slow server respons because of too much database requests

[dracula]

Hello all,
We are have a new booking engine and a new webserver. We have the biggest and fastest server pair Networks - World Class Web Hosting could offer however we presently can channel only 30% of our traffic via this server because if we put more he will be to slow. The bottleneck ist the SQL database and the many requests this database has to answer and workover.

The database is on the same server.

Would it help to put our database on a separate server ? or what should we do to get a better performance. Mostly between 7pm and 11pm European (1pm-4pm New York) we encounter a slowdown on the website cheap airline tickets discount flights best airfaire bargain (happy-cars.com and hotelsupermarket.com are on ther same server as well).

Any suggestions? our tech team is claiming that they have over 4 years knowledge of building databases and therefore it can't be them having a badly build SQL database.

thank in advance for our advises.

[Tech Manager]

You need to start by diagnosing the problem using some actual data. While I can assume SQL is the cause for you slowdown, this isn't necessarily true. Take a close look at your server logs and run some diagnostic tests that actually measure the slowdowns and provide you with a look at the programs that may be culprits.

SQL is often accused of causing problems that it did not cause. Sometimes it is bad database or query design. Sometimes it is lack of resources on the individual server. If the problem is SQL you may solve it by using a backend server or setting up load balancing.

In the interim examine all the variables and look at the appropriate diagnostic data to help with your troubleshooting.

[dracula]

thanks for this information Tech Manager, we did have a look at all said and could now bring down the computer load drastically and its going smooth again.
Your input was very helpful.
Thanks again
Rudi

[Tech Manager]

Originally Posted by dracula

thanks for this information Tech Manager, we did have a look at all said and could now bring down the computer load drastically and its going smooth again.
Your input was very helpful.
Thanks again
Rudi

I am pleased I could help.

Good luck.

[netman4ttm]

What OS are you running?
The Linux kernel now defaults to completely fair queing which might be great for a desktop but is often stupid for a server. This can be altered at boot time and possibly if you build your own kernel.
We dumped Linux for FreeBSD 7.0 with the new ULE scheduler running a stand alone version of MySQL.
We also made MySQL run -10 in "nice"
The application is Vicidial so even though "MySQL claims 30% better performance running on the same server as the application, that was not viable as Asterisk does not play well with others.

[netman4ttm]

Dracula,

You might also try not normalizing data. I learned all the reasons for normalizing but lately a lot of experts are looking at reducing the complexity of queries by not normalizing.
I wish I knew more but it might be worth a Google search.