We have just completed a significant update to the forum software (BestBBS) that we run on WebmasterWorld.
The majority of this update was an internal database format conversion. It took well over 300 hours of labor to convert the system to the new formats. When completed, we have a faster, more secure system than we have ever had before.
The change was necessary to fix a long standing database design issue. The problem was exposed as the shear scale of WebmasterWorld grew to what it is today. I first wrote the database routines for this software in 1998. I felt it would handle 10,000 messages. At the time, that was an enormous amount of messages for a web based bbs/forum system. The system now has over 2 million. The old system consisted of two files for every thread. We have converted that to one file per thread.
I have often been asked why we did not switch to a true database system such as SQL. The issue has always been one of speed. The issue has been negated somewhat due to faster machines. However, the core of WebmasterWorld is still written in Perl – which is notoriously slow at database routines – when compared to languages with built-in C bases SQL routines such as PHP. That said, we have laid in provisions for major future changes (read: SQL) to all the database routines.
Unfortunately in spite of all that effort, there is little to be seen new on the user side for the moment. The majority of these changes were under-the-hood.
The most visible change noticed by members will be the new keyword URL system. We maintain the old files at their existing urls, while at the same time introducing new keyword based urls for the future. For example:
Old url:
new URL:
It is significant to note, that your old bookmarks to specific discussions will continue to work. However, the index pages for each forum will slowly be changed over to the new keyword URL based system.
Another thing you will notice, is the spartan look of pages when logged out. By not looking up member info on each message, we remove a massive chunk of overhead on the system.
More here:
-bt
