Actinic Resource Problems???

[stuartn]

Hi,

Have had a look through previous postings, so hopefully this isn't too repetitive.

We are currently using Actinic on an 'unlimited' space host (originating at Fasthosts), with an Actinic Partner Hosting provider. However, what we are finding is that problems are now occuring, which seem to be due to our increased traffic and orders (eg. users are reporting that the site is freezing up once they have 12 - 15 line items in their basket, or orders with large number of line items (15+) are causing server side errors etc. )

This is obviously very annoying, and we have been assured that it is not a problem with our hosting.

After speaking with another hosting company, they advised us that Actinic creates new Perl files for each indivdual line item placed in the Shopping Cart - hence this can eventually cause problems once you have enough people with enough line items. Also, from a previous discussion, I read that abandoned orders can leave .cart and .chk files lying around, however I can find none of these in our CGI-Bin or acatalog folders (although there are masses of .session and .save files).

Basically, we need to get this sorted out somehow and wondered whether we can do anything about it before we lose too many orders. At present we have had to suspend online ordering due to the frequency of this, so have to make a decision asap.

Any help would be great!!!

Cheers,

Stuart

[pinbrook]

The most sensible option is to search this forum, using a keyword of Fasthosts. You will then see how many people have left Fasthosts because they do not allocate enough memory to run the scripts.

We recently took on a new actinic client whose basket regularly can have a hundred items in it.....it runs fine on our server!!

[zmagyar]

After speaking with another hosting company, they advised us that Actinic creates new Perl files for each indivdual line item placed in the Shopping Cart - hence this can eventually cause problems once you have enough people with enough line items. Also, from a previous discussion, I read that abandoned orders can leave .cart and .chk files lying around, however I can find none of these in our CGI-Bin or acatalog folders (although there are masses of .session and .save files).

I believe this is some kind of misunderstanding. The cart content is kept in one single file (*.session in v6 and *.cart in previous versions) per buyer.
The abadoned orders definetely leave files on the server but these are automatically cleaned up within an adjustable period. Anyway it doesn't really affects the online performance.

As Jo has already metioned your problem is down to the web server configuration. Your host limits the memory usage of the CGI scripts. The actual memory limit on the server is close to the minimum required by Catalog. When the cart content exceeds a certain size the server doesn't allow the script to execute (this is mostly at the checkout phase which requires more memory). Hence the reported problems.
The only one solution is to ask your host to adjust the limitations. However there may be problems even with the adjusted limitations. E.g. your shop doesn't work now with 10 items in the cart. If the ISP adjusts the limitations then probably it will only fail with 100 items. But what if someone wants to order more items? Therefore the ideal solution is a server (or ISP?) where no resource limits.

Regards,

[stuartn]

Cheers for the info! From what you say, we will start having a look for alternative hosting.

Don't suppose anyone has any success stories about particular host providers? Also, we are getting in the region of 1500 visitors per day, so can anyone suggest what sort of spec we should be aiming at.

Thanks again.

Stuart

[pinbrook]

We offer try before you buy.....ie upload your site to our test area, test your site, place orders, measure response times. If you don't like the service, walk away with nothing lost!!

If you could tell me your current bandwidth usage I can tell you which package you'll need

[Chuckie]

Hosting Companies

If your looking for a good hosting company then i can really recommend flump.net.

[stuartn]

Thanks for all the info.

After looking around for suitable hosting, we have decided that oneandone.co.uk seem to offer the spec that we are looking for, a decent price, and we have seen good reviews on them.

Sorry if this is a simple question, but they have quoted us a couple of figures relating to the CGI limits - wondered if anyone knew how these equate to real terms in Actinic.

CPU - 8 Seconds at 100%
Memory - 1024Mb
Numerical Process - 12

If anyone could shed some light on exactly what this would mean, then I would be really grateful.

Thanks again,

Stuart