Overstock Combats Problem of Slow Unresponsive Overloaded Site with New Servers

[bargainbloodhound]

Dear Overstock Auctions users,

Overstock Auctions is growing! Over the last couple of weeks, the number of listings and people visiting the site has gone up, and we are forecasting that growth to continue through the remainder of the year and well into the future.

Unfortunately, we are experiencing some growing pains as a result. Many of you have felt these growing pains as you have been preparing for the upcoming holiday shopping season: the site has been slow, and at times unresponsive.

To combat this problem, last week we added more database servers to better accommodate the number of people browsing and searching the site. This week, the auction site engineers have been working on adding new servers to handle the load from all the high-volume sellers who are listing on the site. There are other improvements on the way to help make the site more reliable and provide a better experience for everyone.

Thank you all for everything you have done to help make this growth possible. Overstock Auctions is your site, and we all at Overstock know that this is a partnership -- one I am personally proud to be a part of.

Thank you for your patience and support.

Sincerely,

David Wellman
Director Auction Development
Overstock Auctions

P.S. Watch for some big changes, site improvements and new features in 2006!

full post: http://forums.auctions.overstock.com/vie...hp?t=10911

[rossellini]

so slow

[bargainbloodhound]

[quote author=rossellini link=topic=1238.msg4795#msg4795 date=1132043557]
so slow
[/quote]

I've only noticed the slowness on the account management pages which are FRIGGIN' UNBEARABLY SLOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  ...especially the login page and the sold items page.  The sold items page times out half the times I try to access it...as an example I clicked on sold items just before I started typing this post...I just received this message:

The connection was reset

The connection to the server was reset while the page was loading.    *  The site could be temporarily unavailable or too busy. Try again in a few
          moments.

    *  If you are unable to load any pages, check your computer's network
          connection.

    *  If your computer or network is protected by a firewall or proxy, make sure
          that Firefox is permitted to access the Web.

[mandy]

I am happy to report that over the last two weeks, Overstock Auctions has successfully deployed new servers to handle the increased volume of visitors and listings. These changes will allow Overstock Auctions to easily handle the expected increase in site usage throughout the 2005 holiday season.

Additionally, we are working on many other big improvements for the near future, including adding even more servers to support the site as we continue to grow, revamping current features, enhancing the site's layout and organization, and, of course, unveiling new features that I’m confident everyone will be excited to see, such as an expanded version of O-Lister.

full post: http://forums.auctions.overstock.com/vie...hp?t=10987

[bargainbloodhound]

The 'sold items' page just loaded in a speedy 30 seconds for me (on a 8 MBs connection)...I guess that is a big  improvement over waiting 3 minutes for a 'this connection has timed out' error page.  :