News Site Maintenance Complete!

Adam · 10-17-2009, 11:22 AM

Site Maintenance Complete

I am now happy to announce that our recent site maintenance is complete, and was a great success!

PentaxForums.com has been moved to a faster webserver featuring imporved hardware in almost all aspects. Below are the new technical specifications:

-Dual Quad-Core Intel 'Nehalem' processors @ 2.93 Ghz w/HT
-12Gb DDR3 RAM @ 1333Mhz (host offered a special to double the standard 6Gb)
-RAID controller
-Primary drive: Seagate Cheetah 300Gb @ 15,000 RPM

As our site grows, this hardware should allow server-intensive processes, such as backups, to run with minimal effect on site performance, even during peak traffic. You should also notice an increase in file transfer speed.

Our old IP address will be pointed to the new server within 72 hours.

These changes have bumped our server bill up by a little over $100/month. I would to thank all Site Supporters for helping keeping the site online and ad-free, and would like to ask all other members to consider doing so as well! Any amount helps and is greatly appreciated. We wouldn't be here without you!

Donate via PayPal now!

Note that in some geographical regions, our www.pentaxforums.com domain may still be poiting to the old server. If this is the case, please use PentaxForums.com - Pentax Photography Forum to access the site temporarily. Thanks for your patience during this whole process, and I apologize again for the downtime involved.

As a reminder, the SyncSnap gallery is now online; you may upload event photos here: User Photo Gallery - Pentax World SyncSnap. You can also continue uploading World Pentax Day photos for another week here (note that they must have still been taken on October 10th):
User Photo Gallery - October 10, 2009.

Thanks for reading!

Adam
PentaxForums.com Webmaster (Site Usage Guide | Site Help | My Photography)

PentaxForums.com server and development costs are user-supported. You can help cover these costs by donating or purchasing one of our Pentax eBooks. Or, buy your photo gear from our affiliates, Adorama, B&H Photo, KEH, or Topaz Labs, and get FREE Marketplace access - click here to see how! Trusted Pentax retailers:

**Ash** · 10-17-2009, 01:05 PM

Awesome Adam,

Glad to see PF going from strength to strength.
You're a champ, mate!
Thanks for all your effort.

evildragon · 10-17-2009, 01:10 PM

Specs of that server are nearly like my desktop.

Dual quad core 2.8GHz Harpertown Xeon with 1.6GHz bus
32GB DDR2-FB ECC RAM
320GB HD.

hehe..

Adam · 10-17-2009, 01:26 PM

Our previous processor was the 3.0Ghz Harpertown @1333Mhz, but unfortunately only with 533 DDR2 RAM. From the research I did, the Nehalem combined with the improved bus ended up being 50-150% faster for most applications, thanks to the HT.

Adam
PentaxForums.com Webmaster (Site Usage Guide | Site Help | My Photography)

PentaxForums.com server and development costs are user-supported. You can help cover these costs by donating or purchasing one of our Pentax eBooks. Or, buy your photo gear from our affiliates, Adorama, B&H Photo, KEH, or Topaz Labs, and get FREE Marketplace access - click here to see how! Trusted Pentax retailers:

woodworm · 10-17-2009, 02:13 PM

I've worked in IT for years but never managed to keep up with Intel chipsets (or AMD) - last time I looked it was just Celeron, Pentium 4 and Xion CPU's?

Thank you to Adam and anyone else involved for all the hard work.

**Canada_Rockies** · 10-17-2009, 02:38 PM

It is a pleasure to be a member of this group of Pentax fanatics. Your dedication to this site is absolutely wonderful.

nunzio · 10-17-2009, 03:15 PM

Great.
Thank you.

benjaminlee · 10-18-2009, 01:29 AM

Well done! Excellent!!

Boris · 10-18-2009, 11:25 AM

Without any disrespect or lack of gratitude for the job done, but here (in Israel) there is not visible or discernible improvement in speed. It might be caused by many people logging in or connecting after the maintenance outage period, but nonetheless, forum is rather slow.

Adam · 10-18-2009, 11:43 AM

Originally posted by Boris

Without any disrespect or lack of gratitude for the job done, but here (in Israel) there is not visible or discernible improvement in speed. It might be caused by many people logging in or connecting after the maintenance outage period, but nonetheless, forum is rather slow.

