Launch

[andypike]

Hi guys,

Right, we are pretty much there now. At the time of writing this there are only 2 issues outstanding that I need to look at before launch. They are both mobile related so not sure what you guys think in terms of priority. As I don't have access to the devices in question it will be hard for me to fix them right now. You can see these issues here: https://github.com/andypike/lagtv/issues?milestone=7&state=open. Let me know if you think these are needed for launch or can be done a bit later.

As a general note, are we all happy that the site is now v1 ready? I'm pretty happy, the only thing I want to double check is the user permissions just to make sure people can only do what they are supposed to.

The last thing then is hosting. Adam needs some help with this so I'd like to give him some options. I'm going to suggest Linode (http://linode.com) as they are very good and host the current test server. We haven't had any problems at all with them. I'll suggest starting on their basic package which is $19.95pm and can be scaled. Can anyone else recommend another hosting provider that is good but also pretty cheap? Linode offer VPS solutions but a dedicated box might be ok if we can find a good price for one.

Let me know what you think. I'd like to get the hosting sorted and the site launched in the next week.

Cheers

Andy

[paul burns]

Hi All

Based on the lack of issues in the github, I am happy with it so far.
I will try and get some more testing done tonight.

As far as hosting is concerned, my suggestion would also be linode, having used them before.
It will be interesting to see how the site keeps up under actual load, running on a VPS.

Regards

Cyclooctane

[Kadover]

Hey guys,

Just commented on one of the issues.

As far as I'm concerned from a security perspective, the only outstanding issue is the cert - an issue I know has been mentioned before. The cost can seem discouraging, but I would highly argue it is a justified one. Other than that, I think she's good to go.

Kadover

[andypike]

I've just tried a load test on the testing server and it's looking pretty good. I used a free service that ramps up connections up to 50 concurrent connections. The speed of the site held pretty steady throughout the whole test (there are a couple of spikes). If you're interested you can see the results here:

http://loadimpact.com/load-test/lagtv.andypike.com-b2df74c8cc86b90b73118024ba39ea6c

So I think the basic linode offering will be ok to start with. I'm also looking at Amazon EC2 as they have a "Free Tier" that offers one of their micro instances that is actually a slightly higher spec than the base linode package. This free tier only lasts a year and after that it looks like it's about the same price as linode but it's a bit hard to tell.

I'll do some more investigations :o)

Andy

[Stuka87]

We use Amazon at work and it has worked well. Lets us also distribute stuff so that different areas of the world have a more local server (regional). But that of course cost money and wouldn't be of much use in this case.

[Stuka87]

I think we are ok to launch with the two mobile issues. They are a nice to have,a s its an easy way to watch the videos on a mobile device, but most users will most likely be desktop users.

[IceWulf]

I think Linode is a good place to start - we can always go for more capacity later. It has the advantage of being in a good BGP location and relatively close to Adam and Jeff network wise. So far the site has been quite fast for me so far so even if it gets 10 times slower on production I wouldn't really care.

[andypike]

Thanks all. I've sent Adam some options and I've recommended Linode. Just waiting for a reply :o)

I also did some more load testing on the testing server which is the most basic linode VPS. The previous test I did used 50 virtual users which was limited to 1 connection at a time per user. I tried again with a test ramping up to 100 browser users which better simulate a real browser as it can download multiple assets through multiple connections at a time. This adds further load onto the server per user and is a more real-world test. We got similar results, no decrease in speed even at 100 users and the average time for the homepage to be fully downloaded (including all assets) was about less than 1 second. According to the testing software this equals about 20,000 users per month. So we know we can handle that level of usage without any problems. I imagine that when the site is first launched it will be under pressure but it will then settle down.

If you're interested, here are the results: http://loadimpact.com/load-test/lagtv.andypike.com-974bc122717555a138326d54ab6b9b1d

Cheers

Andy

[Ludi Productions]

Andy,

Everything sounds good and Linode is what I would have chosen anyway. Yeah, Andy, it's up to Adam, but I'm fine with starting with the basic package since we won't really know the traffic, videos, etc. yet. Also, we can adjust the site/server once it become live and we have enough information.

Thong

[Andy Pike]

Yep, Adam has come back and has agreed to linode, so just need to set that up. I think that will be fine load wise for normal usage, however, when the site first goes live and it's announced it might get quite a bit of extra traffic. It's impossible to say how much and over what time period. So it's possible that when the site first launches we might get some negative feedback in terms of speed. Just wanted to make you all aware of that and to expect it. I think it'll be fine once it all settles down. I guess we aren't really going to know until it happens.

If anyone fancies giving the site a once over before launch to make sure that it's all working and small things like typos etc are all taken care of.

Thanks everyone, we're almost there now :o)

Andy

[Kadover]

Are we doing a database wipe on the forums/users before launch?

