List of ways to save bandwidth [Archive] - vBulletin Community Forum

chrispadfield

Wed 3rd Oct '01, 7:38am

I thought I would write up a list of ways to save bandwidth. Perhaps this could then be moved to the Hints and Tips forum. Please add any other suggestions:

ADMIN SETTINGS:

1) Ensure that you do not have NO CACHE headers set on in your settings

2) Reduce the number of threads displayed on forumdisplay and the number of posts displayed in showthread

3) Use CSS to replace font settings:
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17943

SERVER SETTINGS:

1) Install gzip and turn it on for the forum (biggest saving you can make)
http://i4net.tv/marticle/get.php?action=getarticle&articleid=12

AVATAR SETTINGS:

You have a number of options here:

1) Encourage use of default avatars and not custom avatars (which don't appear to be cached by the browser. sorry could not find url discussing this)

2) Use hack to save custom avatars as files
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11760&highlight=bandwidth
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=28337&highlight=custom+avatar+files

3) Use hack to allow users to enter a link to their avatar off server
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=28163&highlight=avatar

4) Prevent hotlinking of custom avatars with a referrer in avatar.php
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19021&highlight=rewrite

5) Store default avatars on another server.

IMAGES/ATTACHMENTS

1) Place all your images on another server and link to them. The other server being a place with cheaper bandwidth.

2) Reduce the max size of attachments

3) Prevent attachments being viewed by guests, will also stop hotlinking from other sites.
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19021&highlight=rewrite

4) Use mod re-write to prevent hotlinking of images and non custom avatars
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19021&highlight=rewrite
http://faq.solutionscripts.com/misc/hot_linking.html

CHEAP BANDWIDTH

I would recommend www.rackshack.net for a server at $100 per month and about $250 set up (rubbish server) but you get 300GB bandwidth and they have a decent network (with stats to show its use).

Of all these suggestions none really decrease any functionality of your forum. If you want to decrease more bandwidth and don't mind decreasing functionality, suggestions include:

1) Requiring registration (ie no guests)
2) Turn of PM
3) Turn of Calendar
4) Turn of forumjump (can use quite a lot of bandwidth if you have lots of forums. More than 40 forums and I would get rid of it)

nuno

Sat 13th Oct '01, 1:02pm

tx Chris ;)

AA_Guru

Sat 3rd Nov '01, 6:22pm

Here's another suggestion:

I had altered the <body> replacement to include a custom jpeg background. In the process, it was used on every page. Changing the standardredirect and standarderror templates so that it had a body tag such as:
<body bgcolor="\{pagebgcolor\}"
text="#000000" id="all"
leftmargin="10" topmargin="10"
marginwidth="10" marginheight="10">
(Note: omit the backslashes from pagebgcolor. The expression was being substituted without them.)

This prevented it from being affected by the more complex replacement that is used on the main site. My bandwidth usage went down about 10-15% because of this one change alone.

X-Fan

Mon 4th Mar '02, 12:37pm

What's the best setting to have gzip compression set to?

And any hints on conserving server space?

Steve Machol

Mon 4th Mar '02, 1:53pm

Just set it to 1. Any more than this would be a waste of resources and provide almost no benefit.

chrispadfield

Mon 4th Mar '02, 2:25pm

Originally posted by X-Fan
What's the best setting to have gzip compression set to?

And any hints on conserving server space?

Conserving server space will result in either the reduction in features or the reduction in performance. The biggest savings you can make are turning off attachments and custom avatars or lowering their limits. Other suggestions would be to stop people using private messages (or just set a low limit).

wooolF[RM]

Tue 23rd Apr '02, 9:28pm

big thanx for tips! very usefull... I have over 30-35Gb of bandwith per month and these tips really helps! :)

eva2000

Tue 23rd Apr '02, 10:04pm

Originally posted by wooolF[RM]
big thanx for tips! very usefull... I have over 30-35Gb of bandwith per month and these tips really helps! :) told you so :D

neocivitas

Sat 27th Apr '02, 4:28pm

Originally posted by chrispadfield
AVATAR SETTINGS:

1) Encourage use of default avatars and not custom avatars (which don't appear to be cached by the browser. sorry could not find url discussing this)

Would these not be cached because they are stored in the database and not directly on the server and are sent as a result of a query not a file request?

