Melody Scott
asked on
Explain a tracert to me, and why the website is so slow sometimes
Ok, I've asked this before but never did a tracert. I need to know if the servers are slow or what.
Here's the tracert I did this morning to this website, attached.
I did it at a moment when the site seemed excruciatingly slow. My co-workers in CA say they never have this problem. I am in northern Mexico.
Then just to see how slow it actually is at the moment, I cleared my cache for the last hour and then opened the home page. It took 22 seconds to show me the main page opening, and 107 seconds before the "waiting for mysite.com" in the lower left corner of Firefox to disappear and say "done".
At other moments during the day, it will be lightning fast. I need to know why I'm seeing this slowdown. and hoped the tracert will help. If not, are there other tools to see what is slowing me down? Thanks.
Here's the tracert I did this morning to this website, attached.
I did it at a moment when the site seemed excruciatingly slow. My co-workers in CA say they never have this problem. I am in northern Mexico.
Then just to see how slow it actually is at the moment, I cleared my cache for the last hour and then opened the home page. It took 22 seconds to show me the main page opening, and 107 seconds before the "waiting for mysite.com" in the lower left corner of Firefox to disappear and say "done".
At other moments during the day, it will be lightning fast. I need to know why I'm seeing this slowdown. and hoped the tracert will help. If not, are there other tools to see what is slowing me down? Thanks.
Tracing route to mysite.com [67.192.206.241]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 7 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.254
2 8 ms 8 ms 7 ms 200.38.193.226
3 34 ms 34 ms 33 ms 201.125.72.122
4 35 ms 34 ms * 4.53.178.25
5 55 ms 34 ms 35 ms 4.69.132.226
6 * 37 ms 36 ms 4.69.136.206
7 47 ms 49 ms 52 ms 4.69.137.34
8 37 ms 36 ms 37 ms 4.69.137.17
9 69 ms 70 ms 71 ms 4.69.132.78
10 88 ms 72 ms 70 ms 4.69.145.12
11 220 ms 205 ms 300 ms 4.59.36.50
12 64 ms 64 ms 64 ms 72.3.128.53
13 65 ms 64 ms 145 ms 72.3.129.129
14 65 ms 65 ms 64 ms 67.192.206.241
Trace complete.
The problem with tracert is that it uses ICMP, the 'ping' protocol, while websites use HTTP so there is no direct relation between traffic for the two except the path. And 'ping' is often blocked while HTTP is working fine. Your tracert shows about 2 or 3 seconds delay while your page delays are much longer.
Delays like this are difficult to troubleshoot unless you can find an obvious outage. You don't have access to see what network traffic is like along the way. The problem could simply be too much other traffic at the times that you are slow or one of the paths is down. You can ask your ISP for help in case they are the ones having traffic problems.
Delays like this are difficult to troubleshoot unless you can find an obvious outage. You don't have access to see what network traffic is like along the way. The problem could simply be too much other traffic at the times that you are slow or one of the paths is down. You can ask your ISP for help in case they are the ones having traffic problems.
ASKER
Thanks- it seems so strange that there isn't a tool to diagnose where the http protocol is slowing up.
I would say that because you are in mexico you cant compare your times in california because your traffic is going on a completely different route than the office in CA. Your route could be taking you south all the way down to mexico city for all we know and then all the way back up to seattle or wherever the server is. Usually the tracert give you more information like the hostnames of the routers so you can kinda tell where your route is going.
You can use a program like wireshark to see where the slow up is in the HTTP protocol
ASKER
Thanks, NoDuzz! Also, let's talk other protocols, ok?
FTP takes 30 seconds to connect on that site, other websites I work on take 1 to 3.
FTP takes 30 seconds to connect on that site, other websites I work on take 1 to 3.
ASKER
Ok, I've installed wireshark. Does it make sense to do an http test to two different sites?
Can you give me a quick run down on how to use it to test my connections to my website?
Thanks.
Can you give me a quick run down on how to use it to test my connections to my website?
Thanks.
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If you look at your tracert listing above, you will see a list of 14 servers. You can't get access to 12 of them to see what traffic they have so there is nothing that you can directly examine.
those arent servers they are routers, and the only thing you need to know is the response times, which in this case it is telling him that there is a slowup in the route to the website he is trying to hit, which is confirmed in my opinion with the fact that he is having the same issue with more than one protocol yet those protocols are running fine at other locations
ASKER
So let me see if I understand. My route to this particular server hits a slow spot now and again. There's maybe one router that is slowing me down. But that router is on the route to just that server, and not to all the other sites on the web that I can always get to quickly. Is that it?
One thing I will check- there are several other websites on this particular server, both mine and other people's. Once I hit a slow spot again I will try those other sites as well.
