Forum bandwidth

michaelab

michaelab

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Checked on the bandwidth of the forum today for the first time (!)....:yikes:

It's running at between 1.5 to 2Gb per week :eek: I have a 10Gb a month limit on my hosting so it's currently getting close to that limit.

In an effort to reduce that as a first step I've turned on GZIP compression (at the max level) in the forum options so that, for clients that support it, pages will be compressed before sending them. It seems to have had an effect as bandwidth usage has dropped drastically since I turned it on - OTOH it hasn't exactly been stormingly busy here the last couple of days :D

I may be taking a few more bandwidth reducing options soon, including severly limiting the size of "attachments" to posts (including images). They're already limited to 50Kb but I might take that down to 20Kb. Please, if you want to post images if at all possible host them somewhere else.

Might look at the max avatar filesize aswell...

Michael.
 
Originally posted by michaelab
In an effort to reduce that as a first step I've turned on GZIP compression (at the max level) in the forum options so that, for clients that support it, pages will be compressed before sending them.
Click to expand...

Any idea which clients support it ?

BTW while we're talking about browsers, check out Firebird it's hot !
 
Re: Re: Forum bandwidth

Originally posted by Sgt Rock
Any idea which clients support it ?

BTW while we're talking about browsers, check out Firebird it's hot !
Click to expand...

No idea which clients support it! I assume all the latest browsers do...

Second that about Firebird - it's one hell of a browser. Has recently replaced IE as my default browser. I'm no fan of MS but I've tried many other "alternative" browsers in the past only to return to IE because the the others (versions of Netscape, Opera mainly) were just no contest for IE for various reasons.

Firebird is the first browser for a long time that really is HOT!!

Michael.
 
gzip compression certainly works with IE, Netscape > 4, and Mozilla. The server will only send compressed output to browsers that support it.

I'm sure a whip-round could be organised so that forum members can help fund the bandwidth if necessary. I'd certainly be willing to contribute to a fund for running costs.

-- Ian
 
Michael,

What is the average size per page view at ZeroGain? I've got it down to 13.3k at pfm through gzip, some light tweaking and my almost psychopathic hatred of avatars and meaningless flashing baubles. There is a big gain in setting attached images to not display as people only download them once to see them rather than download them automatically each time they read a new post on the page. All this stuff, whilst it makes the pages look a lot plainer do make the speed for modem users far more acceptable.

I'm sure we both pay a sizable price in bandwidth due to IE6 being too stupid to cache the vBulletin buttons when a user either posts or hits 'view new posts'. That bug (and it is definitely with IE as Firebird doesn't do it) actually costs us money. If anyone lives near Microsoft in the US please heave a brick through their window for me...

Tony.

PS pfm stats are here if you are interested: http://pinkfishmedia.net/stats/accesslog.html

PPS compare pfm's 13.3k avaerage page view to Groovehandle's 27.4k - proves what gzip and keeping graphics in check does. I want to keep pfm on a 10gb account as long as posssible...
 
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I know I will probably not be popular with some other folk on here, but another suggestion would be to axe some of the smileys. I have just been looking at the filesize and there are a few that are over 20k. That doesnt sound a lot, but remember, this adds up, and the more users that register, the worse it will get.
 
Re: Re: Forum bandwidth

Originally posted by Sgt Rock
BTW while we're talking about browsers, check out Firebird it's hot !
Click to expand...

Cheers for that Mr Rock, it seems to be a cut down version of Mozilla, but as I hate IE and my machine has just been formatted, I'll give it a bash! :)
 
In an effort to reduce that as a first step I've turned on GZIP compression (at the max level) in the forum options so that, for clients that support it, pages will be compressed before sending them. It seems to have had an effect as bandwidth usage has dropped drastically since I turned it on - OTOH it hasn't exactly been stormingly busy here the last couple of days
Click to expand...

Michael,

Its probably worth monitoring the bandwidth with the compression on for the next week or so to see if you need to take any more steps to reduce bandwidth usage.

