Slow load times in our pages using Search and Filter

Anonymous

#55516

Hi,

We’re running into a problem on one page on our site. It is loading very slowly. It uses Search and Filter and the Advanced Custom Fields plugin on WordPress.

Page in question:

certara.com/resource-library — production
certara.jkstaging.com/resource-library — our staging and testing environment

Information:

(1) Server, multiple (exists across all environments):
(a) Local: PHP7 / MariaDB
(b) Staging: PHP 5.4.45 / MySQL 5.5.37
(c) Production: PHP 5.6.24, MySQL ??? (can’t find version)
(b) Site:
(a) WordPress, multiple post types (11 post types) and several taxonomies (authors [~2200 terms], solutions [~11 terms], therapeutic areas [8 terms], publications [~170 terms]

Troubleshooting steps (all failure):

(1) Cache plugin addition. This made it a little better, but load times are still poor.
(2) Updating all WordPress plugins to latest version locally and on staging.
(3) Disabling all custom code, disabling all plugins except Advanced Custom Fields and Search & Filter, and placing the S&F shortcode on a new test page. Thereafter, disabling the custom Underscores-built theme, and testing with Twentyfifteen (default WordPress theme).
(3) Running P3 Performance Profiler – could not get the page to load. [09-Aug-2016 18:45:38 UTC] PHP Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 268435456 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 72 bytes) in /www/wp-content/plugins/search-filter-pro/public/includes/class-search-filter-taxonomy-object-walker.php on line 170
(4) Increasing PHP’s allocated memory from 128M to 256M.
(5) Ran WP Optimize (DB optimizer plugin): Started 101 MB, went to 78 MB… and made zero difference in speed.
(6) Changed options on S&F plugin: Changed “Use Background Processes” under Settings as it warns about site slowdown… no change.
(7) Installed Query Monitor and used information for debugging.
(8) Continually checked WordPress debug.log files.

Troubleshooting steps (success):

(1) Deleting Author terms until there were only 400 of them. This made the page significantly faster. But deleting content is obviously not a solution that will work for the client! Here are some Query Monitor results:

Page generation: 0.8506 (2.8% of 30s limit)
Peak memory: 23,649 kB (4.5% of 524,288 kB limit)
DB query time: 0.0996
DB queries: SELECT: 489
Object cache: 88.4% hit rate (External object cache: false)

Staging and test environment information:

(1) Theme is set to default Twentyfifteen. Only difference is a custom template we built for the Resource Library.
(2) WordPress, plugins fully up-to-date.
(3) Database copy taken from production yesterday.
(4) All plugins fully up-to-date. WordPress up-to-date.
(5) All plugins EXCEPT Advanced Custom Fields and Search & Filter disabled.
(5) Pages to test are:
(a) http://certara.jkstaging.com/resource-library-test-page-sf-593/ — just the search form
(b) http://certara.jkstaging.com/resource-library/ — search form & template
(6) WordPress login to test is attached in private reply
(7) NOTE: If the Resource Library page “seems fast enough” please note that with all of the default stuff enabled etc., we are still seeing variable times of between 2.5 to 4 seconds loading time on the Resource Library. Other pages on the site are loading in <500 ms… there is definitely something wrong here, and the load time shoots up to 5-7 seconds when all other plugins and our custom theme is active.

Thank you!

Anonymous

#55517

This reply has been marked as private.

Trevor

#55525

Hi Brett

What was WordPress memory set to? There is a status option in the S&F plugin settings (if you have version 2.2.0). It will also tell you other things.

Trevor

#55526

Ah, I can see from logging in that WP Memory is set to 512MB. I hope that PHP memory has been increased, or WP is not going to like that (being told it can have more than PHP will give it).

Trevor

#55527

I think we need to video conference over Skype to see the effect. Do I have your details, or you mine?

Trevor

#55528

This reply has been marked as private.

Anonymous

#55529

This reply has been marked as private.

Trevor

#55544

I would prefer Skype, just download the app (don’t use the browser version), and make sure you have either a mic or webcam, and set it up and test!!

I am not sure I can do that time (7:30PM here). I will let you know in about and hour or so.

Anonymous

#55547

OK – no worries! I’ll get Skype set up and await your response as far as timing. Thanks again!

As for seeing the issue though – maybe this will work for now – you can see it if you right click, inspect element, and go to the “Network” tab. Loading the Resource Library pages always results in 2+ seconds on that tab (generally around 5 seconds). Loading any other page on the site is <600 ms.

I’ve also enabled the Query Monitor plugin — which does add some overhead/slowdown of its own — which should allow you to see outputted queries in the admin menu bar if you are logged into the site. If needed you can disable/enable that plugin as needed (the only plugin the site absolutely needs is Advanced Custom Fields; things break if that is disabled).

Trevor

#55549

Is auto count enabled?

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