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BobHaskell said:
The website has been unreachable first thing in the morning - today and yesterday. Upgrade issues? Thanks for continuing to provide this resource.
Click to expand...
Can you give me a time range
(and time zone) this is happening? Probably doing some sort of behind the seams server maintenance like running a Cron job but if I know the approximate time I might be able to investigate exactly what’s going on.
 
Basil said:
Can you give me a time range
(and time zone) this is happening? Probably doing some sort of behind the seams server maintenance like running a Cron job but if I know the approximate time I might be able to investigate exactly what’s going on.
Click to expand...
Today, I'm thinking around 6:15 AM ET it was unavailable.
 
BobHaskell said:
Today, I'm thinking around 6:15 AM ET it was unavailable.
Click to expand...
Thanks for reporting this. I spent some time this afternoon digging through the server logs and performance statistics for the period around 6:15 AM Eastern, when you mentioned the slowdown.

The server doesn't appear to have been under any significant load at that time. CPU utilization was less than 2%, the load average was essentially zero, memory and disk I/O were normal, and I found no indication that Apache had exhausted its available workers or that any scheduled maintenance task was impacting performance.

That doesn't necessarily mean there wasn't a problem, only that I haven't found any evidence that the server itself was struggling during that time.

If you notice it happening again, it would be very helpful if you could note the exact time (including your time zone) when the site becomes slow, and also the time when it returns to normal. The more precise the timing, the easier it is for me to correlate your observations with the server logs and determine whether the issue is on the server, somewhere along the network path, or local to your connection. Also:

  • Note the exact time the slowdown begins and when it returns to normal.
  • Try another website (such as Google, Wikipedia, or another forum). If those are also slow, the issue is likely with your Internet connection or ISP.
  • Try another device on the same network (phone, tablet, another computer). If they all experience the same issue, it's probably your network or ISP rather than your computer.
  • If possible, temporarily switch your phone to cellular data (turn off Wi-Fi) and see if the forum loads normally. If it does, that points toward your home Internet connection.
  • Refresh the page with Ctrl+F5 (or Shift-Reload on a Mac) to bypass the browser cache.
  • If you're comfortable doing so, open a Command Prompt or Terminal and run:
    <span>ping britishcarforum.com</span>
    and, if the site is slow, note whether the response times are unusually high or if packets are being lost.
  • If the browser displays an error (such as a timeout or "This site can't be reached"), a screenshot of the message can also be very helpful.

I'll also be monitoring the site myself during that timeframe to see if I can reproduce the behavior.
 
BobHaskell said:
Today, I'm thinking around 6:15 AM ET it was unavailable.
Click to expand...
I also experienced the same issue of accessing the website at the very same time period. Just reporting it to you.
 
I tried it this morning around 6am EST and it seemed fine. Will let you know if I encounter the issue again.
Thanks for checking.
 
Gliderman8 said:
I tried it this morning around 6am EST and it seemed fine. Will let you know if I encounter the issue again.
Thanks for checking.
Click to expand...
If you do encounter it again, not the exact time and, if possible, when it clears up. Based on the date / time reported for the last occurrence, I don't see any server-side issues that would explain it.
 
It happened Wednesday and Thursday mornings. Didn't happen today, but didn't check until 6:45 ET.
 
If I can get myself out of bed at 4AM my time, I'm going to try to connect with terminal and run something like this:
Bash: 
timeout 30m bash -c '
while true; do
    date
    uptime
    curl -o /dev/null -s \
      -w "DNS:%{time_namelookup} Connect:%{time_connect} TLS:%{time_appconnect} FirstByte:%{time_starttransfer} Total:%{time_total}\n" \
      https://britishcarforum.com
    echo
    sleep 10
done
' | tee ~/curl_test.log

This will set up a do-loop that will run the curl (Client URL) command every 10 seconds, beginning whenever I start it, and output the results a file I'll call "curl_test.log." It will "timeout" (stop running) after 30 minutes, which will give me a half hour's worth of data. Without getting to technical, this will give me the ability to see a line every 10 seconds that will show:
  • DNS — "How long did it take to find the server?"
  • Connect — "How long did it take to establish the network connection?"
  • TLS — "How long did the HTTPS security handshake take?"
  • FirstByte — "How long before the server started sending the page?"
  • Total — "How long until everything was finished?"

This will give me an output that looks something like this:
Fri Jul 3 11:00:39 EDT 2026
DNS:0.000364 Connect:0.000436 TLS:0.009265 FirstByte:0.010244 Total:0.010257

Fri Jul 3 11:00:49 EDT 2026
DNS:0.000354 Connect:0.000419 TLS:0.007957 FirstByte:0.009108 Total:0.009119

Fri Jul 3 11:00:59 EDT 2026
DNS:0.000459 Connect:0.000595 TLS:0.009424 FirstByte:0.010793 Total:0.010815

Fri Jul 3 11:01:09 EDT 2026
DNS:0.000341 Connect:0.000411 TLS:0.012424 FirstByte:0.013510 Total:0.013524

Fri Jul 3 11:01:19 EDT 2026
DNS:0.000329 Connect:0.000402 TLS:0.008300 FirstByte:0.009467 Total:0.009477

Fri Jul 3 11:01:29 EDT 2026
DNS:0.000335 Connect:0.000433 TLS:0.008034 FirstByte:0.009287 Total:0.009300

Fri Jul 3 11:01:39 EDT 2026
DNS:0.000291 Connect:0.000356 TLS:0.007889 FirstByte:0.009004 Total:0.009015

- Just looking at the first (red) line, it took the DNS system 0.364ms to "find" my server
- It took 0.072ms to establish a connection (.436 - .364ms)
- It took 8.829ms to complete the HTTPS security handshake (9.265 - .436ms)
- It took .979ms for the server to start sending data
- It took 0.031ms to complete the page download once it started. (10.257 - 10.244ms)

These number, which I just ran, are excellent. So, if the issue occurs again tomorrow morning, hopefully we will see some numbers that look unusually high which will, I hope, help point to where the issue might be.
 
