Server optimization needed

[bajabob]

Hey, I need some help optimizing my server, in order to reduce its load.

1. It's a dedicated server

2. Its Specs:

CPU: 2 x DC AMD Opteron 270
RAM: 4 Gigs
HDs: 2 x 73 Gigs SCSI drives

Software:
CentOS 4.3
CPanel 6
Apache 1.3.37
mysql (4.1.20-standard-log)
spamd
3. No innodbs

4. Not sure

5. Top stats

top - 16:01:20 up 5 days, 13:47, 1 user, load average: 21.07, 20.17, 18.95
Tasks: 236 total, 13 running, 222 sleeping, 1 stopped, 0 zombie
Cpu(s): 94.5% us, 1.6% sy, 0.0% ni, 3.7% id, 0.1% wa, 0.1% hi, 0.0% si
Mem: 4147384k total, 3686816k used, 460568k free, 61460k buffers
Swap: 2096440k total, 18544k used, 2077896k free, 1391628k cached

PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
5736 nobody 15 0 208m 27m 10m S 25.6 0.7 0:53.97 httpd
6042 nobody 15 0 209m 32m 14m S 24.0 0.8 0:42.17 httpd
8205 nobody 15 0 209m 28m 11m S 22.0 0.7 0:19.53 httpd
8754 nobody 15 0 201m 19m 9676 S 20.3 0.5 0:07.64 httpd
7090 nobody 15 0 209m 32m 14m S 18.4 0.8 0:28.57 httpd
2989 nobody 15 0 208m 32m 15m S 17.7 0.8 1:31.54 httpd
5333 nobody 15 0 209m 32m 14m S 17.7 0.8 0:52.04 httpd
6933 nobody 15 0 209m 29m 12m R 15.1 0.7 0:33.03 httpd
8434 nobody 15 0 209m 29m 12m S 13.5 0.7 0:12.03 httpd
7340 nobody 15 0 209m 29m 12m S 13.1 0.7 0:25.66 httpd
5411 nobody 15 0 201m 23m 13m S 12.8 0.6 0:53.30 httpd
4136 nobody 15 0 208m 33m 16m S 12.5 0.8 1:12.67 httpd
5164 nobody 16 0 209m 33m 15m S 10.5 0.8 0:48.11 httpd
5171 nobody 15 0 208m 32m 15m S 9.5 0.8 0:47.97 httpd
6872 nobody 16 0 209m 33m 15m S 9.5 0.8 0:35.47 httpd
4311 nobody 15 0 209m 33m 15m S 8.9 0.8 1:06.46 httpd
2815 nobody 15 0 209m 31m 14m S 8.5 0.8 1:33.42 httpd

6. Mysql config
#DO NOT MODIFY THE FOLLOWING COMMENTED LINES!
#Created with ELS from www.servermonkeys.com
#els-build=4.1
[mysqld]
datadir=/var/lib/mysql
skip-locking
skip-innodb
skip-networking
safe-show-database
query_cache_limit=1M
query_cache_size=128M ## 32MB for every 1GB of RAM
query_cache_type=1
max_user_connections=200
max_connections=600
interactive_timeout=10
wait_timeout=20
connect_timeout=20
thread_cache_size=128
key_buffer=512M ## 128MB for every 1GB of RAM
join_buffer=1M
max_connect_errors=20
max_allowed_packet=380M
table_cache=1024
record_buffer=1M
sort_buffer_size=4M ## 1MB for every 1GB of RAM
read_buffer_size=4M ## 1MB for every 1GB of RAM
read_rnd_buffer_size=4M ## 1MB for every 1GB of RAM
thread_concurrency=8 ## Number of CPUs x 2
myisam_sort_buffer_size=64M
server-id=1
log_slow_queries=/var/log/mysql-slow-queries.log
long_query_time=2
collation-server=latin1_general_ci
set-variable = max_allowed_packet=480M

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

[safe_mysqld]
err-log=/var/log/mysqld.log
pid-file=/var/lib/mysql/mysql.pid
open_files_limit=8192

