[pc86]

I really wish people would test their sites before doing this. I can understand if someone else submits your stuff and you had no idea it was going to happen (but even then...), but if you create an account with no history for the explicit purpose of submitting to HN as the OP did, you should at least test it under some semblance of load.

[mootothemax]

I really wish people would test their sites before doing this.

I'm conflicted; whilst ultimately you're right, it's very easy to type those words, and not as easy to test for a realistic load.

It's not as simple as throwing ab at your website, you need to use a proper tool (e.g. JMeter), make sure you're testing realistic user behaviour (even basics such as whether images and CSS have an impact), and ensure that you're not getting a false sense of security (e.g. how many connections are actually hitting the server at the same time?).

So yeah, whilst I kinda agree with you, I think it's a lot easier to say than to carry out.

[pc86]

I totally agree, and if I tried to do it I'd probably botch it myself. I wouldn't even know where to start as I've ever built anything that needs to be under this kind of load where the deployment isn't handled by people better at it than I.

[beachstartup]

amplified log playback works best in my experience.

of course, this requires at least some public traffic to play back. i've only used proprietary tools for this in my personal experience, but i believe jmeter has this functionality (log sampling).

[pc86]

This seems really interesting. When you say proprietary tools, I assume you mean more custom-built solutions and less paid tools available to anyone?

[beachstartup]

yeah, tools built in-house to test specific apps, not commercial apps

[michaelfeathers]

You're assuming the HN submission isn't the load test.

[brianbreslin]

I would love to see a post on how to test your site for load issues like ones you would face from hn

[pc86]

I posted an Ask HN a few months ago asking what folks do to test but the best answer I got was "load test your website" :P

[webtrill]

I understand what you mean. but we have actually tested the site several times before posting it on HN. We are working hard at this and will be back shortly. Thanks.

[pc86]

Looks like everything's working now. Can I ask why when searching for cars in the US all the mileages are in Km?

[webtrill]

True, will have to change this.