Problems with a hosting company
 

I am having problems with my hosting company.

I keep suffering mySQL disconnections and the hosting company are blaming my forum rather than their server.

This was the latest email I had from them

Quote:

Dear Paul, There is not a problem with the MYSQL server, we use the latest version of MYSQL and the server is powerful enough to handle your account. The problems Lies somewhere in your coding which is causing an internal loop and not closing sessions. Hence overloading the server and causing the crash.

Can anyone explain what "internal loop" means? I have VB 3.5.0 with numerous hacks and mods including all of VBadvanced. We have 600 members with an average of 20 users online at any one given time. Is there any possibility it could be a hack causing this?

However ... I also have a similar site, not as busy, but with far more hacks ... This is on a different server with the same host but never suffers disconnections.

Any idea how to proceed? They've already suspended my account once and I really don't want them to do it again. Unfortunately the domain was registered with them as part of the package so I fear that moving will end up a bit of a pain in the backside.

Try disabling all products and plugins and see if this problem continues.

Well I could do ... but it is very intermittent.

It happens twice in one day and then it'll be fine for 2 weeks ... or it'll happen every day for a week. There's no way of knowing, so we'll have to disable everything for a month or more.

Plus, with all mods disabled there would be less queries and therefore less strain on the server anyway ... So we could still be none the wiser?

It is possible that one of the hacks/plugins/extentions you are using is causing the issue related to the server crash, though disabling and checking back and forth is really the only method you can take.

While it may be a pain to have them disabled, given, if you are running a clean installation with nothing enabled and 20 users online are still causing the crash, then it's obvious the server isn't as powerful as stated and probably cannot handle the load.

If that is the case, it's time to look elsewhere as 20 users online shouldn't be an issue for a shared environment.

Well I looked at the average server loads with the all the hacks working, then disabled them for a while and took another load of averages ...

2.15 1.46 1.33 | 19 Users Online (9 members and 10 guests)
1.69 1.46 1.33 | 19 Users Online (9 members and 10 guests)
0.76 1.07 1.19 | 20 Users Online (10 members and 10 guests)
0.73 1.15 1.18 | 17 Users Online (12 members and 5 guests)
2.38 1.75 1.42 | 18 Users Online (12 members and 6 guests)
3.28 2.62 1.87 | 20 Users Online (12 members and 8 guests)

and with the plugin system disabled ...

2.99 2.68 1.96 | 20 Users Online (12 members and 8 guests)
3.19 2.84 2.11 | 22 Users Online (12 members and 10 guests)
2.48 2.70 2.08 | 22 Users Online (11 members and 11 guests)
2.21 2.61 2.06 | 22 Users Online (11 members and 11 guests)
2.27 2.50 2.07 | 20 Users Online (11 members and 9 guests)
1.80 2.25 2.04 | 18 Users Online (10 members and 8 guests)

Bear in mind that this is a shared server hosting something like 150 sites ...

If they've crammed that many sites onto one box the problem is on their end. I suggest you find a new host..

According to domaintools.com they have 171 sites on the same server. I think many of them may be cpanel addon domains.

The loads seem a bit high, even on a dual processor unit unless they are simply serving quite a few smaller communities.

Not sure who you're with, but I'd consider moving to a new hosting provider if it is greatly effecting your websites uptime.

We recently moved over to Site5 and things have been great thus far.

I just checked out the Site5 website and the prices are pretty impressive ... How many members and what sort of activity have you got on your site? I need to get serious recommendations before I move.

i agree


just get your own box

We had a test run before SixteenOhNine went live of about 30 users online, though once it was launched with Site5, we've only have about 10 online at once.

Site5 rather easily handled the load and the server didn't flinch. Given, Site5 is a reputable host and if you're in the market for a new host, it wouldn't hurt to give them a shot.

Easy to do if you have loads of spare cash ... alas not I.


I added the microstats hack to our forum last night ... Even with all our mods the most queries we have per page is 19 ... That isn't unduly excessive is it?

Are you taking in to account cron jobs that do massive updates in the background ?

No I wasn't counting them (we have 19 scheduled tasks in total) ... I'm not sure if anything can really be done about them either can it?

There may only be 1 job that is killing your server.
- What hacks have a cron job running ?

Perhaps its just 1 hack that brings the server to it's knees.

Well all my tasks are listed above.

Rules and user agreement hack runs a scheduled task, so does my vbadvanced links directory and photopost vba_gallery ... Both of these are integral to the site

In all honesty I think it's the host. Although I found out yesterday that the vba_links directory wasn't cashing templates. (I think I missed something on installation.)

I have 2 sites with virtually identical hacks .. the other site is fine and runs like wildfire - if anything it has even more hacks. They are both with the same company but on different servers.

If you're switching, I can't speak highly enough about powervps.com. They are fantastic.

Which tool are you using to get that result?

I'll check them out thanks

www.domaintools.com have a reverse dns lookup ... you'll need to register with them though to actually see the sites.