Basil said:
If I can get myself out of bed at 4AM my time, I'm going to try to connect with terminal and run something like this:
Bash: 
timeout 30m bash -c '
while true; do
    date
    uptime
    curl -o /dev/null -s \
      -w "DNS:%{time_namelookup} Connect:%{time_connect} TLS:%{time_appconnect} FirstByte:%{time_starttransfer} Total:%{time_total}\n" \
      https://britishcarforum.com
    echo
    sleep 10
done
' | tee ~/curl_test.log

This will set up a do-loop that will run the curl (Client URL) command every 10 seconds, beginning whenever I start it, and output the results a file I'll call "curl_test.log." It will "timeout" (stop running) after 30 minutes, which will give me a half hour's worth of data. Without getting to technical, this will give me the ability to see a line every 10 seconds that will show:
  • DNS — "How long did it take to find the server?"
  • Connect — "How long did it take to establish the network connection?"
  • TLS — "How long did the HTTPS security handshake take?"
  • FirstByte — "How long before the server started sending the page?"
  • Total — "How long until everything was finished?"

This will give me an output that looks something like this:
Fri Jul 3 11:00:39 EDT 2026
DNS:0.000364 Connect:0.000436 TLS:0.009265 FirstByte:0.010244 Total:0.010257

Fri Jul 3 11:00:49 EDT 2026
DNS:0.000354 Connect:0.000419 TLS:0.007957 FirstByte:0.009108 Total:0.009119

Fri Jul 3 11:00:59 EDT 2026
DNS:0.000459 Connect:0.000595 TLS:0.009424 FirstByte:0.010793 Total:0.010815

Fri Jul 3 11:01:09 EDT 2026
DNS:0.000341 Connect:0.000411 TLS:0.012424 FirstByte:0.013510 Total:0.013524

Fri Jul 3 11:01:19 EDT 2026
DNS:0.000329 Connect:0.000402 TLS:0.008300 FirstByte:0.009467 Total:0.009477

Fri Jul 3 11:01:29 EDT 2026
DNS:0.000335 Connect:0.000433 TLS:0.008034 FirstByte:0.009287 Total:0.009300

Fri Jul 3 11:01:39 EDT 2026
DNS:0.000291 Connect:0.000356 TLS:0.007889 FirstByte:0.009004 Total:0.009015

- Just looking at the first (red) line, it took the DNS system 0.364ms to "find" my server
- It took 0.072ms to establish a connection (.436 - .364ms)
- It took 8.829ms to complete the HTTPS security handshake (9.265 - .436ms)
- It took .979ms for the server to start sending data
- It took 0.031ms to complete the page download once it started. (10.257 - 10.244ms)

These number, which I just ran, are excellent. So, if the issue occurs again tomorrow morning, hopefully we will see some numbers that look unusually high which will, I hope, help point to where the issue might be.
Click to expand...
Can you not set up a cron job (/etc/crontab) to start running at 4am so you don't have to get up that early? Not allowed?
 
Happy Fourth! I ran a test to check load averages and connect, TLS handshake and page load times. I set it up as a cron job to run from 6:00AM to 6:30AM, every 10 seconds. I saw no significant slowdowns in the test numbers and the load averages looked low and stable for the entire period. Here is a clip of some of the tests around the 6:15AM period:

Curl test started:
Sat Jul 4 06:14:56 EDT 2026

Server load:
06:14:56 up 413 days, 12:11, 1 user, load average: 0.20, 0.17, 0.11

Curl timing:
DNS:0.000346 Connect:0.000428 TLS:0.007870 FirstByte:0.008999 Total:0.009008

======================================================
Curl test started:
Sat Jul 4 06:15:06 EDT 2026

Server load:
06:15:06 up 413 days, 12:11, 1 user, load average: 0.24, 0.19, 0.11

Curl timing:
DNS:0.000350 Connect:0.000417 TLS:0.008109 FirstByte:0.009286 Total:0.009296

======================================================
Curl test started:
Sat Jul 4 06:15:16 EDT 2026

Server load:
06:15:16 up 413 days, 12:11, 1 user, load average: 0.21, 0.18, 0.11

Curl timing:
DNS:0.000309 Connect:0.000391 TLS:0.007983 FirstByte:0.009084 Total:0.009107

Did anyone experience and issues this morning (July 4th) between 6-6:30AM ET?
 
None! (y)
 
What about a general for sale forum, not limited to any certain make?

New member here, I'd like to sell the oiling system from my old SCCA race car, that I ran in a street car after the racing days. I'm sure others would like it too!
 
Last edited:
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