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AfterDawn.com servers upgraded, timezones added

12 October 2007 7:31 by Jari Ketola | 21 comments

The day that we all (well at least many of us.. or some) have been waiting for ages has arrived -- the AfterDawn.com servers have been upgraded. Our old servers had been running at peak capacity for over six months now, and there was very little left to optimize. The new server setup that we switched over to today should dramatically improve response times across the site.

The switch may cause some oddities until DNS updates propagate to everyone. You might want to clear your browser cache and restart the browser to help speed up the change.

Along with the new servers we introduced individual timezone settings for the users. You can access the new user settings page at http://login.afterdawn.com/settings/. The timezone is set under Edit settings. Under the settings page you can also define whether or not you want to 1) subscribe to discussion threads by default and 2) use your signature in forum posts or news comments.

The server switch and timezone implementation may cause some weirdness during the transit period (e.g. forum posts showing up in wrong places).

For those interested in tech specs, here's a rough outline of our current setup:

Database backends: 2* Dell PowerEdge 1900 Dual Intel Xeon 5130, 8GB RAM, SAS RAID 10 array
Web backends:4* Dell PowerEdge 840 Conroe 3040, 1GB RAM, SATA
Statistics and static data:1* Dell PowerEdge 840 Conroe 3060, 4GB RAM, SATA discs
Advertisements:1* Dell PowerEdge 840 Conroe 3060, 4GB RAM, SATA RAID-1
Load balancing:Foundry ServerIron XL
Download servers:6* various configurations with various specifications
Off-site backup, development and versioning server

If you encounter any problems with the new servers please let me know by posting to this thread.

--AfterDawn.com staff

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Discuss this article!
Dela (Staff Member) 12 October 2007 7:34
Nice!! very noticeable speed different already guys! [ + quote]
DJchemist (Member) 12 October 2007 8:54
Yesser' im loving the new update ! Speed...speed.. ok well ..its alot better then it was before :) props ! [ + quote]
WierdName (Senior Member) 12 October 2007 9:27
congrats on the new hardware. And wow, I didn't know that many servers were used and spaced out like that. EDIT- I see about the posts in wrong places part. This post here showed up before Svtstang's and should have appeared after. [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 12 October 2007 9:41
svtstang (AfterDawn Addict) 12 October 2007 9:33
Link to the details goes to a Tivo thread :/ I have also noticed a difference, nice :) edit Ok link works now, those are some impressive server specs! edit 2 You are right my friend, my last edit time was at 11:13, although the time by my screen name is 11:33. Time traveling is fun! [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 12 October 2007 9:51
chaos_zzz (Junior Member) 12 October 2007 9:38
nice [ + quote]
creaky (Moderator) 12 October 2007 9:51
Very quick response from the new servers, very nice indeed; have left a query in the other link. [ + quote]
pryme_H (Senior Member) 12 October 2007 9:51
Sweet! This means more AD at work...So let's all go to work everyone! [ + quote]
pernal (Junior Member) 12 October 2007 11:17
No problems logging on today- thats a big difference right there and I have high-speed cable. Good work AfterDawn! [ + quote]
comminup (Member) 12 October 2007 12:56
nice :) [ + quote]
borhan9 (AfterDawn Addict) 12 October 2007 13:22
Congrats on the new servers. I just have one query when i go to an article that is on the 4october it does not link me to the right article also sometimes it gives me a multiple choice page. Can some one shed some light to this issue. [ + quote]
locobrown (Senior Member) 12 October 2007 18:08
I like the new My Account interface, its real organized the icons gives the page great appeal. It would be even better if the user profile page had more versatility. [ + quote]
kiki626 (Inactive) 12 October 2007 18:18
I spammed in a thread by the Admins, i'm now in a dark room [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 12 October 2007 23:55
theridges (AfterDawn Addict) 12 October 2007 23:59
this is awesome.. great upgrade aD :) [ + quote]
Arnold2 (Member) 13 October 2007 6:11
From the news letter links getting errors for some of the page. [ + quote]
chaos_zzz (Junior Member) 13 October 2007 6:32
i think there are some problems tought cuz i couldn't open the page for a while earlier anyway just dropping that fact out [ + quote]
Arnold2 (Member) 13 October 2007 7:06
Fast fix cuz they all open now and PDQ. [ + quote]
SCAMPER (Member) 13 October 2007 8:07
Jumps right to the page or item. Great job! [ + quote]
MAINAMN (Senior Member) 13 October 2007 12:54
Excellent move AD, particularly like the new timezone format. At least we will all be in-sinc ! keep up the good work .... [ + quote]
waffler (Newbie) 13 October 2007 18:39
keep up the good work guys [ + quote]
Markman29 (Member) 14 October 2007 10:15
sweet. yeah this site does seem faster now. [ + quote]
mareeds (Newbie) 16 October 2007 11:49
Excellent, congratulations, and thanks galore. [ + quote]