[Vitaly]

Faq

Q1. I don't have nginx. Will this mod work for me?

Yes, partially. Enable direct thumbnail links, but disable nginx acceleration. You'll still have serious benefit, if your forum is plenty of attachments.

Q2. What about lignttpd, apache and so on? They have X-Sendfile, alternative to nginx X-Accel-Redirect.

I know, but:

• I don't have such configurations to test, and I don't have time to implement that. You can do it yourself or hire someone (NOT ME) for this work.
• X-Sendfile don't support partial content download . Nginx's X-Accel-Redirect it the best you can use.

Q3. Is it safe to give direct access for thumbnails?

Why not? You can give direct access for thumbnails, but disable direct access to original files. Just configure your server properly. See examples below.

Q4. Thumbnails looks like files with strange extention and mime-type. Will those be ok in browser?

Yes. HTML-page address those files via imagetag. So, browser show those properly, even with wrong mime and strange extention.

Q5. Why don't you fix that for sure?

Because that requires vB sources modification, and i hate such things. And if everyting works fine, who cares about mimes ?

Q6. My forum has 20 users online, and I don't see difference at my 32-core server with 128Gb ram and 8 SSD raid array.

You a happy man, really.

Q7. Does it work with VBSEO ?

If attachment rewrite is disabled - yes, it works. And check, that attachments path is separated in vbseo rewrite rules in webserver config. I use vbseo in this mode with no problems. Sorry, no plans now to make better integration with vbseo. But code is reuseable, or you can send your patches



Server configuration examples

let's say, whe have the following folders structure:

/uploads
/uploads/blogs/* <- blog attachments & thumbnails
/uploads/posts/* <- forum attachments & thumbnails
/uploads/albums/* <- album images
/uploads/al_thumbs/* <- album previews

So, we have to setup direct access for thumbtails, but protect original files.

Nginx

# globally disable external access, but enable for X-Accel-Redirect
location /uploads {
internal;
}
# enable direct access to blogs & posts thumbnails, but nothing else!
location ~* /uploads/(.*)\.thumb$ {
}
# enable direct access to album thumbnails
location /uploads/al_thumbs/ {
}

Apache/Lighttpd

TBD. You are welcome to share your one

[lonasdigital]

Gracias Voy a probarlo ahora mismo .

[Frondy]

Well, it works! Thank you!

[rob01]

is this a good option for small forums?

[JamesAB]

Q4. Thumbnails looks like files with strange extention and mime-type. Will those be ok in browser?

Yes. HTML-page address those files via imagetag. So, browser show those properly, even with wrong mime and strange extention.

I'm not using this mod, but I recently looked into serving static thumbnails on vBulletin.

In apache httpd.conf, I know you can use:

Block Disabled:      (Update License Status)
Suspended or Unlicensed Members Cannot View Code.

[lazydesis]

what is this nginx ?i have centos OS and apache .. will this increase performance on that?

[Vitaly]

Originally Posted by rob01

is this a good option for small forums?

Everything is relative in this life . That depends on attachments count and CPU/IO load. If you have no attachments at all, you'll have nothing with this mod.

But nobody prohibit you to try and compare if server load changes . At least, direct linked thumbnails will be loaded faster for your users.

Originally Posted by JamesAB

I'm not using this mod, but I recently looked into serving static thumbnails on vBulletin.

In apache httpd.conf, I know you can use:

Block Disabled:      (Update License Status)
Suspended or Unlicensed Members Cannot View Code.

Yes. Exactly. But in fact that's not required. My rule is simple: the less customisations - the less possible mistakes in the future . You can always add it later, if something goes wrong.

[Vitaly]

Originally Posted by lazyindian

what is this nginx ?i have centos OS and apache .. will this increase performance on that?

Yes. Nginx/lighttpd/lightsphere/zeus + php-fcgi will give you serious benefits over apache + mod_php on burst loads.

In fact, that should be done before any futher vb optimizations. Maybe I'm a bit categoric, but in my opinion apache+mod_php system is absolutely inpredictable at big loads.

Server optimisation should be done prior to any scripts optimization. That's essential.

[Bounce]

I don't have an uploads folder so I don't know the paths

Path to etc

How do I find this out?

[Vitaly]

ACP -> Attachments -> Storage type
ACP -> User Albums -> Storage type

You'd better look to vB documentation about details. That's VERY CPU/Disk intencive operation, and you have to backup your board.

[Bounce]

Originally Posted by Vitaly

ACP -> Attachments -> Storage type
ACP -> User Albums -> Storage type

thanks

Originally Posted by Vitaly

You'd better look to vB documentation about details. That's VERY CPU/Disk intencive operation, and you have to backup your board.

yip aware o that,ty

[mindhunter77]

Anyone have any code to make the thumbnails accessible in LITGHTPD ?

[relaxiha]

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in [path]/includes/class_postbit.php(265) : eval()'d code on line 43


ERROR

[Vitaly]

relaxiha,

1. Which php version?

2. Fatal error or warning message in webserver log?

3. At which page?

http://forum.rcdesign.ru/f14/

Seems to work. Go to any topic with attachments and see direct links for preview sources.