Database Driven Website Needed - Please Help

[Zubes]

So my server account that i use for OOTP leagues has come to me telling me i am WELL over their performance target goal in terms of the amount of files. i host 4-5 leagues on my account, and to be honest even ONE OOTP league would put me over the limit because of the amount of files the reports can generate.

I've always wanted to just have all the reports generated from basic database driven files. but i am not that good of a web guy by any means, and have trouble pulling everything i need properly.

if anyone out there can assist or better yet, if you already have something designed that you are willing to share, i'd be much obliged.

Ive got like 7 days before they lock my account, so its kind of important. thanks in advance.

[Cooleyvol]

Get a new host. It'll go much quicker and you'll be happier in the long run.

[Zubes]

i've definitely though about that...i recently just renewed, but i can cancel and get a prorated refund. so that may be the way to go.

at the same time, like i said, i still want to have a database driven site someday. could just be a dream though.

with that said, any good recommendations for hosting where its not terribly expensive, that can hold 5 ootp leagues comfortably, along with 7 separate sites?

[satchel]

Approximate total size of all these things?

[Zubes]

its not file size thats the issue, its number of files.

they have a performance goal of 50,000 files. and im at 350,000 files.

for example, one of the leagues has 20,396 files alone just in the reports/news/html/leagues folder just after 20 seasons.

does that mean i need to clean these out every season? maybe. not sure how much of a difference that would make.

[kagnew35]

Not sure he can help, but chec k with Fidel Montoya at allsimbaseball.com. I have used him for 3+ years and hes very good.

[kq76]

I'm surprised they're throwing a fit at the number of files. I don't know a whole lot about the hosting business, but I just thought bandwidth and total space taken up were the factors they care about, not the # of files.

jazzrack uses hostmonster for a number of sites and as far as I know they've been pretty good for us so you might want to check them out.

[Zubes]

i actually called and talked to the hosting company to find out more info...

basically, they told me that they have back end programs running and what not on the server that do some scanning of files, and other things. because of the amount of files, it causes the CPU usage to skyrocket, thus slowing the server down, and in turn everyones sites. thats why i got flagged.

looking around at some other hosting sites, everyone seemed to have something similar to this in their terms which doesnt help me in terms of switching to a new host.

plus, the guy on the phone, not really knowing anything about ootp, recommend that if the reports could be database driven, it would solve the problem.

someone out there HAS to already have this implemented. ive seen it before, just cant remember where.

[kq76]

Ahhhhh, I get it. It's like running a virus scan and if you have a zillion files, even if they're small, it takes forever for it to scan them all. That's why people recommend filtering out the OOTP folders.

By database driven I take it you mean they just have the database the game spits out and then they have scripts that use that db to spit out files whenever they're requested. Yeah, I seem to recall something like that, but I can't remember where. Maybe FOOL or the HBL or that one that kind of looks like the HBL but has a darker website. You could browse the IOLD to look for the site or maybe ask satchel or BruceM as they look at a lot of sites so maybe they remember.

[Cooleyvol]

db driven site would be horrible to build given all the reports it'd have to pull from a db (once you got a db created with all your info into it).

I PMed you TSW's host provider. I know they will be a good fit for what you have going (multiple sites/leagues).

[f.montoya]

Just to comment on the limits that your host is keeping you to. Several web hosts will do that as part of their target performance goals. AllSimBaseball's service is not immune to the issues caused by the sheer number of individual files that OOTP generates. In recent months, there have been some severe slowdowns that were related to the file counts and we noticed that this mostly occurred when cpu was overloaded during file optimization(defragmenting), weekly backups, etc.

Since this was the case, instead of placing file limits on clients, as other webhosts may be doing, the solution has been to try to place reports only on a separate server and leave the sites and forums alone on another. This frees up cpu to run sql database functions and php scripts, that run the websites and forums, while leaving the html reports alone on another server which doesn't really require backing up(as often) since most everything is replaceable quite easily.

Bottom line? If you can, pack as much as you can in archives and share them with your league members. You'll find that you can get away with less on your website that way. If you need everything dispayed, and you know you are heading toward a million files, you may want to look into a dedicated server or at least virtual dedicated hosting.

Many webhosts will advertise "Unlimited" everything, but they are banking on the fact that 90% of their clients never use very much space, or go beyond their TPG in terms of number of individual files. Be aware of this because OOTP leagues will often take you into the other 10%.