Problem with my SMF website

[john10]

I have been getting a lot of guest bots on my site overwhelming the CPU of my server and causing a dramatic slow down.  These attacks can peak at times and my site would come to a crawl.  How do I resolve this issue?  Thank you guys in advance.

[Aleksi "Lex" Kilpinen]

To be honest, that's a bit hard to answer. SMF should be able to handle a pretty large load like that, if the bots are actually just crawling the forum, and if the hosting you are on can take it. 

[Illori]

link to your forum?

what kind of hosting do you have? shared? dedicated? VPS?

[john10]

pebhmong.com

It is a VPS.

Right now seems to be ok.  But, my guests traffic is normally around 300.  When it happens, my guest traffic is 18,000.  There was an attack this morning.

Thank you.

[Illori]

is your VPS managed or unmanaged? if managed your host should be able to assist you further with this issue.

also you should upgrade to SMF 2.0.15 for security.

[john10]

is your VPS managed or unmanaged? if managed your host should be able to assist you further with this issue.

also you should upgrade to SMF 2.0.15 for security.

I think it is managed, but an out of date server....and they could not help with the matter.  Updating to a new server would cost almost twice as much, so debating on  it. 

The last time I upgraded my SMF there was a lot of errors and couldn't do it.  I am not a programmer so I don't want to mess it up again.  Is there someone on here that can help me with this?  I will pay a fee if necessary.

[@rjen]

Check the IP adress range: I had something like that and it turned out to be all coming from China. Since my forum does not target Chinese visitors I ended up blocking all Chinese visitors via htaccess. Problem solved

[john10]

Check the IP adress range: I had something like that and it turned out to be all coming from China. Since my forum does not target Chinese visitors I ended up blocking all Chinese visitors via htaccess. Problem solved

Yes, all those guest IP were from overseas.  Can you tell me the process on how to block these visitors with htaccess?  Thanks.

[Illori]

if your server software is not updated that would be a major security risk depending on how outdated it is. that should be priority to get adjusted. depending on your traffic I bet you don't need a VPS.

[john10]

if your server software is not updated that would be a major security risk depending on how outdated it is. that should be priority to get adjusted. depending on your traffic I bet you don't need a VPS.

Ok.  thanks.

[Sir Osis of Liver]

depending on your traffic I bet you don't need a VPS.

If the forum is the only thing running on the account, any basic hosting package would be more than sufficient.  If you need assistance upgrading or moving to a better host, drop me a pm.