Very high server load

[GoHighVoltage]

I do believe I found the culprit. Bot called MJ12bot extremely high hits. 467,000 hits in short time before Host shut it down. SMH

[GoHighVoltage]

Hi Wayne, Oddly enough I haven't had no more issues. I did install and configue Mod_Evasive, so I am not sure if that changed something. I do have a question and would be grateful if you knew. On my Hybrid server, I have Comodo WAF installed, which is mod_security, I have CSF firewall, and now I have mod_evasive. Are they all ok to run at the same time? I don't see any issues yet doing that, but want to be sure.

To answer your other questions I am waiting to hear back on what processes were driving it high load. My PHP is 7.1, MySQL is 5.7, Webserver is Centos 6.10, 8 CPU @ 2.5ghz each, 6 gigs of ram. My PHP is suPHP with suEXEC.

In CSF I do have google, MSN, BING, Yahoo bots whitelisted using agents. I don't know how to whitelist them in Comodo Waf or Mod_evasive because I don't think you can whitelist by domain or agent in those, only IP address and the bot IP's change all the time. ANy insight on this would be great.

Thanks again for the awesome support.

[Wayne Luke]

There has to be processes going on that cause the high load. What are those processes? Are they PHP, MySQL, the Webserver?

What webserver are you using? What version of PHP? What version of MySQL? How are you executing PHP?

Stating you have a CSF Firewall, mod_evasive, and Comodo WAF don't help us or provide any information that we can work with. Running two firewalls on the server can certainly cause performance issues. More isn't always better. However, the firewalls aren't related to vBulletin.

vBulletin is just a set of scripts that run on the highest layer of the server. It is a small part of your overall puzzle.

[GoHighVoltage]

Exactly what I thought. I will contact them again. Thank you

[Mark.B]

Well if you remove index.php and forumdisplay.php you are effectively deleting your site,so it’s no wonder the load goes down.

Your hosts still need to tell you exactly what the problem is.

[GoHighVoltage]

Hi Mark. Thank you my friend. I asked them to give me more specifics and they replied that the high server load was from forumdisplay.php and they didn’t see it as coming from any one IP addess. As soon as they changed the file name of index and forum display files the load went away. I turned it back on and it happens again. I watched when it was happening and there was only like 80 guests online which is nothing. I have csf firewall installed, installed mod_evasive and Comodo waf. Not sure what else I can do?

Nothing has been hacked and all files check ok.
site is secure by vbulletin security recommedations

[Mark.B]

You need to ask your host why they are doing this. Exact details, not just "high server load" which tells you nothing.
vBulletin runs successfully on many thousands of websites worldwide so there is no problem with the script.

[GoHighVoltage]

I’ve had my forum for years and never an issue. Last night my host had to rename forumdispay.php to disabled because it was causing severe server loads. Only about 80 visitors at the time. I can’t find a reason why. I have a hybrid server with plenty of resources and have had over 1000 users online with no issues before. I enabled the forumdisplay again and it happened again and again. Nothing has been hacked and all files check out ok.

I have CSF firewall installed and configured properly.

any ideas?