I could be wrong and often am but this is how it looks to me.

Any more ideas?

Meirion

Tue 7th May '02, 7:38am

The forumjump bit interested me - but I suppose include a 40 row list of your forum names plus all the html code to go with would bump up the size of your post pages by quite a lot.

What about having the forum jump form as a javascript code-include (<script src="kdjdfkd"> or whatever) so then it would cache in the browser. I know my list of forums change infrequently and this could work quite well. Anyone think otherwise?

chrispadfield

Tue 7th May '02, 8:03am

A cached javascript might well work well. With gzip on however the bandwidth affect of forumjump is going to be reduced quite a lot I would think but worth a try.

chrispadfield

Tue 7th May '02, 8:05am

Originally posted by neocivitas

Would these not be cached because they are stored in the database and not directly on the server and are sent as a result of a query not a file request?

I could be wrong and often am but this is how it looks to me.

Any more ideas?

That is about it yes, the are called via a query id and not cached (by all browser, I think NS does cache them but can't remember preciously). But even so because they are unique being custom then less people have the same one so more bandwidth just because of this.

MartynJ

Sun 12th May '02, 1:15pm

I would like to see those pages about custom avatars as files, as I am planning on using purely custom avatars, but each time I click on the links I am told I don't have permission. I have registered here and also own a vBulletin licence, so what gives?

Steve Machol

Sun 12th May '02, 1:29pm

All hacks have been moved to vbulletin.org. If you are clicking on a link to a hack, try changing the 'com' to 'org.

Note that to download hacks, you will also need to register at vb.org then register as a license holder here:

http://www.vbulletin.com/members/vbulletin.org.php

PcosKat

Wed 22nd May '02, 7:13am

Great suggestions...

question...

will any of the suggestions make a difference with 90+ visitors on the board at one time?

I'm having major problems with my server, and if the fixes will help, I'll make them, but if I'm screwed due to high visitor load...I'll leave it alone...

chrispadfield

Wed 22nd May '02, 7:35am

Yes they will make big changes in saving bandwidth with 90 users online and might reduce server load (custom avatars being turned off for example would) but not by a huge amount.

Saiyan XL

Thu 25th Jul '02, 7:33pm

very nicely explained.. :D

kitzzy

Mon 25th Nov '02, 8:20pm

One of your suggestions is to turn off PMs, would setting a lower PM limit also help?

Also, how exactly does turning off the Calendar save bandwidth? Is it because of the queries to display the contents of each day? I take it Lots of queries = lots of bandwidth, right?

chrispadfield

Mon 25th Nov '02, 8:29pm

Originally posted by kitzzy
One of your suggestions is to turn off PMs, would setting a lower PM limit also help?

Also, how exactly does turning off the Calendar save bandwidth? Is it because of the queries to display the contents of each day? I take it Lots of queries = lots of bandwidth, right? Bandwidth is the amount of data you transfer, ie number of web pages, images etc downloaded and has nothing to do with the amount of queries run or processing on the server.

Turning of PMs or the calendar saves bandwidth because people can't use the system, thus there is less to do at your forums and they do not stay as long. You have to decide if bandwidth costs are that high that you want to restrict what your members can do.

kitzzy

Mon 25th Nov '02, 8:35pm

Ok that makes sense, but then why is turning off jumpmenu help bandwidth? Is it same reason? Less functionality or what? I thought that one had to do with queries too ... the only reason I thought queries had something to do with it, is because isnt that a call to the server also and thus data is being transferred?

Erwin

Mon 25th Nov '02, 8:41pm

Originally posted by kitzzy
Ok that makes sense, but then why is turning off jumpmenu help bandwidth? Is it same reason? Less functionality or what? I thought that one had to do with queries too ... the only reason I thought queries had something to do with it, is because isnt that a call to the server also and thus data is being transferred? Turning off forumjump will save some bandwidth but it's negligible - what you are saving is the HTML needed to put up the dropdown menu. Turning it off will also save you only 1 database query. If you are really pushed, switch it off, but otherwise, the savings are not that great.

ummahforums

Sat 25th Jan '03, 6:47am

Originally posted by chrispadfield
2) Use hack to save custom avatars as files
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11760&highlight=bandwidth
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=28337&highlight=custom+avatar+files
I dunno what I'm doing wrong here, but I get this error when I try to click on the above links: "You do not have permission to access this page."

