anyone else got a similar problem?
i've restarted but still very sticky. everything fine when running locally.
my VPS has gone really slow!
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superfrank
- Posts: 2762
- Joined: Fri Aug 14, 2009 8:28 pm
thanks for your post. it seems ok now frustratingly but will check next time it happens.
When using VPS's you're actually sharing hardware with other virtual machines. Although generally the load from all VPS's on the same hardware should be distributed fairly, I do hear cases where one VPS hogs resources and can cause other VPS's to slow down. I've never actually had a serious issue myself, but it's one of my worries when using a VPS.
For any really important stuff I'd use a dedicated server rather than a VPS even though it's about twice the price (more like ~£100 rather than ~£50 a month).
If you get frequent slow downs and you can't find any processes in task manager going crazy then I'd contact your provider to check whether it's caused by another VPS sharing your hardware. You could then request to move your VPS or upgrade to a dedicated server. But like I said generally it's not been a problem for me, and partly it's just peace of mind.
For any really important stuff I'd use a dedicated server rather than a VPS even though it's about twice the price (more like ~£100 rather than ~£50 a month).
If you get frequent slow downs and you can't find any processes in task manager going crazy then I'd contact your provider to check whether it's caused by another VPS sharing your hardware. You could then request to move your VPS or upgrade to a dedicated server. But like I said generally it's not been a problem for me, and partly it's just peace of mind.
Hi X
I have tried dedicated servers and then ran direct tests (on the same day/markets/strategy etc) and although I would have been willing to pay more for them, they actually didn't perform as well as the VPS's
It might just save someone going down that route and save a bit of time..
Regards
Peter
I have tried dedicated servers and then ran direct tests (on the same day/markets/strategy etc) and although I would have been willing to pay more for them, they actually didn't perform as well as the VPS's
It might just save someone going down that route and save a bit of time..
Regards
Peter
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superfrank
- Posts: 2762
- Joined: Fri Aug 14, 2009 8:28 pm
i use a vps for manual trading only atm (and only because i think the bet submission times are ever so slightly quicker, and speed is important to my trading style, and because i intended to do some automation but haven't got round to it!).
but yesterday after the VPS went slow i ran BA locally and it somehow felt nicer! i think the prices refresh slightly slower on a vps (because of the limitations of Remote Desktop Server i think) and i've given up on the sound on the vps - i followed all the instructions properly but it only works for a while then just goes off and i have to keep restarting the audio services).
any thoughts?
'wondering if i'm paying £35 pm for nowt!
but yesterday after the VPS went slow i ran BA locally and it somehow felt nicer! i think the prices refresh slightly slower on a vps (because of the limitations of Remote Desktop Server i think) and i've given up on the sound on the vps - i followed all the instructions properly but it only works for a while then just goes off and i have to keep restarting the audio services).
any thoughts?
'wondering if i'm paying £35 pm for nowt!
Last edited by superfrank on Sun Mar 11, 2012 5:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Peter, my dedicated server is definitely faster than the VPS's I've tried before. It's faster on processing time, disk writing, and also latency to Betfair. I think it depends a lot on the build of the machines though, and the one I have is fairly high spec.
superfrank, I've never really understood the use of VPS's for manual trading before. It's true that the VPS should have decent latency to Betfair, but then you have to contend with your latency to your VPS, so in the end I don't see a lot of benefit. The only reason I use VPS/dedicated servers is because I concentrate on fully automated trading.
Here's what I'd recommend doing: Open BetAngel locally and open a market for trading. Look at the response time displayed at the bottom of BetAngel. Open BetAngel on the VPS and check the same response time. Now open a cmd window and ping the ip address of your VPS. Add the ping time of your VPS to the response time of BetAngel running on the VPS, and compare that to the response time running locally. That'll give you an idea of the rough difference in lag between the two methods.
I think if I did do a lot of manual trading I'd consider just getting two separate lines installed at home (e.g. one Virgin and one BT) and forget the VPS thing. However I'm sure there are other people who have thought about this more than I have.
Cheers,
James
superfrank, I've never really understood the use of VPS's for manual trading before. It's true that the VPS should have decent latency to Betfair, but then you have to contend with your latency to your VPS, so in the end I don't see a lot of benefit. The only reason I use VPS/dedicated servers is because I concentrate on fully automated trading.