[mysqldump]
quick
max_allowed_packet=64M

[mysql]
no-auto-rehash
#safe-updates

[isamchk]
key_buffer=64M
sort_buffer=64M
read_buffer=16M
write_buffer=16M

[myisamchk]
key_buffer=64M
sort_buffer=64M
read_buffer=16M
write_buffer=16M

[mysqlhotcopy]
interactive-timeout

7. Mysql status


+---------------------------------+------------------------------------------+
| Variable_name | Value |
+---------------------------------+------------------------------------------+
| back_log | 50 |
| basedir | / |
| binlog_cache_size | 32768 |
| bulk_insert_buffer_size | 8388608 |
| character_set_client | latin1 |
| character_set_connection | latin1 |
| character_set_database | latin1 |
| character_set_results | latin1 |
| character_set_server | latin1 |
| character_set_system | utf8 |
| character_sets_dir | /usr/share/mysql/charsets/ |
| collation_connection | latin1_general_ci |
| collation_database | latin1_general_ci |
| collation_server | latin1_general_ci |
| concurrent_insert | ON |
| connect_timeout | 20 |
| datadir | /var/lib/mysql/ |
| date_format | %Y-%m-%d |
| datetime_format | %Y-%m-%d %H:%i:%s |
| default_week_format | 0 |
| delay_key_write | ON |
| delayed_insert_limit | 100 |
| delayed_insert_timeout | 300 |
| delayed_queue_size | 1000 |
| expire_logs_days | 0 |
| flush | OFF |
| flush_time | 0 |
| ft_boolean_syntax | + -><()~*:""&| |
| ft_max_word_len | 84 |
| ft_min_word_len | 4 |
| ft_query_expansion_limit | 20 |
| ft_stopword_file | (built-in) |
| group_concat_max_len | 1024 |
| have_archive | NO |
| have_bdb | NO |
| have_blackhole_engine | NO |
| have_compress | YES |
| have_crypt | YES |
| have_csv | NO |
| have_example_engine | NO |
| have_geometry | YES |
| have_innodb | DISABLED |
| have_isam | NO |
| have_ndbcluster | NO |
| have_openssl | NO |
| have_query_cache | YES |
| have_raid | NO |
| have_rtree_keys | YES |
| have_symlink | YES |
| init_connect | |
| init_file | |
| init_slave | |
| innodb_additional_mem_pool_size | 1048576 |
| innodb_autoextend_increment | 8 |
| innodb_buffer_pool_awe_mem_mb | 0 |
| innodb_buffer_pool_size | 8388608 |
| innodb_data_file_path | |
| innodb_data_home_dir | |
| innodb_fast_shutdown | ON |
| innodb_file_io_threads | 4 |
| innodb_file_per_table | OFF |
| innodb_flush_log_at_trx_commit | 1 |
| innodb_flush_method | |
| innodb_force_recovery | 0 |
| innodb_lock_wait_timeout | 50 |
| innodb_locks_unsafe_for_binlog | OFF |
| innodb_log_arch_dir | |
| innodb_log_archive | OFF |
| innodb_log_buffer_size | 1048576 |
| innodb_log_file_size | 5242880 |
| innodb_log_files_in_group | 2 |
| innodb_log_group_home_dir | |
| innodb_max_dirty_pages_pct | 90 |
| innodb_max_purge_lag | 0 |
| innodb_mirrored_log_groups | 1 |
| innodb_open_files | 300 |
| innodb_table_locks | ON |
| innodb_thread_concurrency | 8 |
| interactive_timeout | 10 |
| join_buffer_size | 1044480 |
| key_buffer_size | 536870912 |
| key_cache_age_threshold | 300 |
| key_cache_block_size | 1024 |
| key_cache_division_limit | 100 |
| language | /usr/share/mysql/english/ |
| large_files_support | ON |
| license | GPL |
| local_infile | ON |
| locked_in_memory | OFF |
| log | OFF |
| log_bin | OFF |
| log_error | |
| log_slave_updates | OFF |
| log_slow_queries | ON |
| log_update | OFF |
| log_warnings | 1 |
| long_query_time | 2 |
| low_priority_updates | OFF |
| lower_case_file_system | OFF |
| lower_case_table_names | 0 |
| max_allowed_packet | 503315456 |
| max_binlog_cache_size | 4294967295 |
| max_binlog_size | 1073741824 |
| max_connect_errors | 20 |
| max_connections | 600 |
| max_delayed_threads | 20 |
| max_error_count | 64 |
| max_heap_table_size | 16777216 |
| max_insert_delayed_threads | 20 |
| max_join_size | 4294967295 |
| max_length_for_sort_data | 1024 |
| max_prepared_stmt_count | 16382 |
| max_relay_log_size | 0 |
| max_seeks_for_key | 4294967295 |
| max_sort_length | 1024 |
| max_tmp_tables | 32 |
| max_user_connections | 200 |
| max_write_lock_count | 4294967295 |
| myisam_data_pointer_size | 4 |
| myisam_max_extra_sort_file_size | 2147483648 |
| myisam_max_sort_file_size | 2147483647 |
| myisam_recover_options | OFF |
| myisam_repair_threads | 1 |
| myisam_sort_buffer_size | 67108864 |
| myisam_stats_method | nulls_unequal |
| net_buffer_length | 16384 |
| net_read_timeout | 30 |
| net_retry_count | 10 |
| net_write_timeout | 60 |
| new | OFF |
| old_passwords | OFF |
| open_files_limit | 10000 |
| pid_file | /var/lib/mysql/s3.rjhnet.com.pid |
| port | 0 |
| preload_buffer_size | 32768 |
| prepared_stmt_count | 0 |
| protocol_version | 10 |
| query_alloc_block_size | 8192 |
| query_cache_limit | 1048576 |
| query_cache_min_res_unit | 4096 |
| query_cache_size | 134217728 |
| query_cache_type | ON |
| query_cache_wlock_invalidate | OFF |
| query_prealloc_size | 8192 |
| range_alloc_block_size | 2048 |
| read_buffer_size | 4190208 |
| read_only | OFF |
| read_rnd_buffer_size | 4190208 |
| relay_log_purge | ON |
| relay_log_space_limit | 0 |
| rpl_recovery_rank | 0 |
| secure_auth | OFF |
| server_id | 1 |
| skip_external_locking | ON |
| skip_networking | ON |
| skip_show_database | OFF |
| slave_net_timeout | 3600 |
| slave_transaction_retries | 0 |
| slow_launch_time | 2 |
| socket | /var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock |
| sort_buffer_size | 4194296 |
| sql_mode | |
| sql_notes | ON |
| sql_warnings | ON |
| storage_engine | MyISAM |
| sync_binlog | 0 |
| sync_frm | ON |
| sync_replication | 0 |
| sync_replication_slave_id | 0 |
