mattwservices.co.uk - Server Configuration / Hosting / Support

[MattW]

I've not really put anything on here to advertise myself before, as people have just been contacting me to request work be done.

Here is what I'm available to do.

Server Management Services

• Server Configuration (CentOS / Cpanel)
  • Apache setup
  • Nginxcp setup
  • Switch MySQL to Percona / MariaDB
  • Memcache / Memcached Installation
  • APC installation
  • Xcache Installation
  • DNS set up
• Server Migration
  • Cpanel to Cpanel
  • None standard migration, including full remote backup and migration (files and databases)
• Server Setup (CentOS with Centminmod)
  • MariaDB
  • Nginx
  • PHP-FPM
  • Imagik
  • SSL Certificate setup

Shared Hosting
I offer various levels of shared hosting, all hosting from London, UK. NVMe SSDs, latest Intel CPU's, cPanel with Litespeed.

XenForo Specific Services
This is something that I've taken a step back from, and mainly now focus on hosting and server management. Please contact me to discuss any requirements should the need arise.

• XenForo Installation
• phpBB3 migration including redirects, and internal link and media content correction using Post Content Find / Replacement
• vBulletin 3.x and 4.x migrations including redirects, internal link and media content correction
• Modification Installation
• Board Upgrades
• Enhanced Search Installation (along with ElasticSearch)

A little bit about myself

• I'm a Linux Systems Engineer by profession, managing thousands of Linux servers in a global corporate environment.
• 15 years experience with:
  • Bash and Perl scripting
  • PHP and MySQL experience (although it's been Procedural and I'm still teaching mysql OOP / MVC)

For a full list of prices and offering, please see my site here: https://mattwservices.co.uk/resources/

 

[DRE]

Couple months ago I was unable to create a test forum on shared hosting because I was getting slammed by Baidu Search Engine bots. @Slavik suggested that I get a managed VPS so I created a Paid Request thread. While investigating different server setups, I asked people about Apache with Nginx Reverse Proxy and out of all that I asked @MattW showed the most experience in this kind of setup so I paid him to move me over to KnownHost Managed VPS SSD. He has done an excellent job! I trust his knowledge and expertise more than my own host.

 

[MattW]

Thanks @DRE

 

[Adam Howard]

I would and do recommend @MattW for nginx installs and setup.

 

[MattW]

I would and do recommend @MattW for nginx installs and setup.

Thanks for the recommendations Adam

 

[MattW]

I've just moved my XenForo site to a full nginx / PHP-FPM set up, so I'm a lot more familiar with setting that up now as well

 

[Mouth]

I've just moved my XenForo site to a full nginx / PHP-FPM set up, so I'm a lot more familiar with setting that up now as well

Make sure you config the php session handler to use memcache

 

[MattW]

Make sure you config the php session handler to use memcache

Still on my list of things to do (and also set it to use igbinary for the session.serialize_handler)

 

[Brent W]

Hey Matt, can you check this out and see if it falls into the Find and Replace part of your services.

 

[akia]

Make sure you config the php session handler to use memcache

Is this worth doing, is the performance boost worth the time?

 

[Mouth]

Is this worth doing, is the performance boost worth the time?

Yes, if you have memcache you may as well use it fully. Takes a 1 line edit to your php.ini and reload php

 

[MattW]

Hey Matt, can you check this out and see if it falls into the Find and Replace part of your services.

Will take a proper look when I'm at my laptop tomorrow if that's OK?

 

[Brent W]

Will take a proper look when I'm at my laptop tomorrow if that's OK?

Sure

 

[MattW]

Still on my list of things to do (and also set it to use igbinary for the session.serialize_handler)

Done last night

 

[MattW]

Hey Matt, can you check this out and see if it falls into the Find and Replace part of your services.

Just tried having a quick look at the find / replace using your examples, but my new set up needs some tweaking to get the route for the output to display

 

[Jeffin]

Hi @MattW, would you be free to look at my forum? I have been having issues with sudden surge of traffic in and out, which started around September and October. Since this surge my forum has been running very slow. I have upgraded my VPS hosting package to stop the downtimes but the amount traffic is only increasing. I suspect it may get worse within a few months till I am forced to upgrade again.

My hosting company can't figure out how to solve the issue. Is this something you can do? We might have to do it over a period of time looking at reports and testing different methods. I can provide you access to my cpanel, server reports, GA etc. Let me know. Thanks.

 

[MattW]

Hi @MattW, would you be free to look at my forum? I have been having issues with sudden surge of traffic in and out, which started around September and October. Since this surge my forum has been running very slow. I have upgraded my VPS hosting package to stop the downtimes but the amount traffic is only increasing. I suspect it may get worse within a few months till I am forced to upgrade again.

My hosting company can't figure out how to solve the issue. Is this something you can do? We might have to do it over a period of time looking at reports and testing different methods. I can provide you access to my cpanel, server reports, GA etc. Let me know. Thanks.

Sure, it's something I can take a look at. Drop me a PC, and we can take it from there.

 

[Jeffin]

I will drop you a PC a bit later. Thank you.

 

[MattW]

Just finished with @Jeffin 's server.

He was getting hammered with bot attempts to register, and Foolbothoneypot was logging all these failed connection attempts.

That wasn't the worst of his problems though.

Initial load when I started working on the server

root@server [~]# uptime
09:27:41 up 31 days, 15:43,  1 user,  load average: 9.84, 7.85, 7.42
root@server [~]#

It was running MySQL 5.0 with no config for MySQL, suphp with APC (which doesn't work!). File caching for XF.

Moved the PHP handler to mod_ruid2, and removed APC. Moved caching to Xcache, and set it to also store the XF sessions in there.

Upgraded MySQL to 5.5 along with some tuning in my.cnf.

Converted all the XF tables to InnoDB that should be.

Installed nginxcp as a reverse proxy to Apache.

Server is running a lot better now

root@server [/tmp]# uptime
13:53:16 up 31 days, 20:08,  1 user,  load average: 0.07, 0.14, 0.16
root@server [/tmp]#

 

[Jeffin]

Just a few hours ago I made a request and it's finished now. My forum was running terribly slow, now it's back to normal. I'm extremely happy with your service @MattW and I highly recommend him.

I will also be saving a lot because now I won't have to upgrade my hosting.

Don't want to bump so I'm editing this thread with an update:
My forum has been running smooth after I let @MattW work on the forum and server. It has been about 10 days and no down times or lags at all. He has been monitoring my forums often even after everything was done. Seriously, he is a great person to work with!! Can't thank him enough.