Request for server optimisation (fairly large community)
 

1. Is this on dedicated or shared virual server. If shared, how many sites share this server (ask web host if needed)

Recently moved to dedicated hosting after being on a shared server for a while, performance is much worse than it was. We just had a month where traffic was about 4x higher than usual which has put increased strain on a server already not coping well.

I'm thinking the server is underpowered for the size of the community, but our budget is already being exceeded as it is.

2 Server:
Code:
E6600 CONROE 2.4GHZ 2 X 2MB CACHE 1066
2GB RAM
1 x 160GB SATA
CentOs 5
Php 5.1.6
Apache 2.2.3
3. what version of vB are you running ?
3.8.0

4. if you use mysql 4.x instead of mysql 3.23.x, do you have any innodb type databases/tables on your server ?
Not sure, don't think so.

5. if possible how mysql was compiled/installed
MySql and most of the other server stuff managed through Plesk 8.4.0


6. your top stats. So log into your server via ssh telnet as root user and type the command in bold - top
Code:
top - 05:07:44 up 9 days, 16:35, 1 user, load average: 1.79, 1.81, 2.23
Tasks: 159 total, 4 running, 155 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie
Cpu0 : 45.5%us, 4.7%sy, 0.0%ni, 24.6%id, 25.2%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.0%si, 0.0%st
Cpu1 : 61.1%us, 4.3%sy, 0.0%ni, 4.7%id, 28.2%wa, 0.3%hi, 1.3%si, 0.0%st
Mem: 2067220k total, 1810460k used, 256760k free, 137148k buffers
Swap: 2096472k total, 518164k used, 1578308k free, 783504k cached
7. your mysql configuration variables located at /etc/my.cnf or c:\my.cnf or my.ini so post the contents inside of my.cnf (minus any passwords of course).

Code:
[mysqld]
set-variable=local-infile=0
datadir=/var/lib/mysql
socket=/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock
# Default to using old password format for compatibility with mysql 3.x
# clients (those using the mysqlclient10 compatibility package).
old_passwords=1
set-variable=max_connections=450
back_log = 50
#skip-innodb
skip-bdb
max_connections = 500
key_buffer = 32M
myisam_sort_buffer_size = 64M
join_buffer_size = 64M
read_buffer_size = 50M
sort_buffer_size = 20M
table_cache = 1800
thread_cache_size = 384
wait_timeout = 45
connect_timeout = 10
tmp_table_size = 64M
max_heap_table_size = 64M
max_allowed_packet = 64M
max_connect_errors = 10
read_rnd_buffer_size = 524288
bulk_insert_buffer_size = 8M
query_cache_limit = 80M
query_cache_size = 256M
query_cache_type = 1
query_prealloc_size = 65536
query_alloc_block_size = 131072
default-storage-engine = MyISAM

[mysql.server]
user=mysql
basedir=/var/lib

[mysqld_safe]
log-error=/var/log/mysqld.log
pid-file=/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.pid
open_files_limit = 8192

[myisamchk]
key_buffer = 64M
sort_buffer = 64M
read_buffer = 16M
write_buffer = 16M
8. MySQL stats from ssh telnet as root user type:

Code:
MySQL 5.0.22 uptime 11 19:27:13 Mon Jun 1 08:00:20 2009

__ Key __________________________________________________ _______________
Buffer used 28.32M of 32.00M %Used: 88.49
Current 32.00M %Usage: 100.00
Write hit 37.10%
Read hit 99.38%

__ Questions __________________________________________________ _________
Total 32.10M 31.5/s
QC Hits 12.48M 12.2/s %Total: 38.89
DMS 11.97M 11.7/s 37.29
Com_ 4.48M 4.4/s 13.97
COM_QUIT 3.08M 3.0/s 9.61
+Unknown 80.85k 0.1/s 0.25
Slow 10 s 7.42k 0.0/s 0.02 %DMS: 0.06 Log: OFF
DMS 11.97M 11.7/s 37.29
SELECT 9.50M 9.3/s 29.59 79.34
UPDATE 1.51M 1.5/s 4.71 12.64
INSERT 678.51k 0.7/s 2.11 5.67
REPLACE 181.81k 0.2/s 0.57 1.52
DELETE 99.15k 0.1/s 0.31 0.83
Com_ 4.48M 4.4/s 13.97
change_db 4.28M 4.2/s 13.34
set_option 119.83k 0.1/s 0.37
show_variab 51.10k 0.1/s 0.16

__ SELECT and Sort __________________________________________________ ___
Scan 2.67M 2.6/s %SELECT: 28.07
Range 2.45M 2.4/s 25.78
Full join 42.08k 0.0/s 0.44
Range check 0 0/s 0.00
Full rng join 1 0.0/s 0.00
Sort scan 1.84M 1.8/s
Sort range 1.37M 1.3/s
Sort mrg pass 3 0.0/s

__ Query Cache __________________________________________________ _______
Memory usage 213.32M of 256.00M %Used: 83.33
Block Fragmnt 8.34%
Hits 12.48M 12.2/s
Inserts 8.74M 8.6/s
Insrt:Prune 13.21:1 7.9/s
Hit:Insert 1.43:1