| sync_replication_timeout | 0 |
| system_time_zone | EDT |
| table_cache | 1024 |
| table_type | MyISAM |
| thread_cache_size | 128 |
| thread_stack | 196608 |
| time_format | %H:%i:%s |
| time_zone | SYSTEM |
| tmp_table_size | 33554432 |
| tmpdir | |
| transaction_alloc_block_size | 8192 |
| transaction_prealloc_size | 4096 |
| tx_isolation | REPEATABLE-READ |
| version | 4.1.20-standard-log |
| version_comment | MySQL Community Edition - Standard (GPL) |
| version_compile_machine | i686 |
| version_compile_os | pc-linux-gnu |
| wait_timeout | 20 |
+---------------------------------+------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------+------------+
| Variable_name | Value |
+----------------------------+------------+
| Aborted_clients | 22781 |
| Aborted_connects | 0 |
| Binlog_cache_disk_use | 0 |
| Binlog_cache_use | 0 |
| Bytes_received | 4000226621 |
| Bytes_sent | 3023296446 |
| Com_admin_commands | 0 |
| Com_alter_db | 0 |
| Com_alter_table | 0 |
| Com_analyze | 0 |
| Com_backup_table | 0 |
| Com_begin | 0 |
| Com_change_db | 1814529 |
| Com_change_master | 0 |
| Com_check | 0 |
| Com_checksum | 0 |
| Com_commit | 0 |
| Com_create_db | 0 |
| Com_create_function | 0 |
| Com_create_index | 0 |
| Com_create_table | 0 |
| Com_dealloc_sql | 0 |
| Com_delete | 89335 |
| Com_delete_multi | 0 |
| Com_do | 0 |
| Com_drop_db | 0 |
| Com_drop_function | 0 |
| Com_drop_index | 0 |
| Com_drop_table | 0 |
| Com_drop_user | 0 |
| Com_execute_sql | 0 |
| Com_flush | 6 |
| Com_grant | 0 |
| Com_ha_close | 0 |
| Com_ha_open | 0 |
| Com_ha_read | 0 |
| Com_help | 0 |
| Com_insert | 499426 |
| Com_insert_select | 3030 |
| Com_kill | 0 |
| Com_load | 0 |
| Com_load_master_data | 0 |
| Com_load_master_table | 0 |
| Com_lock_tables | 13231 |
| Com_optimize | 0 |
| Com_preload_keys | 0 |
| Com_prepare_sql | 0 |
| Com_purge | 0 |
| Com_purge_before_date | 0 |
| Com_rename_table | 0 |
| Com_repair | 0 |
| Com_replace | 580217 |
| Com_replace_select | 0 |
| Com_reset | 0 |
| Com_restore_table | 0 |
| Com_revoke | 0 |
| Com_revoke_all | 0 |
| Com_rollback | 0 |
| Com_savepoint | 0 |
| Com_select | 4460906 |
| Com_set_option | 1748 |
| Com_show_binlog_events | 0 |
| Com_show_binlogs | 0 |
| Com_show_charsets | 0 |
| Com_show_collations | 0 |
| Com_show_column_types | 0 |
| Com_show_create_db | 0 |
| Com_show_create_table | 396 |
| Com_show_databases | 6 |
| Com_show_errors | 0 |
| Com_show_fields | 399 |
| Com_show_grants | 9 |
| Com_show_innodb_status | 0 |
| Com_show_keys | 0 |
| Com_show_logs | 0 |
| Com_show_master_status | 0 |
| Com_show_ndb_status | 0 |
| Com_show_new_master | 0 |
| Com_show_open_tables | 0 |
| Com_show_privileges | 0 |
| Com_show_processlist | 1617 |
| Com_show_slave_hosts | 0 |
| Com_show_slave_status | 0 |
| Com_show_status | 2 |
| Com_show_storage_engines | 0 |
| Com_show_tables | 439 |
| Com_show_variables | 97 |
| Com_show_warnings | 0 |
| Com_slave_start | 0 |
| Com_slave_stop | 0 |
| Com_stmt_close | 0 |
| Com_stmt_execute | 0 |
| Com_stmt_prepare | 0 |
| Com_stmt_reset | 0 |
| Com_stmt_send_long_data | 0 |
| Com_truncate | 0 |
| Com_unlock_tables | 13234 |
| Com_update | 1464953 |
| Com_update_multi | 36 |
| Connections | 1823091 |
| Created_tmp_disk_tables | 22153 |
| Created_tmp_files | 78646 |
| Created_tmp_tables | 361349 |
| Delayed_errors | 0 |
| Delayed_insert_threads | 0 |
| Delayed_writes | 0 |
| Flush_commands | 1 |
| Handler_commit | 0 |
| Handler_delete | 191311 |
| Handler_discover | 0 |
| Handler_read_first | 685212 |
| Handler_read_key | 402807633 |
| Handler_read_next | 288965684 |
| Handler_read_prev | 3607474 |
| Handler_read_rnd | 178906717 |
| Handler_read_rnd_next | 2862942600 |
| Handler_rollback | 0 |
| Handler_update | 298156413 |
| Handler_write | 25126781 |
| Key_blocks_not_flushed | 0 |
| Key_blocks_unused | 441880 |
| Key_blocks_used | 22040 |
| Key_read_requests | 380915689 |
| Key_reads | 23686 |
| Key_write_requests | 934337 |
| Key_writes | 703557 |
| Max_used_connections | 63 |
| Not_flushed_delayed_rows | 0 |
| Open_files | 369 |
| Open_streams | 0 |
| Open_tables | 258 |
| Opened_tables | 264 |
| Qcache_free_blocks | 13106 |
| Qcache_free_memory | 69627480 |
| Qcache_hits | 8594292 |
| Qcache_inserts | 4402389 |
| Qcache_lowmem_prunes | 12326 |
| Qcache_not_cached | 45186 |
| Qcache_queries_in_cache | 29818 |
| Qcache_total_blocks | 73856 |
| Questions | 19349759 |
| Rpl_status | NULL |
| Select_full_join | 1529 |
| Select_full_range_join | 0 |
| Select_range | 639755 |
| Select_range_check | 0 |
| Select_scan | 1214427 |
| Slave_open_temp_tables | 0 |
| Slave_retried_transactions | 0 |
| Slave_running | OFF |
| Slow_launch_threads | 0 |
| Slow_queries | 2148 |
| Sort_merge_passes | 39323 |
| Sort_range | 809484 |
| Sort_rows | 2962648788 |
| Sort_scan | 474652 |
| Table_locks_immediate | 12029432 |
| Table_locks_waited | 5160 |
| Threads_cached | 56 |
| Threads_connected | 7 |
| Threads_created | 63 |
| Threads_running | 1 |
| Uptime | 483436 |
+----------------------------+------------+
Uptime: 483436 Threads: 12 Questions: 19349800 Slow queries: 2148 Opens: 264 Flush tables: 1 Open tables: 258 Queries per second avg: 40.026
mysqladmin Ver 8.41 Distrib 4.1.20, for pc-linux-gnu on i686
Copyright (C) 2000 MySQL AB & MySQL Finland AB & TCX DataKonsult AB
This software comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY. This is free software,
and you are welcome to modify and redistribute it under the GPL license

