Wiki is down

[Eichkater]

https://wiki.step-project.com/ is down.

 

I`m in the middle of the guide. Is there a back-up available somewhere? I`m desperate!

 

Greetings,

Eichkater

[Mator]

I doubt that any HTML/CSS edits caused the issue.  If it is anything it is due to semantic mediawiki templates.  Huge page size or circular dependencies could cause issues with the cache worker, hypothetically.  z - if you have logs, I could look at those to see if I can figure out what the root cause is.

[z929669]

I found one nginx configuration issue that I resolved, but I am not sure if that had any impact. The wiki seems to be working, but it is the timeouts and worker processes that I need to figure out. php, fpm, fast cgi appear to be the complainers.

 

It all has to do with the size of certain requests, I think. Semantic is the likely root cause, and many requests (just serving up any guide or page with many nesting/recursive Semantic dependencies is the main issue I think.

 

When we are seeing 504, I think it is mostly related to timeout, and not a 'broken' wiki.

 

I can share logs at some point, but they may not make much sense, given the level of obfuscation that s4n has placed on the entire server config ... while this undoubtedly thwarts unwanted hackers, it also thwarts legit admin.

[Mator]

Based on your feedback z, I think a good temporary solution would be to split the largest guide pages into 2 (or more) pages.

[z929669]

I just checked the wiki, and it seems to be behaving normally now (crossing fingers).

 

It looks like the recent change Diana made might have done the trick ... I don't have time to look carefully at the wiki markup in that last diff, but I suspect there was some kind of recursive or circular Semantic call in there somewhere.

 

If anyone cares to look closely at that diff, maybe that person can identify a possible culprit. HTML styling and class 'wikitable' shouldn't be a problem ... look for Semantic calls and curly braces.

 

This corroborates my suspicion that there was a problematic edit to one of the recent guide pages beginning on the 16th.

 

Anyone care to confirm that the wiki is behaving now and/or the latest removed content in the diff above?

[TechAngel85]

I just checked the wiki, and it seems to be behaving normally now (crossing fingers).

 

It looks like the recent change Diana made might have done the trick ... I don't have time to look carefully at the wiki markup in that last diff, but I suspect there was some kind of recursive or circular Semantic call in there somewhere.

 

If anyone cares to look closely at that diff, maybe that person can identify a possible culprit. HTML styling and class 'wikitable' shouldn't be a problem ... look for Semantic calls and curly braces.

 

This corroborates my suspicion that there was a problematic edit to one of the recent guide pages beginning on the 16th.

 

Anyone care to confirm that the wiki is behaving now and/or the latest removed content in the diff above?

I did a quick scan through and it only looks like a bunch of tables being removed. Nothing looks out of place. It could be the number of tables being called for a single page, in which case splitting up the guide into multiple pages should fix that.

[Diana_TES_GotH]

I did a quick scan through and it only looks like a bunch of tables being removed. Nothing looks out of place. It could be the number of tables being called for a single page, in which case splitting up the guide into multiple pages should fix that.

Sorry the late response. I didn't realize until further research that my tables were a semantic mediawiki template. As soon as I was able to edit them out, I did. I am so glad that seems to fix the problem. I am developing a new table template that is based on this formula: 

 

   

   

 

   

   

 

 

   

   

 

Header 1	Header 2
John	Doe
Jane	Doe

 

I'm playing around right now with a variety of ways to set it up to my liking.

Previously I was using this table template:

 

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! style="width: 100px;" | Tag

! style="width: 580px;" | Name and Description

! style="width: 580px;" | Download Filename

! style="width: 580px;" | Additional Notes

|-

| style="background-color: #36393E"" |

Morroblivion

| style="background-color: #36393E"" | [https://www.nexusmods.com/games? Name] Description

| style="background-color: #36393E"" | File Name

| style="background-color: #36393E"" | Special Installation Instructions

|}

Edited April 19, 2018 by Diana_TES_GotH

[Diana_TES_GotH]

I can legitimately say it was my semantics that sent STEP Wiki over the edge the past couple of days. 

[Mator]

I can legitimately say it was my semantics that sent STEP Wiki over the edge the past couple of days. 