Lots of testing threads :P

Cheers,

Kadover

[Andy Pike]

Yes, the database will be a clean one so you will need to create a fresh account on the live server. I'm not copying the test database over :o)

[Ludi Productions]

Andy,

I hope you or Adam don't mind if I took action and post the bugs/suggestions that people commented on github. So any response from the LAGTV website group should be ignored. If there's no response, then either one of us should let them know what's going on. That way the users know we are addressing their issue and are happy with our responses.

I should know I work as a support technician, :D.

Thong

[Kadover]

Obviously the site has only been up for a few hours, but will we be able to get any sort of hard numbers later in the day? # of users, bandwidth, etc etc?

[Ludi Productions]

Not that I know of Kadover, But it has picked up pretty quickly when it was announced several hours ago. I had no problem with slowness and accessing the site as well.

[Kadover]

Aye - I'm REALLY pleased with how it's been doing. Especially considering the number of users, graphics and etc that we've been encountering. One of the reasons I was interested to see some stats if possible.

[Andy Pike]

Hi chaps, we have Google Analytics on the site so we can track usage. I'll ask Adam for a summary for you (I'm interested too).

Sent from my iPad

[Ludi Productions]

I agree with you there, Kadover. I was able to realized what we missed in testing and it was great getting another set of eyes in identifying all these issues/suggestions.

For now, no issues/suggestions I see in the thread so bed time for me. Great job tonight everyone! Be ready for tomorrow!

[cyclooctane]

So far so good guys.
Looking good and so far it seems to have been stable.
We have lots of feature requests and only 1 that I think is a major bug.

https://github.com/andypike/lagtv/issues/124

This NEEDS to get fixed before we have major troll issues.

Otherwise great job guys.

Regards
Cyclooctane

[Kadover]

Not sure where to put this. However, as a mod/web team guy, I'm debating making a pinned topic in the suggestion forum about ideas we are aware of, such as signatures, search, post history/count, and a few others that are really popular mentions. Does anyone have any issue with this?

On Friday, October 26, 2012 1:35:16 PM UTC-5, andypike wrote:

[Andy Pike]

Nope, sounds like a good idea to me :o)

[Kadover]

Thread was created here: http://www.lag.tv/forums/forums/16/topics/181

 Moderators, CMs and Admins should have the ability to edit it. I think we should be able to just keep this one thread updated with features as we roll along.

Let me know if any wording should be changed.

[Ludi Productions]

Great Idea!

[Kadover]

Just made a similar one for Bug Reports:

http://www.lag.tv/forums/forums/15/topics/207

On Thursday, November 1, 2012 7:13:38 PM UTC-5, Ludi Productions wrote:

Great Idea!

[Ludi Productions]

You may need to provide one for mobile as well.

Too bad we don't have an option to see where people are located in case they mentioned the LAGTV website being slow or not loading.

[paul burns]

If we logged IP addresses then we could work it out fast enough. But that is a whole other can of worms.

It may not be a bad idea to allow people to set their location on their profile.
(I have added a comment on this in github)
https://github.com/andypike/lagtv/issues/120

Regards

Cyclooctane

[Ludi Productions]

Hey Andy, Kadover, or whoever is moderator,

If possible, could one of you guys create thread/post to be What's New? Somewhat similar to what we are working on but we have already implemented it. It will be nice to have users see that we have taken care of their issue. I guess like a release news.

Thank you!

[Andy Pike]

I've made you a moderator :o) You'll be getting those permissions anyway when the new dev role is released so may as well give it to you now.

[Ludi Productions]

Thank you Andy!

[Ludi Productions]

Hey guys,

I added a little FAQ about creating a sub category group. I hope this will elevate some of the pressure on everyone's end. Hopefully, in the future we can add a sub category thread within the thread.

[Ludi Productions]

Kadover,

I hope you don't mind but I am going through all the reported bugs/suggestions and putting them in their relevant topic. You can keep your lock thread there, since yours is more of a summary.

[Kadover]

Actually removed mine because it's irrelevant now :P

[Stuka87]

Out of curiosity, can non-analysts post comments on replays?

[Ludi Productions]

I don't think non-analysts could see the replays. Are you talking about moderators and community managers?

[Stuka87]

I am an analyst and I have been doing my thing, and I notice other comments on them. Just curious if these are from other analyst, or if there are others that can comment on them.

[Andy Pike]

People that can see and comment on replays are:

* Admins

* Community Managers

* Analysts

Should we add the role of the user within the comment area so you know who that person is?

[cyclooctane]

Hi All

Sorry about the lack of help from me over the last few days during the
launch.
I am in the middle of final exams for uni and have not had much time.

I have and will continue to help out when I can, but I am going to be
very time strapped over the next month.

Just letting you all know that I am still around and will continue to
help whenever I can.

Regards

Cyclooctane

[Andy Pike]

No problem dude, school comes first!! We'll keep your seat warm for your return :o)

[Ludi Productions]

Exactly what Andy said. Also, don't worry about it since we took care of it and there are others to help out, too. Every issues/suggestions submitted should be settled down by then. I was able to organize some things so people won't have to be overwhelm with going through every single posts, :D