16 hour down time or Vicis est viaticus Part II

Here’s what happened. The load increased, clogged CPU time and my account was suspended during my night for overusing system resources.

It took me 10 hours to get my sites back. Tickets did not help, but the live chat did the trick.

I still believe that the problem #1 is MySQL database. MySQL locks up, PHP processes spin trying to get the info (I think problem #2 is PHP). However, nobody was able to find the mysql logs to prove me right or wrong.

It’s much easier to just disable the account, than to have a look at what/where/why the problem is, or simply kill the CPU/RAM hungry PHP processes.

The provider wants me to migrate to the “Business class” (5 times more expensive). I’m seriously thinking about that…

5 thoughts on “16 hour down time or Vicis est viaticus Part II”

  1. that happened to me once. if it spikes that that it is usually 1) somebody is mad at you or 2) somebody is mad at your web host. dunno what your scripts are like but i’d be willing to lend a hand where one could be lended.

  2. hm, what about a virtual server (aka v-server , vps)?
    i have one of those but do not know good it would hande the amout of requests you have 😉

    they are available from 10€ upwards (sometimes a bit cheaper depends on the hoster), just contact me via e-mail if you want to know more

  3. Thanks guys!

    No, I do not think it was a direct attack (but I will check the access logs). I still think it’s mysql.

    I use WordPress and MyBB plus some simple scripts around. Probably there are bugs in WP and MyBB (how they handle the connections to the DB).

    I’m pretty happy about the current provider and the pricing. But if you want more, you have to pay. Those issues will be everywhere. The more you pay, the less you depend on the co-sharers, the more resources are available to you, the less downtime.

    But if you have a list of providers who offers:

    o- unlimited traffic
    o- MySQL 5.x
    o- PHP 5.x
    o- no restriction on contents
    o- access to the logs
    o- ssh
    o- virtual servers

    I would be very interested to see their prices.

  4. the content restriction is what makes me shrug. you seen my stuff – but i got my own dedicated server which is never the cheap way, heh. though it has like 460 days of uptime right now ^_^ and does nearly no work all day lol.

  5. Where is it located? At home or in the DC? If it’s co-located, the DC owner can switch it off if they find something inappropriate or handle it to the police if they find something illegal.

    So, there is no difference for the illegal stuff (what is normal), but there is a difference for the inappropriate one. E.g. photobucket blocks any semi-nude pictures of women even if they are famous paintings (just search for photobucket here on this site). And if it’s your own server there is no such restriction.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *