Very slow store (on Dreamhost)

I've streamlined everything I can imagine, from turning off boxes, and going through all the setting streamline suggestions around the forum... clicked on a category and saw this, and can't figure out why:

Parse Time: 21.797 - Number of Queries: 318 - Query Time: 21.228768862869

jmberman:

I've streamlined everything I can imagine, from turning off boxes, and going through all the setting streamline suggestions around the forum... clicked on a category and saw this, and can't figure out why:

Parse Time: 21.797 - Number of Queries: 318 - Query Time: 21.228768862869

Need a lot more info to be able to help:

Link to your site please?
What version of ZC are your running?
PHP version?
Which template?
Add ons?
Have you tried to ping your domain (just to see how the server responds)?
Is it a Linux server or some other obscure server?

In your case the slow part is running the queries. That's probably because the database is overloaded or not properly tuned/optimized by the server administrator.

More on what the numbers mean: https://www.zen-cart.com/content.php?145-what-do-the-page-parse-times-and-query-counts-numbers-mean

But in the absence of knowing any details about your site, including every way in which your site is different from a fresh set of Zen Cart files, it's really hard to give useful recommendations.

It has been slow since I installed it... and I've done everything I can to speed it up... turning things off, reviews, banners, boxes, cutting down filesiZe of all images, etc... I have heard of a lot of people having a slow Zen Cart with Dreamhost, and them giving them the runaround...

frank18:

Need a lot more info to be able to help:

Link to your site please?
What version of ZC are your running?
PHP version?
Which template?
Add ons?
Have you tried to ping your domain (just to see how the server responds)?
Is it a Linux server or some other obscure server?

http://www.jmberman.com/DVDUNIVERSE/
1.5.4
PHP Version: 5.5.33 (Zend: 2.5.0) PHP Memory Limit: 90M
Default Template - Green

Ping:

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.10586]
(c) 2015 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Jonathan>ping https://www.jmberman.com

Pinging https://www.jmberman.com [64.90.41.18] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 64.90.41.18: bytes=32 time=73ms TTL=48
Reply from 64.90.41.18: bytes=32 time=73ms TTL=48
Reply from 64.90.41.18: bytes=32 time=74ms TTL=48
Reply from 64.90.41.18: bytes=32 time=73ms TTL=48

Ping statistics for 64.90.41.18:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 73ms, Maximum = 74ms, Average = 73ms

C:\Users\Jonathan>

jmberman:

http://www.jmberman.com/DVDUNIVERSE/
1.5.4
PHP Version: 5.5.33 (Zend: 2.5.0) PHP Memory Limit: 90M
Default Template - Green

Ping:

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.10586]
(c) 2015 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Jonathan>ping www.jmberman.com

Pinging www.jmberman.com [64.90.41.18] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 64.90.41.18: bytes=32 time=73ms TTL=48
Reply from 64.90.41.18: bytes=32 time=73ms TTL=48
Reply from 64.90.41.18: bytes=32 time=74ms TTL=48
Reply from 64.90.41.18: bytes=32 time=73ms TTL=48

Ping statistics for 64.90.41.18:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 73ms, Maximum = 74ms, Average = 73ms

C:\Users\Jonathan>

Thanks for the info

You should increase your PHP memory limit to 'at least' 128M - even better to 256M. You should be able to that in your cPanel unless your host has disabled that facility.

As DrByte pointed out earlier, try and optimize your DB to get rid of any slack/overhead.

That would be about all you can do from your end.

Then, my next move would be to find out from the host how many other sites are being hosted on this same server (could be underpowered / overloaded).

Did this ping test from my box (Australia):

frank@arcturus ~ $ ping -c 5 jmberman.com
PING jmberman.com (64.90.41.18) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from apache2-emu.junctioncity.dreamhost.com (64.90.41.18): icmp_seq=1 ttl=50 time=214 ms
64 bytes from apache2-emu.junctioncity.dreamhost.com (64.90.41.18): icmp_seq=2 ttl=51 time=217 ms
64 bytes from apache2-emu.junctioncity.dreamhost.com (64.90.41.18): icmp_seq=3 ttl=51 time=217 ms
64 bytes from apache2-emu.junctioncity.dreamhost.com (64.90.41.18): icmp_seq=4 ttl=51 time=217 ms
64 bytes from apache2-emu.junctioncity.dreamhost.com (64.90.41.18): icmp_seq=5 ttl=51 time=241 ms

--- jmberman.com ping statistics ---
5 packets transmitted, 5 received, 0% packet loss, time 4005ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 214.386/221.867/241.873/10.089 ms
frank@arcturus ~ $

These times are massive....

Parse Time: 21.797 - Number of Queries: 318 - Query Time: 21.228768862869

jmberman:

It has been slow since I installed it

Then your host is the problem.
If they can't fix their abhorrently slow database services for you then you shouldn't be spending any money with them. There's no good reason for such long times.

There are lots of things you could spend your time doing if you wanted to salvage your relationship with them, but IMO you'd be better off getting a different host ... much better use of your time.

If you really want to spend a week arguing with Dreamhost, you can do things like:

• write code to run "one" database query, check its time; then do the same on a completely different but properly optimized server, and compare
• create some more complex tables and queries, and progressively build up your tests and compare them
• inspect all database tables and see what indexes are broken/damaged and need rebuilding; but don't go adding a million unnecessary indexes either or you'll actually slow down the server even more. Zen Cart comes with optimized indexes already attached to its tables. But if your server broke them or deleted them then you could fix them or just find another host that doesn't break such a simple normal thing.

Zen Cart is a pretty simple application when it comes down to its server demands: it uses standard basic PHP functions, it uses standard MySQL services and provides pre-tuned indexes already pre-optimized to work on a very wide variety of hosts (currently running on over 115,000 sites worldwide). Nothing fancy required. The more modern your host the better (as with any app), but it actually works on some very old very outdated technology with shopowners making a living from their stores running on those old servers.
If Dreamhost can't deliver standard basic technology, you're wasting your money there.