Database Error max_user_connections

[jtech77]

I've been getting these e-mails and it turns out I've been getting them since I installed. Can anyone tell me what I have to do to fix this? Thanks!
Database error in vBulletin :

mysqli_real_connect() [<a href='function.mysqli-real-connect'>function.mysqli-real-connect</a>]: (42000/1203): User NAMEREMOVED already has more than 'max_user_connections' active connections /hermes/web08/b2838/pow.USERNAMEREMOVED/DIRECTORY/forum/includes/class_core.php on line 1138

MySQL Error :
Error Number :
Request Date : Friday, November 13th 2009 @ 10:54:37 AM
Error Date : Friday, November 13th 2009 @ 10:54:37 AM
Script : http://--.com/forum/showthread.php?t=574
Referrer :
IP Address : 83.149.199.55
Username :
Classname : vB_Database_MySQLi
MySQL Version :

[Lynne]

That is a server issue. You need to talk to your host to resolve this.

[jtech77]

I have, here's what they said: Dear Sir/Madam,
Thank you for contacting support.

To ensure all our customers have access to resources, users on our shared hosting servers are limited to the number of simultaneous database connections they can make. You appear to be hitting this limit, which can happen for a number of reasons.

Your application may be receiving a high amount of automated traffic. This can be spambots, automated processes which visit forums such as yours to abuse them with automated messages created as guests or anonymous posters. For more information about how to keep from getting spammed -- or if you're not sure what we mean by, say, "Guest or Anonymous posting," please visit:

http://www.powweb.com/info/systemnotice.bml?id=6880

You may also wish to upload a robots.txt file to prevent search-engine crawlers from burning up your quota of queries when they index your forum. They can make a far greater number of queries than any human visitor, as they automatically spider your site.

Some applications may also not be written correctly or in the most efficient way, for example failing to close database connections when they are no longer needed. This can lead to the number of connections used being more than is necessary. You should therefore make sure you are using the most recent version of the application available, as these issues tend to be less common in up to date applications.

However, if you have carried out these steps and are reaching this limit on a regular basis, due to the number of visitors to your site, you have simply reached the capacity of our shared hosting servers. If this is the case, you would need to look at moving to a virtual-private server, where the limit is under your control, as we can not increase the number of connections available on our shared hosting environment. I am sorry for any inconvenience that this may cause.

Thank You,
Jim M.
Technical Support
Do I need a dedicated server probably?

[jtech77]

Maybe I do need to fix my robots.txt I just got this email:

This email address was created solely to register automatically at thousands of forums for the purposes of spamming forums like yours. Remove my account and any other account registered with my email address!

You should also consider making the password requirements for your forum much more stringent.

Sincerely,

A Random Digilante Who Is Sick Of Forum Spammers From Russia

------------------------------------
Mail.Ru - удобно, доступно, надежно!
------------------------------------

[Mark.B]

If you start blocking search engines you'll affect your site's popularity. I wouldn't recommend going down that route.

It sounds like you may indeed have outgrown shared hosting - how many users do you normally have online?

As for the email address....implement one of the human verification options and look at pre-moderating new registrations. And block mail.ru from registering, it's a very common one.

[jtech77]

I do have recaptcha enabled for email registrations. I will block .ru right now. Could this be a problem because my timeout is set too long like around 2hrs? They complained about losing posts. I have a total of 431 members. 205 active. Shows I have 105 active right now (well the timeout isn't exactly 5 mins) 30 members, 75 guests. Do you think I need a dedicated host?

Thanks,
Amanda

[Mark.B]

I do have recaptcha enabled for email registrations. I will block .ru right now. Could this be a problem because my timeout is set too long like around 2hrs? They complained about losing posts. I have a total of 431 members. 205 active. Shows I have 105 active right now (well the timeout isn't exactly 5 mins) 30 members, 75 guests. Do you think I need a dedicated host?

Thanks,
Amanda

If you've 30 registered members online in a 5 minute cutoff, then this is likely to stretch most small shared plans.

I don't think you need a full dedicated yet, maybe look at a VPS. I did that earlier this year and never looked back.

[jtech77]

Should I decrease the user timeout? Thanks, can you recommend any?