Hosting experts? Varzi / FF? What is going on here?

[nottslad]

For clarification, this issue is with a site not hosted with either Varzi or FF, just looking for some expert advice.

I've been having trouble for the last week or so with my mainstream forum. It's been running really slow, taking 30 seconds to log in and 30 seconds for a post to execute. I also have a small blog, different domain, on the same account and deleting 15 spams today at the same time through akismet took 45 seconds to execute the instruction, when before it was within a second or so.

Regularly (4 or 5 times a day for the last week) my forum goes down with a cannot connect to database critical error.

Of course, I have been in contact with my host but to be honest I am not getting much back from them as to the reason for the problems and how they may be resolved. The last communication they said they would double my memory allowance and 'that was about all they could do'.

Now my forum has been running at lightning speed for the past several months, there is no peak in traffic (actually this is a slow time of year due to it being vacation based) and traffic is consistent and doesn't surge - pretty much 20 -30 users online at all times of the day. Today I found a way of monitoring the server 'vital parameters' for myself and this is what the last few hours have shown. The site went down again shortly before 10pm, following a huge spike in bandwidth.

Can you hosting experts shed any light on what is happening here, is this typical of a DOS attack?

[nottslad]

Addendum:
I got word back from the host that when they doubled the memory allowance they didnt reboot and have only just done so, so that is why the memory usage spikes at 9:30 ish presumably. Before it was 248MB allowance so now presumably it is 496MB but it still seems to be using full capacity.

[Rofl]

Rogue posted in the main forum I think, certain forums are suffering attacks at the moment, go and seek out the thread

EDIT: found it for you http://www.netpond.com/adult-webmast...ed-please.html

[Varzi Network]

Originally Posted by nottslad

Addendum:
I got word back from the host that when they doubled the memory allowance they didnt reboot and have only just done so, so that is why the memory usage spikes at 9:30 ish presumably. Before it was 248MB allowance so now presumably it is 496MB but it still seems to be using full capacity.

I don't think either of us really keeps up with this forum but anyhow.

The first thing that comes to mind when this type of thing happens is WP plugins. We had a situation a couple days ago that was caused by Firestats which was choking a server. It was actually a two part issue due to extremely large databases totaling over 1GB with only a Gig of Ram in the machine (swap only helps so much) and the plugin not closing connections which put the final nail in the coffin.

Its sometimes difficult to see where the problem lies in these situations but most often its going to be a plugin or feeds filling up the database very quickly. I would suggest killing the blog temporarily in your case to try and isolate the problem which should tell you if its the forum or the blog. Honestly the host should be looking at the issue rather then trying to slap a band-aid on it for you to sort out.

If you decide you want someone who will hold you hand when you need it PM me with your current hosting specs. I don't offer VPS at this time but we will have some available by next year running Dual Quad Xeon machines with 16GB Ram. I predict we will have some of the most powerful and stable VPS solutions available to adult webmasters. But for the time being im fairly confident you would be fine on shared hosting once this memory issue is resolved.

[facialfreak]

As Troy mentioned ... WP plugins AND THEMES are a very good place to begin troubleshooting this ...

I have been lobbying for a long time to see Wordpress initiate some kind of plugin/themes certification program, as the main problem now, is that anybody and their brother can create a plugin, and openly distribute it to anybody that wants it. There is absolutely ZERO quality control measures in place for WP plugins/themes, and this leads to 2 very obvious problems - one being that not all plugin/themes authors have the same programming skillz, and some of the source code is utterly disgusting! (I think alot of plugin creators use base64 encryption to hide their shitty code from most users ... ).

The second very quickly spreading problem with the lack of a plugin/themes certification program, is that many cyber-criminals are placing dirty code into themes and plugins which will harvest your email, reveal passwords, install keyloggers, install malware, and all kinds of other wonderful things.

Once you are 99.9% certain that any WP plugins or themes are not the source of your grief, then you are going to have to start looking for possible PHP exploits ...

