Site runs great until I get 6 or more users on it

I use hostforweb a recommended by boonex host who actually gives a discount using the code boonex.  I like the fact that they install Dolphin for you.  It works great.

At first it was slow but I found the mod_deflate trick from one of the posts here and that fixed it.

Everything worked great until people started coming to my site.

The main problem now is that when 6 or more users come to my site it basically locks up.  I will get database connect errors in a red box.  Or the circles just keep spinning instead of showing forum posts.  Basically the site locks up.

It runs smooth until 6 or more users come to the site.  I really want to make this work.  Is there some kind of setting I can change?  Is the databse only allowed a certain amount of queries at once?  6 people does not seem like enough to lock up the server.

Please help!!!!

1.  What type of server do you have?  Naming the host alone doesn't tell us much because we don't know what the server limits are.

2.  Have you informed HFW of this? 

3.  Since your saying "They install Dolphin for you" I'm getting the impression your on a shared server, is this true?

I don't know what type of server I have.  I informed my host that my site was slow whne I asked them to make sure I can use mod_deflate.  They did not offer any other help and when the mod_deflate was up and running my site was fast.  until 6 or more users got on it.

I assume it is a shared server.

But why would it run great up to 6 users?  And are you implying that a share server won't support a Dolphin web site that has more than 6 users as once?

I was hoping that there was something I could change in my code to make the site run faster.  maybe the database isn't allowing more than 6 connections at once?

Okay, let me try to explain this to you.  There are 3 types of Servers, I want you to picture them like great big skyscrapers.

Server 1 is a "Shared Server".  Look at it like you would (sorry for the analogy to all you good hosts with shared packages) a Welfare Housing Project.  Each person gets a little space, heat and all utilities are controlled by the Landlord.  Now yes, you can use as much electricity as you want, but if you decide your cold, there is little you can do as the Landlord has control of the thermostat and everyone shares all the utilities.  You even share electricity as the building only has 1 meter on it.  In addition, the Landlord sets up all kinds of crazy rules, decides who will provide cable in the building, phone service and so on.  Heck, they may even put special locks on the doors and tell ya no overnight visitors.  Shared Hosting is like this in it's all pre-set to satisfy the majority, not the minority.

Server 2 is a VPS:  You can Look at a VPS like you would a Condo in NYC.  The condo takes up an entire floor of the building and while the tenants work together in a co-op each pays their own Utility bills and can use as much as they want, up to the limits of the wiring/pipes coming into their unit.  Each also pays their own utility bills and can manage their unit, redecorating/remodeling as they see fit.  On a VPS you can control all the settings yourself.

Server 3 is a Dedicated Server:  Now, on a Dedicated Server it's like owning the entire building.  You can literally do anything you like on the thing (within the TOS of your host).  You want to paint or side the building?  Go for it.  You want to build on?  Go for it.  You want to turn it into a housing unit for prostitutes and methheads you can do it.  Nobody cares because it's your building.  Same thing with the Dedicated Server, noone cares because it's yours.  Your limits on a Dedicated are literally physical in what the physical hardware can handle.  Settings?  Do whatever you like.

Shared Servers are good for building, they are not good for production in most instances.  More than likely your paying about $10 a month to use part of a server and it's a very small machine at that.  You want to get more users on it before you upgrade?  Then you will need to start turning things like the Shoutbox and so on off.  Remove alot of boxes from the home page, kill the chat, kill all those extra modules that you don't need right now.  If you want to run all those toys, then you need to upgrade the server to a VPS.  That will at least let you grow and run all the toys without gouging your pocket.  I believe with the Boonex discount, you can get a VPS for about $35-$36 a month at HFW.

So Dolphin can not run properly on a shared server?  That is what I am getting from your reply?

let me try

Lets say in your shared hosting ( Welfare Housing Project.) You let a friend move in and you discover that every time you want to put on your favourite Dolphin t-shirt that your friend is wearing it as all the hot water has been used and his is still dirty. Maybe they put in a meth kitchen and start sellin' out of it.  You try to cook a meal but the gas pressure is to low because they're cookin' all the time.  You can't park your car because the lot is filled with meth rentals.

is like sharing the same prophylactic (big word for condom) some things should just not be shared.

Most database servers do have a limit to the number of active connections. 6 seams very low. the default for mysql is 100.

But 6 users is not equal 6 to database connections. Usually each page request will require a DB connection. I would say, as an informed guess 6 active users with all modules active would require 2 to 3 active DB connections at a time. Maybe 4.

I still don't understand the problem.  If I was told Dolphin can't run on a shared host then fine I will get a VPS.

Can I not run a site with 100-200 users on a shared host like hostforweb?