Here's what I'd recommend doing: Open BetAngel locally and open a market for trading. Look at the response time displayed at the bottom of BetAngel. Open BetAngel on the VPS and check the same response time. Now open a cmd window and ping the ip address of your VPS. Add the ping time of your VPS to the response time of BetAngel running on the VPS, and compare that to the response time running locally. That'll give you an idea of the rough difference in lag between the two methods.
I think if I did do a lot of manual trading I'd consider just getting two separate lines installed at home (e.g. one Virgin and one BT) and forget the VPS thing. However I'm sure there are other people who have thought about this more than I have.
Cheers,
James
Thanks Jamesxitian wrote:Peter, my dedicated server is definitely faster than the VPS's I've tried before. It's faster on processing time, disk writing, and also latency to Betfair. I think it depends a lot on the build of the machines though, and the one I have is fairly high spec.
The one I tried (albeit back in 2009) was :
Specification: DSX 1500 Intel Dual Core, 1.8 GHz 800MHz FSB, 1MB L2 Cache, 2 Gb DDR, 1 x 80 Gb HDD
OSes: LINUX (Ubuntu, CentOS, FC, Redhat) or Windows (2003/2008)
It was the ping time that was significantly slower (in the order 2 or 3 times slower), on the VPS i'm seeing 15ms
I may take another look at this - thanks for the advice
Regards
Peter
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superfrank
- Posts: 2762
- Joined: Fri Aug 14, 2009 8:28 pm
thanks for the info xitian.
i did what you suggested and (for the small period i monitored it for this afternoon) the results were...
vps 16-20ms
local 58-64ms (although it did have intermittent spikes to 80+) whereas the vps values were stable).
pinging the vps returned 32-34ms.
so it seems that the vps option is still faster, but not by much.
i guess the local values were less stable because i have a browser open refreshing things?
i did what you suggested and (for the small period i monitored it for this afternoon) the results were...
vps 16-20ms
local 58-64ms (although it did have intermittent spikes to 80+) whereas the vps values were stable).
pinging the vps returned 32-34ms.
so it seems that the vps option is still faster, but not by much.
i guess the local values were less stable because i have a browser open refreshing things?
Peter, I think the ping time to Betfair will depend less on the actual spec of the machine and more on the location and network setup of the hosting company.
My dedicated server used to be around 10-15ms, but since they moved their datacentre it varies up to around 30ms now.
Since my stuff isn't sensitive to latency to that extent I haven't bothered searching for other providers.
My dedicated server used to be around 10-15ms, but since they moved their datacentre it varies up to around 30ms now.
Since my stuff isn't sensitive to latency to that extent I haven't bothered searching for other providers.
Last edited by xitian on Sun Mar 11, 2012 6:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
superfrank, I don't think having a browser open would make that much difference.
Generally you'll find that any home connection will have a less stable/reliable connection to anything else compared to a hosted server. If you do a constant ping to your VPS from home over a long period of time you'll probably also find that it'll spike every now and then. If it doesn't then there's probably a good route between you and your VPS, and that may be better than going direct to Betfair.
There doesn't seem to be much in it, like you said.
Generally you'll find that any home connection will have a less stable/reliable connection to anything else compared to a hosted server. If you do a constant ping to your VPS from home over a long period of time you'll probably also find that it'll spike every now and then. If it doesn't then there's probably a good route between you and your VPS, and that may be better than going direct to Betfair.
There doesn't seem to be much in it, like you said.
I've got so used to using the VPS since I first started many years ago that I tend to use it as my main trading interface. I wouldn't be without it.
I original started with a dedicated server but moved to a VPS because tests showed that there was little difference in performance between them. But ultimately you can spec up a VPS or dedicated server as little or as much as you like.
Ultimately thought the bottleneck is at Betfair's end. No matter how fast you call their servers the prices are now cached so there's an economic point at which spending money trying to call efficiently them falls over. It doesn't matter how clever your software or how high spec your server you can't exceed that universal speed limit imposed by Betfair.
I guess it all depends on your strategy, but I wouldn't be without mine. Even if just used as a back up or as a way of trading from any internet enabled device.
I original started with a dedicated server but moved to a VPS because tests showed that there was little difference in performance between them. But ultimately you can spec up a VPS or dedicated server as little or as much as you like.
Ultimately thought the bottleneck is at Betfair's end. No matter how fast you call their servers the prices are now cached so there's an economic point at which spending money trying to call efficiently them falls over. It doesn't matter how clever your software or how high spec your server you can't exceed that universal speed limit imposed by Betfair.
I guess it all depends on your strategy, but I wouldn't be without mine. Even if just used as a back up or as a way of trading from any internet enabled device.
