Server Load Through the Roof [Archive]

Jason Dunn

10-25-2004, 05:32 PM

Our sites are being slammed by heavy traffic right now, and we're trying to figure out where it's all coming from. Our apologies for the sluggish server response, or if you can't get to the site at all. Even though we have a fairly robust server, it's not enough to handle the load we're getting hit with. For those of you that know anything about Linux servers, this morning we had a load of 229, which is the highest I've ever seen on this box. So, anyone know where we're getting the traffic from? Did you come here from a high-profile link?

Darius Wey

10-25-2004, 05:54 PM

Thanks for the update Jason. 229 sure is a hefty load. 8O

I've been having an abnormally high rate of pHpBB errors as of the past twelve hours. I've had a scour through all of the major tech websites over the past few hours and haven't seen any high-profile links to PPCT yet. I really don't hope it's some fiend who has written a bot whose intention is to flood the traffic by hitting the IP address every 3 seconds, because that doesn't rate highly on my "cool" factor. :(

Janak Parekh

10-25-2004, 06:03 PM

Darius Wey

10-25-2004, 06:18 PM

Thanks for the update Jason. 229 sure is a hefty load. 8O
We tracked down part of the problem -- the server was rebooted, and our connection throttling code wasn't reinstalled. Hopefully the site will get back to stable soon...

--janak

Thanks. It seems to be running in its good old "fast" state again. :)

Although I thought I better post an update about the Thoughts Media Inc. page (http://www.thoughtsmedia.com), this error is popping up in the XML feed:

Fatal errors! :

[x] Errors while trying to create Simple XML feed object!

Just thought you might like to know.

Pat Logsdon

10-25-2004, 06:20 PM

our connection throttling code wasn't reinstalled.
I've wanted to throttle my connection a time or two. HA! I kill me!

Darius Wey

10-25-2004, 06:38 PM

HA! I kill me!

Hmmm...skeletal tissue exposure. Purple mixture in right hand. Your avatar would make me think so too. :lol:

Ryan Joseph

10-25-2004, 07:06 PM

HA! I kill me!

This doesn't seem physically possible! *thunk!*

Darius Wey

10-25-2004, 07:14 PM

Thanks. It seems to be running in its good old "fast" state again. :)

Although I thought I better post an update about the Thoughts Media Inc. page (http://www.thoughtsmedia.com), this error is popping up in the XML feed:

Fatal errors! :

[x] Errors while trying to create Simple XML feed object!

Just thought you might like to know.

Update: It's fixed now! :D

Mojo Jojo

10-25-2004, 07:17 PM

It wouldn't be the search engines caching the site would it? Those things are just getting kooky with the amount of bandwidth they are eating up these days.

Jason Dunn

10-25-2004, 09:02 PM

It wouldn't be the search engines caching the site would it? Those things are just getting kooky with the amount of bandwidth they are eating up these days.

We already block several IP's from Google because they were thrashing our server to death - and ever after three months and ten email exchanges, they were still doing it. <sigh>

maximus

10-26-2004, 01:10 AM

Uh, and I thought that the U.S. and Canada have been infested with the dead, as in the Resident Evil 2 : Apocalypse. All PPCT's data center folks and editorial staffs were eaten alive, and now they are zombies.

The thought that I am never going to see Janak, Kati, Pat and JR again .. horrible ... :mrgreen:

maximus

10-26-2004, 01:55 AM

Lately when typing a post, sometimes the delete button on my keyboard does not work. Backspacing always works though.

I thought that the 'delete' button is malfunctioning, but when I alt+tab to another apps, the delete button works perfectly.

I wonder why. Does this happened to you also ?

cuteseal

10-26-2004, 02:37 AM

We already block several IP's from Google because they were thrashing our server to death - and ever after three months and ten email exchanges, they were still doing it. <sigh>

Would using a robots.txt file help?

sheik

10-26-2004, 10:16 AM

Assuming PPCT runs on Apache, would you mind letting me know what throttling module you use? If this is sensitive info then obviously don't worry, I'm just interested for my own site.

The worst bot I've encountered is the dreaded MSNBOT, which pulled massive amounts of traffic compared to others (before I blocked it).

Thanks!

/\

mikewren

10-26-2004, 05:34 PM

When in doubt... blame slashdot. I have no idea if this site actuallygot slashdotted, but it's just easier to blame slashdot. :)

ziad

10-26-2004, 07:06 PM

If you want traffic, bots are really important for indexing ... They shouldn't be blocked, no matter how much bandwith they need.

manywhere

10-26-2004, 07:31 PM

The worst bot I've encountered is the dreaded MSNBOT, which pulled massive amounts of traffic compared to others (before I blocked it).

Strange, same here. MSNbot has been a bandwidth hogger for me in September. However, it has gotten a hold of itself now and calmed down enough for me to not ban it. :roll: Maybe Jason got my post at DMT relayed to the MS search engine team? :)

Anyways, I don't think one bot would be able to bring down PPCT and the other Thoughts Media sites. Something more sinister might as well be going on here... Did anyone at PPCT analyze the log or know anything more as of today?

Janak Parekh

10-26-2004, 08:28 PM

We're still working on it. We're all so insanely busy as of this moment too... sigh.

--janak

Jason Dunn

10-27-2004, 10:31 PM

If you want traffic, bots are really important for indexing ... They shouldn't be blocked, no matter how much bandwith they need.

It's not an issue of bandwidth, it's an issue of server load - and what's the point of having a Web site if the bots crush it under load? No one can get to a site it that site isn't up or is really slow to respond.

Sorry, but it's not as simple as you seem to think it is.

KimVette

12-01-2004, 11:16 PM

Darius Wey

12-02-2004, 04:19 AM

Looks like you're getting slammed again - during the last few days, your site has been totally inaccessible during the middle of the day. I've seen errors ranging from database errors, to php critical errors, and to connection refused.

Traffic's higher than ever before, so the server's taking quite a hit these days. However, admin is working overtime to get everything improved so hopefully it will all be resolved sometime soon. :)

Janak Parekh

12-02-2004, 05:46 AM

Looks like you're getting slammed again - during the last few days, your site has been totally inaccessible during the middle of the day. I've seen errors ranging from database errors, to php critical errors, and to connection refused.
Yes - it's simply an overload condition as all three Thoughts Media sites are getting (too) popular.

We ordered more RAM, but as noted on the frontpage today, the server guys are actually out of stock. :cry:

Hopefully this will be cleared up in the next few days.

--janak