Forum extremely Slow

[Soluna16]

Can anyone help with a problem where my forum has become extremely slow. Clicking on the notifications button or something like moderation actions takes almost 5-10 seconds to open that menu. Posting takes a similar amount of time.

Is this something to do with communication with the SQL database? Are there any obvious steps I can take to improve this?

[Joel R]

23 minutes ago, Andrew Ryan said:

Can anyone help with a problem where my forum has become extremely slow. Clicking on the notifications button or something like moderation actions takes almost 5-10 seconds to open that menu. Posting takes a similar amount of time.

Is this something to do with communication with the SQL database? Are there any obvious steps I can take to improve this?

Yes

Run the support tool to clear cache, disable all third party mods and revert theme.  You should also check your Error Logs and System Logs.  

If that doesn't work.  Panic and send in a support ticket.  

[AndyF]

First step, is it happening to everyone or just a few members ? By the sounds of your description it is everyone I'd assume though.

You could temporarily try a different browser perhaps although it does not sound quite like a browser concern (this would be more worthwhile checking if it was just a few people perhaps)

 

I thought about it being a busy / possibly overworked shared hosting environment too, it may be worth looking in your web control panel if you can to see what the server load is, or ask your host you could just tell them your site is very slow and you wanted to know if the  server load was high.

 

@Joel R Makes a very good point here about running the Support tool in the ACP to clear the caches out as well as the other suggestions too.

[Adlago]

Sometimes such issues are caused by bad work on your mail server.

Try and set another outgoing email address.

[Soluna16]

27 minutes ago, Joel R said:

Yes

Run the support tool to clear cache, disable all third party mods and revert theme.  You should also check your Error Logs and System Logs.  

If that doesn't work.  Panic and send in a support ticket.  

 

25 minutes ago, AndyF said:

First step, is it happening to everyone or just a few members ? By the sounds of your description it is everyone I'd assume though.

You could temporarily try a different browser perhaps although it does not sound quite like a browser concern (this would be more worthwhile checking if it was just a few people perhaps)

 

I thought about it being a busy / possibly overworked shared hosting environment too, it may be worth looking in your web control panel if you can to see what the server load is, or ask your host you could just tell them your site is very slow and you wanted to know if the  server load was high.

 

@Joel R Makes a very good point here about running the Support tool in the ACP to clear the caches out as well as the other suggestions too.

 

Where is the clear cache tool found? It's definitely happening to everyone on all browsers, no errors are found in either log.

[Kjell Iver Johansen]

22 minutes ago, Andrew Ryan said:

Where is the clear cache tool found? It's definitely happening to everyone on all browsers, no errors are found in either log.

Support in the right top corner in ACP

[Soluna16]

I've tried clearing cache, disabling plugins, and reverting theme and none make any difference.

[BomAle]

open browser console and watch into, press F12 for activate it. Submit a screenshot of results, or export if possible.

OR https://tools.pingdom.com/ share us the result

OR open a ticket into client area.

 

[bfarber]

I would recommend submitting a support ticket if this is a reproducible problem in your environment.

[autumnwalker]

On 7/7/2018 at 3:15 PM, Adlago said:

Sometimes such issues are caused by bad work on your mail server.

Try and set another outgoing email address.

I've seen this cause issues before. Have you tried a different mail provider?

[Adlago]

10 minutes ago, autumnwalker said:

I've seen this cause issues before. Have you tried a different mail provider? 

I have done an outgoing emails test with Gmail. Works perfectly.

[autumnwalker]

4 hours ago, Adlago said:

I have done an outgoing emails test with Gmail. Works perfectly.

Sorry - I was supporting your original comment and was intending to speak to the OP, @Andrew Ryan.

[Yamamura]

On 7/7/2018 at 8:31 PM, Andrew Ryan said:

Can anyone help with a problem where my forum has become extremely slow. Clicking on the notifications button or something like moderation actions takes almost 5-10 seconds to open that menu. Posting takes a similar amount of time.