Sorry to dig up an old thread but I thought it would be better to extend this thread which I found while searching the forum rather than start a new one on the same topic.
My VPS has 'developed' an issue where it is really slow to update when I am viewing it. For example, I click to submit an order pre-race and it may take 3 or more seconds to display on the ladder on my home PC screen, when it should be near instant as there is no delay to placing orders pre-race.
The money being matched and updated can be really slow as well, I describe it like trading in treacle.
But it only seems to be an issue during the afternoon and evenings, though I haven't kept any records of times as of yet.
If I log in to trade the Australian racing say between 3am and 8am I have no issues and it runs nice and smoothly with no delays or lags.
My internet speedtest doesn't seem to vary, being the same ping and download/upload regardless of time of day.
I don't think it is the software either.
The main factor I can point to is time of day, as I said above.
Earlier in the thread someone mentioned the following and I wondered if that could be the issue:
"When using VPS's you're actually sharing hardware with other virtual machines. Although generally the load from all VPS's on the same hardware should be distributed fairly, I do hear cases where one VPS hogs resources and can cause other VPS's to slow down. I've never actually had a serious issue myself, but it's one of my worries when using a VPS."
Has anyone else had this experience in the past and figured it out or got some advice on what to do/check?
My VPS has 'developed' an issue where it is really slow to update when I am viewing it. For example, I click to submit an order pre-race and it may take 3 or more seconds to display on the ladder on my home PC screen, when it should be near instant as there is no delay to placing orders pre-race.
The money being matched and updated can be really slow as well, I describe it like trading in treacle.
But it only seems to be an issue during the afternoon and evenings, though I haven't kept any records of times as of yet.
If I log in to trade the Australian racing say between 3am and 8am I have no issues and it runs nice and smoothly with no delays or lags.
My internet speedtest doesn't seem to vary, being the same ping and download/upload regardless of time of day.
I don't think it is the software either.
The main factor I can point to is time of day, as I said above.
Earlier in the thread someone mentioned the following and I wondered if that could be the issue:
"When using VPS's you're actually sharing hardware with other virtual machines. Although generally the load from all VPS's on the same hardware should be distributed fairly, I do hear cases where one VPS hogs resources and can cause other VPS's to slow down. I've never actually had a serious issue myself, but it's one of my worries when using a VPS."
Has anyone else had this experience in the past and figured it out or got some advice on what to do/check?
You may want to ask for a new VPS and see if that solves the problem. It could be that the resources are stretched on the host you are using. But a simple way to test that would be to switch. Short term though bring up the task manager and see which part is stressed.
Right click the bottom bar, select task manager and select more details, performance.
Right click the bottom bar, select task manager and select more details, performance.
Thanks for replying Peter, few follow up questions in response to your reply as I am bit unclear on some of the replies.
When you say, ask for a new VPS, do you mean ask for one of the same spec but just a new VPS, so replacing like for like or do you mean something else?
When you say, the resources could be stretched on the host you are using, do you mean company wide or on the set of shared hardware I m using with other customers (going by the quote I posted in my previous post on the thread where I quoted another user)?
When you have said, a simple way to test that would be to switch, do you mean switch company/provider entirely or as in the first above point, just switching by asking the current provider for a new VPS?
In terms of Task manager what do people consider to be acceptable levels to be running at? For example what are you running at when trading, as I have nothing to compare it against so it is hard to know what is classed as being stressed. My CPU usage is around 50 - 75% usage (it is constantly changing), though sometimes it can go right up to 90% (which I would assume is stressing it) but in normal pre-race trading it sits around 75% and Memory is 1.23GB of 2GB available and stays pretty constant.
When you say, ask for a new VPS, do you mean ask for one of the same spec but just a new VPS, so replacing like for like or do you mean something else?
When you say, the resources could be stretched on the host you are using, do you mean company wide or on the set of shared hardware I m using with other customers (going by the quote I posted in my previous post on the thread where I quoted another user)?
When you have said, a simple way to test that would be to switch, do you mean switch company/provider entirely or as in the first above point, just switching by asking the current provider for a new VPS?
In terms of Task manager what do people consider to be acceptable levels to be running at? For example what are you running at when trading, as I have nothing to compare it against so it is hard to know what is classed as being stressed. My CPU usage is around 50 - 75% usage (it is constantly changing), though sometimes it can go right up to 90% (which I would assume is stressing it) but in normal pre-race trading it sits around 75% and Memory is 1.23GB of 2GB available and stays pretty constant.