Yesterday and today, I ran a maintenance utility that reindexes the entire database (all 160,000 messages). The forum has been unbelievably slow fir the last 16 hours because the maintenance utility was hogging all of the processor resources on the server that handles the database, and it's not the fastest server to begin with. But hopefully the reindexing should restore the search functionality that was broken, and may also have the effect of speeding up some of the other functioning of the board. We will, as soon as Nate gets around to it, be moving degreeinfo to a new server, and for the first time in several years, the database and the site itself will be on the same box, instead of about 1000 miles away from each other, so there should be some speed increases. The new server is also located in a data center with higher peak-capacity bandwidth, so that may also help with responsiveness during peak periods. No promises on the date, but I'll be pestering Nate to try and get it happening soon. Thanks Chip
Chip: "...the database and the site itself will be on the same box, instead of about 1000 miles away from each other, so there should be some speed increases..." John: Terrific. I can drive 1,000 miles in 17 hours, so I'll be glad to carry the data back and forth, if you think that would be faster. As usual, thanks for all your work.
As John noted, it is a good time to say thanks to Chip and everyone else who make this board possible. When you see the alternatives out there, it reminds you how lucky we are to have this forum. Thanks, Chip!
AMEN!! Degreeinfo is an invaluable resource for me (and is fun, too). Thank you, Chip Tony Pina Coordinator of Learning Technologies Northeastern Illinois University
Yes, indeed, many thanks to Bgossett, Bruce, Chip and others for their hard work in making this forum possible. p.s: What's the secret for the unmitigated success (read: quality, utility and longevity) of this board? How come so many pretenders to the throne (some other DL cussion boards) fall almost as fast as they rise up? There certainly are other good boards out there but after a full year of my reading and not posting to several of them, I am of the opinion that Degreeinfo walks and stands tall. Thanks.
Thank you Chip, Nate, and everyone for the means and support in pulling together such a delightful community. (Yes, that includes Russ, fnhayes, and everyone!)