Dreamhost’s MySQL servers are slow and oversold
I love Dreamhost. I use Dreamhost for just about anything I put on the mighty internet. Dreamhost has the best control panel of any hosting company, allows me to become a little hosting company of my own by giving my clients discrete shell accounts with access to all of their sites, and gives me unlimited storage (which I’ve tested with a facebook app which I hosted on Dreamhost that created tens of gigabytes of images). I can even build my own php, ruby, python, etc. I have one, and just one beef with Dreamhost, and it’s a pretty big one.
Dreamhost’s shared MySQL servers are SLOOWWWWW!!!1^H
This problem is most apparent with Drupal sites. If Drupal is anything, it’s hard on the database. Drupal makes more queries than a baby-boomer changing email clients. I consider it a flaw of Drupal’s, but sest lah vye. If you install Drupal 7 Core on the Dreamhost Happy Hosting service, the first page load takes 5-10 seconds, and navigating the dashboard is unbearable. The point is, other hosting companies don’t have this problem. Other hosting companies, for whatever reason (mysql servers running on the same machine as the web-server, butt-loads of hardware, better caching configuration), can run Drupal quickly on a basic plan.
I am writing this blog post with a tear trickling down my nose because I really do love Dreamhost. But I need to be honest with myself and admit Dreamhost’s failing. I hope Mr Dreamhost notices this post when he vainly searches the Google for himself and changes his ways. I hope Dreamhost upgrades their MySQL servers!
It looks like Mr. Dreamhost was cruising the googles for himself after all. After mentioning this post on the Twitter, Mr. Dreamhost contacted me via the Dreamhost support system and offered me a free (up to 300M) MySQL VPS. I’ve taken him up on the offer, even though it does not solve the underlying problem of poor MySQL performance on the shared servers.
In the process, the Dreamhost tech handling the case discovered that my Happy Hosting mysql server lived in a separate data-centre from my Happy Hosting webserver. Can we say flawed infrastructure?
Either way, I’ve gotten some satisfaction, but it’s in no way a solve.
Update: 2012-01-27
I’ve run some AP benchmarks comparing the Dreamhost Happy Hosting performance (about a $10/mo account) with a basic JustHost account (about $4/mo). The site in question runs Pligg, a fairly database-heavy Digg clone. It’s in no way scientific, but does tell a story. Here are the dumps:
Dreamhost
Percentage of the requests served within a certain time (ms) 50% 2749 66% 2972 75% 3246 80% 3412 90% 4650 95% 5051 98% 9514 99% 9514 100% 9514 (longest request)
Justhost
Percentage of the requests served within a certain time (ms) 50% 2609 66% 2961 75% 3299 80% 3498 90% 3560 95% 3741 98% 3952 99% 3952 100% 3952 (longest request)
I can has Google Music Canada, and so can you!
Google music is just about the yummiest thing since sliced meat, but it’s only available in the US until Google manages to navigate the canadian music-communism regulatory labyrinth. That means it won’t be available in canada until the 12th of never.
But that’s ok! It’s pretty easy to set yourself up with a google music account, and once you have it, it will work from anywhere. You can upload your 20,000 songs to the great big Google in the sky, and listen to them on the bus, in the park, or even in your home! All you need is to install one of those proxy thingymajigs when you sign up for the account.
I used Stealthy: a little browser extension available for Chrome and Firefox. Others have used Tor. Heck, if you’ve got a webserver that lives in the US, you could even do it the old fashioned way and setup a SSH proxy server. The point is you need to sign up for the account from a US IP address, and all of these methods will do that.
Once you’ve got your account, you should be able to access Google Music from your standard canadian IP address, and start uploading your songs!
If you have a google phone, you’re gonna need the new Google Music enabled android music app. You’ve probably noticed that you’re not allowed to download it from the android market unless your phone lives in the US. Well, have no fear. The internet pirates have once again come to your rescue.
You can download the latest version of the android music app apk here. If you download it using your phone, you’ll be able to install it by touching it in your downloads list. You’ll be asked to replace the existing (kinda old and crappy) music app. For heaven’s sake say yes, and begin enjoying your music wherever you want to from the great big Google in the sky.
Cheers!
Death to the Canadian Multilingual (Bilingual) Keyboard
If you’re planning on buying a new laptop or netbook in Canada there’s something you should be aware of.
Throughout the entirety of the personal computer revolution, and for at least 100 years of typewriters, Canadians have been typing on what is generally known as the US keyboard layout. That’s enough time for several generations to be conditioned into typing a certain way.
Since 2009, all laptop manufacturers that ship to Canadian computer vendors have been shipping with a new keyboard. It’s called the Canadian Multilingual, or Canadian Bilingual keyboard. At first glance, it looks a bit funny, but is not that alarming. It’s got a few funny symbols on some of the keys, and a fat enter key, but is still a fairly standard looking qwerty layout.
But, in plain sight, this keyboard hides a nasty surprise.
Higher prices on the way for Canadian telecom customers
The Canadian Telecommunications act was passed in 1993 under the Chretien/Martin government. The Supreme Court of Canada made the bill possible by taking what was once de-facto regulatory purview of the provinces and decreeing it to be federal jurisdiction. The act was rolled into the mandate of the CRTC — a regulatory body which saw its origins with the Railway Act of the 1850s, under which the Canadian government sought to control telegraph lines, usually raised along railroads.
As a result of this power grab, and specifically section 16 of the act, Canada missed out, in a big way, on the telecommunications renaissance that was to be born of the rest of the 90s. Section 16 states that no telecommunications company could operate in Canada unless it was Canadian owned and its board was under nearly total Canadian control.
Until the 90s, most of the country’s telecommunication services were provided by provincial monopoly players. Something that would soon change with the rise of the internet and the mainstreaming of mobile phones.
While the rest of the world was seeing new telecommunications companies take root and offer internet and mobile services at affordable prices to everyone from the rich of the developed world to the poor of the developing world, Canada saw its already bloated and stagnant telecom oligopoly get fatter and lazier, doing its worst to keep up with new innovations, all the while charging a monopoly price for its services.
Sadly this has come to a climax in recent weeks. (more…)