Very slow loading websites

[LukeDouglas]

I have two websites that have all of a sudden become very slow in loading. I have over 70 websites on this server and all the others perform very well. I've cleared cache and ran a GT-Metrix test and it appears that the initial connection is the issue. Any ideas what I can do to resolve this problem?

The url's are:

http://headlandal.org

http://headlandalabama.org

[jcata]

Hi

the 2 website , show me:

Error: 403 - This request is blocked by Admin Tools. Please change this message in the component's options.

Some common troubles:
-has you activate joomla cache ?
-has you review images size in home ?,

greetings

[LukeDouglas]

I have disabled AdminTools on both sites. You should be good to check now. Sorry!

[jcata]

sorry I get the same message :-( ..

[LukeDouglas]

Jcata, is it a 'AdminTools' error message or is the issue that you simply can't pull up the website? I do have a firewall on my server and it's possible that your IP may be in a range that has been blocked. You can send me a private message with your IP if you want me to whitelist it.

[webhostuk]

If your IP is blacklisted in firewall you wont be able to view the website in that case.

[LukeDouglas]

webhostuk,

True but if someone wants to look and see if they can help me, they can privately send me their IP. I can check and if it is being blocked at the server level, I can whitelist the IP. I have disabled AdminTools on both sites.

I really would like for someone to put another set of eyes on this issue. I am totally stumped, especially since other sites with the same basic framework (Joomla - Gantry) are working fine.

Thanks.

[webhostuk]

Have you enable or installed any other plugin recently for this two sites?

[LukeDouglas]

I disabled public viewed plug-in's one by one, disabled, clear website cache, clear browser cache, loaded up website to see if it fixed the issue. No plug-in's seem to be causing this issue.

Plug-ins checked (Public)
Authentication - Cookie *
Authentication - Joomla *
Captcha - Recaptcha *
Content - Load Modules *
Content - JCE *
Content - Joomla *
Content - Simple Image Gallery Pro (by JoomlaWorks)*
AllVideos (by JoomlaWorks) *
Content - Page Break *
Content - Page Navigation *
Content - RokInjectModule *
Content - Vote *
Editor - JCE *
Editor - CodeMirror *
Editor - TinyMCE
Extension - Joomla
System - Admin Tools *
System - RokCommon *
System - Regular Labs - Cache Cleaner *
System - Regular Labs Library *
System - Regular Labs - Tabs *
System - Regular Labs - Sliders *
System - JCE MediaBox *
System - RokSprocket *
System - RokExtender *
Xmap - WebLinks Plugin *
Xmap - Content Plugin *

[N-at-work]

Hello,
I had the same phenomenon.
Cache activation helped.
Additionnaly i installed the plugin named Cache Cleaner, from Regularlabs - nice tool

You are obviously using products from RocketThemes. These guys do very nice jobs indeed, but sometimes "heavy", so i suggest you try to work additionnaly with their rokBooster

Have a nice day

[LukeDouglas]

N-at-work,

I already have the Cache Cleaner from Regular Labs installed as it is one of my default tools. I have it to automatically clear the cache every 3600 seconds (hourly). As far as RokBooster, I have had issues with it in the past crashing sites. I pretty much quit using it well over two years ago.

Going back to square one:
Disable Global cache and GKZip. Disabled Page Cache plugin. Removed AdminTools changes to HTACCESS as well as removed the Website Speed Boost caching from the HTACCESS. Site still loaded very slowly, about 35 seconds.

Reenabled Global cache and GKZip. Added changes back to HTACCESS including the Website Speed Boost caching. Site still loaded slowly.

Ran a webpagetest.com: Initial connection is the issue:

URL: https://headlandal.org/
Host: headlandal.org
IP: 162.144.201.197
Error/Status Code: 200
Priority: VeryLow
Client Port: 49696
Request Start: 0.621 s
Initial Connection: 94 ms
SSL Negotiation: 228 ms
Time to First Byte: 61012 ms <<<<<<< PROBLEM
Content Download: 303 ms
Bytes In (downloaded): 82.9 KB
Bytes Out (uploaded): 0.4 KB

Another problem website:
URL: https://headlandalabama.org/
Host: headlandalabama.org
IP: 162.144.200.186
Error/Status Code: 200
Priority: VeryLow
Client Port: 63992
Request Start: 0.544 s
Initial Connection: 86 ms
SSL Negotiation: 205 ms
Time to First Byte: 60849 ms <<<<<<< PROBLEM
Content Download: 120 ms
Bytes In (downloaded): 21.7 KB
Bytes Out (uploaded): 0.4 KB

Tests for a site on the same IP:
URL: https://dothanschoolofdance.com/
Host: dothanschoolofdance.com
IP: 162.144.201.197
Error/Status Code: 200
Priority: VeryLow
Client Port: 53493
Request Start: 0.589 s
Initial Connection: 89 ms
SSL Negotiation: 223 ms
Time to First Byte: 708 ms <<<<< GOOD BUT NOT GREAT
Content Download: 9 ms
Bytes In (downloaded): 7.6 KB
Bytes Out (uploaded): 0.4 KB

