How to report server slowness or connectivity problems

[Mail Bag]

There are many things that can cause a website to load slowly. In fact, any of the connections made from your computer to your Internet Service Provider to various systems to connect you to the webserver containing the website you're viewing — and back again — is a potential point of failure that can cause slowness.

Internet traffic can actually be similar to downtown traffic in your home town. Internet "traffic jams" do happen, during times of high traffic or server loads. Typically, these jams resolve themselves over the course of a few minutes or hours. However, there's always a possibility that slow website performance is being caused by a network issue at the server level, which requires a technician's attention to resolve.

Modular Merchant techs are happy to investigate any potential network problems affecting your server. To assist in diagnosing the cause of any slowness you're experiencing with your website, follow these steps:

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1. Start a Support Ticket for the issue.
The Support Ticket will be used to record all correspondence related to the connectivity issue. The ticket will also ensure that any network issue is associated with the correct account. Start a new Support Ticket in your store's administration area at: [Support > Support Tickets > New Support Ticket].

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2. Provide a detailed description of the problem.
What are the URLs of some of the pages you're experiencing problems with?
Provide a description of the problem. (Examples: Pages load slowly? Browser displaying "timed out" errors? Page fails to load completely? etc...)

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3. Provide your IP address.
Connectivity issues are often centralized to a specific geographic location. Your IP address will be used to check against the possibility of an issue isolated to your area.

A simple way to determine your IP address is to visit the website http://www.WhatIsMyIP.com. This page will display the IP address your computer's internet connection is using.

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4. Perform two trace routes.
It's recommended that you perform at least two trace routes, so that the results can be compared to reduce the possibility of false positives.A trace route provides a summary of all of the various web servers that traffic is routed through between your computer and the website you're connecting to. A trace route is useful because it can help technicians determine if the cause of slowness is actually a third-party server somewhere between you and the website you're connecting to. To perform a trace route in Windows XP, follow these steps:
A) Click the Windows XP "Start" button.
B) Select "Run..." from the "Start" button's menu. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1: Select the "Run" application from the Windows "Start" menu.

C) In the "Run" popup, enter "cmd" and click the "Ok" button. (See Figure 2.)

Figure 2: Using the "Run" window to open the "command window".

D) In the command window, enter the following command: "tracert domain.com". (See Figure 3.) Replace "domain.com" with the domain or IP address you're testing. Examples: 12.34.56.78 or mywebsite.com or store.anotherwebsite.com.

Figure 3: Performing a trace route in the command window.

E) Right-click on the screen to open a menu, chose "Select All" from the menu.
F) Hit the "enter" key on the keyboard to copy the selected contents of the command window.

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5. Perform a 30-second ping test
The last bit of data required for analysis is a "30-second ping" test. This test connects you to the target server repeatedly for 30 seconds. The results of each connection attempt are displayed in a list. This test will determine whether the slowness is consistent or was just an anomaly of the Internet. To perform a 30-second ping in Windows XP, follow these steps:
A) In the command window, enter the following command: "ping -n 30 domain.com". Replace "domain.com" with the domain or IP address you're testing. Examples: 12.34.56.78 or mywebsite.com or store.anotherwebsite.com.
B) Right-click on the screen to open a menu, chose "Select All" from the menu.
C) Hit the "enter" key on the keyboard to copy the selected contents of the command window.

By including all of the information produced by following the five steps above, you will provide sufficient information for the IT staff to investigate the issue and attempt to replicate it. The more information you provide, the better.

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Modular Merchant Mail Bag
Answering your questions, queries and puzzlers.
Modular Merchant shopping cart software, website hosting, and custom programming.

[dev71997]

Ping tests from Macintosh OS X
It's easy to ping from a Macintosh running OS X:

1. Click on Finder in the dock.
2. Click on Macintosh HD in the window.
3. Click on Applications.
4. Click on Utilities.
5. Double-click on Network Utility.
6. In the Network Utility window, click on the Ping tab.
7. In the field under "Please enter the network address to ping", enter the IP Address to ping the domain servers.
8. Click the Ping button.


You can also use the Terminal program to ping.
To open terminal:
1. Click on Finder in the dock.
2. Click on Macintosh HD in the window.
3. Click on Applications.
4. Click on Utilities.
5. Double-click on Terminal.
6. Type "ping IP Address", which pings the domain servers.

Terminal runs a continuous ping, unlike the Windows command line. To stop the ping, hold down CTRL-C.