Topic: Crashing Server

[littleone]

http://pogoaddiction.com/pogoaddictionforum/status.php

So ever since I have upgraded to 2.0 my server has been crashing continuously and I can't figure out why.  My only hunch might be the shoutbox that I am using, but I am a bit skeptical to think it might be that much at fault.  It literally will crash, come up, and crash again 5 minutes later.  If I restart my Apache, the site comes right back. 

Does anyone have any suggestions, or help?

Here are some of the things my host is telling me:

Your VPS ran out of memory, so apache was killed off, and then WHM saw it down, and automatically restarted it

Feb 27 10:17:13 vps226 kernel: OOM killed process httpd (pid=385271, ve=1170527) exited, free=68288 gen=14647.
Feb 27 10:17:13 vps226 kernel: OOM killed process httpd (pid=379279, ve=1170527) exited, free=69435 gen=14648.
Feb 27 10:17:13 vps226 kernel: OOM killed process httpd (pid=361059, ve=1170527) exited, free=77526 gen=14649.
Feb 27 10:17:13 vps226 kernel: OOM killed process httpd (pid=385270, ve=1170527) exited, free=78673 gen=14650.
Feb 27 10:17:13 vps226 kernel: OOM killed process httpd (pid=821285, ve=1170527) exited, free=79293 gen=14651.
Feb 27 10:17:13 vps226 kernel: OOM killed process httpd (pid=377669, ve=1170527) exited, free=100342 gen=14652.
Feb 27 10:17:13 vps226 kernel: OOM killed process httpd (pid=377641, ve=1170527) exited, free=110014 gen=14653.
Feb 27 10:17:13 vps226 kernel: OOM killed process httpd (pid=387261, ve=1170527) exited, free=114230 gen=14654.
Feb 27 10:17:13 vps226 kernel: OOM killed process httpd (pid=388027, ve=1170527) exited, free=114881 gen=14655.
Feb 27 10:17:13 vps226 kernel: OOM killed process httpd (pid=377777, ve=1170527) exited, free=115377 gen=14656.
Feb 27 10:17:13 vps226 kernel: OOM killed process httpd (pid=557362, ve=1170527) exited, free=115408 gen=14657.
Feb 27 10:17:13 vps226 kernel: OOM killed process httpd (pid=385233, ve=1170527) exited, free=115532 gen=14658.
Feb 27 10:17:13 vps226 kernel: OOM killed process httpd (pid=385253, ve=1170527) exited, free=116121 gen=14659.
Feb 27 10:17:13 vps226 kernel: OOM killed process httpd (pid=377773, ve=1170527) exited, free=132804 gen=14660.
Feb 27 10:17:13 vps226 kernel: OOM killed process httpd (pid=379268, ve=1170527) exited, free=147865 gen=14661.
Feb 27 10:17:13 vps226 kernel: OOM killed process httpd (pid=383764, ve=1170527) exited, free=152050 gen=14662.
Feb 27 10:17:13 vps226 kernel: OOM killed process httpd (pid=383828, ve=1170527) exited, free=153910 gen=14663.
Feb 27 10:17:13 vps226 kernel: OOM killed process httpd (pid=377671, ve=1170527) exited, free=154406 gen=14664.
Feb 27 10:17:13 vps226 kernel: OOM killed process httpd (pid=379278, ve=1170527) exited, free=158417 gen=14665.
Feb 27 10:17:13 vps226 kernel: OOM killed process httpd (pid=387264, ve=1170527) exited, free=158995 gen=14666.

mysql was holding most of the RAM, I changed

key_buffer_size=512M

to

key_buffer_size=128M

and now it is using 1/4 of the RAM

Hello,

Yes, there are recent invocations of the OOM killer which reaps processes when VPS memory is exceeeded. For instance, about an hour ago, httpd was killed off.

You're using about 714MB of 1024MB total currently.

MySQL is using the largest chunk of this but some of your httpd processes are also quite large.

You may need to upgrade the VPS package if you require more available memory.

[ziycon]

I would first suggest you uninstall the shoutbox mod and see if the server crashes as you already suspect this.

[Lawrence Wright]

I'm taking a swing in the dark, but something similar happened to me. Do you have any software firewalls installed? (Let's say ConfigServer / CSF)

I recall my first server bottlenecking because of a lot of ill-intended activity on the forums. Bots, hacks, exploits, etc,. ConfigServer stopped 80% of this and Mod_Security did the rest. What's your server environment? What are you using to prevent ill intended behavior?

Also,

You're not utilizing anti-flooding. I've managed to do a small flood on your website and the server locked up for a minute. (With good intention) This is something you should consider fixing.

[littleone]

I'm taking a swing in the dark, but something similar happened to me. Do you have any software firewalls installed? (Let's say ConfigServer / CSF)

I recall my first server bottlenecking because of a lot of ill-intended activity on the forums. Bots, hacks, exploits, etc,. ConfigServer stopped 80% of this and Mod_Security did the rest. What's your server environment? What are you using to prevent ill intended behavior?

Also,

You're not utilizing anti-flooding. I've managed to do a small flood on your website and the server locked up for a minute. (With good intention) This is something you should consider fixing.

ConfigServer Security&Firewall and it was disabled.  I have enabled it.  Lets see if that helps.  As far as the flooding goes, I think that is above my skill level.  I wouldnt know how to test this, muchless how to fix it.  If you have some advise or a place I can go for help on this, I would appreciatei t.

I would first suggest you uninstall the shoutbox mod and see if the server crashes as you already suspect this.

Loads were still high without the shoutbox.

[littleone]

Got it resolved.  It wasnt SMF.  It was Plogger which I was using on another site unrelated.  It was getting bombed with gallery comments.  It had over 200,000 comments.  I wiped the DB, and within seconds there were 27 new comments. I got it cleaned and turned comments off... Problem solved

Thanks for yalls help.