Saturday, August 29, 2009
New Server
I apologize for taking down Numen for a few hours! But it was for a good reason. A couple of weeks ago (as I posted) the server died, and I had to jury-rig a (slow) home computer to be the server.
Well, just yesterday a bunch of new parts arrived via UPS and I quickly built, tested and verified the new server. I took down the old one about 11am, copied over all the data, and fired up this new one just a few minutes ago.
The computer power users might be wondering what the new server consists of. It's a very simple configuration. It's a dual core Athlon 245 (?) Athlon II 2.9GHz processor, an nVidia-based AM3 motherboard, 4GB of DDR-2 1066, an Antec EarthWatts 380W power supply and a WD Green 1TB hard drive. I was specifically trying to build a power-sipper here. My best guess -- because I forgot to bring a Kill-A-Watt to test it, is that this server runs somewhere around 85W and around 110W at peak. I wanted to get an Intel SSD (160GB Generation 2), but ... I felt that the performance gain from that wouldn't outweigh its cost (around $420). Now why does that matter? Because this entire computer, including shipping and a $20 mail-in-rebate was about $292! Nice!
This new box is quite a bit faster than the home computer which was the temporary surrogate, but you'll be happy to hear that it's also zoom-zoom-zoom fast compared to the original server! It's somewhere in the range of 2 to 3 times faster overall.
The computer power users might be wondering what the new server consists of. It's a very simple configuration. It's a dual core Athlon 245 (?) Athlon II 2.9GHz processor, an nVidia-based AM3 motherboard, 4GB of DDR-2 1066, an Antec EarthWatts 380W power supply and a WD Green 1TB hard drive. I was specifically trying to build a power-sipper here. My best guess -- because I forgot to bring a Kill-A-Watt to test it, is that this server runs somewhere around 85W and around 110W at peak. I wanted to get an Intel SSD (160GB Generation 2), but ... I felt that the performance gain from that wouldn't outweigh its cost (around $420). Now why does that matter? Because this entire computer, including shipping and a $20 mail-in-rebate was about $292! Nice!
Okay, enough geeking-out for now. I hope you enjoy using Numen, and as always, feedback is welcome!
Labels: performance, web server
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Speed Improvements
Sometimes I take a little bit of time off from reading and cogitating to work on important stuff -- stuff like speed improvements for this website.
This is incredibly nerdy stuff. It actually takes my mind off harder things. Don't ask!
The biggest improvements came in database queries. Some of the queries I was using were executing more slowly than I would have expected. In researching this problem I discovered something called prepared queries. I had no idea they would improve execution speed of certain queries by nearly 10x! On the back-end of things, that's a considerable improvement. On some pages it reduced the overall server load of each page by half -- to 35ms from 65ms! On the front-end, the site will probably feel a tiny bit snappier. Overall your average page load will reduce from about 160ms to about 130ms (since it takes about 100ms for intercommunicative data to traverse the internet from your computer to the server and back). That may not seem like much on your end (a 15% drop in latency) but on the server side it's quite dramatic (a 50% drop in latency).
This is incredibly nerdy stuff. It actually takes my mind off harder things. Don't ask!
The biggest improvements came in database queries. Some of the queries I was using were executing more slowly than I would have expected. In researching this problem I discovered something called prepared queries. I had no idea they would improve execution speed of certain queries by nearly 10x! On the back-end of things, that's a considerable improvement. On some pages it reduced the overall server load of each page by half -- to 35ms from 65ms! On the front-end, the site will probably feel a tiny bit snappier. Overall your average page load will reduce from about 160ms to about 130ms (since it takes about 100ms for intercommunicative data to traverse the internet from your computer to the server and back). That may not seem like much on your end (a 15% drop in latency) but on the server side it's quite dramatic (a 50% drop in latency).
Labels: ajax, database, development, prepared query, web server
Monday, February 23, 2009
Again with the optimizing! Oy!
I've been tinkering again.
First, I did some server-side wizarding and sped up the website by a small margin (maybe 25%) and also stopped a nasty bug that was slowing down pages every once in a while.
I fixed some smallish bugs on the search pages. The user interface should be a tad more useful and friendly there.
While designing a new, awesome feature (verb paradigms!) I uncovered some paradigm errors. Those have been neatly squashed.
Soon, you will see a masterpiece in action! Full paradigms for all parts of speech! Right now I've got the verbs mostly working. I'll unveil this feature when I feel it's good enough for prime-time.
That's all for now! Carry on...
First, I did some server-side wizarding and sped up the website by a small margin (maybe 25%) and also stopped a nasty bug that was slowing down pages every once in a while.
I fixed some smallish bugs on the search pages. The user interface should be a tad more useful and friendly there.
While designing a new, awesome feature (verb paradigms!) I uncovered some paradigm errors. Those have been neatly squashed.
Soon, you will see a masterpiece in action! Full paradigms for all parts of speech! Right now I've got the verbs mostly working. I'll unveil this feature when I feel it's good enough for prime-time.
That's all for now! Carry on...
Labels: bugs, development, paradigms, web server
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
New Server and Speed Increases
It's finally here and up and running!
I bought a new server. Did you know you can get slightly older computers, but still really powerful, for super cheap? People and businesses upgrade and then basically give their computers to discounters for nothing! I got this server for $144, with tax, shipping and an extra year's warranty. I'm very impressed.
Also, U.N.M (University of New Mexico) gave me a static IP address on their network, so we have a super-fast internet connection.
So, if you're used to this site being slow, get ready for serious changes! In general, moving to this new server on this new internet connection has increased the speed by an order of magnitude (from 300ms per request to 15ms per request). Wow!
