Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Hosting : WordPress spiking at 100% CPU usage

[celticpride678]

Hello,

I'm currently set up under StableHost's premium shared hosting account. I've got a WordPress site that sees about 1000 unique visitors everyday.

Two weeks ago, StableHost made me aware that my site was, at random, using 100% of the CPU allowed. It wasn't a constant usage of 100%, just at times.

Since then, I've been working with them to figure out what may be causing the issue. We've tried nearly everything: WP Super Cache, optimizing databases, deactivating all plugins, using stock WordPress theme temporarily, checking IMAP processes, and checking wp-cron.php. None of these fixed the issue completely.

If anyone has any other ideas, I'm all ears! Thanks!

[Red_wolf6]

Yes, I do, switch from them. They're good but you can find better.

De-active plugin and waste your time for something that not gonna work.

Get a hosting that has not Cloudlinux

This is an advice from someone who faced the same problem before and tried a lot of solutions.

[MikeDVB]

To be honest, it's absolutely normal to hit 100% from time to time. Just the same as when driving a car - it's not uncommon for you to push the pedal all the way to the floor from time to time, that doesn't mean something is wrong with the car... Now if you have to push it to the floor *all the time* just for the car to move (i.e. you have to sustain 100% for extended periods of time) then something is amiss.

What exactly did they say when they contacted you?

[celticpride678]

I initially contacted them with an issue related to elevated CPU usage - regarding "connection interrupted" errors. That issue was resolved, and from there it came out that CPU usage was high.

I've been in a ticket with one of their system admins, but it seems he's also pretty stumped too.

[MikeDVB]

Originally Posted by celticpride678

I initially contacted them with an issue related to elevated CPU usage - regarding "connection interrupted" errors. That issue was resolved, and from there it came out that CPU usage was high.

I've been in a ticket with one of their system admins, but it seems he's also pretty stumped too.

Well, like I said - it's pretty normal. If you process a PHP script (esp. something like WordPress) and you don't hit 100% then you're probably not getting the most out of your CPU allocation and it's taking longer to process each page than it should.

[celticpride678]

Originally Posted by MikeDVB

Well, like I said - it's pretty normal. If you process a PHP script (esp. something like WordPress) and you don't hit 100% then you're probably not getting the most out of your CPU allocation and it's taking longer to process each page than it should.

Alright. Thanks for the information.

[48-14]

1000 visitors a day is a good number, but not high enough to be causing large spikes.

A few things;

- how many plugins are you using
- are any of them importing feeds
- do all your visitors visit the site at a specific time

There are many things that can be done to track done the issue. How long has this been an issue, any new plugins, etc?

[celticpride678]

Originally Posted by 48-14

1000 visitors a day is a good number, but not high enough to be causing large spikes.

A few things;

- how many plugins are you using
- are any of them importing feeds
- do all your visitors visit the site at a specific time

There are many things that can be done to track done the issue. How long has this been an issue, any new plugins, etc?

Plugin list:

1. Askimet
2. Contact Form 7
3. DB Cache Reloaded Fix
4. Google XML Sitemaps
5. Janrain Engage
6. Live Blogging
7. Livefyre Realtime Comments
8. Mingle Forum
9. Outbound Links
10. Quick Cache
11. Really Simple CAPTCHA
12. Theme Switcher Reloaded
13. Top 10
14. User Control
15. WordPress Mobile Edition
16. WP-Polls
17. Yet Another Related Posts Plugin

This has been an issue for quite some time (months), but nothing has changed in that time. It just never came to my attention.

Visitors don't come at a specific time - throughout the day.

[MikeDVB]

"Yet Another Related Posts Plugin" tends to be very intensive, but more so on MySQL (which generally isn't included in your CPU information).

[celticpride678]

Originally Posted by MikeDVB

"Yet Another Related Posts Plugin" tends to be very intensive, but more so on MySQL (which generally isn't included in your CPU information).

I have heard about that before, but it doesn't explain the spike because I've tried disabling all plugins before.