Server version 4.1.20-standard-log
Protocol version 10
Connection Localhost via UNIX socket
UNIX socket /var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock
Uptime: 5 days 14 hours 17 min 16 sec


8. Other scripts: Photopost

9. Average 150, max 250 (so far..). Cookies timeout is 900

10. PHP info:
http://www.mymostwanted.com/info.php

11.
Values:
Timeout 300
Keepalive on
Maxkeepalive 100
Keepalivetimeout 8
MinSpareServers 5
MaxSpareServers 10
StartServers 5
MaxClients 150
MaxRequestsPerChild 300
I have a question about the keepalive - I know you always say to set it to off, but my hosting company once set it back to on, and said:
I have also turned "keepalive" to On in your /usr/local/apache/conf/httpd.conf file and restarted Apache. This has helped bring down the number of "TIME_WAIT" state connections considerably


What do you think?

12. vb 3.6

13. cpanel backups

14. root@s3 [~]# uname -a
Linux s3.rjhnet.com 2.6.9-34.ELsmp #1 SMP Wed Mar 8 00:27:03 CST 2006 i686 athlo n i386 GNU/Linux
root@s3 [~]# ulimit -aH
core file size (blocks, -c) unlimited
data seg size (kbytes, -d) unlimited
file size (blocks, -f) unlimited
pending signals (-i) 1024
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
stack size (kbytes, -s) unlimited
cpu time (seconds, -t) unlimited
max user processes (-u) 81920
virtual memory (kbytes, -v) unlimited
file locks (-x) unlimited
root@s3 [~]# cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor : 0
vendor_id : AuthenticAMD
cpu family : 15
model : 33
model name : Dual Core AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 270
stepping : 2
cpu MHz : 2005.459
cache size : 1024 KB
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 1
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext lm 3dnowext 3dnow pni
bogomips : 4012.72

processor : 1
vendor_id : AuthenticAMD
cpu family : 15
model : 33
model name : Dual Core AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 270
stepping : 2
cpu MHz : 2005.459
cache size : 1024 KB
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 1
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext lm 3dnowext 3dnow pni
bogomips : 4008.61

Thanks!

[bajabob]

It's been 4 days...here's some more updated info if that helps..
Top:
top - 20:13:32 up 8 days, 17:59, 1 user, load average: 17.08, 20.04, 20.76
Tasks: 242 total, 21 running, 220 sleeping, 1 stopped, 0 zombie
Cpu(s): 97.2% us, 2.7% sy, 0.0% ni, 0.0% id, 0.0% wa, 0.1% hi, 0.0% si
Mem: 4147384k total, 3542960k used, 604424k free, 67200k buffers
Swap: 2096440k total, 20080k used, 2076360k free, 1252564k cached

PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
18650 mysql 5 -10 675m 203m 2848 S 21.9 5.0 288:40.20 mysqld
20170 nobody 16 0 204m 23m 11m R 20.2 0.6 0:14.61 httpd
14356 nobody 16 0 209m 33m 15m R 15.7 0.8 1:03.30 httpd
20965 nobody 16 0 198m 17m 10m S 15.3 0.4 0:03.98 httpd
19007 nobody 15 0 209m 31m 13m S 14.4 0.8 0:24.64 httpd
19138 nobody 16 0 209m 30m 12m R 13.1 0.8 0:37.29 httpd
20598 nobody 16 0 209m 27m 9364 R 12.7 0.7 0:08.43 httpd
16721 nobody 16 0 202m 26m 15m S 10.8 0.6 1:06.26 httpd
19546 nobody 15 0 210m 29m 11m R 10.4 0.7 0:22.47 httpd
19359 nobody 15 0 204m 24m 12m R 10.1 0.6 0:27.81 httpd
15411 nobody 16 0 208m 30m 13m R 9.8 0.8 1:18.53 httpd
17169 nobody 15 0 209m 33m 15m S 9.5 0.8 0:59.52 httpd
17492 nobody 16 0 209m 31m 13m S 9.5 0.8 0:52.73 httpd
18349 nobody 16 0 202m 26m 15m R 8.8 0.6 0:40.72 httpd
20373 nobody 15 0 209m 26m 9108 S 8.8 0.7 0:10.41 httpd
20884 nobody 15 0 198m 15m 8992 S 8.8 0.4 0:05.26 httpd
17025 nobody 17 0 209m 30m 13m R 8.5 0.8 0:56.99 httpd


