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Does RSS slow down and stuff up web sites?

Discussion in 'XML & RSS' started by tridean, Feb 21, 2007.

  1. #1
    For some reason this post didn't appear the first time so I am reposting it.

    Hello,
    I've been noticing two of my web sites (that share the same host) have periods (all too often I might add) of really slow load times and to make matters worse, only a portion of the page loads.

    What's even weirder is that when only a portion of the page loads, it loads the head section, but not the left side navigation, then half the body and that's where it ends. There is also always a bit of html code right at the bottom where the cut off appears like <p align= etc.....

    There seems to be no rhyme or reason .

    I contacted my host and they asked me if I use RSS feeds from an external source which I do.

    Does anyone else have this problem. I'm wondering whether I have too many lines in my rss feeds. I use a code like this <!-- include virtual="/rssfeeds.php"--> and have the php script in the root directory with around 5 rss feeds?

    I have asked my host how RSS feeds may cause this to occur but no answer yet.

    Dean
     
    tridean, Feb 21, 2007 IP
  2. tridean

    tridean Guest

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    #2
    why is this post not showing up??????
     
    tridean, Feb 21, 2007 IP
  3. iatbm

    iatbm Prominent Member

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    #3
    it is showing up for me ;)

    and to answer your question :

    Does RSS slow down and stuff up web sites?

    NO
     
    iatbm, Feb 21, 2007 IP
    jdR!pper likes this.
  4. davidc1

    davidc1 Well-Known Member

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    #4
    difficult to answer if you are not in a dedicated server.
     
    davidc1, Feb 22, 2007 IP
  5. iatbm

    iatbm Prominent Member

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    #5
    why would rss slow down your website ? ... people (browser) are not even accessing rss when looking at your website ....
     
    iatbm, Feb 22, 2007 IP
  6. tridean

    tridean Guest

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    #6
    Hi Guys,
    Well it was the RSS feeds doing it!!

    How's that? I have no idea, but it wasn't until I removed them that the problem went away.

    I did a lot of research to see if other's were suffering from a similar problem, and eventually I found someone who had the same experience. He told me that it was his external links that created the slow down and also the page being cut off before it loaded completely.

    I removed all external links and then tried them all one by one and it was the RSS feed that was the culprit.

    I used a web site called rssfeedreader.com that creates the code for you, you can just enter the addresses of the feeds. I created the code into a php file and then just use a small piece of code
    <!--#include virtual="/feed.php" --> like this and place this into web site.

    I've contacted rssfeedreader to see if they are experiencing similar problems with other users.

    Could it be the actual address of where the feeds are coming from. In my example I was getting my feeds from National Geographic, I'd thought that a big web site like that shoudln't cause problems. I don't know enough about RSS feeds to fully understand so I'll have to wait for a response

    Dean
     
    tridean, Feb 26, 2007 IP
  7. MattD

    MattD Peon

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    #7
    Ah wait so do you mean "Do RSS feeds of my own site's content slow is down?" or "Do RSS feeds that I use on my website slow it down?"

    Ones that are of your own content will very probably cause zero impact on speed as if its a Database driven site the RSS feed will be generated the same way that the normal pages are.

    If you are consuming other site's RSS feeds then there may be a significant delay as you have to wait for the other site's servers to respond. If you are consuming multiple feeds from multiple sites, the delays will likely add up to something annoying. If this is the case, consider setting up a CRON task that will get all of the feeds every half hour or something, then cache the output as a static file which you can then serve.
     
    MattD, Feb 26, 2007 IP
  8. iatbm

    iatbm Prominent Member

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    #8
    yes of course if you included content from some other website then that is what was slowing down your website...

    But it has nothing to do with RSS itself !

    Rss does not slow your website down !
     
    iatbm, Feb 26, 2007 IP
  9. stocknsurf

    stocknsurf Peon

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    #9
    I don't think rss feeds could slow down your website. After all it is plain xml being fed from the feed site that you read and parse into html code. There is minimal processing power that should be involved in that kind of an event.

    However I would like to know if you use a caching system? If not you should cache the rss feeds for a certain time frame, say for 1 hour and retrieve info from the cache within that time period rather than trying to get a fresh rss feed everytime, which isn't a very optimal method.

    Look at www.SitesOnNet.com using all rss feeds in the home page, but I haven't experienced any slowdown because of that.

    If at all there is any slowdown it might be because of the network or the server speed, memory etc. Not because of rss I hope.
     
    stocknsurf, Feb 26, 2007 IP
  10. stocknsurf

    stocknsurf Peon

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    #10
    To repeat again, don't get fresh rss feeds every time. USE RSS CACHING !!! Otherwise what you are doing is not optimal.
     
    stocknsurf, Feb 26, 2007 IP
  11. tridean

    tridean Guest

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    #11
    Hi Guys, thanks for all the input.

    Here is a response from RSS Feedreader, the company I used to create the code to have RSS feeds placed on my web site.

