From Wikitravel Shared

[edit] What happens

Whenever an admin edits a MediaWiki namespace template it causes the entire site to purge the cache. This sucks because it takes a while and will often bring the site 'down.' Editing these files essentially causes the site to seemingly stop responding. This is highly annoying for me, but I imagine it's many times annoying for someone whose searching Wikitravel in an internet cafe in en:Transnistria.

I'm not sure if this is an en: only problem, but I imagine the large number of pages on the English language Wikitravel has something to do with the problem.

I haven't seen this problem on ja or fi. Jpatokal 04:48, 12 October 2007 (EDT)

I wouldn't expect you to. What happens is that when you update a core template file the system looks to see all of the pages affected by that change and removes them from cache, so that they will display the corrected version of that template on the next page load. However, if too many high traffic pages fall out of the cache at once, the system can't really keep up. KevinSours 12:04, 15 October 2007 (EDT)

There's something wrong with the system then, because eg. editing UploadText should only affect Special:Upload, but it seems that any change to any system message causes the entire cache to be purged. Jpatokal 13:31, 15 October 2007 (EDT)

It works for the templates because the cache code is able to figure out what templates are on which pages and only remove those pages. With the MediaWiki messages there isn't any way of determining where the message is used. The system blows out the cache to make sure everything gets updated like it is supposed to. I assume this was done because at the time it worked okay(obviously it doesn't work okay now). KevinSours 16:08, 15 October 2007 (EDT)

[edit] When it happens

Whenever an admin edits a MediaWiki file/template.

[edit] What should happen

The site/server should be able to handle the purging of the site's cache.

[edit] How to fix it

Upgrade the server or anything that will allow the site/server/whatever handle the cache problems.

I wonder how Wikipedia handles this? They have umpteen times more pages than we do, but I don't see WP go down because somebody tweaks the settings. Jpatokal 04:48, 12 October 2007 (EDT)

Hmmm. Great observation. Maybe because they are continually updating the servers? -- Sapphire • (Talk) • 09:42, 14 October 2007 (EDT)

I'm pretty sure its because they don't blow out their cache when the settings get tweaked. KevinSours 12:00, 15 October 2007 (EDT)

I'm pretty sure they do, actually. But they have several more caching servers, so the load is handled a lot better.

Probably the way to fix this problem is to install the new squid servers, which will make Wikitravel work a lot more like Wikipedia. --Evan 15:32, 15 October 2007 (EDT)

When do we get a taste of these elusive squids? There's been talk for a while, but I would sure like to see the site speed back up, even aside from Mediawiki issues – cacahuate ^talk 18:15, 15 October 2007 (EDT)

sometime after Kevin decides what his Wikitravel username will be and puts an appropriate self intro there; so Kevin, where will you put your self intro, User:Ibkevin or User:KevinSours? The alternative you can redirect to the primary you of course. Kevin, one way or another, I would like you to introduce yourself and your role at IB on your user page. Thanks! :-) Rogerhc 01:44, 2 November 2007 (EDT)

User:Ibkevinand User:KevinSours are distinct people. Around here, I'm generally referred to as K2. KevinSours 11:57, 21 March 2008 (EDT)

This is in process. We've run into some problems in testings, so we need to address some things.