Test for a site on the same IP:
URL: http://holidayspectacularpark.com/
Host: holidayspectacularpark.com
IP: 162.144.201.197
Error/Status Code: 200
Priority: VeryHigh
Client Port: 61216
Request Start: 0.182 s
DNS Lookup: 97 ms
Initial Connection: 85 ms
Time to First Byte: 1786 ms <<<< NOT SO GREAT BUT NOT TERRIBLE
Content Download: 18 ms
Bytes In (downloaded): 12.1 KB
Bytes Out (uploaded): 0.4 KB

Test for a site that loads normally:
URL: http://fearlessrider.com/
Host: fearlessrider.com
IP: 162.144.192.176
Error/Status Code: 301
Priority: VeryHigh
Client Port: 56980
Request Start: 0.121 s
DNS Lookup: 37 ms
Initial Connection: 84 ms
Time to First Byte: 94 ms <<<< GREAT
Content Download: 0 ms
Bytes In (downloaded): 0.6 KB
Bytes Out (uploaded): 0.4 KB

The techs at HostGator indicated that it looked like a javascript conflict but in the Webpagetest.org tests, no javascript is loaded until after the CSS sheets are loaded and the time to load them is pretty darn quick. Here is a screenshot of the waterfall view. No javascript is loaded until step 18.



If anyone has a clue what could possibly be the issue, I would appreciate any feedback.

[rahuljoomdev]

Well. not sure why? but I am not able to view your websites. Maybe it's because of my IP or something.

I'm really looking forward to helps you on this.

Thanks

[LukeDouglas]

rahuljoomdev,

It is possible that your IP may have been blocked as I have a server firewall as well as AdminTools in use. If you can give me your first 3 blocks of your IP, I can check and remove temporarily so you can view the site. You could try a proxy server as that would be using a different IP address.

[leolam]

If you want help on the Joomla forums you will find very smart people from all over the world to help you. You block access from many countries including where I reside (Indonesia) and I am not willing to load my VPN and trial and error just to find a proxy gateway that works to your liking. If you have issues like this and you need help you disable WAF....period otherwise I can spend my time better helping others (btw server response time is the issue)

Leo

[LukeDouglas]

Leolam,

As you probably know, hackers are everywhere including Indonesia so it's critically important to have a secure firewall in place on your servers and to keep them updated. I monitor reports daily and make adjustments.

I can understand the frustration you have had in trying to view the site and appreciate your assistance. I removed all ID/Indonesia blocks from my server firewall.

I tend to agree with you on the issue being the initial connection but, to be honest, I couldn't figure out why UNTIL I got to looking at my firewall block IP list. It was substantial. So on a hunch, I removed ALL of the blocked IP's. I then tested the headlandal.org website and, viola, it loaded close to normal connection time!



This site is still using a previous version of framework so I tested a couple of my other clients websites which use the most recent version and they both had an initial connection time of about 1s which is definitely acceptable!

So I am confident that I know what the issue is which was the 'abundance' of IP blocks in the firewall settings but if you want to take a look in case you see something that I might want to check into, I would be appreciative. As there

[leolam]

I have no frustrations at all mate.....If I would be frustrated by somebody using an IP-block I would be insane by now. The point I was making which you seem to miss is that when you ask for help on these forums you should remove all blocks since we have so many knowledgeable people all over the world who can help you.

Leo

[LukeDouglas]

Leo,

Will do from this point on!

[coaleb]

Hello,

I know this may not be an extremely helpful post, but I can load your "problem sites" with a very acceptable load time, given the size and complexity of the sites. I went through several pages and the slowest load time I got was still less than 3 seconds. I hardly classify this as "very slow loading."

[LukeDouglas]

Coaleb,

3 seconds is my goal with 2 seconds being optimum. I'll never get down to 1 second using Joomla. LOL

The reason it is loading fine for you is that I just discovered the issue which was the initial connection time that was 'very' slow, upwards of 70 seconds!!! It turned out to be the server firewall IP blocks. I had it set the number way too high. Now that I know what the issue is, I can simply monitor and adjust when I see sites start loading slower than they should.

[Preethambangera]

good answers, even my site went all of sudden slow. As i was not any idea about the development part. My developer had done something to clear it. I will contact them

[coaleb]

Kudos to you for getting these large sites to load so efficiently w/ Joomla and for monitoring their performance so closely. I'm glad you got it sorted.

[awalaravind]

Website loading time may depend the size of the website. if there are some high quality images and videos then the website load time will be increased. you can check your website using some tools like pingdom to check the page load time.

[Hakeem707]

Probably you are having some JavaScripts that are not responsive. In this situation I will suggest that you test you site's front-end responsiveness. Google's Page Insights is good for this: https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/

[LukeDouglas]

Hakeem707,

Thanks for the recommendation. I've used PageSpeed and YSlow for years so I am familiar with both. My primary issue is the way that the Joomla framework works and I have mentioned this in posts many times over the years. By default Joomla should handle JavaScript loading automatically, as a framework, to ensure that it is below the fold. I know this would require some re-tooling of the framework but I have NOT found a dependable, reliable add-on (I have tried many) that handles JavaScripts by compressing and moving below the fold without breaking some functionality of the website. When it comes to optimization and functionality, functionality will always win, as it should.

