Error connecting to database?

[Axis]

I wonder what was this "Error connecting to database" for these couple of days?

Humor :

If : I started building a disaster from this event, I thought that now thunderchero has done it, he has had a nervous breakdown and given up on this site and let it go down the drain of internet.

Then : I thought then that I really don't give a shit, it was a goddamn crappy site anyways, so good riddance, I don't have to bother to come here anymore, I'll delete the whole BotF modding project and the game to oblivion!

But : This morning the site opened smoothly, so I sighed in relief.

[thunderchero]

If the site fails it will not be of my doing,

with the current bot issue that is using up all the site resources, things have been very slow and at times it has even overwhelmed the server causing it to shutdown. When this happens the chance of database errors increase greatly. and this is what is happening now.

last night cleverwise had to fix table error in WP database.

"good bots" for most search engines don't use up our resources
but these bots are using a leased server from amazon, but use poorly coded crawler code that is killing our resources.
as soon as I report a bot IP range (each range take 20 min to report) they have started using a new IP range. currently I see 20 - 30 different amazon ip ranges crawling our site and they change just about every hour.

it even complicates things even more being on a "limited" server. as these bots max our limits, server or dns will shut us down with little or no notice.
then I am force to upgrade plan at increased cost. ( I am not looking for donations)

we are doing all we can to be proactive. but it is not doing much good at this point.

[Tethys]

Is there any way to limit the resources themselves.. partitioning some for bots, but leave breathing room ?

[Flocke]

Damn bots, I didn't get database errors, but past days AFC has become really slow.
From what I read, sadly a common issue these days.

What I'd try is some .htaccess rules like I found over here:
https://www.johnlarge.co.uk/blocking-ag ... ment-11823
https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtop ... #p15939646

They also talk alot of using a free CloudFlare account and setting it to "I'm Under Attack" mode.
Another frequent recommendation is to add some captchas, so they keep reloading already cached data.

It would be really sad if we loose this awesome forum to damn Huawei search engine bots, or whatever is bombarding the site.
Maybe we have just too much content here.

[Spocks-cuddly-tribble]

we are doing all we can to be proactive. but it is not doing much good at this point.

If it's only a temporary/peaking issue we can certainly live with it. The other ex-Supremacy project 'hid' its forum for similar reasons (neither wanted nor recommended for AFC). PS: Members with intelligence/military background might provide help Jack Reacher style, but any fatalities shouldn't be traceable...

sadly a common issue these days.

'these days' is a good one! Just one example of the same issue, also using amazon servers, from 15 years ago: https://www.webmasterworld.com/search_e ... 8-7-30.htm

Maybe we have just too much content here.

They got wind of our hidden operations and want to help managing all the money bags rotting in our basements and attics...

[Flocke]

'these days' is a good one! Just one example of the same issue, also using amazon servers, from 15 years ago: https://www.webmasterworld.com/search_e ... 8-7-30.htm

At least 15 years then with no proper solution.

[Spocks-cuddly-tribble]

Looks as if the 'users online' count doesn't include bots anymore? Hopefully they don't file a class action lawsuit for being discriminated...