Are you sure it's not your ISP's fault? What sort of connection are you using? At that geographical distance from the site, you should also notice latency of at least a quarter of a second, regardless of uplink speed on our end.

Boris · 10-18-2009, 11:55 AM

Adam, I am on DSL 1.5 Mbps. I will check tomorrow forum speed from work that has faster connection, but it is less likely local ISP fault, as it has pretty stable/constant performance, being reasonably reliable. But worry not, we don't have the best or fastest internet over here and it does not bother us too much...

Adam · 10-18-2009, 12:05 PM

Originally posted by Boris

Adam, I am on DSL 1.5 Mbps. I will check tomorrow forum speed from work that has faster connection, but it is less likely local ISP fault, as it has pretty stable/constant performance, being reasonably reliable. But worry not, we don't have the best or fastest internet over here and it does not bother us too much...

Try running a ping on 208.43.7.194 via command prompt/terminal and see what it says.

Boris · 10-18-2009, 11:00 PM

Adam, tried yesterday but was too sleepy to keep writing here. From home I got on average 250 ms and from work I get about 210 ms. Since I never did such a thing before the upgrade, it would be hard for me to draw any conclusions, but you might know better.

Adam · 10-19-2009, 05:01 AM

Judging by that, this definitely sounds like it's caused due to the distance and your connection. Also, since the DNS record was updated fairly recently, the propagation may still not have taken full effect in some areas.

Boris · 10-20-2009, 12:09 AM

Yes, it seems like you say - caused by the distance. Thanks for spending your time for my benefit.

10-17-2009, 11:22 AM	#1
Adam Administrator Site Webmaster Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Arizona Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 51,594	Site Maintenance Complete! Site Maintenance Complete I am now happy to announce that our recent site maintenance is complete, and was a great success! PentaxForums.com has been moved to a faster webserver featuring imporved hardware in almost all aspects. Below are the new technical specifications: -Dual Quad-Core Intel 'Nehalem' processors @ 2.93 Ghz w/HT -12Gb DDR3 RAM @ 1333Mhz (host offered a special to double the standard 6Gb) -RAID controller -Primary drive: Seagate Cheetah 300Gb @ 15,000 RPM As our site grows, this hardware should allow server-intensive processes, such as backups, to run with minimal effect on site performance, even during peak traffic. You should also notice an increase in file transfer speed. Our old IP address will be pointed to the new server within 72 hours. These changes have bumped our server bill up by a little over $100/month. I would to thank all Site Supporters for helping keeping the site online and ad-free, and would like to ask all other members to consider doing so as well! Any amount helps and is greatly appreciated. We wouldn't be here without you! Donate via PayPal now! Note that in some geographical regions, our www.pentaxforums.com domain may still be poiting to the old server. If this is the case, please use PentaxForums.com - Pentax Photography Forum to access the site temporarily. Thanks for your patience during this whole process, and I apologize again for the downtime involved. As a reminder, the SyncSnap gallery is now online; you may upload event photos here: User Photo Gallery - Pentax World SyncSnap. You can also continue uploading World Pentax Day photos for another week here (note that they must have still been taken on October 10th): User Photo Gallery - October 10, 2009. Thanks for reading! Adam PentaxForums.com Webmaster (Site Usage Guide \| Site Help \| My Photography) PentaxForums.com server and development costs are user-supported. You can help cover these costs by donating or purchasing one of our Pentax eBooks. Or, buy your photo gear from our affiliates, Adorama, B&H Photo, KEH, or Topaz Labs, and get FREE Marketplace access - click here to see how! Trusted Pentax retailers:

10-17-2009, 02:38 PM	#6
Canada_Rockies Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Sparwood, BC, Canada Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 12,385	Thanks, Adam! It is a pleasure to be a member of this group of Pentax fanatics. Your dedication to this site is absolutely wonderful.

