Slow Site - Can someone advise?

Hi All,

Just a quick question about speed...I think I am pretty well optimized have followed the instructions and using gzip as well though my site loads slow at times and super fast at others...
Here are my test results:

Fire Fox

Parse Time: 9.215 - Number of Queries: 174 - Query Time: 0.12027876377869
Parse Time: 1.232 - Number of Queries: 159 - Query Time: 0.079170610565186
Parse Time: 9.362 - Number of Queries: 174 - Query Time: 0.38220527590942
Parse Time: 0.877 - Number of Queries: 152 - Query Time: 0.17381681373596
Parse Time: 0.119 - Number of Queries: 158 - Query Time: 0.046010853057861
Parse Time: 2.201 - Number of Queries: 159 - Query Time: 0.045453194259644

Internet Explorer

Parse Time: 4.434 - Number of Queries: 173 - Query Time: 0.54913670820618
Parse Time: 7.841 - Number of Queries: 174 - Query Time: 0.11132475942993
Parse Time: 1.089 - Number of Queries: 158 - Query Time: 0.046964696975708
Parse Time: 0.669 - Number of Queries: 158 - Query Time: 0.29538884892273

Sometimes the site loads fast sometimes slow, is this an over crowded server issue
Something to do with the images or Image handler? Any help would be appreciated.
http://www.adulttoys4u.com.au/shop

Cheers in Advance
Renz

If it is fast at times and slow at others, it is a hosting issue - Who is your host?

Hi Kim,

Its https://www.dutyfreehosting.com

Thanks
Renz

I have never had any dealings with them, but the old saying goes ... you get what you pay for ...

Zen Cart is a big, heavy, sometimes resource intensive program. It does need a host that is tuned for it to run optimally.

Hi Again Kim So your opinion of these yo-yo times which can range from 20 sec to 0.11 of a second is to do with a server response rather than my page. As it's not changing other than the scroller or the random new products....What does a zen tuned host do that's different and what's an approximate hosting cost?
Regards
Renz

These hosts would have better allocation of resources,
( proprietary settings )
Would NOT overload the servers

that type of thing.....

Thanks for your help Kim & Merlinpa

Best As always...
Renz

Well....How's this sound.......it's the response from the server to my parse times.

Hello,

Thank you for contacting our Technical Support Department.

It is normal for a ZenCart distribution to load some pages faster than others - that depends on many factors, most important of which would be the content of the page(more products equal more parse time).
Additionally, it would be best if you tweak the script a bit, because an initial ZenCart installation is slower than an improved one. Optimization is an important part of running a successful ZenCart, optimizing images would help as well.

Best Regards,
Joey

Here's an example of what they show and why it's better to go with a good host.

http://private.dnsstuff.com/tools/dnstime.ch?name=adulttoys4u.com.au&type=A&token=03a0371d395f67e73210319714509019

The guys at the server say this, is it right or is it a fob off for a slow sever?

Hello,

This is something commonly met when using Zen Cart, without using any kind of performance modules, etc. You should notice that this kind of result:
Parse Time: 17.441 - Number of Queries: 166 - Query Time: 0.57861009893799
only occurs at your first attempt to view the home page. The script is complex and actually needs quite some time to process all the inquiries. However, it uses cached files during the current session and deletes them afterwards.
Some modules implement smart way of caching - storing and reusing parts of page that take much time to load/generate.
It gives much higher speed-up than standard shopping carts caching due to the smarter approach.
First time when page is accessed - it is generated as normal (no speed gain), when page is accessed second time - it is taken from cache.
There is no actual issue with the server, it is just the way the script works when not tweaked as much as possible - the first load is apparently slower.

To improve performance, clients are advised to turn off Category Counts from the Zen Cart admin area > Config > My Store > Show Category Counts and to reduce the number of products shown on your main page as well.

You can analyze the website here:
http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/
and see for yourself that everything is working properly.

Best Regards,
Joey
End Server guy...

Also I have a question out about the add on mod how did you hear of us but no one has replied to it if anyone reading this knows the answer to: Hi All, just building a new site on 138a and I wish to add on the "how did you hear about us" module, I am a little confused the one that states is for 138a rev2 has all the instructions for the 137 in the read me files..is this the right one?

Thanks Guys.
RR

An average lookup time of over 300ms for the ns has nothing to do with Zen Cart load. It takes forever just to decide where the site is located.
Our ns lookups average 6-8ms

Well, I hate to throw that tech under the buss, but if you go here

http://www.carbonless.net/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=381_42_284_244_312&products_id=1824

you will see

Parse Time: 0.891 - Number of Queries: 4081 - Query Time: 0.624465209595

and there are NO performance mods here,
just a proper server setup..