Haha, all good :)

[Diana_TES_GotH]

I'm still learning much of this as I go, but many of the templates I have previously used were copied from the "View Source" page from the main STEP Guide or other user contributions. Perhaps we could help create a few non SMW templates and encourage other users to refrain from using them as well. If we want to reduce the semantic media wiki table templates, I have a new simple html template I will be using, until someone creates a new better template to share with us. ;) 

 

 

The tables are identical when compared in preview:

 

Table: SMW {| |} = HTML

Caption: SMW |+ = HTML 

Row: SMW |- = HTML 

Data cell: SMW | cell1 = HTML cell1

Header cell: SMW | cell2 = HTML cell2

 

[spoiler='HTML vs SMW Table Template']

 

HTML Table Template

 

Legend Tag	Link with Name & Description	Filename (may include separate link)	Additional Notes
TOOL	[https://www.nexusmods.com/games? Mod Name] Description	Filename	Special Instructions
TOOL	[https://www.nexusmods.com/games? Mod Name] Description	Filename	Special Instruction

 

Compare to:

 

SMW Table Template

 

{| class="wikitable" align="left" style="vertical-align:top"

|-

! style="width: 100px;" | Legend Tag

! style="width: 680px;" | Link with Name & Description

! style="width: 380px;" | Filename (may include separate link)

! style="width: 680px;" | Additional Notes

|-

| style="background-color: #36393E" |

TOOL

| style="background-color: #36393E" | [https://www.nexusmods.com/games? Mod Name] Description

| style="background-color: #36393E" | File Name

| style="background-color: #36393E" | Special Instructions

|-

| style="background-color: #36393E" |

TOOL

| style="background-color: #36393E" | [https://www.nexusmods.com/games? Mod Name] Description

| style="background-color: #36393E" | File Name

| style="background-color: #36393E" | Special Instructions

|}

 

 

[DarkladyLexy]

Just so you are aware Diana when me and Darth were developing the SRLE Extended LOTD guide we actually hit the Wiki's Template Limit and had to switch most of our templates to HTML/CSS that JD created. The only templates we currently use are for Notices.warnings, FOMODs and a table for Wrye Bash Tags.

 

I am also unsure if these FODMOD Template are semantic mediawiki template so that is something we need to be mindful of.

[DarkladyLexy]

Well the Wiki was working this morning when i was able to do a small update to my guide but it down again if it will help ease things i can look at spiting mine up a bit more?

[Diana_TES_GotH]

Well the Wiki was working this morning when i was able to do a small update to my guide but it down again if it will help ease things i can look at spiting mine up a bit more?

Bummer, it's down for me too. While SMW may be part of the culprit, perhaps there is more going on. I was hoping removing my tables had resolved the issue. Thank you for the tip about your coding. When I need to use a new template I'll look over what you use and try to implement it as well. This has been a fun place for me learn Wiki editing, and now I'm addicted.

[Mator]

I'm still learning much of this as I go, but many of the templates I have previously used were copied from the "View Source" page from the main STEP Guide or other user contributions. Perhaps we could help create a few non SMW templates and encourage other users to refrain from using them as well. If we want to reduce the semantic media wiki table templates, I have a new simple html template I will be using, until someone creates a new better template to share with us. ;)

I think you guys should only do this if we continue to experience timeouts.  I've been developing the new STEP CMS over the last few days and it's using Angular templates.  These are even better than HTML templates in terms of server load except you can type as much (or less than) SMW templates.

 

As an example, here is how you use an AngularJS template for the System Requirements table on the STEP v2.10.0 guide:

<system-requirements requirements="{
  'Windows OS': {
    min: 'Windows 7 32-bit',
    rec: 'Windows 7 64-bit or later'
  },
  'CPU': {
    min: 'Intel Core i3/equivalent (dual core)',
    rec: 'Intel Core i5/equivalent or higher'
  },
  'System RAM': {
    min: '8 GB',
    rec: '8 GB or higher'
  },
  'GPU': {
    min: 'Nvidia GTX 660 2GB VRAM / AMD Radeon HD 7850 2GB',
    rec: 'Nvidia GTX 660 2GB VRAM / AMD Radeon HD 7850 2GB / or better'
  },
  'Monitor Resolution': {
    min: '1366x768',
    rec: '1920x1080'
  }
}"></system-requirements>

[Diana_TES_GotH]

 

I think you guys should only do this if we continue to experience timeouts.  I've been developing the new STEP CMS over the last few days and it's using Angular templates.  These are even better than HTML templates in terms of server load except you can type as much (or less than) SMW templates.

