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IP.Chat Completely Unreliable


AtariAge

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Invision, I don't know if this is an issue just affecting me or affecting numerous customers, but once again my chat room is down, this time with the following error when trying to use it:

[#CJOIN-5] The room id supplied is invalid. Please notify an administrator. 



Sometimes the room will come back on its own, other times I need to submit a ticket in order to get it resolved. On my forum we have a weekly scheduled chat on Monday, and invariably the chat room is down on Monday. My users are getting tired of this and I don't blame them. Here's a status update sitting on the front page of my forum as I write this:

post-116410-003086400 1282007370_thumb.p

Can you PLEASE make IP.Chat more reliable? This is no longer a beta product, but something your customers are paying for and expecting to be working full time. The inability to connect to the IP.Chat server should be the rare exception, not the near norm as it seems to be for my forum. I'm getting pretty disgusted at this point, which has prompted me to write this public post on the issue.

Thank you,

..Al

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Mine has just started showing that as well but looking at the kb its to do with the license being expired - to give credit to this Im also getting a message in my ACP saying the support key has expired. Bit confused as a) I was under the impression from an email i received recently that the license had auto-renewed for the support and b) the Ip.Chat is a paid license that was only bought a few months back. Been having issues on and off for so long now though, if things dont start working as you'd expect from a paid service then I wont bother renewing the IP.Chat license.

Its a shame really because when it works its great, a lot better than some of the IRC apps Ive seen. :(

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This is why you should allow users to HOST THEIR OWN CHATROOMS just like every other application and/or add-on you offer.



From what I understand, you would need a pretty powerful server to run this application on your own. If you had shared hosting your host would very quickly shut your account down due to resource usage, hence it being a hosted only service where you do not have to worry about such resource usage. :)
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We are working on it. Hope to have an update for you this week :)




Can you tell us what is going on. Not having information to share with our members pisses them off almost as much as the connection issues.


Also, have you considered implementing this idea?


I was wondering if IPS could have a status page for the IP Chat server(s) the way it does for their hosted content servers? We have chat room issues from time to time, it would be nice to be able to rule out the IP Chat servers as the cause.



Quote


Our status site is hosted outside of the IPS network to allow for visibility even if we are experiencing wide technical issues. If your site is hosted with IPS or you are having issues connecting please visit here first to check the status.





Thanks

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I don't see why a simple chatroom would require so many resources in the first place.





PHP allows about 20 concurrent connections at once before all hell breaks loose and it freezes up and breaks. This means, that after about 15 or 20 users join your chat, it will explode into thousands of errors. Also, with that many users, you would be running one hell of a lot of MySQL database queries, which at some point, would explode too.

Then you throw in constant ajax refreshing (I mean its not a chatroom if it doesn't update often...) and you've broken your server, been shut down, and been kicked off your hosting. IPS has therefore been baned from that server, all because you installed that chat on your server.

Also, IPS has a custom backend on their server, which is what the chat runs off. Its not as simple as just adding some PHP and MySQL and AJAX and [emeril_live_style]Bam[/emeril_live_style] you've got a chatroom. Hell, I'm not even sure they use PHP. Its not something they can release for the masses to use on their own. (especially since it would end up being another pirated product).

If they did release it, it wouldn't be a fair release at all. You have to think about all of those people on their shared servers. This is something that requires one massive server setup to run, and very few people have the resources to do so. Its easier to let a different company handle it. Also, most other chat services don't let you install their source code on your server, its almost always exactly like IPS's (although maybe a bit more uptime).

If you don't belive me that a chatroom on your server can bring it to its knees, then PM me and you can try running the one I made, and see how long you can last.
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I don't see why a simple chatroom would require so many resources in the first place, and am I the only one who feels an chatroom kinda defeats the purpose of IPS' main product, a FORUM? :whistle:






Because you didn't write the system, and have no idea what powers the back end..

To put it very Bluntly, if you are unhappy with the chat room file a ticket with IPS, and if you really dont like it.. Don't use it.

Also, IP.Board may be the Flagship product of IPS but the Core IPS Applications (Forum, Blog, Gallery, etc) are for a Community based platform.. Chat fits very well into a community platform

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We made some changes today. Please let us know if things improve. Once we are sure today's changes helped things we will post more information on what is going on / what we did.



Thanks Charles, I'll keep an eye on it. Look forward to reading more about what's taken place once you post that information.

..Al
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We made some changes today. Please let us know if things improve. Once we are sure today's changes helped things we will post more information on what is going on / what we did.



Thanks for the updated, we were having the issue too. But nothing today so far. :)
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PHP allows about 20 concurrent connections at once before all hell breaks loose and it freezes up and breaks.



This means, that after about 15 or 20 users join your chat, it will explode into thousands of errors.



Also, with that many users, you would be running one hell of a lot of MySQL database queries, which at some point, would explode too.




I can't believe people have repped you for this post, they are obviously as misinformed as yourself. "It will exlode into thousands of errors" - lol.

Invision, out of interest, how are your servers handling the chat - XAMPP?
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Is it normal for the chatroom to start acting wonky and not allow even Admins back in, after they change skins? Even if you change back to the original skin, the chat room gives the usual (pink) error:

[#CSTART-0] There was an error connecting with the chat room. Please notify an administrator.

LOL, I AM the Admin. I noticed the chat server reloaded both last night, and the night before last. I assume for fixes. Add this to the list, if it isn't there already. Thanks.

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