Steve Machol

Sat 25th Jan '03, 12:30pm

Originally posted by ummahforums
I dunno what I'm doing wrong here, but I get this error when I try to click on the above links: "You do not have permission to access this page." Change the 'com' to 'org'.

Virago

Sat 8th Feb '03, 7:14pm

Originally posted by Steve Machol
Just set it to 1. Any more than this would be a waste of resources and provide almost no benefit.
I noticed the GZIP compression level on our board is set for the max of 9.

Could someone explain what/how much this could waste resources? Sorry to be a newbie at all this, but before I try any changes, I need to clear them with the board owner so have to present a case for it. :)

Also, I've just started paying attention to the server load averages and they're all over the place. Earlier they were at 18.85, 17.38, 12.75 548 users online. A few minutes later I refreshed and got 0.68, 1.17, 1.19 554 users online. What causes them to vary so much so quickly?

Steve Machol

Sat 8th Feb '03, 9:08pm

Trust me - just set it to '1'. I have a post somewhere in these forums that shows the added benefits of going higher are miniscule, particularly in light of the increased strain on the server. I can't find it right now though.

joeboo

Mon 17th Feb '03, 12:07am

Oooh, interesting little guide

Brian Scherzer

Mon 17th Feb '03, 8:15pm

I wish that I understood the technical aspects of the "whys" better than I do. Nonetheless, I had run into a serious bandwidth problem on both of my vbulletin sites. Use had jumped significantly and I was exceeding the allowed bandwidth (20 gigs per month on one site and 30 gigs per month on the other). I read this thread, tried some things, and sure enough....using the GZIP compression setting at "1" led to over a 50% reduction of bandwidth use! I could care less "why" it worked. All that I know is that by turning the GZIP compression setting to "on", I saved my websites from being booted off of their respective servers. Although resource use went up, it has not created a problem and I'm a VERY happy camper. My thanks to the vbulletin folks for taking the time to give computer idiots like me some tips!

ummahforums

Fri 21st Feb '03, 6:18am

Disabling auto e-mail notification also helps save a lot of bandwidth.

buro9

Tue 25th Feb '03, 4:10am

Would these not be cached because they are stored in the database and not directly on the server and are sent as a result of a query not a file request?

I could be wrong and often am but this is how it looks to me.

Any more ideas?

That's pretty much it... the querystring generally acts as a fresh request even though the query returns the same result... the only way to trick this is to have some sort of apache re-write going on whereby you can map a path to avatar.php

e.g.

/forum/avatar/file/321654/avatar.gif
could be mapped to
/forum/avatar.php?id=321654

but because the first uses apache URL re-writing, no querystring is passed and thus all browsers, proxies, caches, etc will believe that it is a static file and cache it fully.

you'll also need avatar.php to return date headers stamping it with when the avatar was uploaded... otherwise the caches, etc will believe it's a new file every time - as most check header for dates and size stamp when deciding whether to fetch again or use the cached copy.

rake

Mon 5th May '03, 5:56pm

I would recommend www.rackshack.net for a server at $100 per month and about $250 set up (rubbish server) but you get 300GB bandwidth and they have a decent network (with stats to show its use).

Rubbish server? I'm sorry, but i have to disagree. Rackshack offer the best unmanaged dedicated servers you can find. 25% (maybe a bit exaggerated) of the hosting companies use rackshack servers. They are not rubbish servers, uh-uh.

http://www.rackshack.net/english/aboutus/networks.asp
decent.... ;)

This page proves what Steve said:
http://leknor.com/code/gziped.php
Notice that the difference between gzip 1 and 9 is in most cases minimal.

I, Brian

Tue 9th Dec '03, 10:14am

One of the *best* ways to save bandwidth - especially if your forum is spidered - is to use a robots.txt file to disallow spiders from accessing your images. ie

User-agent: *
Disallow: /forum/images/

AFAIK, that should prevent most spiders from accessing anything called up from the folder forum/images.

