Poor performance - is it modx, php, mysql or just my host?

I’m new to MODX and this is my first post. Working on a website redesign, but very frustrated with the performance of modx so far, especially the manager. However, since the site is hosted by Bell Canada (bellhosting.ca), it wouldn’t surprise me if their hosting environment is not optimized for PHP/MySQL. Compare the load time of the current non-PHP home page with the new modx home page:

http://www.advancesupply.ca/

http://www.advancesupply.ca/modx/index.php

The first link loads instantaneously, the second takes 6-10 seconds for me, even when cached. So my first question is, is that load time normal for a PHP/MySQL-based site? I don’t think it is because I’ve used plenty of others that are faster. The Bell support guy thought 6 seconds was normal (it’s slower than that today).

The MODx Manager is even worse, usually around 20 seconds to load a page. In fact, even if I log out and then reload the login page, it takes 20+ seconds (so nothing to do with ajax):

http://www.advancesupply.ca/modx/manager/index.php

Please let me know how long these pages take to load for you, and if you’re seeing the same issues on your sites, where I should look for bottlenecks, or what I should tell Bell, etc. I’m thinking I may have to recommend a different host to my client.

Wes


MODx version: Revolution 2.0

PHP Version 5.2.13

Database type: mysql

Database version: 5.0.90

MySQL Client API version 5.0.51a

Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.4

Firefox 3.6.8

Perhaps this is the issue:
http://rtfm.modx.com/display/revolution20/MySQL+5.0.51+Issues

Quote from: Breezer at Aug 23, 2010, 03:09 PM

Perhaps this is the issue:
http://rtfm.modx.com/display/revolution20/MySQL+5.0.51+Issues

Thanks... I’ve seen that but didn’t think that was it because the db version is reported as 5.0.90 in the Manager. I only just found the other version number in PHPinfo(), and I don’t understand the difference. Also, I was under the impression that the installer would warn me if there was an issue, because the page you link to says it isn’t supported. I will contact the host to see if they’ll upgrade.

It could be nameservers... if it takes a while to lookup your own domain name, then EVERYTHING gets really slow. Ask your host about reverse name lookups...

Quote from: Everett at Aug 23, 2010, 03:59 PM

It could be nameservers... if it takes a while to lookup your own domain name, then EVERYTHING gets really slow. Ask your host about reverse name lookups...

Thanks, but I don’t think that’s it because the current site loads fast at the same domain name.

No, I mean reverse name lookups -- has nothing to do with the current site. If any outgoing connection has to lookup its own IP address, it can bring any web application to a crawl. I’ve seen it on several sites where the host was misconfigured. Every image, every style sheet, js file, EVERYTHING had to do a slow lookup to resolve its own host name.

OK Everett, I still don’t understand how it makes a difference if the new site is in a subdirectory of the same location -- is it the number of lookups that makes a difference?

In any case, I tried a DNS lookup tool (http://www.lookupserver.com) and first looked up the IP for advancesupply.ca, then looked up the name for the resulting IP: it returned the same IP address rather than the name. Does this mean there is no reverse entry, and therefore it’s a problem? Isn’t it because the IP is shared by multiple domains? Or how do you test for the problem?

Can anyone comment on the different MySQL version numbers? What is the difference, and why would the MODx Manager report a seemingly irrelevant version number?

OK, I tried another tool (dnsstuff.com) to look up info about the IP for advancesupply.ca, and got this:

So it looks like there *is* a Reverse DNS entry. Can we rule that out as the cause?

You can test for this by editing the /etc/hosts file and putting in some temporary manual entries, e.g.



You’ll have to reboot Apache after this...