Are all of the PHP-based scripts you are running the most recent versions available? THIS IS OF THE UTMOST IMPORTANCE - LET ME REPEAT THAT - THIS IS OF THE UTMOST IMPORTANCE!! So many of my clients come crying to me that their sites have been "hacked", but then admit they are still using Wordpress 2.3.1, when the current release is 2.6.3.

PHP - while it is much faster and much less resource-intensive than CGI - is also a script kiddie's wet dream, and has its share of vulnerability as far as security issues go. The best way to protect yourself from these exploits is to make sure you check once a week for new versions of the scripts you are running, and UPDATE THEM!!! If the script has an RSS feed or email newsletter, sign up for it, so that you will be informed within minutes of a new release. It may sound like a pain in the ass, but if being a webmaster is your chosen vocation, it is going to include keeping your real estates UP TO DATE - GET USED TO IT!!

Now back to troubleshooting your PHP pages ... there is no easy way to go about this ... basically what you are going to have to do is manually view the source of EVERY WEB PAGE on your server using your FTP, SCP, or control panel file manager ... looking for very suspect strings of random characters that will usually be at the very beginning, or the very end of the source code.

Most people who play with these types of code injection exploits will encrypt them, so they will be very easy to identify, as they are going to basically look like random strings of jibberish.

As a rule of thumb, you should be safe in deleting any random strings found outside of the PHP instruction set, but you may want to make a copy of the code in its entirety in notepad just to be safe, should your file be rendered useless.

Also, if you have had any sudden surges in traffic, or your forum/blog/what have you has a very large database, the database needs to be checked, repaired, and optimized regularly to keep it performing in an optimal fashion. Databases that store a lot of images are prone to needing a lot more maintenance than their text-only counterparts. Some control panels (such as DirectAdmin) will have buttons right in the GUI to perform this basic maintenance, but if your host does not have such, you will have to do it through the PHPmyadmin module.

Also one more thing I want to point out here is regarding your "now presumably it is 496MB but it still seems to be using full capacity ..."

A server (be it dedicated or VPS) has 2 memory values ... the physical RAM in the machine, and also a SWAP memory - memory that is dynamically written to the disk until needed, and then automatically deleted.

By design, if you are using an Apache web server, Apache is always going to try to utilize approximately 95% of your physical RAM no matter how much the server has ... the crucial value is the SWAP memory ... your server performance quickly degrades once your swap memory is all used. Your host will be able to optimize your server's swap memory for you if you are prone to alot of traffic bursts, then increasing the size of the SWAP memory might benefit you, but leave that to the discretion of your hosting support. Usually the SWAP memory is large enough that it should not be an issue. More often it is another underlying issue that needs to be found and corrected.

------

NOTE: While I am trying to help Nottslad primarily, I am addressing all webmasters collectively ... so do not think I am being harsh on you Nottslad.

[facialfreak]

Also Nottslad ...

Do you have root shell access to this server? I would be curious to see what top and mytop (you will probably have to install mytop) say while these slowdowns are occuring?

By identifying which processes are taking up the majority of your resources, could majorly speed up your troubleshooting efforts.

[nottslad]

Many thanks for the replies guys, much appreciated. FF I dont think you are being harsh on me, this is all good stuff to know.

Since the memory was doubled (and rebooted) I have had no problems today, the forum has been running faster than even before the recent deterioration. What puzzles me is my traffic is remarkably consistent yet the server performance suddenly became eratic almost overnight for no apparent reason.

I mentioned my blog really only as an indicator of the server performance as a whole, I really dont think that is the cause of the problems, I think my forum is. Of course, as a shared server it might not even be my sites at all.

The blog is wordpress 2.63 (so it's up to date) and it's not really run as a blog. It's a front page one post 'blog' with several pages, the only plug ins I have activated are all in one seo and akismet. Very low traffic maybe 100 a day at max.