__ Table Locks __________________________________________________ _______
Waited 244.12k 0.2/s %Total: 1.10
Immediate 21.87M 21.4/s

__ Tables __________________________________________________ ____________
Open 1798 of 1800 %Cache: 99.89
Opened 19.74k 0.0/s

__ Connections __________________________________________________ _______
Max used 141 of 500 %Max: 28.20
Total 3.10M 3.0/s

__ Created Temp __________________________________________________ ______
Disk table 50.00k 0.0/s
Table 280.59k 0.3/s Size: 64.0M
File 13 0.0/s

__ Threads __________________________________________________ ___________
Running 3 of 5
Cached 136 of 384 %Hit: 100
Created 141 0.0/s
Slow 0 0/s

__ Aborted __________________________________________________ ___________
Clients 29.88k 0.0/s
Connects 169 0.0/s

__ Bytes __________________________________________________ _____________
Sent 1.75G 1.7k/s
Received 2.00G 2.0k/s

__ InnoDB Buffer Pool __________________________________________________
Usage 4.23M of 8.00M %Used: 52.93
Read hit 99.90%
Pages
Free 241 %Total: 47.07
Data 270 52.73 %Drty: 0.00
Misc 1 0.20
Latched 0 0.00
Reads 238.03k 0.2/s
From file 233 0.0/s 0.10
Ahead Rnd 3 0.0/s
Ahead Sql 1 0.0/s
Writes 2.52k 0.0/s
Flushes 559 0.0/s
Wait Free 0 0/s

__ InnoDB Lock __________________________________________________ _______
Waits 0 0/s
Current 0
Time acquiring
Total 0 ms
Average 0 ms
Max 0 ms

__ InnoDB Data, Pages, Rows ____________________________________________
Data
Reads 253 0.0/s
Writes 1.16k 0.0/s
fsync 817 0.0/s
Pending
Reads 0
Writes 0
fsync 0

Pages
Created 3 0.0/s
Read 267 0.0/s
Written 559 0.0/s

Rows
Deleted 55 0.0/s
Inserted 98 0.0/s
Read 44.77k 0.0/s
Updated 300 0.0/s
9. is your vB the only thing on the server? or other scripts & sites which utilise php and mysql?
No. There are a few extra things on the site that tie into the forums, but are relatively unused, such as a Coppermine gallery, as well as some scripts that create several portals for our forum. The portals could probably be cached a lot better but with their proportion of users it is unlikely they are causing a large problem.

10. how many average and max concurrent users on your vB forum ? and what your cookie timeout is ?
Usually when I look there are between 100 and 500 users online, but it peaks near 1000 at some points based on the users online list. Session timeout is 3600, but couldn't find where the cookie timeout was.


11. create a file named phpinfo.php and place this code in it and post the url/link to it from your web site. Please url link only - DO NOT copy and paste entire phpinfo.php page's contents to the thread!

http://www.planetcricket.net/phpinfo.php

12. if you run Apache and you have your own dedicated server or access to your httpd.conf (apache configuration file) can you post the values you have set for the following :
Code:
KeepAlive Off
MaxKeepAliveRequests 100
KeepAliveTimeout 5
MinSpareServers 5
MaxSpareServers 20
MaxClients 80
StartServers 8
13. check to see if any files i.e. apache log files are hitting 2GB or 4GB max file size limits i.e. see if you have max file size exceeded messages in apache error log
Quote:
/usr/local/psa/var/log/maillog
/var/www/vhosts/planetcricket.net/statistics/logs/access_log.processed
14. Post output from these 3 commands

uname -a

Code:
Linux sls-gc14p2.dca2.superbservers.com 2.6.18-92.el5 #1 SMP Tue Jun 10 18:49:47 EDT 2008 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

ulimit -aH

Code:
core file size (blocks, -c) unlimited
data seg size (kbytes, -d) unlimited
scheduling priority (-e) 0
file size (blocks, -f) unlimited
pending signals (-i) 32635
max locked memory (kbytes, -l) 32
max memory size (kbytes, -m) unlimited
open files (-n) 1024
pipe size (512 bytes, -p) 8
POSIX message queues (bytes, -q) 819200
real-time priority (-r) 0
stack size (kbytes, -s) unlimited
cpu time (seconds, -t) unlimited
max user processes (-u) 32635
virtual memory (kbytes, -v) unlimited
file locks (-x) unlimited
cat /proc/cpuinfo

Code:
processor : 0
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 15
model name : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 6300 @ 1.86GHz
stepping : 6
cpu MHz : 1596.000
cache size : 2048 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 2
core id : 0
cpu cores : 2
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 10
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe lm constant_tsc pni monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 cx16 xtpr lahf_lm
bogomips : 3724.69

processor : 1
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 15
model name : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 6300 @ 1.86GHz
stepping : 6
cpu MHz : 1596.000
cache size : 2048 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 2
core id : 1
cpu cores : 2
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 10
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe lm constant_tsc pni monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 cx16 xtpr lahf_lm
bogomips : 3722.51
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.