10-18-2009, 11:43 AM	#10
Adam Administrator Site Webmaster Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Arizona Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 51,594 Original Poster	Originally posted by Boris Without any disrespect or lack of gratitude for the job done, but here (in Israel) there is not visible or discernible improvement in speed. It might be caused by many people logging in or connecting after the maintenance outage period, but nonetheless, forum is rather slow. Are you sure it's not your ISP's fault? What sort of connection are you using? At that geographical distance from the site, you should also notice latency of at least a quarter of a second, regardless of uplink speed on our end. Adam PentaxForums.com Webmaster (Site Usage Guide \| Site Help \| My Photography) PentaxForums.com server and development costs are user-supported. You can help cover these costs by donating or purchasing one of our Pentax eBooks. Or, buy your photo gear from our affiliates, Adorama, B&H Photo, KEH, or Topaz Labs, and get FREE Marketplace access - click here to see how! Trusted Pentax retailers:

10-18-2009, 12:05 PM	#12
Adam Administrator Site Webmaster Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Arizona Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 51,594 Original Poster	Originally posted by Boris Adam, I am on DSL 1.5 Mbps. I will check tomorrow forum speed from work that has faster connection, but it is less likely local ISP fault, as it has pretty stable/constant performance, being reasonably reliable. But worry not, we don't have the best or fastest internet over here and it does not bother us too much... Try running a ping on 208.43.7.194 via command prompt/terminal and see what it says. Adam PentaxForums.com Webmaster (Site Usage Guide \| Site Help \| My Photography) PentaxForums.com server and development costs are user-supported. You can help cover these costs by donating or purchasing one of our Pentax eBooks. Or, buy your photo gear from our affiliates, Adorama, B&H Photo, KEH, or Topaz Labs, and get FREE Marketplace access - click here to see how! Trusted Pentax retailers:

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10-17-2009, 01:05 PM	#2
Ash Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Toowoomba, Queensland Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 23,920	Awesome Adam, Glad to see PF going from strength to strength. You're a champ, mate! Thanks for all your effort.

10-17-2009, 01:10 PM	#3
evildragon New Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Photos: Gallery Posts: 22	Specs of that server are nearly like my desktop. Dual quad core 2.8GHz Harpertown Xeon with 1.6GHz bus 32GB DDR2-FB ECC RAM 320GB HD. hehe..

10-17-2009, 01:26 PM	#4
Adam Administrator Site Webmaster Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Arizona Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 51,594 Original Poster	Our previous processor was the 3.0Ghz Harpertown @1333Mhz, but unfortunately only with 533 DDR2 RAM. From the research I did, the Nehalem combined with the improved bus ended up being 50-150% faster for most applications, thanks to the HT. Adam PentaxForums.com Webmaster (Site Usage Guide \| Site Help \| My Photography) PentaxForums.com server and development costs are user-supported. You can help cover these costs by donating or purchasing one of our Pentax eBooks. Or, buy your photo gear from our affiliates, Adorama, B&H Photo, KEH, or Topaz Labs, and get FREE Marketplace access - click here to see how! Trusted Pentax retailers:

10-17-2009, 02:13 PM	#5
woodworm Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: North Wales Posts: 266	I've worked in IT for years but never managed to keep up with Intel chipsets (or AMD) - last time I looked it was just Celeron, Pentium 4 and Xion CPU's? Thank you to Adam and anyone else involved for all the hard work.

10-17-2009, 03:15 PM	#7
nunzio Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: La Spezia / Italy Photos: Albums Posts: 107	Great. Thank you.

10-18-2009, 01:29 AM	#8
benjaminlee New Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Gold Coast Posts: 43	Well done! Excellent!!

10-18-2009, 11:25 AM	#9
Boris Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Israel Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 932	Without any disrespect or lack of gratitude for the job done, but here (in Israel) there is not visible or discernible improvement in speed. It might be caused by many people logging in or connecting after the maintenance outage period, but nonetheless, forum is rather slow.

10-18-2009, 11:55 AM	#11
Boris Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Israel Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 932	Adam, I am on DSL 1.5 Mbps. I will check tomorrow forum speed from work that has faster connection, but it is less likely local ISP fault, as it has pretty stable/constant performance, being reasonably reliable. But worry not, we don't have the best or fastest internet over here and it does not bother us too much...

10-18-2009, 11:00 PM	#13
Boris Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Israel Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 932	Adam, tried yesterday but was too sleepy to keep writing here. From home I got on average 250 ms and from work I get about 210 ms. Since I never did such a thing before the upgrade, it would be hard for me to draw any conclusions, but you might know better.

10-19-2009, 05:01 AM	#14
Adam Administrator Site Webmaster Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Arizona Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 51,594 Original Poster	Judging by that, this definitely sounds like it's caused due to the distance and your connection. Also, since the DNS record was updated fairly recently, the propagation may still not have taken full effect in some areas.

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10-20-2009, 12:09 AM	#15
Boris Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Israel Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 932	Yes, it seems like you say - caused by the distance. Thanks for spending your time for my benefit.