Excessive server use caused by vb?

[jookido]

Well, my host emailed me to tell me that my vB board is using too many "server resources" and I'm not sure what's going on.

Their definition of "excessive" is calculated with the number of "hits". I assume a "hit" is 1 line in the server logs, so this includes the page and all the graphics. (The bandwidth use is not a problem -- just the "hits".)

My site info:
~1800 pageviews per day
~40 hits per page (i.e. page + images)
40-50 simultaneous users during peak times (15 minute timeout)

apache log shows 110,000 lines for the past 5 days, so this is roughly 22000 log hits/day, but doesn't take into account cached pages/images which don't tax a server at all but show up in the logs anyway. (please correct this assumption if I'm wrong)

Do these numbers make sense? The host states that 15,000 hits/day is considered excessive and that with my numbers I should be moving to a dedicated server.

[Steve Machol]

How busy is your forum? How many users are usually online at any one time, and what's the maximum number?

[George L]

15,000 server hits is a very restrictive limit since on average a web page can have between 5 - 15 items on a web page so that means you can only have 1,000 to 3,000 pageviews per day!

i suggest you move and find a new web host

[jookido]

Peak time is 40-50 users at once (15 minute cookie timeout). Maximum is 70, but that was reached in Feb so it's not very representative.

Webalizer stats say 800 unique visits per day & ~1800 pageviews/day.

[jookido]

Originally posted by eva2000
15,000 server hits is a very restrictive limit since on average a web page can have between 5 - 15 items on a web page so that means you can only have 1,000 to 3,000 pageviews per day!

i suggest you move and find a new web host

You're going to love this one eva: I'm with VO. v100 account and they said even a 650 (semi-dedicated) wouldn't be enough.

[tubedogg]

40 to 50 simultaneous vBulletin users is about the time you need to start thinking at least semi-dedicated server anyway.

I think VO's upper limit for the v650 is something like 60 to 80 IIRC?

You might want to talk to friends who run websites, between the two or three or however many of you, you could probably get a decent dedicated server without paying much more than you are now. That's actually what I just did - me and another person are each paying 1/2, and we found a nice dedicated server for $125 a month. More than enough resources for our needs and we have room to grow.

[George L]

ah i see in that case with 40 - 70 users you are needing a dedicated server since VO has a max_user_connection limit of 45 on shared accounts and I'm guessing your hitting that limit

have you tried turning pconnects off in config.php

pconnect = 0

[jookido]

Originally posted by tubedogg
40 to 50 simultaneous vBulletin users is about the time you need to start thinking at least semi-dedicated server anyway.

40-50 is the maximum. These peak times amount to maybe 2 hours total per 24 hour period.

1800 pageviews/day requiring semi-dedicated just seems silly to me. (considering my pages are ~32kb each and much less when browser caching is taken into account + gzip enabled + I don't allow custom avatars or sig images).

[jookido]

Originally posted by eva2000
ah i see in that case with 40 - 70 users you are needing a dedicated server since VO has a max_user_connection limit of 45 on shared accounts and I'm guessing your hitting that limit

have you tried turning pconnects off in config.php

pconnect = 0

Nope, with my cookie timeout set to 15 minutes, there is lots of overlap so the actual active db hits are much less than 40-70. I've hit that 45 MySQL connection limit 2-3 times in the last several months. (pconnect has been off since the beginning)

Anyway, they state that the Apache server hits (measured via the http logs) are what is excessive. Like you said above, 3000 pageviews/day is peanuts so I'm confused at this sudden unwritten change of Acceptable Use Policy. Their policies mention CGI overload, but nothing about excessive "hits".

[George L]

what does webalizer hits/day show ?

[jookido]

Ok, so after several emails I'm clear on the specifics:

VO is implementing new guidelines which will be posted "soon". These will state that shared accounts will be limited to as follows:

Below V650: Up to 500000 hits / month
V650: Up to 1000000 hits / month


Again, a "hit" is a line in the Apache logs, which means ALL requests will be counted as a hit, even those that do not return any data to the client (e.g. 304 return code: cached pages/images).

To illlustrate, I checked this thread page before posting this reply and counted: 33 images + the html page = 34 hits.

So by their limits:

500,000 hits / 30 days = 16,666 hits/day
16,666 hits / 34 hits per page = 490 pageviews/day

So if ONLY this thread page were viewed 491 times in one day, that would be considered over their limit. Go to 1000 pageviews per day, and they claim you need to go dedicated.

VO has been great until now, but with this new guideline, even if you'd pay for their top-of-the-line shared account at $25 for 20gig of bandwidth, you'd still be limited to ~500 pageviews per day.

So while my other sites will remain with VO, I'm looking for a new host for my vB.


(BTW, mods: this is a host issue, not a vB one, so please move to the hosting forum)

[missorator]

Juju, maybe you could talk them into moving your site for you until they come out with the new "shared-dedicated-whatever-package" and then you could do that. At that time, Pat said there will be about 4-5 sites on one server. That is what I am considering. Lemme know what you think

[Steve Machol]

If this new policy turns out to be true, I will have to rethink my previous recommendations concerning VO.

[Joe]

Ugh! I hope not! VO has been good to me so far, im on the v650 plan, and push ~550,000 page views a month (40 - 70 concurrent users)... With there new standards, that would require a dedicated with them... no way, im already looking for an alt host... However, i hope this isnt true!

[jookido]

missorator: Yes, Pat suggested that also, but it's minimum 2 months away at a cost of $75-$200. My board doesn't provide the sort of income to justify that expense, especially since I'm in Canada and our dollar is worth peanuts compared to the US$.


smachol: I've started thread in their forums: http://www.venturesonline.com/forums...?threadid=3926

Seems to me that a side effect of this new policy is that it's weeding out vB users. I mean, c'mon, 1000 pageviews/day requires a dedicated server?

Joe: My pageviews for May were 70,000 and for June is 25,000 (as of June 18). With these numbers, my vB is taking up too many resources according to the new guidelines. My advice to you is hide and hope they don't notice.