Remember earlier you asked what you get from a proper tuned server.....

Well thats your answer

Uhmm it's new server then....I though something was up as I also own https://www.colourshield.com/store which some of you may have seen in the past and the parse times are way low considering the amount of images it has.

I'll put it to the squashed tech guy that he may wanna re-think his answers before I switch to someone else & I'll let you know what he says out of interest.

Does anyone have any news on that how did you hear about us mod? is it OK to use it for 138a even the instructions say its for 137? and the add on says its for 138a rev 2

Should be OK on 1.3.8

and to DBL

is this the kinda dns response your looking for

http://private.dnsstuff.com/tools/dnstime.ch?name=stabandstash.com&type=A&token=03a0371d395f67e73210319714509019

or

http://private.dnsstuff.com/tools/dnstime.ch?name=camelot-hosting.com&type=A&token=03a0371d395f67e73210319714509019

Thanks for that last MP, where is that tool to run the test, I am wishing to see results for the other site https://www.colourshield.com/store and see if that Australian Server is Optimized OK..

OK I'll try that mod on 138a

http://private.dnsstuff.com/tools/dnstime.ch?name=www.colourshield.com&type=A&token=03a0371d395f67e73210319714509019

its a little faster than the other server

D+ for this one

that was my fault I typoed

http://private.dnsstuff.com/tools/dnstime.ch?name=colourshield.com&type=A&token=03a0371d395f67e73210319714509019

B-

As promised I have returned with the findings of the server, they are adamant its the actual site.

Hello Renz,

There would indeed be problems with all the sites if the server is overloaded, however before answering your question I have consulted with our administrators and there have been no server load related issues in the last several days. I have also checked several other sites hosted on the server and the pages are opening without delay - the queries are in the normal limits. The load problem is only affecting your site and for this reason, I have mentioned that the problem is most probably related to the concrete site setup.

Best Regards,
Vale

They suggested to look at this http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/ and type my url in https://www.adulttoys4u.com.au/shop which I did and there can be some optimization done, however I don't see that compressing a few CSS sheets will shed light to my site sometimes loading in Parse Time: 16.370 - Number of Queries: 167 - Query Time: 0.12004077932739 and other times load in Parse Time: 0.570 - Number of Queries: 156 - Query Time: 0.080636949691773 within seconds all on the same page with a clear browser history. So my thoughts are that there must be a server issue UNLESS>>>someone knows of a reason for these unusual load times that can be related to either the image scroller on the best sellers or the Image Handler, I have noted that there are now 7 CSS pages that load from MY_Custom Template.
Anyone with any last thoughts on this long drawn issue I before I make a final decision on my next move. BTW is there a way of cloning this site on another server to determine load speeds, without too much work.
Many Many Thanks for your time.
I'll sign it Unsure....:frusty:

A big thank you to anyone that has spent time reading and offering advice on my post, as always when I post I do like to come back and offer the final result for anyone that has been following or is experiencing a similar problem....

So without further delay I am pleased to report that my slow running site issues have now been fixed with a great deal of help from my host https://www.dutyfreehosting.com.
As you can read from my earlier posts they could not find an issue with my hosting account and I could not find any problems with the site itself so my host offered free of charge to relocate my site to their UK Data Centre from the US Data Centre [where I was being hosted] just in case there were intermittent issues of server load due to time zone activity or speed connects from Australia to the US. That’s the advantage I guess of being with a host that runs three data centres over three continents.

Anyway after accepting their kind offer it only took a few hours to complete and my parse times out of the UK are now incredibly low and my site is running great.

Parse Time: 0.196 - Number of Queries: 168 - Query Time: 0.058584091217041
Parse Time: 0.197 - Number of Queries: 170 - Query Time: 0.058810354629517
Parse Time: 0.172 - Number of Queries: 164 - Query Time: 0.036885756790161
Parse Time: 0.221 - Number of Queries: 174 - Query Time: 0.065398482910156
Parse Time: 0.194 - Number of Queries: 162 - Query Time: 0.058971029418945
Parse Time: 0.279 - Number of Queries: 168 - Query Time: 0.062996560165405
Parse Time: 0.171 - Number of Queries: 155 - Query Time: 0.037034301483154
Parse Time: 0.216 - Number of Queries: 159 - Query Time: 0.041693490493774
Parse Time: 0.168 - Number of Queries: 152 - Query Time: 0.035063308395386
Parse Time: 0.237 - Number of Queries: 168 - Query Time: 0.0519475728302

Thanks again to the Duty Free Hosting support team who really went the extra mile to help resolve this issue. I have no hesitation in recommending them as a great low cost host with wonderful support.

Regards to all.
RR