If the web site was a static HTML document, then yes. Dolphin? No, that's far too much for a shared web hosting account.

i would personally have to challenge this analogy. with a good server, and the right configuration, you can run dolphin on a shared environment. granted you wont get the greatest performance if the hosting service provider overloads the server. personally i can attest for a site that has in excess of 7k members and there are no problems, that is one site, only reason i know the number of members is because i had to do the migration on his 6.1.6 to 7.

there are approximately 23 other accounts on that same server, but the server is designed for load with ample ram and cpu's. single core with 256mb ram wont hardly cut it for any dynamic site. im not saying that is what is going on with your account, but what i am saying is that dolphin can provide an hosting environment that can carry more than 6 people, it depends on the machine.

as MD has stated in the comparison to housing, you could also compare the different entities of shared, vps and dedicated to a vehicle, given:

yugo

astro van

blue bird bus

they are all venues of transportation, and will all get you from Point A to Point B, however considering your cargo, you couldnt necessarily provide transportation for the little league football team with the yugo, and on the same note, you wouldnt need the blue bird bus to cart your one child to soccer practice.

but the declaration that dolphin does not run on a shared environment, it totally depends on that environment.

Regards,

DosDawg

and yes MD i did see your note about the analogy. \/

add this to php.ini
mysql.allow_persistent = Off
it'll help a bit :)

Jaylen you have 2 options: 

1 stick with the hosting plan you have and start turning off site options.  I'm positive you have tons of stuff turned on and that is helping to suck up your server resources.

2.  Upgrade to a better server plan like the VPS-1 that I mentioned and enjoy yourself.  In time you will use up those server resources also and need to upgrade again.  Just call it part of the circle of life. 

He's on shared Prolaz, I doubt he has access to the actual php.ini file. 

I brought up the DB stuff because you mentioned database connect errors. Thats all my above post really applies to.

Do you have all the modules active?

Not all hosting services are created equal...

How big is any one apple? How much bigger is it than any one orange. Witch will be more filling, the apple or orange?

I'm going back to my Zen rock garden now...

I just discovered from one of my posts that analogies don't always work.

I am making a site with dolphin 7 at the moment and i estimate it will have between 50 and 500 online users at a time. I was wondering if those hostgator vps level 4 hosting http://www.hostgator.com/vps-hosting/ (1.98Ghz, 1344 RAM). I'm not using A/V features but will be using personal chat. Would this plan handle this amount of people?

It really depends on how many modules you have active, how active those online users are, how well your VPS account is configured... There are so many factors.

I think you will be ok with 50 online users, but 500 is very doubtful. The nice thing about most VPS is you can start on the basic VPS plan, and pay for upgrades as you need them.

I have done a lot of shopping around and have found DirectSpace Networks to be very competitive. I recommend you look at there VPS packages. This one seams to beat hostgator hands down:

Awesome that place looks great. Thanks :)

Your Welcome.

Yes cheap VPS sounds great until you have to add on the Cpanel license costs of $15.00 a month.

I am looking at shared hosting plans which are better than the norm like Grid Hosting plans that some companies
offer. Anywhere from $5.00 to $20.00 a month.

Also semi dedicated plans which are significantly lower in cost than VPS. They advertise a max of 25 accounts per server.
These plans have been described as Shared Plans on steriods. Approx cost $10-$20 a month
However some of these plans allow addon domains of 5-10 so it could add up to a lot more than 25 web sites.
I would be running my Dolphin and non-Dolphin site on one of these so approx cost $8 per site

How many Dolphin Site owners have these plans that are adequate for the smaller sites of a max of 100 members and
probably a max of 20 online at the same time. And of course no RMS.

Unfortunately most of these companies are not tailored specifically for Dolphin and so it is up to you to get it to
work.

Dolphin 7 seems to use a lot of server resources, especially when there are a lot of people on your site.

I was using a different social networking script before, and I was often handling 70-80 members online at a time.  This was on a shared server.

Then I switched the software to Dolphin 7, and my hosting company shut me down, claiming I was using too many resources.

I then had to switch to a VPS to continue.  It was either that, or not enjoy all the wonderful features of Dolphin 7.

You can try to disable such modules like 'Shoutbox', 'Simple Messenger'  - this modules make requests to the server every N seconds, Disabling these modules will fee resources.

Also you can try 'Profiler' module to find bottlenecks - after you find bottleneck you can post it here for investigation, or write me PM with the investigation results.

Thanks everyone for your input!  I disabled numerous modules I didn't need and the site is running faster on the shared host.  I can wait until the site gets bigger before moving to the VPS.

Thanks again I am happy it is running better.  I have 10 users on now and it is flawless.