Thanks for helping me understand this, I am keeping this question open for a while because I may come up with another question/scenario.
One thing I will check- there are several other websites on this particular server, both mine and other people's. Once I hit a slow spot again I will try those other sites as well.
Thanks for helping me understand this, I am keeping this question open for a while because I may come up with another question/scenario.
Yes for the most part that is correct although what i would assume is happening is that it is always slow, or at least most of the time slow, its just that most of the time you are accessing the cached data, and then when that data expires it checks for new data and runs slow once in a while.
ASKER
ok, that does make sense(cached data). I will take that into account.
However, here is some more testing
Opened Chrome. Cleared all browser data. I did this during a slow down.
Load times:
Magic Kitchen: 33 seconds (this is going from page to page, consistently no matter what content is on the page)
good diabetic diet, another of my sites on the same server: 2 seconds
diabetic meal programs, another site of mine, 2 seconds.
enjoy fois gras, another person's site on the same server: 3 seconds.
Shouldn't it be slow to the other sites on the same server?
However, here is some more testing
Opened Chrome. Cleared all browser data. I did this during a slow down.
Load times:
Magic Kitchen: 33 seconds (this is going from page to page, consistently no matter what content is on the page)
good diabetic diet, another of my sites on the same server: 2 seconds
diabetic meal programs, another site of mine, 2 seconds.
enjoy fois gras, another person's site on the same server: 3 seconds.
Shouldn't it be slow to the other sites on the same server?
ok well if you are having slow connections on the same server that you have fast connections on i would look at the data you are loading on the page. Unless it is incosistent. if it is inconsistent across all the pages, like 1 page take a long time, another take a short time and then the next time it flips, then it might be something else. Otherwise it is something to do with the content you are downloading, like maybe the Magic Kitchen page has a really large CSS file or some other file that is requiring more work.
ASKER
OK, let me think about this. I think it is what you are saying, '1 page take a long time, another take a short time and then the next time it flips'. But I will look to see what files are being called by all pages and how big they are, as well as other load time factors.
I don't think it is a caching thing, because I will have been working on the site (I'm on it all the time), and it will slow down to a crawl, then get fast fast, then slow down to a crawl again.
I don't think it is a caching thing, because I will have been working on the site (I'm on it all the time), and it will slow down to a crawl, then get fast fast, then slow down to a crawl again.
what type of connection to the internet do you have?
ASKER
ADSL, and I'm using a wired Ethernet connection directly to the modem/router. It's a brand new Dell 1760 laptop with windows 7.
I would say you are just at the mercy of your ISP, you can contact them and tell them about the problems you are experiencing and see if they can help you to troubleshoot your connection issues, but i can pretty much guarantee, short of it being an issue on the hosting server, that it is beyond your control.
Are your sites on shared hosting? I ask because I'm wondering if one site is actually on a very busy server and the others are on lightly used servers at the same company.
ASKER
They are on rackspace. I'm not sure if they are shared or not, if I FTP they are all at the same IP.
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ASKER
Thanks, Dave, will try that tomorrow.
ASKER
I should also let you know that some pages that are very slow are my admin pages, some of which have virtually no code. I just loaded one, it took 35 seconds. Loaded it again a minute later, same time.
But are they accessing a database that may be slow?
ASKER
Right, It could be, they are accessing a database.
You know, what I'm really trying to do here is prove to the guy who sells us the server space that something is wrong. If I am seeing these slow-downs, other customers might be as well, and that would be costing us money.
I am a pretty good trouble-shooter, and I feel in my heart that I have proven that there is an issue, but I can't quite say I have the proof.
All I can do, I think, is keep working with a browser that I have cleared the cache and cookies on. I have several websites to test.
As I said earlier in this thread, these are not just websites I've created, but websites that other people have put up, some of which are online stores accessing the same database. He has written a PERL shopping cart, and all online stores on his system share certain files and certain parts of the database.
Here is the testing I've devised:
When I see a slowdown, clear the cache and cookies, and go to all the websites on that server. If all are fast but my main site is slow on the live, test, dev and admin sides, and they remain slow as I go back to them (meaning a cached page is still slow), I should keep those time tests in a spreadsheet.
Then when it gets fast, repeat the same test. If all sites are fast on a browser on which I've cleared the cache and cookies, then it seems to me I have proven that the problem isn't with my network.
Because if the problem is with my network, (and the routers between me and those servers), then all sites on the server should be slow in test one.
Does that make sense, or is something faulty with my reasoning?
You know, what I'm really trying to do here is prove to the guy who sells us the server space that something is wrong. If I am seeing these slow-downs, other customers might be as well, and that would be costing us money.
I am a pretty good trouble-shooter, and I feel in my heart that I have proven that there is an issue, but I can't quite say I have the proof.
