The server is extremely fixed now in Site Updates
Revised: 09/23/2018 3:09 p.m.
- Sept. 20, 2018, 10:11 p.m.
- |
- Public
So, funny story.
I’m traveling at the moment (hello from Denver!) and my email checking has been intentionally rare. Trying to get off the grid for a few days. But let’s be honest: PB I can’t quit you.
I see an email come in this morning from SM offering his congratulations on the incredible speed he’s been seeing on PB today. Confused, I hit the site and oh my god it’s so speedy. I check the server stats and my jaw drops. After the deslothing a few weeks back, CPU usage dropped from 90% to the mid 40s. Slow, but manageable.
This morning? 4.5%. That is a dot. FOUR POINT FIVE!! That is extremely bananas.
I reach out to the developers and ask what witchcraft they performed overnight. They’ve been doing a TON of work on server optimization this week. And they have no clue what I’m talking about.
We have a mystery on our hands. Servers don’t just fix themselves.
So we dig in. We check the latest code that’s been pushed. Nope. We check the maintenance schedule of the host we use. Nada. We dig into analytics. Normal. Maybe we were being attacked for a few months and the attacker got bored? Unlikely.
My running theory for a few hours is “ghosts”, and that’s just as reasonable as anything else.
Fed up, I reach out to our host to very politely yell WTF and file a support ticket. They get back to me a few hours later and say that they did in fact patch a recently discovered vulnerability on the machine that PB lives on. Surprise!
Why this particular vulnerability has had such an effect on performance remains a bit of a mystery, but between this random fix, the upgrades we’ve done, and the ongoing work we’ve been doing to optimize things the site feels GREAT right now. And that looks to be permanent!
So, we did it. It’s done. PB feels like a real website again, and I can’t tell you how proud I am of the work we’ve done in the last six (!) months. It’s been a journey.
I really appreciate how patient all of you have been with the unexpected downtime and crashes lately, I know it’s been rough.
I can’t wait for what comes next.
(Oh, and PS comments are fixed now too!)
<3,
-J
Last updated September 23, 2018
TellTaleHeart ⋅ September 20, 2018
Rough? Oh no no. This is nothing. You're a rockstar!
Jeanine TellTaleHeart ⋅ September 20, 2018
Right? He wasn’t around for early and then mid-to-late OD Days! These last six months have been stellar!
crystal butterfly ⋅ September 20, 2018
Way to go. And glad the people with the server fixed what they should have too.
mcbee ⋅ September 20, 2018
Many thanks!
AwaitingCrescendo ⋅ September 20, 2018
I love it when figuring out a programming problem goes from "how is this broken?" to "how did this ever work??", and then to "well hell, let's just try changing X and see what happens!"
...it's a weird world
But I'm glad that things are speedy now!
josh AwaitingCrescendo ⋅ September 21, 2018
Right? And today was a lot of “WHY IS THIS BETTER NOW” which is somehow the most frustrating of all
Deleted user ⋅ September 20, 2018
Wonderful and thanks!!!
Silverstar46 ⋅ September 21, 2018
Oh man this is awesome news! Thank you so so so so so so much!
NeonLady ⋅ September 21, 2018
Seriously, it’s been fine. Thanks for all you do for us!!!
Always Laughing ⋅ September 21, 2018
Great news :-)
Marg ⋅ September 21, 2018
Well that sounds like a lot of frustration for you guys but, as ever, I'm grateful for the work put in and delighted everything is fine now!
stargazing ⋅ September 21, 2018
Congrats!!! Thank you so much for all of your hard work! I echo those that say it hasn't been all that rough. I can't tell you how much we appreciate you keeping us in the loop. It is so easy to be patient when we know something is being done and we haven't just been abandoned. Thank you!
Cat Mommy ⋅ September 21, 2018
You rock dude.
•kitkat• ⋅ September 21, 2018
Thank you Josh!
And wow. It is fast! I even gave a “wow” out loud!
auburn_girl ⋅ September 21, 2018
Safe travels!
pull the past behind you ⋅ September 21, 2018
“Ghosts” 😂😂😂
sparkli ⋅ September 21, 2018
yay fast PB!
question though, didnt we used to be able to leave an empty comment? i cant do that anymore. i miss you empty hi-i-read-your-post-but-got-nothing-to-say comments!
Firebabe ⋅ September 21, 2018 (edited September 21, 2018)
Edited
My working theory is that YOU FIXED IT IN YOUR SLEEP.
Second working theory: MOCHI IS A SECRET SERVER ENGINEER AND YOU DIDN'T KNOW IT.
Whatever happened, you guys still put in a ton of work, and that's greatly appreciated!
Flame is Love Firebabe ⋅ September 21, 2018
Mochi headcanon accepted.
josh Flame is Love ⋅ September 21, 2018
Same
Mehuh 2.0 Firebabe ⋅ September 22, 2018
.... I think this wins. Go Mochi! ;P
thesunnyabyss ⋅ September 21, 2018
thanks!
Narrator ⋅ September 21, 2018
Huzzah! You guys are doing a great job.
Deleted user ⋅ September 21, 2018
Interesting. Very interesting. I wish they could patch my finances and I could get that kind of improvement in my bank account haha :)
simple mind Deleted user ⋅ September 21, 2018
(patch, patch, patch) Congratulations! Your checking account balance has just dropped from $45 to $4.5 dollars! (that's with a dot)
Witchy Woman ⋅ September 21, 2018
It's been 6 months already?! Holy cow that time flew!
Thank you and all your minions for fixing our home. 💖
GypsyWynd ⋅ September 21, 2018
singing (to the tune of"Ding Dong the Witch is Dead" from "Wizard of Oz")
"It's not only merely fixed, it's really most sincerely fixed!"
Thank you!!! skipping down the Yellow Brick Road
TrippyNina ⋅ September 21, 2018
Thank you!
Brodie 💗 ⋅ September 21, 2018
I live in Denver (well suburb of lakewood). Welcome ! Hope you enjoy!
NorthernSeeker ⋅ September 21, 2018
Yay...and I will never understand the whys and whatfors of computer technology but I'm glad somebody knows why things are faster!
MageB ⋅ September 21, 2018
I missed the crashes, but I certainly found myself here s l o w l y for an awfully long time. Right now it is working well. Hurrah.
Lobbastah ⋅ September 21, 2018 (edited September 21, 2018)
Edited
Extreme fixing is my favorite X-Game.
Mehuh 2.0 ⋅ September 22, 2018
Congrats! Hats off to you! This is fantastic! Whoop whoop!
Deleted user ⋅ September 22, 2018
So good. Thank you!!
DreamCatcherGal ⋅ September 23, 2018
The slowness of the site was one of the reasons I seldom post. Oh this is a delight and you are so very appreciated for all that you do!! Thank you so much!!!!
Genevieve ⋅ September 23, 2018
If I knew you were coming to Denver, we could have had coffee.
ConnieK ⋅ September 23, 2018
Thanks. For all of it.
*Mrs_Bolen* ⋅ September 23, 2018
Hello back from Denver :-)
loved. ⋅ October 03, 2018
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