JavaScript is a wonderful technology BUT with so many add-on's that have their own JavaScript code, it can lead to a lot of problems. I wish there was a worldwide development team for JavaScript that could create a single framework to handle every contingency but I am a realist in that no one can predict every contingency, even the Joomla development team can't do that.

[sozzled]

JavaScript is a wonderful technology BUT with so many add-ons that have their own JavaScript code, it can lead to a lot of problems. I wish there was a worldwide development team for JavaScript that could create a single framework to handle every contingency but I am a realist in that no one can predict every contingency, even the Joomla development team can't do that.

You probably know more about Javascript than most people who use the forum but I'd like to make a couple of observations.

1) Javascript is an interpretive language; the language interpreter resides within your web browser. Different web browsers use different interpreters (as they also use different DOMs). In other words, if you use Internet Explorer your browser will interprest Javascript differently to using Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome or Safari. In order to allow Javascript to operate across different browsers, there are a number of cross-browser library "systems" used by content management systems such as Joomla. From J! 3.x, Joomla uses jQuery.

2) There is a development consortium behind jQuery.

3) You are probably right: you can expect better performance if you bundle/compress your Javascript "code" and download it "below the fold". You are also probably right in saying that many extensions that claim to bundle/compress Javascript are unreliable (or may cause their own peculiar problems).

To be completely honest with you, site performance varies considerably. Sometimes performance may be adversely affected by the manner in which the server downloads the data to the browser. In measuring site performance, it's important to obtain a baseline. In your situation, I would begin by creating a "vanilla-flavoured" out-of-the-box Joomla website on your server, add no extensions, and measure how long it takes for your server to download any page(s) that you create in this test environment. This will give you a baseline to compare your real website against.

It's possible that site performance may not be simply affected by how you package your Javascript.

[LukeDouglas]

sozzled2904,

I have some barebone sites that do load more quickly which is understandable. The more add-on's that you install, it will impact page load times. Again, my baseline is 3 seconds.

As of today, the average page load time for all of my clients websites (80+ sites in 12+ states) is 2.4 seconds with a range from 1.1 to 3.7 seconds and only two are higher than 3 seconds. My average PageSpeed score is 86.57 with a range from 77 to 96 with the exception of 'one' site that has a low '24' which has a 'lot' of home page images (none optimized) which the 'client' demanded so I gave the client what he wanted. That site has a YSlow score of 86 and still loads in less than 3 seconds. My average YSlow score for all client websites is 85.00 with a range from 76 to 90.

So to be honest, I don't really lose a lot of sleep because my clients sites don't pull a 100 on either PageSpeed or YSlow nor do any of them load in less than 1 second as per Google's recommendation. FYI, from my last check, only the Google search page loaded in less than 1 second as all other Google website pages took longer.

I'm sure some hotshot developer could look at my sites and have a laugh at 'obvious' things that I haven't done (not that I haven't tried) but, again, I ain't losing any sleep over it.

[sozzled]

So, to be honest, ... I ain't losing any sleep over it.

Good!

Let me also impart a few honest truths: if all of your websites reside within a shared hosting environment, then all the websites will share the total resources available. So, if one website is drawing more memory or bandwidth (or whatever else may be quotaed), this will impact the performance of every other website you manage that is located under your shared hosting plan. It's also possible that some other website, not under your control, may be affecting the performance of your sites. Performance varies from webhost to webhost and from hosting plan to hosting plan.

Depending on the client's wants—one can have anything one wants but there's always a cost associated with it—it may be worthwhile distributing the sites around a bit or relocating them onto a dedicated server ... if performance is an issue.

Anyway, good luck and pleasant dreams.

[LukeDouglas]

sozzled2904,

Dedicated server. Only my clients websites reside on it. The CPU / Memory usage is never even close to being maxed as most of my clients have low traffic. Also, bandwidth is minimal, with the most approaching only 4-5% of what I have it set. Server is 8 cores, Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E3-1265L V2 @ 2.50GHz with 4mb cache each. Load is about 50-55% currently. Memory is 8gb using only about 33% currently. Only using about 176gb disk space. Less than 5% of swap being used. As I said, most of my clients are small businesses or organizations.

[sozzled]

Ooops ... you're way beyond my level of expertise. I'm just one of those ordinary everyday users who pays a couple of hundred dollars a year to a professional website hosting company and I leave all of that fire-walling, Apache/MySQL/PHP mystique to those guys. Sure, I've been in this industry for over 40 years and I have a smattering of insight, but my forté (apart from drinking loads of coffee to maintain my adrenaline level) is confined to create/"configure"/deploy site.

From what you've written, it wouldn't appear that performance is hardware or even OS-performance related. It's more likely something buried within the server configuration—which is a "black art" as far as I'm concerned—or the network connection to the outside world that may be slowing things down. And then again, I could be very wrong!

[LukeDouglas]

sozzled,

Hmmm.looks like we're bosum buddies so to speak. I started in 1973 on IBM mainframes! Aren't you glad we no longer have to deal with assembly, Fortran and Cobol! LOL