got at vBulletin.com and here was that - yes, I'm using too many resources - so I needed a new host
- so I've spent what to me seems an inordinate amount of money, time, and effort to move myself to VPS. - where I feel technically overwhelmed.
- I just did this yesterday. It's too soon to say whether this has or will solve my problems.


---I *did* get three error messages last night. They said:
Invalid SQL:

SELECT *
FROM vb_datastore
WHERE title IN ('','options','bitfields','attachmentcache','forum cache','usergroupcache','stylecache','languagecach e','products','pluginlist','cron','profilefield',' iconcache','mailqueue');

MySQL Error : Table './databasename/vb_datastore' was created with a different version of MySQL and cannot be read
Error Number : 1033

The good news is that I only got three. Monday night (BEFORE the move to the VPS) I got 100 like this, and my site was offline for about 30 minutes.

The bad news is that these last three cam AFTER my site had already been moved to the VPS. I was ***really*** hoping that my database problems would be solved with the move. :(


The arcade is only one of my hacks, so I know it might not be the problem.... but I asked about it first because
1) some of the errors I'd been getting mentioned it (although YES, I know this one doesn't - of course, this one makes NO SENSE WHATSOEVER but that's nothing new when it comes to vBulletin.)
2) it seems to use lots of resources
3) it was a recent addition to my forum
and
4) members had mentioned scores not being saved so I thought maybe that was part of the problem


So far, to solve this issue I've:

1) started three or four threads here and at vBulletin.com/forums
2) uninstalled 15 of the 35 games I had on my system (NOTICE: I only had 35. A simple answer of - "NO, 35 games wouldn't cause that much of a problem" could have helped me.)
3) disabled the "email reminder for inactive users hack"
and finally
4) moved from shared to VPS

and I still haven't got a real answer as to why my forums crashed.

Maybe I'll never know why my site used enough resources to be called "abusive" and shut down for 12 hours.

Forgive me for asking for help, Morty. I know Mr. Zeropage is busy. I haven't thrown a fit or anything... I've tried ***hard*** to solve this myself, really.

[MortysTW]

No worries. Text sometimes throws out a tone of voice that is not meant. I wasn't upset. It was more of an FYI.

I do the same thing. I thought it was a done deal and solved. So I was basically stating to come back and put a message saying "Solved per URL LINK HERE"

But as for your issue, you'd be amazed how many hosts brag about their shared plans and really aren't meant for forums even though they say you can run them on their accounts. Believe me, I've gone through it myself.

I'm going to PM you about my host that has seemed to solve my problems.

As for vBadvanced, I'm not bashing it. Like I said, I still use it. Its awesome and simplifies life. Its really not something I'd be concerned with. To do what vBadvanced does for YOU, would be some serious hard-core coding and a pain in the but to tweak and reshape as easily without having the same amount of server connections. The basic modules it comes with are clean code. Its when you get all these random ones that people create.

Didn't mean to shut you down on looking for help. But its your host was crap for your needs is what it sounds like to me. PM sent in a few minutes...........

[The Librarian]

No worries. Text sometimes throws out a tone of voice that is not meant. I wasn't upset. It was more of an FYI.

I do the same thing. I thought it was a done deal and solved. So I was basically stating to come back and put a message saying "Solved per URL LINK HERE"

But as for your issue, you'd be amazed how many hosts brag about their shared plans and really aren't meant for forums even though they say you can run them on their accounts. Believe me, I've gone through it myself.

I'm going to PM you about my host that has seemed to solve my problems.
I'll keep all of this in mind for the future. I think it *is* a good idea to follow up on threads with what you've done to solve problems and such. I've done it on other items and will continue to do so. I don't mean to sound snippy... It's just that I feel in over my head here, and I'm pretty sure that I have NO CLUE what I'm doing most of the time. lol :eek:
As for vBadvanced, I'm not bashing it. Like I said, I still use it. Its awesome and simplifies life. Its really not something I'd be concerned with. To do what vBadvanced does for YOU, would be some serious hard-core coding and a pain in the but to tweak and reshape as easily without having the same amount of server connections. The basic modules it comes with are clean code. Its when you get all these random ones that people create. I have created some modules. I guess I'll have do do some research on whether they could be part of my problem. But I'm going to wait until I find out whether this new host works or not.

One thing I must say here and now is that Brian at vBAdvanced has been THE BEST support person in vBulletin world to me. He's answered all of my questions with patience and kindness and I've never felt ignored there like I have here and at vBulletin.com/forums Maybe it's just because it's a smaller feature, but he's a great guy. It never occurred to me that vBA would be my problem, but I'll be sure to ask him if it continues after this move.

Didn't mean to shut you down on looking for help. But its your host was crap for your needs is what it sounds like to me. PM sent in a few minutes...........

