Server vs. SMF resource use. Is it time to upgrade?

[David Wong]

More performance problems, I'm afraid...

My CPU is running at 42% and I'm getting "page not found" timeout errors when I try to access the forums during busy times.  I'm getting "database error!" e-mails from SMF.  My host says it is DEFINITELY the SMF forum tying up the CPU time.  That database shows as by far and away the top process.

The quick question:

I'm on a dedicated server, 3.0 GHz Processor with 2 GB of RAM.

When the forums aren't busy I have 50 people on, during busy times I have about 110.  I've never seen as many as 120 on there.

Should that server be able to handle the load?  Or should I be expecting these kinds of problems?  Is it time to upgrade my server?

Details:

I'm using SMF 1.1 RC2.  NO MODS installed.  The only change I made was to change the font colors and add Google ads.  Nothing else.

http://www.pointlesswasteoftime.com/smf/index.php#2 [nofollow]

I have persistant connections turned OFF.

I installed the fix to the Firefox Bug mentioned on the front page.

I have no technical know-how as far as exactly what to tweak in mysql or anything of the sort.  I write the content for the site and had to upgrade to dedicated hosting because it became popular.  The hosting upgrade didn't come with a class on programming databases (insert smiley here).

1.  Do you have eAccelerator or another optimizer installed?  What is eAccelerator?

No.  Reading the instructions, I highly doubt I have the background to install it without breaking something.

2.  Do you have a lot of posts?  If so, have you converted any of your tables to InnoDB?

152,000. 

What's so incredibly frustrating about this problem is nobody seems to be able to simply say, "if you have ___ number of users at a time and ____ number of posts, you should need a server that has at least _____."  I've searched about 30 threads on these forums and nobody seems to be able to put their finger on what kind of resources SMF should be expected to use.  One thread said you should be able to handle 40 users at a time even on a $7.95 shared account.  That blew my mind (I'm paying 20 times that much).

Would eAccelerator really make a difference? 

[Fizzy]

This sounds like a serious server configuration issue and certainly not SMF.

To put it in context, the server you mentioned should be able to handle at least 100 busy SMF forums all running at the same time.
Right now, I'm looking at the status of a shared host with only 2 Gig that has 600 sites on it, a number of which all run SMF and many other applications ..... the load? 5.3%

Kick your host and tell them to get on the case and work the problem.

[David Wong]

I've got probably 12 hours of chat/phone time with Tech support on my host, and they say Web Host Manager only tells them that it's the database called "forums" (which has nothing but the SMF forum on it) that's hogging all the time.  The site shows the top processes and all that and there's no question that database is at the top of every one.

So what specifically should I be asking them to do?  You say it's a server configuration issue, what does that mean?  What can be wrong about a server configuration that would use the CPU time so inefficiently?

[David Wong]

And let me clarify, I'm not saying it's your job to run my web host's servers for them.  But understand, they're telling me it's inefficient forum software, you're telling me it's an inefficient host.  I have no way of knowing who's right because neither party can tell me specifically what can be causing the problem.

[Fizzy]

Hi David,

I quite understand your predicament. It's not easy being caught in the middle.

What we have to support the claim that it's not SMF is the fact that tens of thousands of webmasters are running their forums right now on heavily shared servers around the world.

In your case you have one forum running on a dedicated server and that server is obvously having problems. It should be running at lightning speed. If SMF standard install was the root of the problem it would have been outlawed by every shared server host by now because numerically it would have crippled the servers and crashed them.
That factor obviously points to the fact that here we have an isolated problem, the server most likely being the root of the issue, and that would logically indicate that the server has been set up incorrectly somewhere. It may be php.ini , it may be the way that MySQL is configured, it could be many many things and unfortunately there is no way that we here can see that side of the equation.

If your server host can provide detailed information and logs about the issue I am sure that we could always ask the Developers of SMF to take a look for you and see if they can see something that might be causing the problem.

[David Wong]

Well, the host is Lunarpages and a search of these forums showed me a whole bunch of LP customers complaining about the same thing:

http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=58115.0

I don't know.  I guess my choice is to leave or live with it. 

[Thantos]

Ok they say that your database is the cause of the problem.  Ask them for any type of logs that might narrow down the queries that are hogging the resources.

While I highly doubt its us is always good to pursue the issue.  If nothing else it'll show how little the host knows.

[David Wong]

I have access to my raw logs, in fact I have yesterday's logs on my desktop.  But to me it's just a huge 110 MB text file full of crap I don't understand.  I see lots of files being accessed, that's it.  What would I be looking for?

I do have the Karma system turned on.  Is that taxing to the CPU? 

[Thantos]

I don't think access logs will help in this.  You'd need things like the mysql logs and something that would say what queries are using excess resources.

[Ben_S]

http://www.redandwhitekop.com/forum runs on a P4 3GHZ with 1.5GB ram. As yo u can see it is significantly larger than your board and runs with no problems.

If this is a manager server ask them to configure the server correctly, if it's unmanaged and you have root access, I'll help you out by telling you what to change. eAccelerator does make a difference, though I prefair APC.

[Aitsukai]

I don't mean to butt in - I don't know the slightest bit about server resources - but did you patch your forum with the Firefox bugfix for 1.1 RC2? I'm not sure if that could cause problems, just suggesting...

[Thantos]

I don't mean to butt in - I don't know the slightest bit about server resources - but did you patch your forum with the Firefox bugfix for 1.1 RC2? I'm not sure if that could cause problems, just suggesting...

I installed the fix to the Firefox Bug mentioned on the front page.