phpBB question

[Khadrelt]

This question is about the forum, actually. I frequent another forum which has been experiencing frequent 'internal server error' problems, and the guy running the forum recently posted this:

I know a few users have reported problems accessing the forums on occasions. I have had the same issue myself - you get a blank page telling you have experienced an "Internal server error". I'm sorry if you have been having problems. I finally contacted my domain hosts today and this is the live chat we had:

Quote:
- ME: Hi, I have been having problems with my PHPBB forum (self-installed on my Aplus website) where I am getting a lot of server errors. This seems to be at times of high traffic and nothing to do with the PHPBB installation. Are there any known issues here? I am wondering if it is my bandwidth. Thanks...
- HOST: there are certain limitations on running php scripts on our shared hosting
- HOST: that will create intermittent 500 internal server error
- HOST: s
- ME: That is exactly what is happening. What can I do about it?
- HOST: * no more than 4 simultaneous PHP processes per user.
- HOST: * 30 seconds maximum execution time for each PHP process.
- HOST: you can search google for ways to optimise the phpbb forum
- HOST: so it cant have more than 4 simultaneous processes
- HOST: started
- ME: Will do - thanks.
- HOST: thats most probably whats causing you the problems , the 30 seconds are probably enough


So, now I know the problem - uh, except I haven't got a clue what he's talking about, and it was one of those situations (like when you walk into a record shop - think High Fidelity) where you feel like you've got to bluff it out. "Oh yeah, of course - simultaneous PHP processes and 30 seconds max execution time - like, duh, shoulda know that, right?"

If anybody has a clue how to fix this, or knows of any PHPBB sites or hint pages that can help, please do let me know...

Do any of you forum gurus know any resources that could help him improve his forum? Not a Myth-related question, I know, but I hoped someone here might know something about this.

[vinylrake]

This question is about the forum, actually. I frequent another forum which has been experiencing frequent 'internal server error' problems, and the guy running the forum recently posted this:
... Do any of you forum gurus know any resources that could help him improve his forum? Not a Myth-related question, I know, but I hoped someone here might know something about this.

These days, with the prices so low and reliability so high, I'd recommend just switching web hosting companies - a max of 4 simultaneous php processes is a ridiculously low number. That means if your friend had ANY other php scripts (say a photo gallery, or a wiki, or wordpress, or ANYTHING) running ANYWHERE on his site that would reduce the number of people who could get on to the forums at once. Likewise, if 4 ppl are on the forum at the same time no other php script can be run on the entire script.

[edit: I should say that i don't know for SURE that 4 simultaneous processes is a small number, but I know several forums that have hundreds of members that never kick out error messages even during high traffic times so I have to assume they allow for more]

[Khadrelt]

Thanks, Vinyl, I'll pass that on to him.