Downloads Taking A Long Time

[Arno]

I did PM Arno.  Haven't heard back yet.

Hi,
please escuse me for the delay but I was very busy in the last days. 

When I remember me correct we had in the last ten years maybe three or four users with a similar problem. Not sure that it was all the time only pdf files. But possible. I think it was almost always not properly configured server settings. But I can not remember exactly.

But if you offer only publicly available documents, you could solve the problem for the moment:
- go to the configuration and deactivate in the TAB Downloads the option Send Downloads using the PHP Script?

[dlcinsd]

I did try that Arno.  No change.

[Arno]

I did try that Arno.  No change.

This proves for me that it has nothing to do with the jDownloads component. Please contact your hoster.

[dlcinsd]

I'm not sure I agree Arno.

I've tried this on 3 different hosts, including running the site via WAMP locally.

Same problem.

[Arno]

When you have deactivated the option above is the file directly send to the browser. This 'steers' then the  download process  and not more the jD script. It is the same as when you use a normal direct link to a file on your server to download it.

Many thousand administrators use jDownloads since many years and nobody else has reported a problem like yours in the last years. So how great is the chance that it is a bug in jD? For me not so big.

[dlcinsd]

Arno -

I tested using a pdf that I uploaded via FTP and then I manually created a link to that pdf.

That pdf downloaded just fine.

So I don't believe it's a server problem.

And I've tested this on 3 different servers and the JD issue persists on all servers.

[Arno]

Arno -

I tested using a pdf that I uploaded via FTP and then I manually created a link to that pdf.

That pdf downloaded just fine.

But then has you the same situation as I noted here:

But if you offer only publicly available documents, you could solve the problem for the moment:
- go to the configuration and deactivate in the TAB Downloads the option Send Downloads using the PHP Script?

But this will you have tried with the result:

I did try that Arno.  No change.

But that can not be.

So I will now make tomorrow self a few tests with big pdf files on different servers by me.

[Arno]

Hi,
many thanks for the backup file.I could it now restore succesful (on PHP 5.8 ) and have the same problems as you.
But I need more time to find out the reason as it seems to be very tricky. I think still it is not a jD problem. 

[dlcinsd]

Hi Arno.  Have you made any progress?

[dlcinsd]

Please provide an update on this issue.

[Arno]

Hi,
please excuse me for the delay but I was ill some days. 
I work still on this problem and will try to post tomorrow my results here or via PM.
For me it is still not a jDownloads problem.

[Arno]

Hi dlcinsd,
I think I could localized the reason for your problem. 

1. This Joomla installation seems not to be maintained really well.
2. It exists a lot of problems and it was not possible for me that it works with PHP 7.x.
3. After I had checked and tested a lot I took a look at the database. And here is the problem! In the jDownloads system plugin was never typed in a limit value for the maximum amounts of logs. So it exist here in the meantime more as a million data sets!!! When you now consider that by every download this table must be changed so It's no wonder that you see a longer break.

Please make this:
- open the jDownloads system plugin and type in a limit value for the logs. When you have assigned download limitations for user groups in jDownloads you should use a higher value (maybe 20,000 - 50,000). Otherwise should be a few thousand enough.
- save the plugin and wait now until the page is loaded complete again! In the background is removed a million data sets and that needs time (maybe a few minutes).
- try now again to download a file and check the result.

I think that your issue should solved now (I could not really test it here).

P.S. I will add a default limit value in the coming new version 3.9 to prevent this problem in the future. Thanks.

[dlcinsd]

Hi Arno.  Thank you so much for finding the issue!

You are correct.  It's the large table in the database that was slowing down the downloads.

I'm not sure if I followed your directions correctly.

Take a look at the attached screenshot.

Did I implement this correctly?

I entered limits for "Daily Download"  "Weekly Download"  and  "Monthly Download"

When I changed the log limitations, the logs table did NOT automatically truncate itself.  I had to manually empty the database.

After I manually emptied the database, the downloads started working fine.

So please just confirm if I followed your directions correctly.

Thanks.

[gelöscht durch Administrator]

[ColinM]

Hi
The limit Arno was referring too was the limit on the maximum number of entries in the logging database.  This is in the jDownloads System PluginSee attached picColin


[gelöscht durch Administrator]

[dlcinsd]

Thank you for clarifying Colin.  I made the change.

One final question...

It looks like there might be downloads that are not triggered by a person.

Since yesterday I see over 300 downloads logged in our database.  That's a surprising number.

This is a slow time of year for us and it's the Holidays. 

So I think that a lot of the downloads are probably not real.

Could downloads be triggered by a spider or some other automated mechanism?

If so, is there a way to stop that?