httpd process hogging CPU; need help!

G'day all,

I'm needing help with tracking down an httpd process that is regularly chewing up over 90% of the CPU of the server my vBulletin forums reside on. I'm no UNIX/SQL/PHP expert, so whilst I can see and kill the troublesome process, I've no idea how to track down what is causing it!

I'm running vBulletin v2.2.8 with vbPortal v3.0 Upgrade pr8.1 for vBulletin 2.2.4 and 4images v1.7 with vBulletin v2.x Integration, and can provide a full list of the hacks I've installed so as to help track down the problem.

I'm really needing help with this. My site was down for all but 30 minutes today, and it's killing us! :speechless:

Please help!!!

[Erwin]

Originally posted by X-Fan
Do either vBHome or vBIndex provide such functionality?

Yes, they can. In fact, you can do it WITHOUT a portal system, with 2 hacks found here. I'll PM you my forums site so you can see how I run a "portal" page on my forums index.php with NO portal system (after being a user of vBPortal for a while).

And how on earth would I uninstall vbPortal, since it's so integrated into vBulletin?

Easy - just delete the files, and remove 2 lines from index.php and global.php. You can just look at the text file on www.phpportals.com that tells you how to manually install it, so you can uninstall it.

I can't check the current server load/stats or users online as that rogue httpd process is preventing me from loading up the site or logging into the admin (being on 56k doesn't help either!), but usually the server load is around 4-5 and there's usually 100+ users online at any given time.

100+ users with a server load of 4-5 is too high for a dedicated server.

I have about the same as you, up to 250 at once, and my server load is never above 3. Remember, 4-5 server load means that your CPU is overloaded by 4 to 5 times or 400-500% - 0.1 means 10% of your CPU being used. 1 means 100% of your CPU being used.

Upgrade to dual-CPUs if you haven't yet.

[X-Fan]

Current server load stats (after the host rebooted the server):

2.56, 2.26, 1.55 160 users online (40 members & 120 guests).

4.88, 2.86, 1.95 164 users online (43 members & 121 guests).

5.30, 3.36, 2.20 172 users online (44 members & 128 guests).

2.27, 2.86, 2.16 169 users online (46 members & 123 guests).

3.12, 3.01, 2.22 173 users online (48 members & 125 guests).

4.36, 3.34, 2.37 173 users online (48 members & 125 guests).

(The above is over about a 5 minute period.)

And from what I can see, vbPortal is prevalent in more than just those two files, especially as I use topics (and would like to retain that functionality as well). Then there's the matter of getting vbPortal out of the SQL database, too. (I'm a real newbie at the tech stuff if you can't guess!)

Also, I'm not seeing any option in the vbPortal admin to turn debug mode on.

{Edited to add extra server load stats).

[Erwin]

It's in the vB Admin CP, vBulletin Options settings section.

[X-Fan]

I'm not seeing a link to that section...

[Erwin]

Originally posted by X-Fan
I'm not seeing a link to that section...

Go to Admin CP, click on vBulletin Options, scroll down and you will see the Debug option.

[X-Fan]

There's no vBulletin Options... only vBulletin (which goes to the vb admin).

[X-Fan]

Server load update...

2.98, 2.88, 2.56 190 users online (48 members & 142 guests).

3.39, 3.06, 2.66 192 users online (49 members & 143 guests).

3.55, 3.11, 2.69 183 users online (48 members & 135 guests).

Now from what I know, that's a little high but not too high that it would cause problems (especially with near 200 users online).

[Erwin]

I am talking about the vB Admin CP, not vBPortal one.

[X-Fan]

Nope, no debug mode in the options.

[Erwin]

What the- you're right! It's gone! I could have sworn that there was an option to turn debug on for your server in the vB Admin CP - it may have been removed in the more recent versions. Mmm... you may have to switch it on in your server's config.