Server Load Problems – Now Accepting Donations
With increasing popularity come a number of problems that are only to be expected. Right now, FeedBlendr is experiencing one of those problems – scalability/load issues.
After a number of warnings/notifications from DreamHost, I’ve been asked to either figure out a way to lower my processor usage immediately, or risk having my account disabled until I can do so. I’m using too much of the processor on my shared server and it’s unfair to the other users – fair enough.
Now I’m faced with a decision: do I shut FeedBlendr down (I don’t want to)? is there something I can do to lower usage (not that I’ve found yet)? can I justify upgrading my hosting (without making any money from FeedBlendr under the current model)?
At the moment I’m considering upgrading to a dedicated server from Hosting.com, which should give me the power/flexibility I need, but it’s a lot of extra management/set up etc that I’d have to deal with just to get it all happening, and life is just plain busy right now. So as a stop-gap, and either way, I’ve decided to open up for donations, allowing anyone who would like to do so to show their appreciation for the service FeedBlendr offers, by dropping a few bucks in my virtual tip-jar.
This may well affect my decision on whether or not to keep FeedBlendr live – if people aren’t even willing to drop a few dollars once-off in appreciation of the service, then I don’t know if I can continue providing it, and pay extra for the privelege of keeping FeedBlendr public and free.
It’s up to you people – so please show how you feel about FeedBlendr and donate now!
May 14th, 2006 at 5:11 pm
I will definately donate as soon as I get some money (have to wait until I get some allowance, I’m just 13) but I have a suggestion in terms of hosting. My advice would be to get a package from 1and1.com- the hosting is inexpensive and it just works! A shared package could possible even work for you (one of them has 1.5 TB of bandwidth). Annother suggestion, you should try and find some people to mirror the generation of the feeds or the feeds themselves.
-Mav C. Block