    Hi

    Using php on html pages inherently slows down the load time of the webpage, this is normal and very common. The reason for this is the php code is executed on your server before the page is loaded in the browser. In this case you have php code on your page that calls to 2 other servers plus your own server. This can futher slow things down because first your server has to process the php code before loading the webpage, when your server executes the php code the scripting the php code calls to my server (rssfeedreader.com) then my server either grabs the cached copy of the feed we have stored or it contacts the original feed source to get a fresh updated copy of the feed, so essentially you are waiting on data to transfer between 3 servers before your web page loads in the browser. That is the reason for the delay. When it loads faster it is because you ae seeing the cached copy of the feed.


    I have asked for possible solutions, and I see some of you guys have given me possible solutions. I have some questions

    What is RSS Caching?

    what is a CRON task and how do I set it up to do what MattD suggested which is to get all of the feeds every half hour or something, then cache the output as a static file which you can then serve?

    Thanks guys!

    Dean
     
    tridean, Feb 28, 2007 IP
  12. MattD

    MattD Peon

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    #12
    A cron task is an automated command that is run at a specific time interval - this could be anything from every 5 minutes to every 5 years or more! You might need to talk to your hosts about setting one up.

    The command you will need to run would be a simple script that fetches all of the RSS feeds and generates the content once (i.e. it generates a static file), you then just use that instead of your dynamic page each time.
     
    MattD, Mar 1, 2007 IP
  13. tridean

    tridean Guest

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    #13
    I've contacted my host about Cron tasks.

    Just to clarify, this is not the same as using SSI is it where I have a php file in my root and use a piece of code like this wherever I want the feeds <!--#include virtual="/NG.php" -->?

    Cheers
    Dean
     
    tridean, Mar 1, 2007 IP
  14. wholesalechecklist

    wholesalechecklist Peon

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    #14
    Is a CRON task the same thing as caching? If not, whats the difference?
     
    wholesalechecklist, Mar 1, 2007 IP
  15. tridean

    tridean Guest

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    #15
    Hi All,
    Well I found the Cron job sectiuon in my cpanel but I have no idea what to do with it.

    It asks a series of time questions which I have just answered for the sake of completion at daily, 5am etc. But what do I do with it.
    It asks for a command but the form is already populated with something - what do I put here?

    Do I just place the directory where I have my php file containing the instructions for the RSS feeds? And if so then what? What exactly do I place on my web site where I want the RSS feeds to appear.

    My host was very quick to tell me that a Google search will help me :rolleyes:

    So I'm not expecting any help from them. I did a search but it didn't tell me much and that is largely due to my inexperience with this sort of thing

    Any help would be greatly appreciated
    Cheers
    Dean
     
    tridean, Mar 2, 2007 IP
  16. MattD

    MattD Peon

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    #16
    The cron task will need to run your PHP (or whatever) you use to generate the page (i.e. that will go and get the RSS and build the page). This is generating the static "cached" copy of the RSS files.

    You then use that page on your site.

    This is how it logically works:

    Cron event fires every 30 minutes (or whenever you chose) -> PHP (or CGI etc) script is run -> Script gets RSS feeds from the web -> script creates static file (e.g. "feeds.html") -> "feeds.html" is included in your page as a standard SSI include.

    So now this way you are including a simple text file that will be very, very quick. This simple file is automatically updated by your cron task to get the latest RSS, so the slow bit is done in the background where your visitors wont see the delay.
     
    MattD, Mar 3, 2007 IP
  17. wholesalechecklist

    wholesalechecklist Peon

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    #17
    So how do we do that? Can you point us in the direction of a tutorial or free software or something?
     
    wholesalechecklist, Mar 3, 2007 IP
  18. MattD

    MattD Peon

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    #18
    I have no idea if there is a tutorial or software around that does this for you. Its not very difficult though - if you have make a webpage then you should have no problems doing this.
     
    MattD, Mar 3, 2007 IP
  19. tridean

    tridean Guest

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    #19
    Hi MattD,
    I really appreciate your efforts in helping us.

    What I was doing before was using a piece of code -
    <!--#include virtual="/NG.php" -->. This is what I posted in my web site wherever I wanted the RSS feeds.

    The file named NG.php is stored in my directory (root), and it contains all the functions such as look of the RSS feed, addresses and rssreedreaser.com instructions and so forth.

    I also had to edit my .htaccess file to allow php to run on html pages.

    OK - when I created the cron job, a piece of code was sent to me via email and this is it here -
    /bin/sh: line 0: cd: /home/tridean/public_html/wf/NG.php: Not a directory

    this is where I'm confused as I don't know what do to with this code.

    Do I do anything or do I run my feeds the same as before and like you said, this cron job performs all on it's own?
    Cheers
     
    tridean, Mar 3, 2007 IP
  20. tridean

    tridean Guest

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    #20
    I'm also adding the feed URL

    http://www.wildfigurines.com/NG.php

    My only confusion comes with what to do with the code created by my host after completing a cron job?

    I also didn't have any idea what to put in the 'command to run' part, and as I said earlier, it was already populated with stuff and I just changed the directory and file to match the NG.php file (for eg. /public_html/wf/NG.php' but I also noticed there was this at the end of the code
    ; php -q 'cron.php' > /dev/null ; so I left all that in there (although I'm not sure the /dev/null bit was there the first time around but it's there now when I take a look in the cron job section)

    Cheers
    Dean
     
    tridean, Mar 3, 2007 IP