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search.cgi draining server resources

 
 


magic-ci
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Dec 13, 2006, 2:17 PM

Post #1 of 10 (1254 views)
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search.cgi draining server resources Can't Post
A week ago Saturday, I began having Error 500 problems when trying to search or go to a second page. It turned out that my hosts had disabled search.cgi because it was causing too much of a drag on the server resources (using up more than 70%, according to them).

Tech support for Article Manager and my host agreed that upgrading to Article Manager 2 would be a solution to this problem, saying that I had too many active articles for Article Manager 1.

I did that, and deleted Article Manager 1 from the server entirely. After a week of downtime, I was back up last Saturday, running Article Manager 2.02. Everything seemed to be working well until a few hours ago, when I found that I was again getting the Error 500 when trying to search or go to a second page.

Just as I thought, my hosts had disabled search.cgi again, and have threatened to disable my entire domain if the server resources spike again. Since my entire site is built around Article Manager, that puts me out of business.

They have re-enabled search.cgi but will but shutting me down entirely if this happens again, and I'm helpless to do anything about it.

I've already lost a lot of traffic after having been down for a week, including Google News, which no longer seems to visit my site.

I've been running Article Manager at the same location since 2003, and I'm running it pretty much out of the box, so it's not that I'm even trying to do anything fancy with it. I just want something that works.
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(This post was edited by magic-ci on Dec 13, 2006, 3:23 PM)


floodrod
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Dec 14, 2006, 7:11 AM

Post #2 of 10 (1231 views)
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Re: [magic-ci] search.cgi draining server resources [In reply to] Can't Post
I am seeing extensive server resources being used also. When I publish all, or publish articles only and run "top" I see my resources jumping rapidly. it jumps from the high 90 percentages down to practically nothing. (Im on a dedicated server)

I currently have my refresh second count set to "4"

I would predict that lowering the refresh count from 4 to 1 or 2 will lower the resource consumption, but make publishing longer. It seems when the browser refreshes, the resource consumption drops. The longer the time the refresh is set to the more resources it takes.

9711 myuser 0 96.3 0.6 /usr/bin/perl admin.cgi

9712 mysql 0 2.7 1.5 /usr/sbin/mysqld --basedir=/ --datadir=/var/lib/mysql --user=mysql --pid-file=/var/lib/mysql/mydns.com.pid --skip-locking



When Calling the search.cgi via hyperlink, for a split second, resources jump to 10% estimate.

22114 myuser 0 10.6 0.7 /usr/bin/perl search.cgi

this isn't that bad, because it will take about 10 people all calling the search.cgi script at the exact same second to affect the servers performance, but with these numbers I would definitely NOT use an include tag calling search.cgi results into a static page.

not being able to call the search.cgi limits my ability to display related articles and such.

on the flip side, this is MUCH MUCH better than AM1. My resources used to almost always be tied up, and I been booted off a few hosts and shared hosting accounts (which is why I got a dedicated bot)

My evaluations may not be 100% correct, but this is how it appears


(This post was edited by floodrod on Dec 14, 2006, 7:17 AM)


magic-ci
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Dec 14, 2006, 7:27 AM

Post #3 of 10 (1228 views)
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Re: [floodrod] search.cgi draining server resources [In reply to] Can't Post
Thanks, floodrod. I'm about to get booted, and I've run Article Manager at that host since 2003. It's shared hosting, and at this point I think they'll blame anything that happens on Article Manager whether it was responsible for it or not, since they've identified it as a problem.

Their tech support has gone from being helpful to being adversarial, so I guess it's time to move. I'm not on a dedicated server, but neither do I have a cheap hosting plan so I'm sure I can find something. I couldn't have picked a worse time to be messing with this, however.

I'll try adjusting the refresh count.
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toml525
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Dec 14, 2006, 1:08 PM

Post #4 of 10 (1216 views)
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Re: [magic-ci] search.cgi draining server resources [In reply to] Can't Post
We had the same problem with our old host.

We moved to Media Temple and it seems to be able to handle Article Manager without any problems.

You may want to check them out.


magic-ci
User

Dec 14, 2006, 3:37 PM

Post #5 of 10 (1210 views)
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Re: [toml525] search.cgi draining server resources [In reply to] Can't Post
I've had one account with them since 1999, and have run Article Manager on another account since 2003. All of sudden, nothing seems to be working and it's all being blamed on Article Manager's search.cgi. I will look into them, although I found another that seems good too. I just wish I could have waited until after the holdays.
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Dave
Staff / Moderator


Dec 15, 2006, 11:41 AM

Post #6 of 10 (1195 views)
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Re: [magic-ci] search.cgi draining server resources [In reply to] Can't Post
Magic-ci, It's strange that you've had no problems for so long and then only now they're complaining. Have you switched to mySQL with 2.02? That should speed things up a bit if you haven't already done that.

Dave Edis - Senior Developer
interactivetools.com
 


Dave
Staff / Moderator


Dec 15, 2006, 11:42 AM

Post #7 of 10 (1194 views)
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Re: [Dave] search.cgi draining server resources [In reply to] Can't Post
And who is the host and what account type do you have?

Dave Edis - Senior Developer
interactivetools.com
 


magic-ci
User

Dec 15, 2006, 4:16 PM

Post #8 of 10 (1187 views)
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Re: [Dave] search.cgi draining server resources [In reply to] Can't Post
In Reply To
Magic-ci, It's strange that you've had no problems for so long and then only now they're complaining. Have you switched to mySQL with 2.02? That should speed things up a bit if you haven't already done that.
Yes, I'm using MySQL and I had you guys set it up. I'm in the process of shopping for a new host, mostly because I'm not convinced that, once they've identified search.cgi as being the source of problems in Article Manager 1, they're not blaming every spike on search.cgi. I don't get the feeling that they're trying to be helpful anymore so regardless of what happened with Article Manager, I want to change hosts. So rather than doing too much running around trying to fix the problem right now, I think I'll wait until I can get it set up somewhere else and then get back to you.
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Dave
Staff / Moderator


Dec 15, 2006, 4:24 PM

Post #9 of 10 (1186 views)
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Re: [magic-ci] search.cgi draining server resources [In reply to] Can't Post
Sure thing. You might want to check out DreamHost (linked off our hosting page on the menu). We've recommended them for a while and they seem to do a good job.

Dave Edis - Senior Developer
interactivetools.com
 


magic-ci
User

Dec 15, 2006, 8:32 PM

Post #10 of 10 (1184 views)
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Re: [Dave] search.cgi draining server resources [In reply to] Can't Post
In Reply To
Sure thing. You might want to check out DreamHost (linked off our hosting page on the menu). We've recommended them for a while and they seem to do a good job.
They are on the top of my list. The only thing that might prompt me to choose someone else instead is if they'll offer to transfer the site over, and DreamHost won't do that.
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