# Site Sluggishness 2/27/2007



## Bob Hubbard

We're in the middle of a unintentional denial of services attack from Yahoo.  They are flooding the server with requests overwhelming our ability to reply. I am attempting to correct this situation and block or limit their overly aggressive indexing of the site, but it will take some time to work.

My apologies for the inconvenience.


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## Drac

Thanks for the heads up..I thought it was on my end...


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## Bob Hubbard

Yahoos a bit annoying in that they throw hundreds of bots at you. We had 500 hit 90 minutes ago.   I've blocked 2 hugh sets of IP's from Yahoo, bringing things back under control. It hurts our search engine rankings, but the SER doesn't pay the bills here.

Hopefully this will stop the current situation and give the limits I installed for these bots a chance to work through the system.


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## Cruentus

What is going on exactly?

I was having trouble logging into my Yahoo account as well, so that is why I ask. Would that be related?


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## Bob Hubbard

Maybe.  Yahoo Gone Wild, next PPV?

Seriously, they aren't supposed to hammer a site like this. I get 2-3 google, msn, bots at a time, yahoo sends the entire 3rd army out in force.


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## JBrainard

Bob Hubbard said:


> Yahoos a bit annoying in that they throw hundreds of bots at you. We had 500 hit 90 minutes ago.


 
That might explain why I had such a hard time logging on!


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## Cruentus

Bob Hubbard said:


> Maybe. Yahoo Gone Wild, next PPV?
> 
> Seriously, they aren't supposed to hammer a site like this. I get 2-3 google, msn, bots at a time, yahoo sends the entire 3rd army out in force.


 
Seriously, though. Do you think yahoo might be having a problem? I absolutely cannot log into my e-mail there at the moment (get an "Internet Exp. cannot display" message).


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## Xue Sheng

Bob Hubbard said:


> Maybe. Yahoo Gone Wild, next PPV?
> 
> Seriously, they aren't supposed to hammer a site like this. I get 2-3 google, msn, bots at a time, yahoo sends the entire 3rd army out in force.


 
Isn't Yahoo just wonderful :angry:


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## Cruentus

Whats weird is that I can sign in, check my account and calander, just not the email.

Anyone else having this problem w/ yahoo?


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## Cruentus

WTF!?

I just got into the email portion finally after trying over and over again. I think Yahoo has gone wild, and not in a good way!!! :flammad:


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## bluemtn

I was wondering what was going on.  I tried to get on here earlier, but it seemed to just time out.  I thought it was my crappy computer-  I have high speed internet-, but then I got on another place just fine.  Now things seem to be good.  Thanks for the heads up, Bob!


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## MSTCNC

Thanks for the heads up, Bob...

Probably the same issue over on KT, eh?

I just checked who's online over there... and there are no less than a dozen Yahoo! slurp spiders running around on KT...

That's probably why I keep getting no-contact screens popping up... and have to refresh a few times to get the page up...

Thanks again! And, GOOD WORK!

Your Brother in the arts,

Andrew


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## Bob Hubbard

No, a dozens not bad.  500 however is.  MT and KT are on 2 different servers so they don't directly effect each other.


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## kidswarrior

Bob Hubbard said:


> Yahoos a bit annoying in that they throw hundreds of bots at you. We had 500 hit 90 minutes ago. I've blocked 2 hugh sets of IP's from Yahoo, bringing things back under control. It hurts our search engine rankings, but the SER doesn't pay the bills here.
> 
> Hopefully this will stop the current situation and give the limits I installed for these bots a chance to work through the system.


 
That's awesome, Bob. That's exactly what I would have done. :boing1: 

Now, will there be an English translation forthcoming for what you just said? :idunno:


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## Bob Hubbard

Search engines like Yahoo use automated programs, balled spiders or bots to wander around the internet, read everything and create the stuff we search through when we go to their sites.

This site is setup to handle say 300 people at a time.
Each bot is a person as far as the site is concerned.  Too many people, things get slow, eventually grind to a halt. Like rush hour traffic.

So, I blocked the on-ramps from Yahoo.

Now Yahoo can't read us.


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## Sukerkin

Nice to understand why it was that I've been having trouble getting MT to come over for a visit recently .  I too thought that it was either the flakey 'puter I was using or that MT's server was having a headache.  I'm happy that it was a solvable problem :tup:.


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## jks9199

Bob Hubbard said:


> Search engines like Yahoo use automated programs, balled spiders or bots to wander around the internet, read everything and create the stuff we search through when we go to their sites.
> 
> This site is setup to handle say 300 people at a time.
> Each bot is a person as far as the site is concerned.  Too many people, things get slow, eventually grind to a halt. Like rush hour traffic.
> 
> So, I blocked the on-ramps from Yahoo.
> 
> Now Yahoo can't read us.


Wow!

I didn't know that techies could actually speak English and explain things in a way I can understand!  I'm used to just nodding along somewhere after the third word until I can make a graceful (or graceless!) exit!

I don't know which is the greater accomplishment...  Managing a site that works as well as MT, or being able to translate computerese into "real" English!


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## Bob Hubbard

ROFL!

I actually once had cards that read "Geek to English Translator" made. 
Thank you


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## curious

I think I know what going on with Yahoo- a computer virus is going around called weebs something. All day yesterday I tried getting on the internet or check my emails- all I got was a warning from my Norton Security program. My program tried like twenty times to get rid of the virus, it wasn't even opened on my part. I had problems just logging on then finally last night I finally got on about 12 a.m., I figured problem solved; tried to post a reply on MT (spent an hour and a half composing) when everything froze. I thought it was me!!!!!!