mysql stat:
+---------------------------------+------------------------------------------+
| Variable_name | Value |
+---------------------------------+------------------------------------------+
| back_log | 50 |
| basedir | / |
| binlog_cache_size | 32768 |
| bulk_insert_buffer_size | 8388608 |
| character_set_client | latin1 |
| character_set_connection | latin1 |
| character_set_database | latin1 |
| character_set_results | latin1 |
| character_set_server | latin1 |
| character_set_system | utf8 |
| character_sets_dir | /usr/share/mysql/charsets/ |
| collation_connection | latin1_general_ci |
| collation_database | latin1_general_ci |
| collation_server | latin1_general_ci |
| concurrent_insert | ON |
| connect_timeout | 20 |
| datadir | /var/lib/mysql/ |
| date_format | %Y-%m-%d |
| datetime_format | %Y-%m-%d %H:%i:%s |
| default_week_format | 0 |
| delay_key_write | ON |
| delayed_insert_limit | 100 |
| delayed_insert_timeout | 300 |
| delayed_queue_size | 1000 |
| expire_logs_days | 0 |
| flush | OFF |
| flush_time | 0 |
| ft_boolean_syntax | + -><()~*:""&| |
| ft_max_word_len | 84 |
| ft_min_word_len | 4 |
| ft_query_expansion_limit | 20 |
| ft_stopword_file | (built-in) |
| group_concat_max_len | 1024 |
| have_archive | NO |
| have_bdb | NO |
| have_blackhole_engine | NO |
| have_compress | YES |
| have_crypt | YES |
| have_csv | NO |
| have_example_engine | NO |
| have_geometry | YES |
| have_innodb | DISABLED |
| have_isam | NO |
| have_ndbcluster | NO |
| have_openssl | NO |
| have_query_cache | YES |
| have_raid | NO |
| have_rtree_keys | YES |
| have_symlink | YES |
| init_connect | |
| init_file | |
| init_slave | |
| innodb_additional_mem_pool_size | 1048576 |
| innodb_autoextend_increment | 8 |
| innodb_buffer_pool_awe_mem_mb | 0 |
| innodb_buffer_pool_size | 8388608 |
| innodb_data_file_path | |
| innodb_data_home_dir | |
| innodb_fast_shutdown | ON |
| innodb_file_io_threads | 4 |
| innodb_file_per_table | OFF |
| innodb_flush_log_at_trx_commit | 1 |
| innodb_flush_method | |
| innodb_force_recovery | 0 |
| innodb_lock_wait_timeout | 50 |
| innodb_locks_unsafe_for_binlog | OFF |
| innodb_log_arch_dir | |
| innodb_log_archive | OFF |
| innodb_log_buffer_size | 1048576 |
| innodb_log_file_size | 5242880 |
| innodb_log_files_in_group | 2 |
| innodb_log_group_home_dir | |
| innodb_max_dirty_pages_pct | 90 |
| innodb_max_purge_lag | 0 |
| innodb_mirrored_log_groups | 1 |
| innodb_open_files | 300 |
| innodb_table_locks | ON |
| innodb_thread_concurrency | 8 |
| interactive_timeout | 10 |
| join_buffer_size | 1044480 |
| key_buffer_size | 536870912 |
| key_cache_age_threshold | 300 |
| key_cache_block_size | 1024 |
| key_cache_division_limit | 100 |
| language | /usr/share/mysql/english/ |
| large_files_support | ON |
| license | GPL |
| local_infile | ON |
| locked_in_memory | OFF |
| log | OFF |
| log_bin | OFF |
| log_error | |
| log_slave_updates | OFF |
| log_slow_queries | ON |
| log_update | OFF |
| log_warnings | 1 |
| long_query_time | 2 |
| low_priority_updates | OFF |
| lower_case_file_system | OFF |
| lower_case_table_names | 0 |
| max_allowed_packet | 503315456 |
| max_binlog_cache_size | 4294967295 |
| max_binlog_size | 1073741824 |
| max_connect_errors | 20 |
| max_connections | 600 |
| max_delayed_threads | 20 |
| max_error_count | 64 |
| max_heap_table_size | 16777216 |
| max_insert_delayed_threads | 20 |
| max_join_size | 4294967295 |
| max_length_for_sort_data | 1024 |
| max_prepared_stmt_count | 16382 |
| max_relay_log_size | 0 |
| max_seeks_for_key | 4294967295 |
| max_sort_length | 1024 |
| max_tmp_tables | 32 |
| max_user_connections | 200 |
| max_write_lock_count | 4294967295 |
| myisam_data_pointer_size | 4 |
| myisam_max_extra_sort_file_size | 2147483648 |
| myisam_max_sort_file_size | 2147483647 |
| myisam_recover_options | OFF |
| myisam_repair_threads | 1 |
| myisam_sort_buffer_size | 67108864 |
| myisam_stats_method | nulls_unequal |
| net_buffer_length | 16384 |
| net_read_timeout | 30 |
| net_retry_count | 10 |
| net_write_timeout | 60 |
| new | OFF |
| old_passwords | OFF |
| open_files_limit | 3010 |
| pid_file | /var/lib/mysql/s3.rjhnet.com.pid |
| port | 0 |
| preload_buffer_size | 32768 |
| prepared_stmt_count | 0 |
| protocol_version | 10 |
| query_alloc_block_size | 8192 |
| query_cache_limit | 1048576 |
| query_cache_min_res_unit | 4096 |
| query_cache_size | 134217728 |
| query_cache_type | ON |
| query_cache_wlock_invalidate | OFF |
| query_prealloc_size | 8192 |
| range_alloc_block_size | 2048 |
| read_buffer_size | 4190208 |
| read_only | OFF |
| read_rnd_buffer_size | 4190208 |
| relay_log_purge | ON |
| relay_log_space_limit | 0 |
| rpl_recovery_rank | 0 |
| secure_auth | OFF |
| server_id | 1 |
| skip_external_locking | ON |
| skip_networking | ON |
| skip_show_database | OFF |
| slave_net_timeout | 3600 |
| slave_transaction_retries | 0 |
| slow_launch_time | 2 |
| socket | /var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock |
| sort_buffer_size | 4194296 |
| sql_mode | |
| sql_notes | ON |
| sql_warnings | ON |
| storage_engine | MyISAM |
| sync_binlog | 0 |
| sync_frm | ON |
| sync_replication | 0 |
| sync_replication_slave_id | 0 |
| sync_replication_timeout | 0 |
| system_time_zone | EDT |
| table_cache | 1024 |
| table_type | MyISAM |
| thread_cache_size | 128 |
| thread_stack | 196608 |
| time_format | %H:%i:%s |
| time_zone | SYSTEM |
| tmp_table_size | 33554432 |
| tmpdir | |
| transaction_alloc_block_size | 8192 |
| transaction_prealloc_size | 4096 |
| tx_isolation | REPEATABLE-READ |
| version | 4.1.20-standard-log |
| version_comment | MySQL Community Edition - Standard (GPL) |
| version_compile_machine | i686 |
| version_compile_os | pc-linux-gnu |
| wait_timeout | 20 |
+---------------------------------+------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------+------------+
| Variable_name | Value |
+----------------------------+------------+
| Aborted_clients | 6488 |
| Aborted_connects | 0 |
| Binlog_cache_disk_use | 0 |
| Binlog_cache_use | 0 |
| Bytes_received | 1334043446 |
| Bytes_sent | 3282402944 |
| Com_admin_commands | 0 |
| Com_alter_db | 0 |
| Com_alter_table | 0 |
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| Com_begin | 0 |
| Com_change_db | 632801 |
| Com_change_master | 0 |
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| Com_insert_select | 903 |
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| Com_lock_tables | 5548 |
| Com_optimize | 0 |
| Com_preload_keys | 0 |
| Com_prepare_sql | 0 |
| Com_purge | 0 |
| Com_purge_before_date | 0 |
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| Com_replace | 190756 |
| Com_replace_select | 0 |
| Com_reset | 0 |
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| Com_select | 1511669 |
| Com_set_option | 540 |
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| Com_show_databases | 1 |
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| Com_show_new_master | 0 |
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| Com_show_processlist | 499 |
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| Com_show_status | 1 |
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| Com_show_variables | 56 |
| Com_show_warnings | 0 |
| Com_slave_start | 0 |
| Com_slave_stop | 0 |
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| Com_unlock_tables | 5549 |
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| Com_update_multi | 10 |
| Connections | 635412 |
| Created_tmp_disk_tables | 8351 |
| Created_tmp_files | 29456 |
| Created_tmp_tables | 98732 |
| Delayed_errors | 0 |
| Delayed_insert_threads | 0 |
| Delayed_writes | 0 |
| Flush_commands | 1 |
| Handler_commit | 0 |
| Handler_delete | 62457 |
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| Handler_read_first | 242603 |
| Handler_read_key | 132520800 |
| Handler_read_next | 90321709 |
| Handler_read_prev | 1366255 |
| Handler_read_rnd | 52524715 |
| Handler_read_rnd_next | 2534173256 |
| Handler_rollback | 0 |
| Handler_update | 98018596 |
| Handler_write | 5351196 |
| Key_blocks_not_flushed | 0 |
| Key_blocks_unused | 445133 |
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| Key_read_requests | 128450513 |
| Key_reads | 19324 |
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| Key_writes | 238567 |
| Max_used_connections | 54 |
| Not_flushed_delayed_rows | 0 |
| Open_files | 355 |
| Open_streams | 0 |
| Open_tables | 239 |
| Opened_tables | 245 |
| Qcache_free_blocks | 8321 |
| Qcache_free_memory | 73818792 |
| Qcache_hits | 2881606 |
| Qcache_inserts | 1489507 |
| Qcache_lowmem_prunes | 0 |
| Qcache_not_cached | 16567 |
| Qcache_queries_in_cache | 22899 |
| Qcache_total_blocks | 55328 |
| Questions | 6571300 |
| Rpl_status | NULL |
| Select_full_join | 133 |
| Select_full_range_join | 0 |
| Select_range | 222221 |
| Select_range_check | 0 |
| Select_scan | 388740 |
| Slave_open_temp_tables | 0 |
| Slave_retried_transactions | 0 |
| Slave_running | OFF |
| Slow_launch_threads | 0 |
| Slow_queries | 1033 |
| Sort_merge_passes | 14728 |
| Sort_range | 274952 |
| Sort_rows | 1116604290 |
| Sort_scan | 144348 |
| Table_locks_immediate | 4085764 |
| Table_locks_waited | 1923 |
| Threads_cached | 43 |
| Threads_connected | 11 |
| Threads_created | 54 |
| Threads_running | 1 |
| Uptime | 149231 |
+----------------------------+------------+
Uptime: 149231 Threads: 13 Questions: 6571323 Slow queries: 1033 Opens: 245 Flush tables: 1 Open tables: 239 Queries per second avg: 44.035
mysqladmin Ver 8.41 Distrib 4.1.20, for pc-linux-gnu on i686
Copyright (C) 2000 MySQL AB & MySQL Finland AB & TCX DataKonsult AB
This software comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY. This is free software,
and you are welcome to modify and redistribute it under the GPL license

