Optimising an IPB forum for the first time

[neilowen]

I've Just setup my forum, added a skin and modified it slightly etc. However I got some advice from a member to optimise my site.

He wrote to me: Just keep an eye on the mysql size and at least once a week optimise the db. Also empty any large log files as these can have a huge impact on speeds etc.. I would introduce some bad word filters.

Is there any settings or anything I should do to optimise?

How can I manage the mysql size? Empty large log files and does anyone have a spreadsheet for the bad words filter?

Is there anything else I should do? GZIP? If so, any tips how to?

Cheers

Neil

[Makoto]

Running optimize queries will really only be beneficial if you're using MyISAM, which you probably are.

IPB already has a built-in task to do this automatically twice a day for you. I think it even automatically disables if you are using InnoDB(?). But anyways, IPB should already cover this for you.

I'm assuming he means logs stored in the database, but I don't really know of anything in specific you would want to disable or frequently purge as far as performance goes. You might want to consider disabling logging of spider/crawler visits if you have no use for this information. (It can show your most popular search queries on Google and other search engines for example, though you can also easily get this information using Analytics software such as Google Analytics).

Bad word filters are entirely your choice. Just add a list of some racy/profane words you don't want to see people on your forum using. You don't really need a spreadsheet of words to add. You can also chose not to use the bad word filters at all, and just deal with members that use abusive language often yourself.

GZIP is automatically enabled with IP.Board.