Server Busy
 

I've got some problems with my current hosting. They were complaining that my forum was using more than 10% of the total processor power on the server and as such as causing problems with other sites.

As a result I've had to reduce the '*NIX Server Load Limit' setting on my forum. I've got it set to about 10 (it says 5 should be OK, but I've put it to 10 anyway – can anyone tell me what this actually does) but as a result, now a lot of my users are complaining that they're getting 'This server is busy at the moment, please try again later'.

Now I'm looking for help with two things. First of all, I've got a custom user group on the forum called 'Friends of Arathor'. It's the group for people who have donated/subscribed to the site. I'd like to set it so that members of this group get preference over the other users so they never see the 'server is busy' message.

Second of all, can anyone give me any tips on how I can reduce the server load? What features can be turned off, etc... to make it use less power, etc...

Good idea about using the server load...

What hacks are using? Those are a good way to increase your load.

You can also turn off the similiar threads feature.

I've got a few that I'm using, nothing too major (I don't think), cept for the arcade.

I'm going to be upgrading to 3.5.3 soon (maybe over the weekend), which will pretty much mean I'm going to lose any hacks I've got on there anyway.

Does anyone know if 3.5.* is better for server load, etc?

(and does anyone know how I can let a specific usergroup bypass the 'server is busy' message?)