One of the most significant bandwidth savers, especially for the bigger forums.

jilly

Wed 10th Dec '03, 2:38am

Im confused on these two suggestions:
1) Ensure that you do not have NO CACHE headers set on in your settings

**does this mean set that option to 'yes' or 'no'?**

2) Reduce the number of threads displayed on forumdisplay and the number of posts displayed in showthread

**How/where do I do this?**

Erwin

Wed 10th Dec '03, 4:03am

1) Set it to NO in Admin CP, vB Options.

2) You can set this in Admin CP, vB Options as well.

TheComputerGuy

Thu 11th Dec '03, 10:28am

where do I find this robot.txt?

SVTBlackLight01

Sun 21st Dec '03, 8:53pm

Rubbish server? I'm sorry, but i have to disagree. Rackshack offer the best unmanaged dedicated servers you can find. 25% (maybe a bit exaggerated) of the hosting companies use rackshack servers. They are not rubbish servers, uh-uh.

http://www.rackshack.net/english/aboutus/networks.asp
decent.... ;)

This page proves what Steve aid:
http://leknor.com/code/gziped.php
Notice that the difference between gzip 1 and 9 is in most cases minimal.
I think "rudbbish" was referring to to the files being kept on the extra server, not the server itself. I could be wrong. :)

Zain

Sun 21st Dec '03, 10:15pm

where do I find this robot.txt?
You create an empty file called robot.txt and upload it to your home directory with the commands you want.

mattdrury

Sun 15th Feb '04, 1:59am

My tip: for those who can live without it, make vBulletin_logo.gif a 1x1 transparent GIF89a. Not having to offer that up regularly will be bound to save pipe. ;)

(If anyone actually wants to do this, PM me and I'll send the GIF along.)

Deeprub

Tue 1st Jun '04, 11:21pm

Bandwidth is cheap now days ;-)

griffin

Sat 12th Jun '04, 4:19pm

Does allowing users to post images using IMG tags use a lot of bandwidth?

chrispadfield

Sat 12th Jun '04, 4:36pm

No, it uses none of your bandwidth, it use another sites bandwidth.

griffin

Sat 12th Jun '04, 4:37pm

wow, thanks for the fast reply! I appreciate it :)

Ace

Wed 16th Jun '04, 8:00pm

I found something like 200,000 requests to images on my site over the course of one day.

They were all from a forum on runboard.com ... they hotlink to other people's emoticons and have them for use on their forums.

A very good idea is to htaccess your images/ directory to prevent this kind of bandwidth theft.

Ryan McBain

Thu 17th Jun '04, 8:57pm

I found something like 200,000 requests to images on my site over the course of one day.

They were all from a forum on runboard.com ... they hotlink to other people's emoticons and have them for use on their forums.

A very good idea is to htaccess your images/ directory to prevent this kind of bandwidth theft.
Wouldn't hot link protection do the trick?

RagingPenguin

Tue 29th Jun '04, 1:40am

I'm a tad confused myself when looking at the robots.txt samples posted here. None seem to match the files in my vb3.0.1 installation. Is there a more recent sample? I want to restrict spiders to publically visible forums and threads, but at the same time, keep them away from images, anything relating to loggin in, editing, and the like, as well as the admincp and modcp. Thanks for any assistance you give.
:)

Ace

Tue 29th Jun '04, 7:09am

Wouldn't hot link protection do the trick?
Yeah, sorry...

'htaccess protect your images directory'...because you may have other directories with images in that you don't want to protect.

deathemperor

Tue 10th Aug '04, 10:58pm

I have one thing to ask:
5) Store default avatars on another server.
is this possible on Vb3 ?

deathemperor

Tue 10th Aug '04, 11:08pm

I'm a tad confused myself when looking at the robots.txt samples posted here. None seem to match the files in my vb3.0.1 installation. Is there a more recent sample? I want to restrict spiders to publically visible forums and threads, but at the same time, keep them away from images, anything relating to loggin in, editing, and the like, as well as the admincp and modcp. Thanks for any assistance you give.
:)
you can refer this thread
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=45828

gilbert

Sun 5th Sep '04, 4:24pm

Great post

C_P

Sat 25th Sep '04, 8:33pm

A really dumb question... where in admincp do I disable calendar?

rnmcd

Thu 30th Sep '04, 1:21pm

A really dumb question... where in admincp do I disable calendar?