Is this something to do with communication with the SQL database? Are there any obvious steps I can take to improve this?

Hmm... I had the same problem when I updated the forum from 3.1.4 to 4.2.6 last year. The forum began to work extremely slowly. Notifications opened for 10 seconds (I hated it! ?), Messages opened for 10 seconds, Search opened for 15 seconds. And the TTFB time was 1200 ms! I turned to support, but they did not help me. At the same time my site on Joomla worked very quickly. A couple of weeks ago I decided to try again to solve the problem of low performance of the forum. I did a test installation on the same hosting and... the test forum was fast! ? I spent the whole day to find the reason why my forum is slow, and the test forum is working fast (the size of the database did not matter). And I found, than they differ! The difference was in the conf_global.php file, namely in the value $INFO['sql_host']. In my file was specified '127.0.0.1'. And in the test forum was specified 'localhost'. I changed the value to 'localhost' and... the forum immediately became extremely fast! The Notification, Messages and Search began to open instantly. TTFB time is 80-100 ms now (the difference is more than 10 times!). And now I'm absolutely happy ?

Check your conf_global.php file. Maybe you will solve your problem in the same way.

[H5K]

Check to see if the database engine is using too much power. Try switching to MariaDB instead of MySQL.

[Surendra.S]

On 7/18/2018 at 5:22 AM, Takohashi said:

Hmm... I had the same problem when I updated the forum from 3.1.4 to 4.2.6 last year. The forum began to work extremely slowly. Notifications opened for 10 seconds (I hated it! ?), Messages opened for 10 seconds, Search opened for 15 seconds. And the TTFB time was 1200 ms! I turned to support, but they did not help me. At the same time my site on Joomla worked very quickly. A couple of weeks ago I decided to try again to solve the problem of low performance of the forum. I did a test installation on the same hosting and... the test forum was fast! ? I spent the whole day to find the reason why my forum is slow, and the test forum is working fast (the size of the database did not matter). And I found, than they differ! The difference was in the conf_global.php file, namely in the value $INFO['sql_host']. In my file was specified '127.0.0.1'. And in the test forum was specified 'localhost'. I changed the value to 'localhost' and... the forum immediately became extremely fast! The Notification, Messages and Search began to open instantly. TTFB time is 80-100 ms now (the difference is more than 10 times!). And now I'm absolutely happy ?

Check your conf_global.php file. Maybe you will solve your problem in the same way.

Thank You

[Soluna16]

On 7/17/2018 at 7:52 PM, Takohashi said:

Hmm... I had the same problem when I updated the forum from 3.1.4 to 4.2.6 last year. The forum began to work extremely slowly. Notifications opened for 10 seconds (I hated it! ?), Messages opened for 10 seconds, Search opened for 15 seconds. And the TTFB time was 1200 ms! I turned to support, but they did not help me. At the same time my site on Joomla worked very quickly. A couple of weeks ago I decided to try again to solve the problem of low performance of the forum. I did a test installation on the same hosting and... the test forum was fast! ? I spent the whole day to find the reason why my forum is slow, and the test forum is working fast (the size of the database did not matter). And I found, than they differ! The difference was in the conf_global.php file, namely in the value $INFO['sql_host']. In my file was specified '127.0.0.1'. And in the test forum was specified 'localhost'. I changed the value to 'localhost' and... the forum immediately became extremely fast! The Notification, Messages and Search began to open instantly. TTFB time is 80-100 ms now (the difference is more than 10 times!). And now I'm absolutely happy ?

Check your conf_global.php file. Maybe you will solve your problem in the same way.

 

This sadly won't work for me because my database is hosted on another website.

[rhyker2u]

The built-in clear cache tool didn't work for us (when troubleshooting). Installing this plugin did: 

If it still doesn't work then? Consult your webserver error logs (Apache2, NGINX, lighttpd) either PHP logs first. That usually reveals where the problem originates. Otherwise it turns into a troubleshooting mayhem / guessing game fast.