Server version 4.1.20-standard-log
Protocol version 10
Connection Localhost via UNIX socket
UNIX socket /var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock
Uptime: 1 day 17 hours 27 min 11 sec

[eva2000]

1. Upgrade MySQL server to 4.1.21 http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=186856 or if you can 4.1.21 http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=193353
2. Upgrade PHP to 4.4.4 or recompile 4.4.4 after updating MySQL
3. Edit /etc/my.cnf and place the following mysql server settings in /etc/my.cnf and restart mysql server afterwards


[mysqld]
datadir=/var/lib/mysql
safe-show-database
old_passwords
back_log = 75
skip-innodb
max_connections = 650
key_buffer = 128M
myisam_sort_buffer_size = 64M
join_buffer_size = 2M
read_buffer_size = 2M
sort_buffer_size = 4M
table_cache = 1800
thread_cache_size = 512
wait_timeout = 15
connect_timeout = 10
tmp_table_size = 256M
max_heap_table_size = 128M
max_allowed_packet = 64M
max_connect_errors = 10
read_rnd_buffer_size = 524288
bulk_insert_buffer_size = 8M
query_cache_limit = 6M
query_cache_size = 128M
query_cache_type = 1
query_prealloc_size = 163840
query_alloc_block_size = 32768
default-storage-engine = MyISAM
collation-server=latin1_general_ci

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

[mysqld_safe]
err-log=/var/log/mysqld.log
pid-file=/var/lib/mysql/mysql.pid
nice = -10
open_files_limit = 8192

[mysqldump]
quick
max_allowed_packet = 16M

[myisamchk]
key_buffer = 384M
sort_buffer = 384M
read_buffer = 256M
write_buffer = 256M

[mysqlhotcopy]
interactive-timeout


4. Install APC Cache lastest version from http://pecl.php.net/package/APC. Read install guide at http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=165367 - please remove Zend Optimizer from php.ini before installing APC Cache

5. Edit httpd.conf values from

Timeout 300
Keepalive on
Maxkeepalive 100
Keepalivetimeout 8
MinSpareServers 5
MaxSpareServers 10
StartServers 5
MaxClients 150
MaxRequestsPerChild 300

to

Timeout 300
Keepalive on or off - try either setting for 2-3 days and choose the one that works better for you
Maxkeepalive 100
Keepalivetimeout 5
MinSpareServers 15
MaxSpareServers 20
StartServers 15
MaxClients 200
MaxRequestsPerChild 500

restart apache

6. If you just upgraded to vB 3.5.x/3.6.x try to disable these 4 options:

Admin CP -> vBulletin Options -> Forums Home Page Options -> Display Logged in Users?

Admin CP -> vBulletin Options -> Forum Display Options (forumdisplay) -> Show Users Browsing Forums

Admin CP -> vBulletin Options -> Thread Display Options -> Show Users Browsing Thread

Admin CP -> vBulletin Options -> Message Searching Options -> Automatic Similar Thread search

7. If you're using CentOS 4.2/4.3 linxu operating system, then upgrade your smp linux kernel to 2.6.9-39 or higher version at least to fix the high cpu load issue with CentOS linux http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=171071

[bajabob]

Great, thanks for your help.

Quick question though: Is there a quick way to do the MySQL upgrade using WHM? I'm currently using 4.1.20. If not - then how do I even upgrade from .20 to 21?
And what about Mysql V5? not recommended?

As for the kernel upgrade - I see the RH released version .42 but I cant find an SMP release - guess I should upgrade to 39 for now and wait?
and should I be concerened by the following error while installing .39?

WARNING: No module aar81xx found for kernel 2.6.9-39.0.2.ELsmp, continuing anyway

Now - I have another server that only has one cpu (opteron 280) should I use the regular kernel? or SMP? (does a dual core counts as 2 cpus...?)

Thanks :)

[eva2000]

I think there's only 2 ways to update mysql on WHM

1. wait for WHM to release 4.1.21 update which you can update to via WHM admin panel for updates

or

2. Update using mysql.com 4.1.21 rpm binaries.. i'd ask at webhostingtalk.com and cpanel.net support forums as to how to best approach this or ask your web host.

As to kernel error i'd ask your web host or at webhostingtalk.com or centos.org support forums.

For opteron 280 it's dual core cpu so 1 cpu has 2 cpu cores so use SMP kernel as well.

