Large forum; Optimize search.php
 

I have a steady growing forum; http://houstonperformancetrucks.com/

I'm on a dedicated server. My peak hours are 9pm - 12am, I have to log in and turn off message searching due to the search.php file. Everyone clicks on "what's new/ new posts" and it causes a huge load on the forum.

I get loads over 100.00+ if i don't turn off the message searching options.

model name : Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 2.00GHz
I'm on 2gb of ram. Just recently upgraded from 1gb ram thinking it was a memory issue. I think the CPU can't handle all of the load, but I want to see if there is a way to optimise the "new posts/whats new" before upgrading to another dedicated server.

Any Ideas? I've followed several articles but none have helped.

Did you try Sphinx?

No, I googled it and it looks like a good idea, I may try that. thanks

This may help... it reduces the search load... http://tracker.vbulletin.com/browse/VBIV-9878

Also:
1. Try limiting searches / user to once per 15 or 30 seconds
2. Disable 'bots from searching via robots.txt (stop access to search.php)

That tracker URL is confusing lol idk what is going on there.

I tried setting the limit to 60 seconds, I created a test account, it only works when a user doesn't have any posts, once i made a post it didn't limit me anymore. Any ideas why?

Thanks

The tracker has a patch file which needs to be applied to the vB source.
You need to have some understanding of diff and patch (being a developer helps).
You can also apply the edits by hand, once you understand the diff format.

The search time limit should apply to everyone but admins?

Sounds hardcore lol

I ended up moving hosts and upgraded from a single core to a quad core dedicated server. I haven't seen the server hit a load past 1.00 :)

I'll worry about optimizing again in about a year or so. Thanks for the help. For now i'll be able to sleep at night lol

What is Sphinx?

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Maybe I need to do some adjusting to my forum too? I haven't had any issues yet, but I too also have 2GB of ram. How much bandwidth are you working with?

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very nice forum you have there. Who did the coding for you? It looks hot! =)

Thanks alot :) . I did everything on it. Not much coding tho except for simple html for the banners on the left column. I did all the sytle vars tho for the color and stuff.