Homestar Runner Wiki Forum

You sound like a salesperson, HrWikiFan.

We've found that a lot of companies which offer "unlimited" bandwidth really offer something that sounds kinda like unlimited bandwidth but when you do the math, it really isn't. We're finding ourselves spending a lot of time reading the fine print.

I don't think we'd looked at Verio before, but we'll add it to the list.



Well, one server handles all three right now, and as long as it's a big beefy server, one should be enough for the forseeable future. We do, however, need a dedicated server, as shared hosting is bad news for us and anybody unlucky enough to share our server.

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Well we have to do something, I mean we just passed the 2000 user mark. There is a forum that I go on that has almost 8000 users and the forum never shuts down. Their server can hold over 500 users with out a problem. If you want me to I can ask the Chief Admin what server he uses.

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The thing is the chief admin probable does not have three populat websites hooked up to one server. The forum doesn't have it's own server, it shares it with the Wiki and Fanstuff Wiki.

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He has two sites, the forum and a webpage, the webpage is linked to Wikipedia, so he has a lot of traffic, too.

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With 8,000 users on the forum I have no doubt that this guy deals with a lot of traffic, maybe even more than us, but I guarantee you being "linked to Wikipedia" would not generate anywhere near the traffic our Wiki sees.

We're looking at all possibilities, so if he has any recommendations we'd love to hear them.

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IJ, do you have the technology to show us how much bandwith we've used so far this month? I just want to see how much of a problem it is mid-month.

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I could, but can't access it from where I am. Weird proxy issues, I think. If I remember, I'll check when I'm at home.

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Man, I was trying to look at the all the places that I have investigated or used, and you guys are getting a great deal on dedicated server hosting.

My favorite place to host stuff has a few dedicated server packages, from $150 - $300 per month depending on the specs, but that is quite a bit more money than what is being paid now.
http://dedicated.westhost.com/

Have you considered simply getting an additional web server, at one of those super-cheap "unlimited bandwidth" places, that works as nothing but a cache/proxy, for the main Wiki? Normal users who just view the pages go through that server, not the main one directly. On every Nth request for a page (or if it's been more than N seconds) it contacts the main server and requests a fresh copy of the page, which is then sent out. Otherwise, it has cached a previous copy of the page, and sends that. (Apache actually has this functionality built-in, and it can be configured through .htaccess, or you can use any one of the dozens of available PHP caching proxy scripts.)

The idea behind doing it this way is that bandwidth can be purchased cheaply, and this method requires very little server power. It's the combination of server power and bandwidth that is making it difficult for you to find a server I think; you could split it up and do it at a lower cost. I doubt that most users are actually revising the Wiki, so serving one-minute-delayed static content would be fine.

As of July 12, 2005 at 1:30pm UTC -6: (so this data is from about six hours ago)

Wow, the wiki takes up more than the forum? That';s surprising

I have an idea. What if we get rid of the random page button? mi would always use that when I was bored, then I learned that we had a bandwith problem, so i stopped using it (I still sometimes use it, but not much) It's not very useful, and it's probably a big problem for the bandwith.

Also, how much bandwith do we have available to us each month?

We have 150 GB each month, so I can predict we'll run out beteween the 19th and the 23rd. And you can keep using the random page busson. I don't think it really takes up that much bandwith.

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Hah. Maybe we should start a betting pool to raise money: What day and what time will the site go down this month? I've got dibs on evening July 27.

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I'll guess the 26th. lol.
No seriously. I'm serriously thinking of donating if it will help to fix the problem.

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No, it's not a problem. Click away to your heart's content.

And 12 hours later:

As of July 13, 2005 at 1:30am UTC -6: (so this data is from about six hours ago):

I'm guessing we'll go out on the 24th. How much do you pay a month?

WHat about those countdown games? How much bandwith do you think those take up?

You can see where every dime we spend goes in the Ledger.



There's no single thread or group of threads or wiki page that is causing our bandwidth problems. If getting rid of the countdown games or the Random Page link could solve our problems, we've had done it a long time ago. I'm problem is bigger than that.

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I know it won't save the us from having bandwith problems, I'm just saying it could help. At the rate we're at, the site will be going offlinbe earlier and earlier each month, so we have to don one big thing or lots of little things. If anyone can think of one big thing that will help,, say so now, but I don't beleive there is, so getting rid of small things is our best bet. Even if it only saves a half of a gigabyte, it's worth it, I say.

If it really is a problem, we'll remove the forum. That is one big thing we can do. It will also make lots of people leave the wiki, which is even better.

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Did you ever look at Rackspace? I think they've got plans for more than 150GB/month.


Sweet. That's when Longhorn Beta 1 is supposed to ship. More time for me to find fault with Microsoft! Sweet!

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I say July 25th

I'm thinking if it becomes too much of a problem, the Chat Channel might have to go. It uses the second most bandwith.

It's a double-edged sword, though, because the CC is the only thing up when we get 509'd.

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You're misreading the numbers:



It uses the second least bandwidth.

We don't host the chat channel, we only host a Java applet that lets you connect to it, and very few people use it.

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Oh, Meg. I naturally ussumed they were all gig. I'd be really sad if anything was taken away.

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To save some bandwidth, I think you guys should get rid of the old wiki. It doesn't have any use now.

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I don't think that's nessesary.

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...or hosted somewhere else.
Or everyone who has uploaded their avatars can upload them to imageshack instead

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All thes little suggestions are great, but they are just that.... little.

The problems we are having are due to the wiki and the sheer volume of text that gets transfered back and forth each month. Moving the images or the old wiki (which is 100% static, as in not changing) will make such a little difference.

If we were to move the forums over to a different hosting plan, we would probably be okay... for a couple months that is. The rate at which the wiki is growing is crazy. Between the months of March (where we didn't need to be shut down) and April (where we were shut down) our numbers have been growing. How high, I don't know. Since we have been turned off for several days at a time, I can't gauge how much more bandwidth we would have used last month or the month before.

The only real solution is to move somewhere that has more bandwidth.

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WHat if you deleetd the forum and got a free one, like proboards? They're nowhere near as good, but it'll save money and keep the bandwith much farther down.