Yes, performance again :) How best to configure a VM server?

[steveclv2]

We currently have a M1 site running on a reasonably powerful server - quad core, 16GB ram and SSD but we are getting page load times of around 16 seconds when tested using Googles mobile device test page.

As an experiment, we moved the entire server snapshot over to the Google Compute Engine on their highmem config - so that's 16 cores of cpu and 108GB of memory, plus SSD.

We have php-rpm, redis installed but the server is only showing that it's using 2.4GB of available memory so I'm looking for any ideas/suggestions of how best to configure such things as redis, php-rpm, mysql, nginx etc to try and get some better performance.
We don't have huge amounts of traffic and we see our competitors can get 5-7 second responses - so any suggestions on how to improve matters with this powerful server config would be really gratefully received.

Thanks in advance!

[Damian Culotta]

Hi @steveclv2,

It seems you have a big bottleneck there.

According with your description your server shouldn't be the main problem so you will need to profile your store (the Aoe_Profiler module is great for that, also you can try NewRelic).

Once you start to get data you'll be able to see which code is the problem.

[steveclv2]

Thanks

I've installed Aeo_Profiler but cannot find the config file - says it should be in var/ but the only place I can find them are

./etc/Aoe_Profiler/app/design/adminhtml/default/default/layout/aoe_profiler/aoe_profiler.xml
./var/www/magento/http/.modman/Aoe_Profiler/app/design/adminhtml/default/default/layout/aoe_profiler/aoe_profiler.xml

plus I can see Aoe_Profiler in the System menu but clicking it takes me to a 404 and when I view the web page I see no Aoe_Profiler output unlike the demo video that shows the results at the bottom of the page template.

Somethings obviously not configured correctly yet.

[steveclv2]

Actually it wasn't a 404 error

This is what I get if I click Aoe_profiler in the System menu

SQLSTATE[42S02]: Base table or view not found: 1146 Table 'hb.aoe_profiler_run' doesn't exist, query was: SELECT COUNT(*) FROM `aoe_profiler_run` AS `main_table`

[Damian Culotta]

Hi @steveclv2,

There are something strange with the files paths you've mentioned before. I.e: /etc/Aoe_Profiler/app/design/adminhtml/default/default/layout/aoe_profiler/aoe_profiler.xml

How diud you installed the module?

[steveclv2]

I got the git and used modman

I managed to find the xml and updated it - the table wasn't created tho but I found the authors notes on how to create that so the link in the system menu now shows the contents of the table - empty at the moment.

I cannot get the pages to display any stats however - either through the 'parameter' or 'always' settings - it may be the Ultimo theme we have installed.

It looks like just the tool that we need - but how to get it to actually show something on the screen??

[kgerasimov]

Hi,

definitely the server is not the problem here. What you need is time to first byte (TTFB) audit.

If you don't have any luck with Aoe_Profiler try the built-in M1 profiler. Here is how to enable it https://docs.nexcess.net/article/how-to-enable-the-magento-profiler.html .

Study profiler trace and analyze code blocks or .phtml template files that take most time.

Bonus tip - do 3rd party extension audit. In most cases a custom plugin is what slows Magento sites down. Poor coding. 

Disable extensions one by one and benchmark speed. Let us know what you find out.

[Damian Culotta]

Hi @steveclv2,

Well, you can configure the module at System -> Configuration -> Advanced -> Developer -> Debug

There you'll find the instructions.

Once you activate everything you can navigate your frontend (I've choosed to use the parameter).

After, at the backend on System -> Aoe Profiler you'll find a grid like this:

If you click you'll get a report and you go deeper to see which process or function is the problem.