Good morning,

I have been running a very big web site for a few month now and the load is just starting to effect my server with very high loads.

The thing is that it during morning hours 8-11am EST. After noon it usually settles down and I will be able to ssh in.
I can ping/traceroute the machine.

This is my first experience with a very busy site. What are some httpd.conf settings I should be trying?

You can try these threads for Apache and mySQL. Make sure your cron job for /scripts/upcp is running in a low load period and not in that time frame.

http://forum.ev1servers.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9895&highlight=optimize+apache
http://forum.ev1servers.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=20983

thanks for the links.

btw, I have no clue what /scripts/upcp is. I do not use any control panels.

ok, since I wasnt clear: do NOT PM ME and tell me that you can fix it for $15. (or any price)

You should report them to moderators.

Sorry human, was thinking you were on Cpanel and it runs the upcp each night for updates and backups. One big thing when loads are high is to run top and see what is taking the most processor resorces. I highly recommend SPRI from http://www.rfxnetworks.com. Ryan's scripts can help a lot in the process of getting your server under control.