Slow searches on new Linode machine

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Albert Wiersch
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Slow searches on new Linode machine

Post by Albert Wiersch »

I'm running 3.2.0.

I recently moved to a Linode server at at $20/month level which gives me 2 CPUs and 4GB of RAM. My previous server was more powerful and I don't recall there ever being a problem with search speed.

However, on the new Linode server, searching for something like "apple" can take around 25 seconds which seems rather ridiculous. Shouldn't a 2 CPU system with 4 GB of RAM be able to perform searches much faster? I don't seem to have performance issues with anything else on the server and other forum performance (besides the slow searches) seems perfectly fine. Other searches are rather quick, like a search for "watermelon", although there were 0 matches on that one.

I've already disabled search for guest accounts to reduce the server load. I'm using "phpBB Native Fulltext" for the "Search backend".

How can I improve the search speed? What should I check? Is there a page with tips on optimizing phpBB searches?

Thanks!
Last edited by JimA on Sun Jun 25, 2017 10:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
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janus_zonstraal
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Re: Slow searches on new Linode machine

Post by janus_zonstraal »

Try mySQL Fulltext and php7
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Re: Slow searches on new Linode machine

Post by sakm »

Specs mean nothing!

You need to get the right setup ;)
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Re: Slow searches on new Linode machine

Post by david63 »

How big is your board?

Have you tried re-building your search index?
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Re: Slow searches on new Linode machine

Post by Albert Wiersch »

janus_zonstraal wrote: Sat Jun 24, 2017 6:50 am Try mySQL Fulltext and php7
I use PHP 7.1.6.

Is "MySQL Fulltext" known to be better than "phpBB Native Fulltext"?
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Albert Wiersch
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Re: Slow searches on new Linode machine

Post by Albert Wiersch »

sakm wrote: Sat Jun 24, 2017 12:35 pm You need to get the right setup ;)
I would think my setup should be good... it seems to work well for everything else. What do you think might be wrong with it? I could always pay more per month to Linode to get more RAM and processors but I think it should be fast enough with what I have now, which it is, except for searches. Note that not all searches are so slow... it can vary a lot depending on the search terms and number of matches.
Last edited by Albert Wiersch on Sat Jun 24, 2017 5:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Slow searches on new Linode machine

Post by Albert Wiersch »

david63 wrote: Sat Jun 24, 2017 12:50 pm How big is your board?

Have you tried re-building your search index?
It's showing 9091 posts with 1987 topics. Database size is 45.25 MiB. That's not that big, is it?

Yes, I have re-built the search index.
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Re: Slow searches on new Linode machine

Post by janus_zonstraal »

Sorry! My English is bat ;) !!!
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Re: Slow searches on new Linode machine

Post by sakm »

Albert Wiersch wrote: Sat Jun 24, 2017 3:21 pm
sakm wrote: Sat Jun 24, 2017 12:35 pm You need to get the right setup ;)
I would think my setup should be good... it seems to work well for everything else. What do you think might be wrong with it? I could always pay more per month to Linode to get more RAM and processors but I think it should be fast enough with what I have now, which it is, except for searches. Note that not all searches are so slow... it can vary a lot depending on the search terms and number of matches.
When I say setup I'm talking how the server is setup if it's not optimised then it can be slow
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Re: Slow searches on new Linode machine

Post by Albert Wiersch »

sakm wrote: Sat Jun 24, 2017 5:19 pmWhen I say setup I'm talking how the server is setup if it's not optimised then it can be slow
Can you be more specific about these "optimizations"? Or point me to a good link about them?

As far as I know it's already "optimized" enough (as in there is nothing I could do that I know of that would significantly improve performance). Although I could potentially move the databases into RAM though.... but that has drawbacks.
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Re: Slow searches on new Linode machine

Post by Albert Wiersch »

janus_zonstraal wrote: Sat Jun 24, 2017 3:48 pm In 2010 is was ;)
viewtopic.php?f=46&t=2004075
Interesting.... but I wonder if that is still the case? I'm sure a lot has changed in 7 years. Does anyone know what the "official" best "Search backend" is for phpBB 3.2.0 and PHP7?
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Re: Slow searches on new Linode machine

Post by sakm »

Albert Wiersch wrote: Sat Jun 24, 2017 5:31 pm
sakm wrote: Sat Jun 24, 2017 5:19 pmWhen I say setup I'm talking how the server is setup if it's not optimised then it can be slow
Can you be more specific about these "optimizations"? Or point me to a good link about them?

As far as I know it's already "optimized" enough (as in there is nothing I could do that I know of that would significantly improve performance). Although I could potentially move the databases into RAM though.... but that has drawbacks.
Tweak apache and mysql etc but if you have already done that and performance is good the change the search database and see if that helps
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Re: Slow searches on new Linode machine

Post by Mick »

Blimey, for $20/month I would expect my host to be on the ball.
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Re: Slow searches on new Linode machine

Post by daviceroy »

Under the Resources Tab on Linode, there is a Documentation area. Make sure you've optimized MySQL. I believe there is a doc on there for that. Probably will need to tweak some config files to make it run the way you want.
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Mick
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Re: Slow searches on new Linode machine

Post by Mick »

May I remind you that server setup is beyond the scope of these forums.
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