 

As an example, here is how you use an AngularJS template for the System Requirements table on the STEP v2.10.0 guide:

<system-requirements requirements="{
  'Windows OS': {
    min: 'Windows 7 32-bit',
    rec: 'Windows 7 64-bit or later'
  },
  'CPU': {
    min: 'Intel Core i3/equivalent (dual core)',
    rec: 'Intel Core i5/equivalent or higher'
  },
  'System RAM': {
    min: '8 GB',
    rec: '8 GB or higher'
  },
  'GPU': {
    min: 'Nvidia GTX 660 2GB VRAM / AMD Radeon HD 7850 2GB',
    rec: 'Nvidia GTX 660 2GB VRAM / AMD Radeon HD 7850 2GB / or better'
  },
  'Monitor Resolution': {
    min: '1366x768',
    rec: '1920x1080'
  }
}"></system-requirements>

You just sent this little ole grandma back to class again. Gotta keep up with the times. 

Edited April 19, 2018 by Diana_TES_GotH

[z929669]

I'm still learning much of this as I go, but many of the templates I have previously used were copied from the "View Source" page from the main STEP Guide or other user contributions. Perhaps we could help create a few non SMW templates and encourage other users to refrain from using them as well. If we want to reduce the semantic media wiki table templates, I have a new simple html template I will be using, until someone creates a new better template to share with us. ;) 

 

 

The tables are identical when compared in preview:

 

Table: SMW {| |} = HTML

Caption: SMW |+ = HTML 
Row: SMW |- = HTML 
Data cell: SMW | cell1 = HTML cell1
Header cell: SMW | cell2 = HTML cell2
 
[spoiler="HTML vs SMW Table Template"]
 
HTML Table Template
 

Legend Tag	Link with Name & Description	Filename (may include separate link)	Additional Notes
TOOL	[https://www.nexusmods.com/games? Mod Name] Description	Filename	Special Instructions
TOOL	[https://www.nexusmods.com/games? Mod Name] Description	Filename	Special Instruction

 

Compare to:

 

SMW Table Template

 

{| class="wikitable" align="left" style="vertical-align:top"

|-

! style="width: 100px;" | Legend Tag

! style="width: 680px;" | Link with Name & Description

! style="width: 380px;" | Filename (may include separate link)

! style="width: 680px;" | Additional Notes

|-

| style="background-color: #36393E" |

TOOL

| style="background-color: #36393E" | [https://www.nexusmods.com/games? Mod Name] Description

| style="background-color: #36393E" | File Name

| style="background-color: #36393E" | Special Instructions

|-

| style="background-color: #36393E" |

TOOL

| style="background-color: #36393E" | [https://www.nexusmods.com/games? Mod Name] Description

| style="background-color: #36393E" | File Name

| style="background-color: #36393E" | Special Instructions

|}

 

 

NOTE: the above are NOT SMW calls. They are standard Mediawiki templates. These are NOT an issue, so please keep using them.

 

AVOID use of inline HTML/CSS

 

If anyone is reaching the template threshold for a single page, then it is best to break it up and span 2 or more separate pages by using either internal links or (maybe even better when talking a single 'article') ... subpages

 

Huge guide pages could be the real issue, especially if they are popular.

 

To mitigate these issues, I think it would be best if personal guide authors (or the current guide stewards) went into their guide articles and parsed them across 2 or more pages (beginning of article on current page, and maybe create one or more subpages where you can break up the rest and link them all together) ... they should all be using the same Categories this way if I remember correctly. You may need to get creative with the TOC, but I can't say offhand how TOC might be affected without actually tinkering around.

 

Until this is done, it may be difficult to work with our wiki outside of low-traffic hours (e.g., 12am-6am Central US time)

 

My judgement yesterday that the wiki seemed OK and that Diana's edit may have fixed was likely WRONG ... more likely, it was just a time of day when we had relatively low traffic to the site and those huge guide pages in particular.

 

EDIT: I finally found where s4n buried the server config files I needed to tweak. I made some changes that should reduce the 504 errors ... until we get some of the larger guides broken into subpages, the changes will only reduce the errors, and page load times should now take up to a minute before presenting 504, so just be patient.

 

EDIT2: I also modified some of the fpm pool variables, so we should not see nearly as much bottlenecking now (I hope)