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## MBuzzy

Bob - I'm glad you know what you're doing, because if it was up to me, I'd just start kicking computers until they started working....

My system administrator at work had to put my computer on my desk because everytime it doesn't work, I kick it.


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## exile

MBuzzy said:


> Bob - I'm glad you know what you're doing, because if it was up to me, I'd just start kicking computers until they started working....
> 
> My system administrator at work had to put my computer on my desk because everytime it doesn't work, I kick it.



Just out of curiosity, MBdo you use a side kick, a front snap kick or a roundhouse when you kick computers... and which of them is most effective?


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## kidswarrior

Bob Hubbard said:


> ROFL!
> 
> I actually once had cards that read "Geek to English Translator" made.
> Thank you


 
Ah, you cheat! Great to know our Admiral shares my secret MA philosophy. Is there a special MT private club with signet ring for us likeminded individuals? :lol:


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## MBuzzy

exile said:


> Just out of curiosity, MBdo you use a side kick, a front snap kick or a roundhouse when you kick computers... and which of them is most effective?


 
Depends on how mad I am and how much work I've lost....the most common is a front snap kick......but I find that I have a real problem with follow-through and chambering the kick right when I'm in my rolling chair.

Plus, the corner of my computer hurts my foot when I use roundhouse....then I just get more pissed off....


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## Bob Hubbard

Funny question here...

Since this happened, has the site been better?


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## Drac

MBuzzy said:


> Bob - I'm glad you know what you're doing, because if it was up to me, I'd just start kicking computers until they started working...


 
..I myself prefer a palm heel strike over a kick...


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## arnisador

Bob Hubbard said:


> Since this happened, has the site been better?



Back to normal...nothing else stands out though. How do you mean 'better'?


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## Bob Hubbard

More responsive, less time outs, faster page loads.  That sort of thing.


Reason I ask is, since I blocked Yahoo, I haven't had a page time out here on me.


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## kidswarrior

Bob Hubbard said:


> More responsive, less time outs, faster page loads. That sort of thing.
> 
> 
> Reason I ask is, since I blocked Yahoo, I haven't had a page time out here on me.


 
Now that you mention it, it is better. Funny what we don't notice when things are going well.


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## MBuzzy

I just had two do it....then I hit reload and it worked.  A little sluggish.  But I figured that's just because I'm in Korea and the internet sucks here.


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## zanshin87

hi guys
i know this is not the right place to post this
but i'vent access to any board though im logged in ! everything is set to private ! 
and u know what ! i can read the forum when im not logged in :-s

any comments ?


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## Kacey

zanshin87 said:


> hi guys
> i know this is not the right place to post this
> but i'vent access to any board though im logged in ! everything is set to private !
> and u know what ! i can read the forum when im not logged in :-s
> 
> any comments ?



Your account is currently under review - you have not completely filled in all of the required information (last name).  Please contact MT Administration by sending a PM (private mail) message to MT Admin Team for more information.  Your Private Mail box is found in the upper right, under the *Welcome, zanshin87* message.


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## zanshin87

thx ! i see  i've forgot that. 
i couldnt use the PM option but i wrote my last name at the profile
hope it works


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## Kacey

zanshin87 said:


> thx ! i see  i've forgot that.
> i couldnt use the PM option but i wrote my last name at the profile
> hope it works



My mistake - please use the "Contact Us" button at the bottom of the page to notify the site adminstration that you have provided the required information.


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## theletch1

Guys, is there any reason that the site would be sluggish again for the past few days?  I can load any site I hit pretty quickly except this one over something like the last week.  Pages take forever and quite often will not load at all.  At first I figured it was a problem with my DSL but checked another forum that I frequent that uses pretty much the same set up as this one and all was well.  Is there anything I can do on my end to speed things up?


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## Andrew Green

all pages, or just certain ones?


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## theletch1

All pages but some are a little faster than others.  When I click the "forums" link on the main page and when I try to post a reply seem to take the longest.  When I hit the post reply button on my last post I had time to take Tucker outside and hook him up on his runner, come back in the house and grab a cup of coffee before it finished posting my reply.  The rest of the pages are taking almost a full two minutes to load...sometimes less but generally between 60 and 90 seconds.


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## Bob Hubbard

The main forum page is a bit code heavy. The rest of the forum pages shouldn't take too long, and the non-forum pages should be fast.  I noticed some lag myself and am checking into network issues right now.

Unfortunately, we're going to have some sluggish periods until I can figure out where to pull an extra couple hundred a month to cover an upgrade.


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## theletch1

No problem, Bob.  I just got back in from taking my daughter out to dinner for her birthday, logged on and everything is humming along.  I'm usually getting on right after work (around 1300 hrs) so maybe that has a little to do with it.  I'm a patient fellow and will deal with whatever comes along.


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## Kacey

Is there a similar problem now?  Because the site's been slow since last night, although it seems to be somewhat better this morning - not great, but not as bad as last night.


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## exile

I've noticed the same thing... slow and somewhat erratic behavior...


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## Kacey

Well... I'm glad it's not my computer... I wonder what's causing it?


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## Bob Hubbard

I'm not noticing anything here, but I'm having a problem with my other server, and the 2 do communicate, so that might be causing some load spikes.


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## Drac

Whatever you did worked , working fine now..Thanks Bob...


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## Bob Hubbard

Might have some additional bumps today. I've got them running intense hardware checks to find a fix.


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