[48-14]

Your list seems normal. I would switch your #10 for W3 but it does need to be configured properly.

Also VERY important, look into security related plugins and auto backup type plugins. I know you already have a list of plugins, but one good attack and you will have bigger problems than just plugins or cpu load.

If everything has been smooth ask the host if anything has changed on their end.

Ask the host to do a virus/malware scan on your account. If you know WP enough, search through your contents folder and see if anything is out of place. Check your server cron. Check your stats if the spikes seem to happen at a specific time.

Also what I have seen sometimes and actually works is asking the host to move you to another server. Something could be slightly wrong with the current one.

[celticpride678]

Originally Posted by 48-14

Your list seems normal. I would switch your #10 for W3 but it does need to be configured properly.

Also VERY important, look into security related plugins and auto backup type plugins. I know you already have a list of plugins, but one good attack and you will have bigger problems than just plugins or cpu load.

If everything has been smooth ask the host if anything has changed on their end.

Ask the host to do a virus/malware scan on your account. If you know WP enough, search through your contents folder and see if anything is out of place. Check your server cron. Check your stats if the spikes seem to happen at a specific time.

Also what I have seen sometimes and actually works is asking the host to move you to another server. Something could be slightly wrong with the current one.

Last I heard, W3 Total Cache doesn't support Litespeed servers as well. I can't use WP Super Cache either because there's an issue with cookies and our theme switcher that we provide readers.

A virus scan had been done and came back clean. Everything seems fine file structure wise as well. The only cron issue we saw was with wp-cron.php, but that has been resolved already and CPU is still high. Spikes don't seem to happen at a specific time, but there are always 10 entry processes when the CPU does hit 100%.

I can ask my host if a server switch may help, but I'm not sure if it will truly resolve the issue.

[linux-tech]

The reality is this:
Wordpress is great as a CMS. Unfortunately, when you're talking 1000s of visitors (daily or not), it's not exactly the most stable thing in the world. In fact, those 1000 visitors a day probably don't account for SE visitors which can take up quite a bit.

Wordpress is not even remotely shared server friendly, when you get into larger databases, larger sites, more visitors. Unfortunately, that's the downside to using a CMS that pretty much does everything for you

[48-14]

Originally Posted by celticpride678

Last I heard, W3 Total Cache doesn't support Litespeed servers as well. I can't use WP Super Cache either because there's an issue with cookies and our theme switcher that we provide readers.

A virus scan had been done and came back clean. Everything seems fine file structure wise as well. The only cron issue we saw was with wp-cron.php, but that has been resolved already and CPU is still high. Spikes don't seem to happen at a specific time, but there are always 10 entry processes when the CPU does hit 100%.

I can ask my host if a server switch may help, but I'm not sure if it will truly resolve the issue.

Ok you seem sot be on top of most possible clues to the issue.

The server switch is to see if;

1. that specific server has issue or an upgrade that's not doing well with your site

2. a new high resource load customer is now on that server and causing the load

3. a new customer is abusing the server


I know usually the best thing to do is fix the site itself but a host is not going to mention what's happening on their end unless you really really bother them, then they will admit that something is wrong on their end.

So try to troubleshoot as best as you can, then ask and in some cases demand to move to a different server. They would rather keep you as a customer and do the move than to argue with you and tell you to leave. I've seen this trick work many many times.

[48-14]

Originally Posted by linux-tech

The reality is this:
Wordpress is great as a CMS. Unfortunately, when you're talking 1000s of visitors (daily or not), it's not exactly the most stable thing in the world. In fact, those 1000 visitors a day probably don't account for SE visitors which can take up quite a bit.

Wordpress is not even remotely shared server friendly, when you get into larger databases, larger sites, more visitors. Unfortunately, that's the downside to using a CMS that pretty much does everything for you

Agree and disagree. It is great and it can do more than what most people know of it, but if the server and site are configured properly like a well oiled machine, you can have up 5000 visitors a day without spikes.