Apache Optimisation Request
 

Lately my web server has been spiking with apache processes and becoming unresponsive. Many of the considerations on board optimization have already been done. memcached is installed and working well.

1. dedicated server (this is just the web server - mysql is on another identical server - load is not an issue on this server)
2. server specs"
cpu speed/type single or dual cpus): Dual Harpertown \ Xeon 5450 Quad Core
how much memory installed: 4gb ram
hard drive type/configuration: 2x 146gb SAS 15k drives in RAID 0
linux distributor or windows version: REDHAT Enterprise 5.3 x86_64
apache/IIS version: Apache v2.2.11
PHP version: php 5.2.9
MySQL version: mysql 5.0.77

3. what version of vB are you running ? 3.8.2

4. if you use mysql 4.x instead of mysql 3.23.x, do you have any innodb type databases/tables on your server ? na
5. if possible how mysql was compiled/installed na
6. your top stats. So log into your server via ssh telnet as root user and type the command in bold - top

Quote:
top - 14:09:40 up 10:13, 1 user, load average: 1.27, 1.73, 1.78
Tasks: 307 total, 1 running, 305 sleeping, 0 stopped, 1 zombie
Cpu(s): 5.5%us, 0.3%sy, 0.0%ni, 93.9%id, 0.0%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.2%si, 0.0%st
Mem: 4043368k total, 3676812k used, 366556k free, 25404k buffers
Swap: 2040212k total, 234736k used, 1805476k free, 70308k cached
Quote:
top - 14:10:20 up 10:13, 1 user, load average: 1.14, 1.64, 1.75
Tasks: 266 total, 3 running, 262 sleeping, 0 stopped, 1 zombie
Cpu0 : 37.7%us, 1.9%sy, 0.0%ni, 58.9%id, 0.2%wa, 0.0%hi, 1.3%si, 0.0%st
Cpu1 : 3.4%us, 0.5%sy, 0.3%ni, 94.4%id, 1.2%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.1%si, 0.0%st
Cpu2 : 3.4%us, 0.5%sy, 0.1%ni, 95.6%id, 0.3%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.1%si, 0.0%st
Cpu3 : 3.2%us, 0.4%sy, 0.2%ni, 96.0%id, 0.1%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.1%si, 0.0%st
Cpu4 : 5.2%us, 0.5%sy, 0.0%ni, 94.1%id, 0.1%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.1%si, 0.0%st
Cpu5 : 3.9%us, 0.6%sy, 0.1%ni, 94.4%id, 0.6%wa, 0.2%hi, 0.1%si, 0.0%st
Cpu6 : 3.9%us, 0.7%sy, 0.1%ni, 95.1%id, 0.1%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.1%si, 0.0%st
Cpu7 : 3.8%us, 0.6%sy, 0.1%ni, 95.3%id, 0.1%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.1%si, 0.0%st
Mem: 4043368k total, 3016944k used, 1026424k free, 25904k buffers
Swap: 2040212k total, 234736k used, 1805476k free, 71144k cached


7. not relevant
8. not relevant
9. There are 2 other smaller vbulletin forums installed on this server
10. 34,000 users per 24 hours - ~8,000 per 4 hours - cookie timeout is 4 hours
11. http://cellphoneforums.net/manuals/phpinfo.php
12.
from httpd-mpm.conf
Quote:
# prefork MPM
StartServers 15
MinSpareServers 15
MaxSpareServers 20
MaxClients 200
MaxRequestsPerChild 1000
From httpd-default.conf:
Quote:
Timeout 300
KeepAlive On
MaxKeepAliveRequests 100
KeepAliveTimeout 5
UseCanonicalName Off
13. none

14.
uname -a:
Linux web.degster.com 2.6.18-128.1.1.el5 #1 SMP Mon Jan 26 13:58:24 EST 2009 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linuxulimit -aH:
Quote:
core file size (blocks, -c) 1000000
data seg size (kbytes, -d) unlimited
scheduling priority (-e) 0
file size (blocks, -f) unlimited
pending signals (-i) 38912
max locked memory (kbytes, -l) 32
max memory size (kbytes, -m) unlimited
open files (-n) 4096
pipe size (512 bytes, -p) 8
POSIX message queues (bytes, -q) 819200
real-time priority (-r) 0
stack size (kbytes, -s) 8192
cpu time (seconds, -t) unlimited
max user processes (-u) 14335
virtual memory (kbytes, -v) unlimited
file locks (-x) unlimited
cat /proc/cpuinfo:
Quote:
processor : 0
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 23
model name : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5450 @ 3.00GHz
stepping : 10
cpu MHz : 2992.537
cache size : 6144 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 4
core id : 0
cpu cores : 4
apicid : 0
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 13
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm syscall nx lm constant_tsc pni monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 cx16 xtpr lahf_lm
bogomips : 5989.06
clflush size : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes : 38 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor : 1
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 23
model name : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5450 @ 3.00GHz
stepping : 10
cpu MHz : 2992.537
cache size : 6144 KB
physical id : 1
siblings : 4
core id : 0
cpu cores : 4
apicid : 4
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 13
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm syscall nx lm constant_tsc pni monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 cx16 xtpr lahf_lm
bogomips : 5985.03
clflush size : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes : 38 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor : 2
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 23
model name : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5450 @ 3.00GHz
stepping : 10
cpu MHz : 2992.537
cache size : 6144 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 4
core id : 2
cpu cores : 4
apicid : 2
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 13
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm syscall nx lm constant_tsc pni monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 cx16 xtpr lahf_lm
bogomips : 5985.01
clflush size : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes : 38 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor : 3
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 23
model name : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5450 @ 3.00GHz
stepping : 10
cpu MHz : 2992.537
cache size : 6144 KB
physical id : 1
siblings : 4
core id : 2
cpu cores : 4
apicid : 6
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 13
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm syscall nx lm constant_tsc pni monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 cx16 xtpr lahf_lm
bogomips : 5984.87
clflush size : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes : 38 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor : 4
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 23
model name : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5450 @ 3.00GHz
stepping : 10
cpu MHz : 2992.537
cache size : 6144 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 4
core id : 1
cpu cores : 4
apicid : 1
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 13
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm syscall nx lm constant_tsc pni monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 cx16 xtpr lahf_lm
bogomips : 5985.03
clflush size : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes : 38 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor : 5
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 23
model name : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5450 @ 3.00GHz
stepping : 10
cpu MHz : 2992.537
cache size : 6144 KB
physical id : 1
siblings : 4
core id : 1
cpu cores : 4
apicid : 5
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 13
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm syscall nx lm constant_tsc pni monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 cx16 xtpr lahf_lm
bogomips : 5985.20
clflush size : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes : 38 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor : 6
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 23
model name : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5450 @ 3.00GHz
stepping : 10
cpu MHz : 2992.537
cache size : 6144 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 4
core id : 3
cpu cores : 4
apicid : 3
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 13
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm syscall nx lm constant_tsc pni monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 cx16 xtpr lahf_lm
bogomips : 5985.62
clflush size : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes : 38 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor : 7
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 23
model name : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5450 @ 3.00GHz
stepping : 10
cpu MHz : 2992.537
cache size : 6144 KB
physical id : 1
siblings : 4
core id : 3
cpu cores : 4
apicid : 7
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 13
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm syscall nx lm constant_tsc pni monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 cx16 xtpr lahf_lm
bogomips : 5985.11
clflush size : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes : 38 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:
Question - should apache/php be compiled with MPM Event or Prefork? Right now it is compiled with prefork.