The forum on the other hand is phpbb with 700,000 posts and 12,000+ users, 1500 uniques a day using a database that has been building for 6 years. I am sure the db is huge and probably not optimised, repaired etc (no idea how to do that, and fearful of breaking it if I attempt to)

My phpbb install is the latest (last) version of 2.XX I haven't upgraded to 3.XX mainly because I would need to change the skin and moreso because I intend to switch to vbulletin and thought it better to do so from 2.XX rather than doing an additional migration to phpbb 3.xx first. Although the complexity of doing so and fear of losing everything has prevented me from making the jump so far.

While I am trying to learn myself what makes servers tick, it is a very steep learning curve and I do feel that my host might have had more dialog with me about this than just telling me "doubling the memory is all we can do".

I have two accounts with them, I moved my mainstream sites to them on a second account after experiencing great service with my adult sites. My hosting bill across the two accounts is around $150 a month so I kind of think I might get a little more help from them in tracking down and solving this problem, maybe it was just an off day for the tech guy that dealt with this. It might surprise you to know the host concerned is cyberwurx.

[nottslad]

Originally Posted by facialfreak

Also Nottslad ...

Do you have root shell access to this server? I would be curious to see what top and mytop (you will probably have to install mytop) say while these slowdowns are occuring?

By identifying which processes are taking up the majority of your resources, could majorly speed up your troubleshooting efforts.

I dont think so, I honestly don't know. And even if I did I wouldn't know what to do with it I really feel that this should be down to the host to troubleshoot, not me with next to knowledge of what I'm looking for.

[facialfreak]

Originally Posted by nottslad

I dont think so, I honestly don't know. And even if I did I wouldn't know what to do with it I really feel that this should be down to the host to troubleshoot, not me with next to knowledge of what I'm looking for.

Oh ... and I agree 150% with you on that note ..

If you are dropping 150 bananas a month, they definitely should give you more support than what you are describing ...

My mantra is to give the same level of support to a $10 virtual client, as I do to a client spending $600+ a month on his dedicated server setup.

(BTW ... if you are on shared hosting, I can assume you would not have root shell access. You really should look into at least a couple VPS setups if you are not ready to go dedicated. A VPS will give you 100% access to the root level of your server, and you have all the same security and piece of mind you would get from a dedicated server ... )

Talk to Globo, and then come talk to me ... I can give you a few options that would fit within your current budget.

[nottslad]

Originally Posted by facialfreak

You really should look into at least a couple VPS setups if you are not ready to go dedicated. A VPS will give you 100% access to the root level of your server, and you have all the same security and piece of mind you would get from a dedicated server ... )

Yes, I probably already have more than enough to use a dedicated or couple of VPS's. My issue in not going down that road as yet is that I like to keep different parts of my biz separate and not be wholly reliant on any single box or host.

E.g with cyberwurx one account is for adult the other my travel stuff. I also have a VPS with phatservers for my adult paysite. Then another small shared account for adult sites I want hosted out of the UK, and a further small shared account with webair for more travel sites that feed into my main one.

Probably, if I put everything together my overall hosting costs would be cheaper using a single dedicated or two VPS's and I'd probably get better performance overall, but I would lose the separation, different hosting locations and possibly experience a decline in the SERPS by losing some interlinking benefits.

[MMarko]

nottslad - forum with stats like you posted needs a dual core cpu (2.6ghz +) dedicated with at least 4GB ram and at least 7200rpm sata disks

this config would be future proof for a yeat at least

[facialfreak]

My wise old Carribean grandfather used to always tell me, "Beware of anybody trying to sell you used yeats ... "



He also used to say ...

"When you are old and gray and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep.

How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true;
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face.

And bending down beside the glowing bars
Murmur, a little sadly, how love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And his his face amid a crowd of stars."

[MMarko]

If your reply was was related to mine, well I'm not trying to sell anything.

I do however have experience with big BBS with large database and I know how much it means to have enough memory for caching.