All I can do, I think, is keep working with a browser that I have cleared the cache and cookies on. I have several websites to test.
As I said earlier in this thread, these are not just websites I've created, but websites that other people have put up, some of which are online stores accessing the same database. He has written a PERL shopping cart, and all online stores on his system share certain files and certain parts of the database.
Here is the testing I've devised:
When I see a slowdown, clear the cache and cookies, and go to all the websites on that server. If all are fast but my main site is slow on the live, test, dev and admin sides, and they remain slow as I go back to them (meaning a cached page is still slow), I should keep those time tests in a spreadsheet.
Then when it gets fast, repeat the same test. If all sites are fast on a browser on which I've cleared the cache and cookies, then it seems to me I have proven that the problem isn't with my network.
Because if the problem is with my network, (and the routers between me and those servers), then all sites on the server should be slow in test one.
Does that make sense, or is something faulty with my reasoning?
If your server is on Rackspace i would highly doubt there is an issue with speed due to the their servers. I have several servers as well as hosted sites on Rackspace and i have never had any issues with slow ups etc. They are top tier hosting/server allocation provider and have excellent customer service. If you are having an issue with their service i would contact their customer service and see if they can walk through some tests with you, i am sure they would be more than glad to try and resolve your problems for you or at least help to show you where your problems are. Also if you look at the tracert you can see the problem is not rackspace hosting or the response times at the end would be worse. It is probably a ISP provider between you and rackspace that your ISP is connecting through. My suggestion would be to test out the connection on someone else's connection that has a different ISP than you do.
ASKER
But doesn't it make sense that if I have these common, daily slow downs, then someone else may have them too, whatever the reason?
Please see this page and i think that it might give you a better idea of why it doesnt necessarily mean you will have the same connection that the person with another provider would have:
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/basics/internet-infrastructure.htm
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/basics/internet-infrastructure.htm
ASKER
I don't need that, I understand that.I used to work as a tech in a WAN company, working on DSLAMS and (minimally)ATM networks. I hope this doesn't sound angry, but I'm getting frustrated.
It still doesn't make sense to me that I'm the only person in the known universe that sees this 35 second slow down every day, then sees it get fast again. I think my testing has shown that there is an issue somewhere besides the network between me and the servers. If it's on my website, so be it, but I don't think it solely is that.
Did you see the testing I proposed? Could you give me an answer as to why the testing wouldn't prove my point? Let's ignore the fact that it's Rackspace for a second, they may be great but they're not gods, they too could make a mistake. Thanks, again I apologize if this is too strong or pushy.
It still doesn't make sense to me that I'm the only person in the known universe that sees this 35 second slow down every day, then sees it get fast again. I think my testing has shown that there is an issue somewhere besides the network between me and the servers. If it's on my website, so be it, but I don't think it solely is that.
Did you see the testing I proposed? Could you give me an answer as to why the testing wouldn't prove my point? Let's ignore the fact that it's Rackspace for a second, they may be great but they're not gods, they too could make a mistake. Thanks, again I apologize if this is too strong or pushy.
I don't think you've 'proven' anything yet. There are too many things you can't account for at the moment. Any chance the site is getting bursts of traffic thoughout the day?
You could post the URLs and let us check too to see if you're the only one. Did you run the test I suggested on Uptrends to see how your site loads?
You could post the URLs and let us check too to see if you're the only one. Did you run the test I suggested on Uptrends to see how your site loads?
ASKER
Uptrends shows the 'magic' site as taking 2 seconds to load from New York and 8 seconds to load from Mexico City. It also shows the 'redi' site (34 files) as taking 5 seconds from New York and 4 seconds from Mexico City. Interesting oddity is that just one gif was very slow loading from New York. 'mostly' takes 1 second from New York (it only loads 15 files) and 1.9 seconds from Mexico City.
On a second check, the 'magic' site took 4.3 seconds from New York. It loads 42 files and two of the image files took a long time to load. That is kind of odd to me.
On a second check, the 'magic' site took 4.3 seconds from New York. It loads 42 files and two of the image files took a long time to load. That is kind of odd to me.
For what it's worth, the Google home page takes 0.34 seconds and loads only 10 files.
ASKER
Thanks, Dave, I'll run a few tests myself.
ASKER
Back to fast today on a browser that has been cleared of cache and cookies. Mystery continues in my eyes. Page to page of the main site, lightning fast. Yesterday I changed my DNS servers to open DNS.
ASKER
These experts were both extremely knowledgeable and patient with my numerous questions. Thanks!
That being said according to your tracert your slow up is at 11 with some really bad latency for some reason. As far as why i can't answer that. Here is a link for more info on tracert's:
http://www.exit109.com/~jeremy/news/providers/traceroute.html