If you do need to, we can probably get rid of a few extra smilies etc but OTOH, we dont want the forum to turn into a duplicate of pinkfish :D
 
Re: Re: Re: Forum bandwidth

Originally posted by PBirkett
Cheers for that Mr Rock, it seems to be a cut down version of Mozilla, but as I hate IE and my machine has just been formatted, I'll give it a bash! :)
Click to expand...

Paul,

You're welcome, also check out the extensions & themes, I'm using Px Classic :cool:
 
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In an effort to reduce that as a first step I've turned on GZIP compression (at the max level) ...
Click to expand...

All the posts on the vBulletin support boards I've read on the subject say just to set gzip to 1 - apparently stepping it up higher doesn't give much extra compression but totally hammers the server cpu. I did a fair bit of research / panicing once I realised that pfm pushed out an insane 230Mb on day 2 (and thats with gzip!)!

An average of 322.5Mb per day is the max possible on a 10Gb account so I'm well in range now at roughly 155Mb, and can now hopefully pretty much double the pfm userbase before upping the hosting arrangement.

Tony.
 
Micheal,

if you find you are running out of bandwidth, rather than lose functionality, I would be prepared to help contribute towards the cost of a higher monthly limit.

Cheers, Neil
 
Originally posted by TonyL
PPS compare pfm's 13.3k avaerage page view to Groovehandle's 27.4k - proves what gzip and keeping graphics in check does. I want to keep pfm on a 10gb account as long as posssible...
Click to expand...
How did you work out the ZeroGain stats? A quick look at my access logs (which are only accessible with a username and password) shows that your figure of 27Kb is about right. The figure for yesterday seems to have dropped to 10Kb which would be amazing, but we'll see how it goes over the next week. Thanks for the tip about GZIP though - I changed the setting down to 1 allthough of course I'm not bothered about hammering the server as it's not mine :torkmada: I didn't notice any drop in performance with it (and I'm using Firebird which definitely supports it).

On the smilies - I think that the most used ones aren't too bad. The difference in page size from between ZG and PFM is probably largely down to the absence of avatars on PFM - something that won't be changing here :D

Ian and Neil - thanks for the offers. I'll see how things develop for a while and I think we should be able to fit into 10Gb for some time yet without any drastic cutbacks.

Michael.
 
How did you work out the ZeroGain stats?
Click to expand...

I didn't, the ones I quoted were for Groovehandle! They are publically accessable like pfm's as we both use the same hosting solution. Don't worry I ain't been hacking!

Tony.
 
Originally posted by TonyL
I didn't, the ones I quoted were for Groovehandle! They are publically accessable like pfm's as we both use the same hosting solution. Don't worry I ain't been hacking!
Click to expand...

Doh! :banghead: I didn't read your post properly. However, the page size for ZG was (until 2 days ago) very similar (24-27Kb).

Michael.
 
Re: Re: Re: Re: Forum bandwidth

Originally posted by Sgt Rock
Paul,

You're welcome, also check out the extensions & themes, I'm using Px Classic :cool:
Click to expand...

Hi Sarge ;)

I've been using this for quite a few hours and what an excellent little program. I have tried Mozilla in the past, but never really truly got on with it, but this is definetly better, much quicker and less bloated than Mozilla. Previously, I used Opera, which was also infinetly better than IE, but has its fair share of bugs, but this just seems that bit more responsive and efficient in use.

Definetly recommended.

I've actually heard that in the future, this browser will take over fully from Mozilla.
 
I think I'll just wait till it reaches 0.7 at least because otherwise wont I have to re-install all the extensions I've just installed on it? It says on the page you must do a clean install...
 
OK - I can see it now. Must have been my Firebird cache not noticing the changed page ;)

If I have to do an uninstall, kill the directory (and so lose all my bookmarks and settings) and then re-install then I'll pass until a more substantial upgrade comes along.

Or - can you just save your profile directory and copy it into the new location?

Michael.
 

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