ATS Technology Update

We've had some challenging technology issues the past couple of weeks.

Most recently, we experienced the unfortunate combination of being on the receiving end of some kind of automated UDP and TCP flood from the UK and China, in addition to exceptionally high traffic from two primary sources (popularity in the military, and the Coast to Coast website). Normally, either one of these would not have been a problem, but together, we had issues!

After having two months of solid performance data on how XMB forum utilizes the resources of a Linux web server, I was better able to optimize the Apache webserver and mySQL database for high traffic/load. From this point forward, we should be able to better weather such occurrences of traffic and flood-style attacks.

However, the manner in which XMB is programmed is still an issue. While overall, XMB is among the best packages available for the kind of forum we have, even the XMB authors admit it can present problems during high traffic events. These problems result in temporary corruption of databases, which then further effect server performance, and if traffic is still high, service failure can result. Over the next few weeks, we'll be working direction with the makers of XMB to improve the performance of this forum under high-stress situations. While we will not loose any of the new features everyone enjoys some of the finer attributes of the design and layout may see adjustment. In addition, we'll be working on the core programming, which may result in the need to suddenly log-in, when normally you wouldn't have to. During this period of technology updates, we strongly advise that you never delete your AboveTopSecret.com cookies! And also pay attention to the news flash ticker on the forum home page, important announcements will be shown if anything changes.

One of the first things we'll be experimenting with is a PHP script accelerator. You may encounter some minor glitches as we test the performance and optimize the settings.

Our goal is to make sure no one is ever concerned about bringing any number of new members to ATS. We have become one of the largest, most active discussion communities on the web... and with the topics that are discussed here, no one wants to see performance problems hinder people from finding us, and learning about the issues we discuss.


If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions... post them here!

Good luck and thanks for the updates William!

Guys here are sorry if they added to the problems yesterday and will tell all the guys over here that ATS is a no-go zone for a few days...should stop a few hundred guys signing up!

Just keep us updated and i'll be happy!

cheers
Gryff

Originally posted by Gryffen
and will tell all the guys over here that ATS is a no-go zone for a few days...

NO!
Don't do that!

Performance is much better since the changes to the server settings... bring 'em on!

Okay.....123 people about to raid the ATS domain!

Around 4 are already lurkers around the site and have decided to join...the others are waiting in line to have a nose and read up on things!

See....i told u i was good for something over here!

Will be back home tomorrow...flight out tonight at 0100 Iraq Time (..T???)

Have a good time and if i crashes again or you get bother from them...u2u or email me and i'll sort them out!

Cheers
Gryffen