Here's the deal...
Server: Single AMD 650 w/512mb ram, scsi drives on RackSpace.
UBBT 6.2 w/zlib enabled, max connections on the sql is set to 150... about 265k records right now.
Usually we have 80-120 people online, with peak being around 150. Connections are usually 30-35.
In the past month or so, we've been having max connection sql errors, and can't seem to duplicate the problem with a user-initiated db call.
Sometimes it happens when there are 100 people online, sometimes when there are only 50-80.
I can't seem to duplicate a db call that takes a really long time that would cuase the max connections to be reached. For example, I can search all posts for "the" during a peak time, without incident. I can also have someone else in the office run the same search at the same time... no problem.
Based on the error log, the ONLY thing that we've been able to get to cause the max connections error is to run an optimize table (set to run nightly).
Yesterday, we made the following adjustments, based on what I've read here, and some common sense:
- Changed optimize tables to run at 3am instead of 12am
- Changed all forums to show past 6 months of posts instead of all posts, as defaults
- Changed parent posts per page to 10
- Changed posts per page to 10
So far, the errors haven't come up since those changes, after errors every day for two weeks. We'll see if we get through today without incident.
I noticed that TheDieselStop runs on a server with less ram than ours (but dual processors), and has about double the active users. However, they are on a 768kb pipe, whereas ours is the seemingly unlimited RackSpace pipe.
Overall, the forum runs very fast, especially with zlib enabled, so that doesn't seem to be an issue.
Thanks!
