Revolution 2.2.7pl Manager is really slow

Hi, I've been using Evolution on sites for years but recently moved from using my own personal server to a HostGator re-seller account. I am rebuilding a few sites on the HostGator account and since they offer Modx Revolution (2.2.7pl) on the "Quick Install" feature, I chose that and I am recreating all my sites from scratch using Modx Revolution.

My problem is that the Revolution Manager Pages are SLOW... every time I click on something - anything, it takes nearly 10 seconds to reload the page. - It was near instantaneous on my Evolution sites. Can anyone offer any insight into the problem? Is it the HostGator server I am on? Is Revolution just slow? Could it be something else?

I am experiencing this on clean installations, with no added packages and without even uploading any files... and every one of them is the same: takes 8-10 seconds to reload the page after I click on anything in the manager.

I have Googled this problem, but the only comments I have found seem to be years old and refer to different versions.

Thank you for your help.

Jay

Hello,

First off you are using an older version of MODX Revolution, the current version is 2.2.9, so it sounds like their installer is a bit dated or otherwise slow to update files.

MODX Revolution's manager is going to be slower than Evolution, as it makes heavy use of JavaScript coupled with more resources in general. If you are comfortable with MODX Evolution, there is nothing requiring you upgrade to Revolution, however it can be nicer for development. MODX Evolution is still alive and kicking with 1.0.12 released ~10 hours ago, so you can continue using it if desired.

That being said the manager shouldn't be that slow loading, so there is likely a problem with your hosting. I wouldn't rank HostGator as having the best servers personally, they do tend to have a higher site/server density so it could be under heavy load when you are trying to work. Granted the server configuration and your connection speed to the server also factor into the equation.

The manager speed has gotten better in more recent releases, but with everything it's doing the speed is unlikely to ever match Evolution.

I hope that helps some.

Thank you for your reply.


As I said, the only reason I switched to Revo. was because it was available as part of the Quick Installer... thought it might save me a few steps. I have tried Revo in the past and as you pointed out, I felt that Evolution was still quite good so I never really adopted Revo as my CMS of choice.

I am going to try to upgrade my version of Revolution to the latest and see if that helps. Yesterday, I was making minor updates to a site as news was coming in - simply editing text and uploading an occassional image and it took hours longer than it should have, simply because it takes so long to do anything in the manager. If an upgrade doesn't help, I will give Evolution a shot. I had contacted HostGator previously about my feeling that the servers were slow, but they told me that they did not find anything wrong on their end. Then again, the re-seller account that I have isn't all that expensive so it would lead me to believe that it could be a slow server.

Thanks, again.

Jay





Quote from: AMDbuilder at Sep 14, 2013, 07:31 AM

Hello,

First off you are using an older version of MODX Revolution, the current version is 2.2.9, so it sounds like their installer is a bit dated or otherwise slow to update files.

MODX Revolution's manager is going to be slower than Evolution, as it makes heavy use of JavaScript coupled with more resources in general. If you are comfortable with MODX Evolution, there is nothing requiring you upgrade to Revolution, however it can be nicer for development. MODX Evolution is still alive and kicking with 1.0.12 released ~10 hours ago, so you can continue using it if desired.

That being said the manager shouldn't be that slow loading, so there is likely a problem with your hosting. I wouldn't rank HostGator as having the best servers personally, they do tend to have a higher site/server density so it could be under heavy load when you are trying to work. Granted the server configuration and your connection speed to the server also factor into the equation.

The manager speed has gotten better in more recent releases, but with everything it's doing the speed is unlikely to ever match Evolution.

I hope that helps some.

I had a HostGator reseller account for a long while. It wasn't that slow. 10s is a long time to reload a page. Local installs can be slow, but never once the site was on the HG server.

I tried their install script. Once it left some installation files and forgot to create an assets directory. I wouldn't trust that and decided never to bother with it again. Not like it's hard to install MODX manually.

Try installing 2.2.9 manually, the correct way (See RTFM). If it serves you better, tell HG to get up to speed with their installer. They also do not update the install script regularly, thus why you ended up with 2.2.7.

It's a little disappointing that most of the quick installers have abandon offering Evolution in addition to Revolution, as they are both still valid branches. Granted moving on isn't a bad thing either, as Revolution does make installing extras, and managing multiple sites easier.

In regards to the server there could be 100-200 (or more) other resellers all using the same resource pool. Their definition of slow and your definition could be very different, so I wouldn't discount the server being overloaded. I know there are better options for Reseller hosting, so if the performance isn't cutting it don't be afraid to look elsewhere.

10 seconds is definitely too long. I don't think I've ever waited more than 3 seconds, even on a cheap, shared hosting site.

MODX-friendly hosts:

SkyToaster: http://bit.ly/164aT9l
Bluehost: http://bit.ly/Hb5CAY
Arvixe: http://bit.ly/YgFGHl
A2: http://bit.ly/1943MLT

Plus you can get a free development site on the MODx Cloud, no installation needed, for development and testing.

Thank you everyone for your responses...

I called HostGator yesterday to have them look into it - of course they don't support Modx, but I hoped they could look at the server and see if there were any other notable issues. I gave the rep my login and password to one of my Revo. sites so they could see for themselves - they acknowledged that I was not crazy or anything, but her solution was to optimize my database and / or to upgrade from my re-seller plan to a higher-end VPS plan.

I didn't bother optimizing my DBs... this is a new account with fresh installations - I can't imagine that my DBs are out of whack.

Before upgrading or jumping ship, I did "upgrade" one of my other sites (one that had no content on it, yet.) to 2.2.9 as per recommendations as per ADMbuilder's suggestion - I did not do a clean install - just an "upgrade" - the results are exactly the same. I will try removal and manual installation from scratch of 2.2.9... if that doesn't help, I'm going shopping for another host or another plan.

Just some more specifics: Things like uploading files through the manager, and saving edited pages and chunks works as I would expect... changing a tab or expanding the tree on the left, opening a resource or element for editing, changing the page from the dropdowns at the top all take forever... never less than 6-seconds (I've been timing) and sometimes as long as 13 or so seconds.

I know it relies heavily on JS, so I originally thought it might be my own computer or browser, but it reacts the same way on any of my computers and any browser. Argh.

Thank you all, again.

J

No solution... just an update.

I looked into changing my plan to VPS... the plan they suggest would be good-enough for Modx Revo is $50 more/month than the plan I am on now. Not wanting to pay that much more (or switch to another host like Bluehost whose "good-enough plan" is about $20/month cheaper than what Hostgator suggested and deal with moving everything over), I decided to see how Evolution would work.

I ripped out one of my Revo installations, deleted the database and dis a fresh install of the latest Evolution... it works PHENOMENALLY WELL! - Manager is super fast (near instantaneous response!) and even the front-end is noticeably faster.

For lack of a better solution and not wanting to spend more - I will just re-re-build my sites on Evolution. I like some of Revo's features, but I always liked Evo. so I see no downside (other than repeating hours worth of work I already did weeks ago).

Thank you all, again,
J

I'm glad to hear you are making some progress.

The process of switching hosts isn't that hard, in most cases the new provider will handle it for you. Your not going to get Evolutions near instantaneous response with Revolution, but your server shouldn't hold you back from trying new things.

If you want to try that Revo site on a different server I would be happy to hook you up with a test site.