SMF 2B4

[quiz_modder]

I have a load of files in my board root directory name "core.xxxx" e.g. core.13187, core.12556, core.12715 etc. Could someone enlighten me as to what these are please?

Thanks

[SlammedDime]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_dump

[swtdivalove]

That's honestly not a good sign for your host nor  you, in all honesty.

It can mean several things...

1.) HD Failure on the server
2.) Memory Failure on the server
3.) CPU overheating and/or failure

I would get ahold of your host and and inform them that you are seeing this on your sites root folder.

If they are aware of it, you should ask to have your site moved to another server that is stable.

Either way, you might want to move your site to another server just to ensure that you do not have any issues, especially if that particular server crashes entirely.

[quiz_modder]

Thanks

[swtdivalove]

You're welcome!

[quiz_modder]

I spoke to my hosting provider and they suggested they were being generated by index.php in my board folder. They have removed them for me, but I am a bit concerned why they were being generated??

[swtdivalove]

There is no reason whatsoever for the index.php to be generating anything like that.

Who is your host?

Core dumps usually means that there is something wrong with hardware.

Request your site be moved to another server.

[quiz_modder]

There is no reason whatsoever for the index.php to be generating anything like that.

Who is your host?

Core dumps usually means that there is something wrong with hardware.

Request your site be moved to another server.

HostGator and they have been very good for the last year or so since I have been with them.

[swtdivalove]

They may be a good host, but it still does not stop servers from crashing.

[quiz_modder]

They may be a good host, but it still does not stop servers from crashing.

True, but I thought their support would be better if their servers are really having problems. There is no way this would be caused by the forum software no?

[quiz_modder]

They are suggesting it could be caused by the database? They will be looking into it further apparently.

[quiz_modder]

OK, got some further information on this. Here are some of the messages they have provided me

Program terminated with signal 11, Segmentation fault.
#0  0x080b3c3c in match (eptr=Cannot access memory at address 0xbf341e84
) at /home/cpeasyapache/src/php-5.2.6/ext/pcre/pcrelib/pcre_exec.c:583
583     if (md->match_call_count++ >= md->match_limit) RRETURN(PCRE_ERROR_MATCHLIMIT);

Program terminated with signal 11, Segmentation fault.
#0  0x080b3c3c in match (eptr=Cannot access memory at address 0xbf41ce94
) at /home/cpeasyapache/src/php-5.2.6/ext/pcre/pcrelib/pcre_exec.c:583
583     if (md->match_call_count++ >= md->match_limit) RRETURN(PCRE_ERROR_MATCHLIMIT);

They are suggesting the core dumps were generated from PHP when it was attempting to load the index.php script and it was running out of memory. I have been testing out a mod so I am now thinking that there might be something in that mod that could be causing this? Perhaps I may have missed out a freeing up of the db resources in one of the functions somewhere. Could something like that cause the above?

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

[quiz_modder]

Not getting any further with this, anyone got any suggestions?

Thanks

[SlammedDime]

What mod were you testing out??

PCRE is used for regular expressions.  There aren't any in SMF that should cause a seg fault.

[quiz_modder]

What mod were you testing out??

PCRE is used for regular expressions.  There aren't any in SMF that should cause a seg fault.

My own mod, which doesn't use regular expressions anywhere. Unless this could be coming from another mod I have installed.

[quiz_modder]

I have disabled numerous mods but still getting core dumps. Does anyone have any bright suggestions for other things I could try to work out what is going wrong here? I am at a loss 

[SlammedDime]

Can you list all of the mods that you do have installed?

[quiz_modder]

Can you list all of the mods that you do have installed?

Profile Visitors 4.1
Aeva ~ Auto-Embed Video & Audio 5.0 b1
Custom Fields On Memberlist 1.0
Last Active On MemberList  1.01
SMFChess 2.0
Fix totalMembers undefined error 1.0
Images On Board 1.1
PM to New Members 1.0
Advanced Contact Form 1.02
Quote Always WYSIWYG 1.01
OS & Browser Detection 1.0
SMF Media Gallery 1.5
E-Arcade
MCLegendII.2 3.0
last login in post 1.0

As you can see, quite a few. I have gone through a lot of these and disabled for a day or so until the core dump appears again.

So core dumps can be created by bad PHP code then? Is there anything that can be done to try and narrow it down more? Things that I can look for in code that are often then cause, etc?

The big problem I have at the moment is the lack of detail to work with so I am stabbing in the dark a little.

Thanks

[riker]

This has happened to me on two different hosts now and I've read about it more and more here too.  I'm begining to think it could really be a problem with SMF 2 itself rather than the server

[SlammedDime]

If it were a problem with 2.0 itself in base form, more and more people would have problems with it... I've been running 2.0 on two different test environments with two different server configurations with no problems with core dumps.

m4tthall - My suggestion at this point would be to take a backup of all of your files, then upload a fresh copy of the Beta 4 files to your site and let it run for a few days.  If a core dump doesn't occur, start installing one mod at a time, and let it run for a few days before installing the next and see when the core dump occurs.