But that's not all folks! I've also done some back-end coding to cache the results of morphology lookups. So now morphology lookups should increase by another order of magnitude (as long as a word is cached). If the word is not cached, the lookup will still be 2-3 times faster.
I apologize for geeking out a bit here, but I hope you notice the speed improvements.
As usual, I'm always developing The Latin Lexicon, but since I'm on winter break, expect to see some serious improvements for January!
Oh, one more thing. I also set up some bug-tracking software (BugZilla) to keep track of issues and improvements. So if you find all this technical stuff interesting, feel free to check it out!
Ok, one more thing! OpenID logins will be down for a day or two. Also, if you created an account or any flashcards between the 16th of December and today, I'm afraid that information is lost because I upgraded the database on the 16th and didn't get it moved until today. Sorry about that, if you're affected.
I bought a new server. Did you know you can get slightly older computers, but still really powerful, for super cheap? People and businesses upgrade and then basically give their computers to discounters for nothing! I got this server for $144, with tax, shipping and an extra year's warranty. I'm very impressed.
Also, U.N.M (University of New Mexico) gave me a static IP address on their network, so we have a super-fast internet connection.
So, if you're used to this site being slow, get ready for serious changes! In general, moving to this new server on this new internet connection has increased the speed by an order of magnitude (from 300ms per request to 15ms per request). Wow!
But that's not all folks! I've also done some back-end coding to cache the results of morphology lookups. So now morphology lookups should increase by another order of magnitude (as long as a word is cached). If the word is not cached, the lookup will still be 2-3 times faster.
I apologize for geeking out a bit here, but I hope you notice the speed improvements.
As usual, I'm always developing The Latin Lexicon, but since I'm on winter break, expect to see some serious improvements for January!
Oh, one more thing. I also set up some bug-tracking software (BugZilla) to keep track of issues and improvements. So if you find all this technical stuff interesting, feel free to check it out!
Ok, one more thing! OpenID logins will be down for a day or two. Also, if you created an account or any flashcards between the 16th of December and today, I'm afraid that information is lost because I upgraded the database on the 16th and didn't get it moved until today. Sorry about that, if you're affected.
Happy holidays! Happy Hannakwanzaamas!
Labels: bugs, development, features, flashcards, openid, slowness, UNM, web server
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Server Move Coming Soon!
Okay, so I bought a new server and it's up and running. It will just take a couple of days for the new IP address to launch. Um, that is, if the IT people at UNM haven't gone on vacation already!!!!
Labels: web server
Friday, November 7, 2008
Temporary Server Move
The temporary home of The Latin Lexicon is now on a slowish public web server until a grant comes through or a new server arrives. I hope to have one up in the next two weeks.
So, as a result, the site will be 5-10 times slower. That's not to say it's deadly slow, but it will be a noticeable change. The good news is that everything seems to still work, and within a week or two everything will be back to the same speed it was yesterday, perhaps even faster.
Thanks for your patience and understanding.
So, as a result, the site will be 5-10 times slower. That's not to say it's deadly slow, but it will be a noticeable change. The good news is that everything seems to still work, and within a week or two everything will be back to the same speed it was yesterday, perhaps even faster.
Thanks for your patience and understanding.
Labels: grants, slowness, web server
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Current Grant Status
I recently got a rejection letter concerning a grant for a new computer.
But it's not all bad news. I have a backup plan. I can get a slightly older, slightly slower computer from an online source (all told about $150) or from UNM Surplus (if I can figure out all the paperwork and if there are any machines available).
Other updates: I haven't done much back-end work recently, but I have been correcting entries as I find them. So! Work continues at a slower pace. Normally I do get most updates done during holidays, so expect to see large-scale changes in late December and early January!
Vale.
But it's not all bad news. I have a backup plan. I can get a slightly older, slightly slower computer from an online source (all told about $150) or from UNM Surplus (if I can figure out all the paperwork and if there are any machines available).
Other updates: I haven't done much back-end work recently, but I have been correcting entries as I find them. So! Work continues at a slower pace. Normally I do get most updates done during holidays, so expect to see large-scale changes in late December and early January!
Vale.
Labels: grants, UNM, web server
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Prettying up the Joint
So I haven't had as much free time as I wanted this week. I've been busy at my day job getting everything "taken care of" before my last day there on August 13th. After that, I'll just be contracting with them for 5 hours a week, because I'll be a full time teaching and grading assistant for the University of New Mexico Foreign Languages and Literatures Department. I'm pretty excited about that!
Nevertheless, I had a few hours free tonight, so I did some sprucing up. I made some icons, fixed some style sheets and squashed some small bugs. There are a few things I want to include before the semester starts:
Nevertheless, I had a few hours free tonight, so I did some sprucing up. I made some icons, fixed some style sheets and squashed some small bugs. There are a few things I want to include before the semester starts:
- Add a few pronoun paradigms: is and iste for sure.
- Add some verb paradigms: perhaps volo verbs.
- Fix up the database backend, especially in the realm of update cascades (it's technical, and you're probably wondering what that means -- don't worry, it'll make things better).
- Speed up the morphology lookup. It's not slow by any means, coming in at approximately 100 milliseconds per word. But still, I think I can get it down to 40ms. Every bit helps, especially if this site ever gets popular!
- Make a new database and web server. Right now it's being graciously hosted at the place I work here on campus (Natural Heritage New Mexico). I've been the system admin there for about 5 years, but now -- as I wrote earlier in this post -- I won't be there for very much longer.
Labels: bugs, database, icons, NHNM, paradigms, pronouns, style sheets, UNM, verbs, web server