[bajabob]

I think there's only 2 ways to update mysql on WHM

1. wait for WHM to release 4.1.21 update which you can update to via WHM admin panel for updates

or

2. Update using mysql.com 4.1.21 rpm binaries.. i'd ask at webhostingtalk.com and cpanel.net support forums as to how to best approach this or ask your web host.

As to kernel error i'd ask your web host or at webhostingtalk.com or centos.org support forums.

For opteron 280 it's dual core cpu so 1 cpu has 2 cpu cores so use SMP kernel as well.


Thanks you:)
Now another question - since the time writing the original message I already upgraded a few days ago, and now I have 6 gigs of ram. Should there be any optimization changes accordinly? My load average on peak times, or actually just evening is about 20-30. Could be lower I suppose? when it happen there are about 200 users on the forum/gallery.

The thing is, the load doesn't effect the speed really, somehow the server is still working fast enough, but I guess it'd still be better if it was lower. Also because the load is high, to prevent my users from getting a 'server busy' message I had to set the forum load limit to 50.

[eva2000]

have you done kernel update to fix high cpu loads ?

just same my.cnf with 6GB is fine

[bajabob]

have you done kernel update to fix high cpu loads ?

just same my.cnf with 6GB is fine

Yeah I have, did all the steps. upgraded to version .39...still :S

[eva2000]

still ????

check apache error log for any error messages too

[bajabob]

still ????

check apache error log for any error messages too

All I can find are 404 errors, mainly users trying to find a favicon and a 404 page.

Any chance the kernel error I posted above could effect the load?
WARNING: No module aar81xx found for kernel 2.6.9-39.0.2.ELsmp, continuing anywayOn google I found that this error is related to an Adaptec HostRaid.

BTW, an updated top stats..if that helps (161 on the forums atm)
top - 17:27:24 up 4 days, 2:59, 2 users, load average: 14.52, 13.58, 14.87
Tasks: 188 total, 13 running, 173 sleeping, 0 stopped, 2 zombie
Cpu(s): 93.8% us, 6.0% sy, 0.0% ni, 0.1% id, 0.0% wa, 0.1% hi, 0.0% si
Mem: 6228076k total, 5079356k used, 1148720k free, 130448k buffers
Swap: 2096440k total, 0k used, 2096440k free, 3691032k cached

PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
16151 mysql 5 -10 294m 171m 2936 S 39.9 2.8 269:01.21 mysqld
8809 nobody 19 0 236m 57m 10m R 18.0 0.9 0:21.63 httpd
9172 nobody 19 0 0 0 0 Z 16.0 0.0 0:00.68 httpd <defunct>
8808 nobody 16 0 207m 31m 13m S 15.6 0.5 0:27.25 httpd
9154 nobody 20 0 207m 21m 3496 R 14.0 0.3 0:00.71 httpd
9146 nobody 20 0 206m 20m 3524 R 13.6 0.3 0:00.70 httpd
8801 nobody 16 0 207m 29m 10m S 12.3 0.5 0:19.11 httpd
9147 nobody 20 0 209m 23m 3144 R 12.0 0.4 0:00.59 httpd
9150 nobody 19 0 198m 15m 5780 S 11.6 0.3 0:00.55 httpd
8797 nobody 17 0 206m 27m 9844 S 10.3 0.5 0:19.68 httpd
8812 nobody 17 0 207m 28m 10m S 10.3 0.5 0:22.74 httpd
9029 nobody 15 0 199m 21m 11m S 10.0 0.4 0:08.38 httpd
9185 nobody 20 0 25880 17m 13m R 9.6 0.3 0:00.29 mogrify
9126 nobody 15 0 198m 15m 5968 S 9.3 0.2 0:02.04 httpd
8792 nobody 17 0 206m 27m 9m S 9.0 0.5 0:20.10 httpd
8800 nobody 15 0 207m 28m 10m S 7.6 0.5 0:23.09 httpd
8795 nobody 16 0 207m 30m 12m S 6.3 0.5 0:22.65 httpd

[eva2000]

could be kernel related or raid controller driver related issue.. i'd contact your web host to get them to investigate

[bajabob]

I upgraded to version .42, this time using a script my webhost offers so it has the right drivers (such as this adaptec one). I'm liking the results, load is lower.
With 140 users on the forum atm, and 160 on the gallery:

top - 15:57:18 up 8:34, 2 users, load average: 4.96, 4.98, 5.84
Tasks: 147 total, 9 running, 138 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie
Cpu(s): 98.2% us, 1.8% sy, 0.0% ni, 0.0% id, 0.0% wa, 0.0% hi, 0.0% si
Mem: 6228076k total, 5607816k used, 620260k free, 231096k buffers
Swap: 2096440k total, 0k used, 2096440k free, 4380784k cached

PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
27231 nobody 16 0 211m 28m 9856 S 23.0 0.5 0:17.22 httpd
27828 nobody 15 0 210m 29m 11m R 22.7 0.5 0:08.84 httpd
27883 nobody 16 0 210m 23m 5828 S 20.1 0.4 0:03.65 httpd
27878 nobody 16 0 202m 17m 6728 S 19.4 0.3 0:04.08 httpd
27255 nobody 16 0 210m 31m 13m S 18.4 0.5 0:40.09 httpd
27678 nobody 16 0 210m 27m 9632 S 17.8 0.4 0:16.66 httpd
27916 nobody 16 0 203m 17m 5624 S 17.8 0.3 0:01.52 httpd
27693 nobody 16 0 210m 30m 12m S 17.4 0.5 0:22.43 httpd
27622 nobody 15 0 210m 28m 11m S 16.8 0.5 0:23.13 httpd
27288 nobody 16 0 210m 29m 11m S 15.8 0.5 0:39.15 httpd
27674 nobody 16 0 210m 27m 9788 S 15.1 0.4 0:15.80 httpd
27887 nobody 15 0 210m 24m 6628 R 15.1 0.4 0:03.95 httpd
27876 nobody 16 0 210m 25m 7556 S 13.8 0.4 0:03.98 httpd
27692 nobody 15 0 210m 29m 11m S 12.8 0.5 0:17.08 httpd
27877 nobody 16 0 210m 26m 8504 S 12.5 0.4 0:05.42 httpd
27911 nobody 16 0 210m 21m 4060 S 12.5 0.4 0:01.73 httpd
27912 nobody 16 0 203m 17m 6496 R 12.2 0.3 0:01.61 httpd

So you should recommend others to .42, this one is much than 39. Not saying perfect because it still on 14-18 at later hours, but thats better than 20-30.

