Server load problems due to SMF site

[colby2152]

On a related note, what sent me down this rabbit hole is my quest to address server load issues.  My SMF site has been failing to send PM email notifications in a timely manner or sometimes missing them completely.  I have my own server which is basically for this one website with SMF.  The top processes are as follows.

Pid    Owner    Priority    CPU %    Memory %    Command
4032 (Trace) (Kill)    profsl    0     13.48    0.40    /usr/bin/php /home/profsl/public_html/smf/index.php
4041 (Trace) (Kill)    root    0     9.84    0.33    lfd - (child) process tracking...
4030 (Trace) (Kill)    profsl    0     7.87    0.40    /usr/bin/php /home/profsl/public_html/smf/index.php
22120 (Trace) (Kill)    mysql    -5     4.01        5.32    /usr/sbin/mysqld --basedir=/usr --datadir=/var/lib/mysql --plugin-dir=/usr/lib64/mysql/plugin --user=mysql --log-error=/var/lib/mysql/server1.profsl.com.err --open-files-limit=12242 --pid-file=/var/lib/mysql/server1.profsl.com.pid

MySQL and whatever the bin/php processes are, eat up a lot on the server.

[青山 素子]

SMF runs everything through index.php, so that's really high-level. Are you running modifications?

[LiroyvH]

Maybe I missed another topic; but the CPU usage percentages don't make too much sense without knowing what the CPU Load is at the time.

[colby2152]

I am running modifications, but there really isn't any way for me to determine if one of those is eating up a bunch of memory, right?

[colby2152]

Any other thoughts?  Is there a way to test the impact of mods on server load without A/B testing them via uninstall?

[butch2k]

Messages are a complex beast, indeed problem could be your way or could be receiver's way. Is there any kind of pattern (hotmail or gmail user not receiving mails for instance ?).

Some servers like yahoo (IIRC) limit the rate at which you can send them stuff, i.e. if the receive 20 mails from your server within a minute you are rate limited (preventing spam).
One way to check it is to check the mail logs or the syslog on your server. There should be some "mail has been deferred" or related stuff in there.

You may check your mail queue from SMF as well. I had some serious issues with it back in the days when a couple of mails could slow down the queue to a crawl. Check it for mails which have been there for ages.


As far as the cpu% goes, it does not mean a thing 15% on a single low end cpu is normal given a few mods or a lot of smileys/bbc within posts. To determine if it's normal or not, avg cpu load and the number of cores is necessary. And a list of installed mods is a must have.

[colby2152]

To update this, it isn't an issue with receivers as it is systemic across the load.

- Mail queue in SMF has been empty every time I check it.

Mods probably need to be cleaned up.  There are some custom ones that I need, but there are some outdated mods or ones that aren't used anymore.  Let me know if you see anything that could be an issue.

   Mod Name    Version    
1.    Colby_AdvancedSpecBoardStats    2.0    [ Uninstall ] [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
2.    leageupdate    1.1    [ Uninstall ] [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
3.    Floating Shoutbox    1.0    [ Install Mod ] [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
4.    JFF Game Lobby Integration    1.0    [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
5.    User Agreement Update    1.0.2    [ Uninstall ] [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
6.    SMF Arcade    2.0.18    [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
7.    Menu_Icons    1.0    [ Install Mod ] [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
8.    SMF 2.0.3 Update    1.0    [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
9.    BlogBridger    1.1.4    [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
10.    SMF 2.0.7 Update    1.0    [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
11.    More Spiders    1.2    [ Uninstall ] [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
12.    Add Join Date to Post    1.0    [ Uninstall ] [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
13.    Add Social Media Icons To Profiles    1.0.5    [ Uninstall ] [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
14.    Advanced Inbox    1.0.3    [ Uninstall ] [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
15.    SMF 1.1.20 / 2.0.9 Update    1.0    [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
16.    SMF 2.0.8 Update    1.0    [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
17.    PNG Message Icons    1.3.1    [ Uninstall ] [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
18.    SMF 1.1.21 / 2.0.10 Update    1.0    [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
19.    SMF Store    1.4c    [ Uninstall ] [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
20.    Spiders Don't Increase Topic Views    1.1.1    [ Uninstall ] [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
21.    SMF4Mobile Mod    1.0    [ Uninstall ] [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
22.    SMF 2.0.11 Update    1.0    [ Uninstall ] [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
23.    SMF 1.1.19 / 2.0.6 Update    1.0    [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
24.    Create Leagues    1.0    [ Uninstall ] [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
25.    Buy me A drink    1.3    [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
26.    Voter Visibility    2.0    [ Uninstall ] [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
27.    Future Polls    1.0    [ Uninstall ] [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
28.    SMF 2.0.5 Update    1.0    [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
29.    SimpleDesk - Integrated Helpdesk for Simple Machines Forum    2.0    [ Uninstall ] [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
30.    SMF 2.0.2 Update    1.0    [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
31.    Treasury    2.12    [ Install Mod ] [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
32.    SimplePortal    2.3.5    [ Uninstall ] [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
33.    Advance Facebook Like with OpenGraph    0.2    [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
34.    Fix Firefox 8.0 download problems    1.0.0    [ Uninstall ] [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
35.    Optimus Brave    1.8.7    [ Install Mod ] [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
36.    Last Active On MemberList    1.4    [ Uninstall ] [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
37.    Member NotePad    1.3.1    [ Uninstall ] [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
38.    SimplePortal    2.3.3    [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
39.    SMF 2.0.4 Update    1.0    [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
40.    ProFSL    1.0    [ Uninstall ] [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
41.    RSS Feed Poster    3.0.4    [ Uninstall ] [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
42.    Mimetex    1.01    [ Uninstall ] [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
43.    Unknown Actions    1.0    [ Uninstall ] [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
44.    leageupdate1    1.0.1    [ Uninstall ] [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
45.    Partner Points    1.0    [ Uninstall ] [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
46.    PMx-SubForums    1.41    [ Install Mod ] [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
47.    Mobile Device Detect    0.2.2    [ Install Mod ] [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
48.    Show Current Board While Moving Topics by NIBOGO    1.0    [ Uninstall ] [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
49.    SMF Arcade    2.5 RC1    [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
50.    SubAccounts Mod    1.0.1    [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
51.    Alternate User Posting    1.0.1    [ Uninstall ] [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
52.    MGC Rewards System    2.3.0    [ Uninstall ] [ List Files ] [ Delete ]

[margarett]

You need to analyze the server load throughout the day. Try to relate that to online users at once (and what they might be doing) and to Scheduled Tasks' execution time.

I would start with that.
edit: although I'm not sure that your server load would influence whether or not emails are actually sent...

[butch2k]

If you have ssh access to the server you might want to check the server's system mail queue as well as the mail.log logfile. Indeed i experienced issues with sending a lot of emails to yahoo/live/gmail accounts, if you do so you might get deffered for a long time (live/gmail) or even blocked (yahoo). You need to make sure your email server properly signs (DKIM config for instance) the emaisl it sends.

Could you check the mail logfile for issues ?