Yesterday we took the plunge and ordered a monster server as phase one
of our BeerAdvocate.com upgrade! This is most exciting and much needed
for us!

Our biggest bottleneck has been our database (db) server, which
typically requires a ton of resources. Our current server is quite
limited, we're getting upwards of 6 million page impressions per month
now, and every page is db driven. As a result we can't serve visitors
fast enough, the site gets slow during peak times, people are getting
frustrated, and we're turning people away. I also waste a lot of time
tweaking things in order to squeeze as much as I can out of our
current setup. The new db server will eliminate this and allow our
current server to focus on being strictly a web server and the new
server to handle strictly data. The benefits of this are massive, well-
worth the additional costs, and begins building the structure to
support our fast growth.

I also ordered a private network that will allow us to add on more
servers as we need them, an automated back-up system (hell yeah!), and
a few others upgrades to make things more safe and smooth.

The order was processed last night, and I hope to start building and
testing before the weekend. If all goes well I'll migrate the data
over, reconfigure our web server to handle more users, and "flip the
switch" soon after so we can test things out real-time.

Phase two will involve upgrading the web server (hardware and
software) sometime in the first or second quarter of 2008. Phase three
will be adding load balancing and redundancy + an email server.

Also ... we might experience some down time while they sync our
current server to the new network, but I'm scheduling this in the wee
hours and will post an update when I get more info. I'll also keep
everyone up-to-date on my progress.

Cheers, more to follow soon, and thanks for dealing with our growing
pains!

wrote in message
...

Yesterday we took the plunge and ordered a monster server as phase one
of our BeerAdvocate.com upgrade! This is most exciting and much needed
for us!

I like cheese.

I also ordered a private network that will allow us to add on more
servers as we need them, an automated back-up system (hell yeah!), and
a few others upgrades to make things more safe and smooth.

Yee-ha. I'm getting a pony for Christmas.

Cheers, more to follow soon, and thanks for dealing with our growing
pains!

Hey, dumbass. This is usenet, not your site. You may want to communicate
with your members there, unless all your upgrading indicates that your
current infrastructure has gone to shit so much to the point that you can't
actually send out broadcast emails on your own site.

But I'm sure your little minions will continue to give you the ball-washing
you so deeply crave.

-Steve

"Dave Witzel" wrote in message
46.128...
"Steve Jackson" wrote on 17 Dec 2007:
wrote:
Cheers, more to follow soon, and thanks for dealing with our
growing pains!

Hey, dumbass. This is usenet, not your site. You may want to
communicate with your members there, unless all your upgrading
indicates that your current infrastructure has gone to shit so
much to the point that you can't actually send out broadcast
emails on your own site.

But I'm sure your little minions will continue to give you the
ball-washing you so deeply crave.

Aw, don't be so hard on them. After all, they managed to put out a
magazine 11 times last year. Never mind that each month it arrived
at their ballwashers' doorsteps weeks after the cover date --
always blaming the postal service or the printer, not their own
incompetence. They deserve the one-month break they proclaimed they
need. I mean, all the successful magazines took a month off after
(almost) a whole year of existence, right?

Witzel


So, I'm a "ballwasher" because I'm an active member of BA?
The hatred for BA here bewilders me. If you folks don't like the infrequent
posts that show up here, why don't you just killfile them and spare people
who participate in BA *and* Alt.beer/RFDB the sophomoric insults.

"Bill Becker" wrote in message
...

So, I'm a "ballwasher" because I'm an active member of BA?

No, Bill, you're not. At least as far as I know. You don't strike me as the
sycophantic type.

I cannot say the same for many other BA people I've run across.

The hatred for BA here bewilders me.

It's not so much directed at BA as it's directed at a couple related things:

The Goat Brothers

Anyone who uses the newsgroups to promote their commercial ventures without
also being an active contributor to the groups.

The only thing either Alstrom contributes anymore to either rfdb or alt.beer
is spam like this, or the occasional "wow, this place sucks" comments. I
have no problem with contributors occasionally pointing out business stuff;
I have a problem with posters who do nothing but shill.

The other thing relates to longstanding issues many of us had with the
Alstroms that date way back before I believe you started posting on the
groups. Including, but not limited to, signing up newsgroup users for the
newsletter that preceeded the BA site, and refusing for weeks to unsubscribe
people who protested the unsolicited email. Add in their charming
personalities, and the animosity some of the old-timers have might make a
little more sense.

I have nothing against BA the site. It fills a valuable niche, and I think
the Alstroms do a fine job with it. I've never denied or begrudged them
that. I just have an issue with their constant need to have everyone like
them, which to me is shown by posting irrelevant material such as this on
usenet. Tell me, how many other web sites come around here to let us know
updates on their maintenance?

-Steve

"Steve Jackson" wrote in message
news:hhFbj.4236$1q4.93@trnddc06...
"Bill Becker" wrote in message
...

So, I'm a "ballwasher" because I'm an active member of BA?

No, Bill, you're not. At least as far as I know. You don't strike me as
the
sycophantic type.

I cannot say the same for many other BA people I've run across.

The hatred for BA here bewilders me.

It's not so much directed at BA as it's directed at a couple related
things:

The Goat Brothers

Anyone who uses the newsgroups to promote their commercial ventures
without
also being an active contributor to the groups.

The only thing either Alstrom contributes anymore to either rfdb or
alt.beer
is spam like this, or the occasional "wow, this place sucks" comments. I
have no problem with contributors occasionally pointing out business
stuff;
I have a problem with posters who do nothing but shill.

The other thing relates to longstanding issues many of us had with the
Alstroms that date way back before I believe you started posting on the
groups. Including, but not limited to, signing up newsgroup users for the
newsletter that preceeded the BA site, and refusing for weeks to
unsubscribe
people who protested the unsolicited email. Add in their charming
personalities, and the animosity some of the old-timers have might make a
little more sense.

I have nothing against BA the site. It fills a valuable niche, and I think
the Alstroms do a fine job with it. I've never denied or begrudged them
that. I just have an issue with their constant need to have everyone like
them, which to me is shown by posting irrelevant material such as this on
usenet. Tell me, how many other web sites come around here to let us know
updates on their maintenance?

-Steve


Right, I haven't been lurking here too long but the OP never mentioned
anything about beer. Just servers and data bases. Then again, they did
say bottleneck and that made me want a beer. CHEERS