Hey I think I can finally answer one!! :
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showpost.php?p=717757&postcount=2

:)

C_P

Thu 30th Sep '04, 1:48pm

THANKS!
I wonder if this really saves lots of bandwidth before I delete it.....

deathemperor

Sat 2nd Oct '04, 10:17am

does someone have any idea about my question ? http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showpost.php?p=718065&postcount=46 (the 1st post on this page)

Zachery

Sat 2nd Oct '04, 10:19am

You can store non custom avatars (aka the ones you provide to your members) on another server.

Erwin

Thu 11th Nov '04, 2:31am

It's possible - just change a few templates, and use rysnc to sync the 2 servers.

deathemperor

Tue 23rd Nov '04, 12:22am

thanks Erwin, that helps me alot.

for anyone concern, to have remote avatar categories modify this template: modifyavatarbit , add the link of that remote server before $avatar[avatarpath]

James Kojiro

Tue 23rd Nov '04, 4:00pm

Coming soon - the vB remote avatar storage hack!

Imakuni?

Thu 25th Nov '04, 8:52pm

ways to save b/w
turn off full text search
use image lite styles
remove the call home
turn off shout box hacks (that auto refresh)

James Kojiro

Tue 30th Nov '04, 2:12pm

Remove the call home? What relevance is that? It does it server-side, thus no bandwidth is needed.

BamaStangGuy

Mon 21st Feb '05, 12:50pm

I thought I would write up a list of ways to save bandwidth. Perhaps this could then be moved to the Hints and Tips forum. Please add any other suggestions:

ADMIN SETTINGS:

1) Ensure that you do not have NO CACHE headers set on in your settings

2) Reduce the number of threads displayed on forumdisplay and the number of posts displayed in showthread

3) Use CSS to replace font settings:
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17943

SERVER SETTINGS:

1) Install gzip and turn it on for the forum (biggest saving you can make)
http://i4net.tv/marticle/get.php?action=getarticle&articleid=12

AVATAR SETTINGS:

You have a number of options here:

1) Encourage use of default avatars and not custom avatars (which don't appear to be cached by the browser. sorry could not find url discussing this)

2) Use hack to save custom avatars as files
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11760&highlight=bandwidth
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=28337&highlight=custom+avatar+files

3) Use hack to allow users to enter a link to their avatar off server
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=28163&highlight=avatar

4) Prevent hotlinking of custom avatars with a referrer in avatar.php
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19021&highlight=rewrite

5) Store default avatars on another server.

IMAGES/ATTACHMENTS

1) Place all your images on another server and link to them. The other server being a place with cheaper bandwidth.

2) Reduce the max size of attachments

3) Prevent attachments being viewed by guests, will also stop hotlinking from other sites.
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19021&highlight=rewrite

4) Use mod re-write to prevent hotlinking of images and non custom avatars
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19021&highlight=rewrite
http://faq.solutionscripts.com/misc/hot_linking.html

CHEAP BANDWIDTH

I would recommend www.rackshack.net for a server at $100 per month and about $250 set up (rubbish server) but you get 300GB bandwidth and they have a decent network (with stats to show its use).

Of all these suggestions none really decrease any functionality of your forum. If you want to decrease more bandwidth and don't mind decreasing functionality, suggestions include:

1) Requiring registration (ie no guests)
2) Turn of PM
3) Turn of Calendar
4) Turn of forumjump (can use quite a lot of bandwidth if you have lots of forums. More than 40 forums and I would get rid of it)
None of the avatar setting links work for me.. says I do not have permission... yes I am licensed

MissKalunji

Wed 22nd Mar '06, 2:33pm

that helped me! even tho its for vb3

Zachery

Wed 22nd Mar '06, 2:35pm

THis thread is greatly outdated, please post in the proper area for help.