BTW, I saw that on WHT they also say to tweak sysctl.conf but you don't so um :p do you think it'd actually help? using their 'recommended' settings only made it worse...
Or do you think thats it, I tried everything, it can't get lower? without contacting the webhost..

[eva2000]

Looks alot better so far i see.. i haven't touched sysctl.conf and probably no need to :)

[bajabob]

Oh ok, so you say the load is normal now?
I must say that another thing that helped is changing keepalive to off.

[eva2000]

the load doesn't seem normal for dual opteron 270 cpus but

cat /proc/cpuinfo

should report 4 cpu cores, but your output shows only 2 cores which leads me to believe you only have single opteron 270

type

top

then when top is running type the number

1

how many cpu cores you use

4 cores - dual opteron 270
cpu0, cpu1, cpu2, cpu3

or

2 cores - single opteron 270
cpu0 and cpu1

could also be the raid controller driver/kernel issue which you need your web host to look into

[bajabob]

Looks like it is a 2 DC CPUs system after all. guess I didn't copy it properly.

[~]# cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor : 0
vendor_id : AuthenticAMD
cpu family : 15
model : 33
model name : Dual Core AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 270
stepping : 2
cpu MHz : 2005.707
cache size : 1024 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 : 1
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext lm 3dnowext 3dnow pni
bogomips : 4012.71

processor : 1
vendor_id : AuthenticAMD
cpu family : 15
model : 33
model name : Dual Core AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 270
stepping : 2
cpu MHz : 2005.707
cache size : 1024 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 : 1
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext lm 3dnowext 3dnow pni
bogomips : 4008.53

processor : 2
vendor_id : AuthenticAMD
cpu family : 15
model : 33
model name : Dual Core AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 270
stepping : 2
cpu MHz : 2005.707
cache size : 1024 KB
physical id : 1
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 : 1
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext lm 3dnowext 3dnow pni
bogomips : 4008.53

processor : 3
vendor_id : AuthenticAMD
cpu family : 15
model : 33
model name : Dual Core AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 270
stepping : 2
cpu MHz : 2005.707
cache size : 1024 KB
physical id : 1
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 : 1
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext lm 3dnowext 3dnow pni
bogomips : 4008.53




top - 14:49:59 up 4 days, 7:27, 1 user, load average: 34.63, 17.73, 12.37
Tasks: 210 total, 14 running, 196 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie
Cpu0 : 98.0% us, 2.0% sy, 0.0% ni, 0.0% id, 0.0% wa, 0.0% hi, 0.0% si
Cpu1 : 98.7% us, 1.3% sy, 0.0% ni, 0.0% id, 0.0% wa, 0.0% hi, 0.0% si
Cpu2 : 96.7% us, 3.0% sy, 0.0% ni, 0.0% id, 0.0% wa, 0.3% hi, 0.0% si
Cpu3 : 99.0% us, 1.0% sy, 0.0% ni, 0.0% id, 0.0% wa, 0.0% hi, 0.0% si
Mem: 6228076k total, 5713344k used, 514732k free, 291964k buffers
Swap: 2096440k total, 15792k used, 2080648k free, 3599424k cached

PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
7848 nobody 21 0 210m 21m 3892 R 28.2 0.4 0:03.99 httpd
7799 nobody 25 0 206m 17m 3408 R 27.2 0.3 0:04.21 httpd
7800 nobody 25 0 239m 49m 3296 R 27.2 0.8 0:03.58 httpd
7761 nobody 16 0 210m 23m 6084 S 24.6 0.4 0:06.44 httpd
7819 nobody 25 0 239m 50m 3928 R 21.9 0.8 0:03.85 httpd
7834 nobody 25 0 239m 49m 3376 R 19.3 0.8 0:03.38 httpd
7850 nobody 17 0 203m 17m 6472 R 9.6 0.3 0:01.59 httpd
7345 nobody 15 0 202m 14m 4124 S 8.6 0.2 0:01.90 httpd
7869 nobody 15 0 199m 13m 7096 S 7.6 0.2 0:01.27 httpd
7501 nobody 15 0 210m 26m 9068 S 7.3 0.4 0:19.73 httpd
7219 nobody 15 0 210m 30m 12m S 4.7 0.5 0:32.02 httpd
7450 nobody 16 0 202m 22m 12m S 4.7 0.4 0:21.05 httpd
7507 nobody 17 0 198m 13m 7380 S 4.7 0.2 0:06.41 httpd
7563 nobody 16 0 210m 27m 9.8m S 4.7 0.5 0:12.79 httpd

If clicking doing the above (clicking '1') such an intensive process? because as soon as I did, as you can see, the load spiked to like 36, and when I clicked one again it gradually went down to like 12.
Anyway, as for the kernel issue I resolved it - I used an SH script SoftLayer offers to update the kernel, and it also installs this driver...so I don't know what it is :/

[bajabob]

Also another question regarding my other server. it's load is pretty good (normally 1-2 or less, max is like 4-5) but perhaps it could still be better - this other server is an opteron 280 DC with 4 gigs of ram, running cent 4.3 (latest kernel) and has less visitors than this one.
Should I use the same config as this server (i.e same my.cnf) or open a different thread for it?

[eva2000]

yeah you start with same my.cnf

but clicking 1 in top is not server intensive, something else must be wrong with server config or software and not related to vB itself..

unfortunately such issue would be the realm of your web host's technical support

ensure vB gzip in admincp if enabled is not set to a level higher than 1 and your vB templates or web site templates files don't have any rogue script calls etc causing high cpu loads

[bajabob]

yeah you start with same my.cnf

but clicking 1 in top is not server intensive, something else must be wrong with server config or software and not related to vB itself..

unfortunately such issue would be the realm of your web host's technical support

ensure vB gzip in admincp if enabled is not set to a level higher than 1 and your vB templates or web site templates files don't have any rogue script calls etc causing high cpu loads

Well I'll have to check that '1' issue again on busier times to make sure It happens again and I'll open a ticket at the hosting support.

And yes, gzip is enabled and set to 1.

As for scripts calls I'm not sure, but I bet that what uses the cpu use the most is the PP gallery when it has many users. I bet that if I try to close it on busy times the load will calm so I'll try that tonight.

[eva2000]

yes photopost is very server intensive.. disable it for a while and see