It's ok. I'm just being too sensitive I guess. I just feel like I've begged for help in numerous places and am not really getting anywhere. And frankly HostGator's snippy attitude, 12 hour shutdown while ignoring emails, and overall lack of concern for anything has me feeling rather raw.

[MortysTW]

Again, vBadvanced rules. And yes, Brian over there is great with response time. I also feel vBa might be the issue as far as self created or crappy modules. Not the stock frame of vBa. That's very solid.

But I believe vBadvanced and a few other things are his job basically. So he's around and able to respond. I think the moderators and what not around vb.org have started to get used to people getting help from other people and aren't around as much on this particular site.

When you have general issues though, use the vbulletin. COM site. not org. Org is for help with things you've tweaked. .COM is for the heart of the script. And they are all over it on the DOT COM site.

[The Librarian]

Again, vBadvanced rules. And yes, Brian over there is great with response time. I also feel vBa might be the issue as far as self created or crappy modules. Not the stock frame of vBa. That's very solid.

But I believe vBadvanced and a few other things are his job basically. So he's around and able to respond. I think the moderators and what not around vb.org have started to get used to people getting help from other people and aren't around as much on this particular site.

When you have general issues though, use the vbulletin. COM site. not org. Org is for help with things you've tweaked. .COM is for the heart of the script. And they are all over it on the DOT COM site.

I do try to go to vbulletin.com for general issues and here for help with mods.

The folks usually answer at .com but not always. Of course, I think when they think a question is stupid they just ignore it. :o


I've got a new issue now. I'm afraid something is wrong with my server uploading the files.

SIGH. Why can't I have a moment where things work correctly????

Starting a new thread....

[The Librarian]

UPDATE to my situation.

I moved to a VPS. It had 256 mg memory. I kept getting database errors. I just upped it to 512 yesterday. (It's too soon to tell if this will stop the problems but I'm still concerned about too many connections.)

EVERYBODY tells me my problems are caused by the Arcade. (Except Morty - and I had Brian take a look at my vBAdvanced CMPS modules and he says they're all fine).

I **only** have 40 games installed and don't plan to add to that... I plan to rotate games in/out occasionally.

All the advice I've been given is to remove the arcade. I keep being told to move to a dedicated server.

I only have 1400+ members, around 600 active... most online ~50.

Is there some setting or some thing I could do to the Arcade to fix this? Is there something I could have done wrong on install that would make too many concurrent connections?

Does anybody have any ideas?

I want to keep the arcade with 40 games
add blogging
and run my forum on this VPS without having to spend more money.

Is this possible?

If you've gotten this far, thank you. I'll listen to all opinions, even if I don't decide to follow them. :)

[MortysTW]

This is so bizarre. Because my site is a database connection +++++ and I'm doing just fine with the basic webhosting plan I'm on.

Only thing I can suggest is to remove the arcade for a week and see how things go. Maybe your host, like many webhosts, state they offer the ability to run forums and other scripts, but in reality, they don't permit all the requirements that a decent running forum needs.

Sorry that I can't help you out anymore on this buddy. Let me know the results. Only thing I can think of if it is the arcade is that it just choked when being installed. But even that makes no sense to goof everything like you say.

[The Librarian]

This is so bizarre. Because my site is a database connection +++++ and I'm doing just fine with the basic webhosting plan I'm on.

Only thing I can suggest is to remove the arcade for a week and see how things go. Maybe your host, like many webhosts, state they offer the ability to run forums and other scripts, but in reality, they don't permit all the requirements that a decent running forum needs.

Sorry that I can't help you out anymore on this buddy. Let me know the results. Only thing I can think of if it is the arcade is that it just choked when being installed. But even that makes no sense to goof everything like you say.


Thanks Morty.

Tell me, what *are* all the requirements a decent running forum needs? What would you say is optimum for a ~2000 member forum with the arcade and the blogging thing?

I've just had several people tell me the arcade is bad... but my members really do love it - and so do I - I just hate to have to turn it off. :(

[stangger5]

I have over 4800 games installed,,,the only time I had to many connection errors was when I had a shout box active..

When I deactivated the shout box,,,everything was fine..

Do you have a shout box installed ??

[The Librarian]

I have over 4800 games installed,,,the only time I had to many connection errors was when I had a shout box active..

When I deactivated the shout box,,,everything was fine..

Do you have a shout box installed ??

No, no shoutbox at all. I can understand why that would add to server load though.

[paulvev]

The only time Ive EVER had DB errors in 2 .5 years is when I installed a shoutbox (which i removed the next day!)

[Leon44]

Hello
Ive ran my site off my own dedicated server for 5+ years now. My server tells me ALL connections. I have 5000+ members and over 200 active a day. The arcade doesnt use many connections. VBa does though, the only thing I can tell you to do is get a dedicated server. A Vb forum + vba is not something to run on host gator or anything like that. Im sorry if this doesnt help.