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  1. #1

    VPS n00b, need some help with services and optimization

    Hi all,

    I am switching from shared hosting to managed VPS. I have minimal knowledge of UNIX/Apache, pretty good with PHP and programming in general.

    So, what I have now is my VPS, with 512mb of ram, CentOS, cpanel and my two sites, not live yet, that is, I haven't changed dns records in the registrar.

    I want to try to optimize the box or whatever is the correct name for it and understand the whole thing better. Mainly to learn more, I dot' think I'll be pressed for memory or bandwidth for now. Still, at least knowing things I can optimize for speed of space.

    Few things that I assume should allow for some simplification and RAM savings(hopefully) is that:
    a) Both sites are hobby sites, not very big load. Few thousand visitors a day. Traffic is around 10gb monthly combined.
    b) Both sites are mine, nobody else on that box, so I don't have to worry about customers screwing things up and caging things internally.


    Based on that, I don't really need email for the second site domain.
    When I run top command I see 2 exim processes running. Is that normal, or is it because I have 2 domains registered there? And if yes can one be disabled?

    Same applies to pop3-login and imap-login processes, 2 copies of each. Can I have just one of each, i.e. exim, pop3-login and imap-login?

    Next, I selected not to run log analyzer cpanellogd for 21 hours, i.e. it'll run for 3 hours a day. I assume that should be sufficient for the site like mine?

    I did read sticky about securing the site and quite a bit about Apache/mysql optimizations.

    Anything else I should read/look into, and any other advices will be highly appreciated.

  2. #2
    Come on guys, someone must know at lease some of it? There's nothing explaining that stuff in the dox.

  3. #3
    Join Date
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    I'd start by breaking up your question into smaller chunks . Exim runs two daemons minimum. One to manage the queue and the other SMTP over TLS/SSL. I doubt you need the latter so you might want to disable it. But that's barely 2MB.

    There are many things one can do to reduce the memory footprint but you have to know your way around the shell and understand what each program does.

    Good luck
    Last edited by UNIXy; 07-26-2009 at 09:26 PM.
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  4. #4
    Thanks.

    Quote Originally Posted by UNIXy View Post
    I'd start by breaking up your question into smaller chunks .
    Sorry, I thought I was pretty specific and chunky

    At this point I want to know why 2 exim processes and can I use just one.

    #2) Why 2 pop3 processes, can't I just use one, especially that I'm using only one domain for mail.

    #3) Why 2 imaps, same reason as above.

    Quote Originally Posted by UNIXy View Post
    Exim runs two daemons minimum. One to manage the queue and the other SMTP over TLS/SSL. I doubt you need the latter so you might want to disable it. But that's barely 2MB.
    That's still better than nothing. I can add those 2 megs to mysql cache after all. Most of my query results will fit in there.


    Quote Originally Posted by UNIXy View Post
    shell and understand what each program does.
    There isn't much running there and more or less I know what's what.

  5. #5
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    The reason there are two is the same. There's the SSL and clear-text daemons. If you want to disable the non-SSL one checkout /usr/lib/courier-imap/etc/pop3d and set POP3DSTART=n. You can also adjust how many worker threads are spawned (MAXDAEMONS). Similar options exist for about most programs (/usr/lib/courier-imap/etc/imap*).

    Also, why don't you disable the cPanel daemon? Turn it on via SSH when you need it.

    Best
    UNIXy - Fully Managed Servers and Clusters - Established in 2006
    Server Management - Unlimited Servers. Unlimited Requests. One Plan!
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  6. #6
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    if your that concerned and want to optimize the box, hire someone to harden/optimise your server.
    Follow me on Twitter: @conrjac

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by UNIXy View Post
    The reason there are two is the same.
    Also, why don't you disable the cPanel daemon? Turn it on via SSH when you need it.
    Thanks a bunch! I found thread thingy earlier. I'll test the rest.

    Quote Originally Posted by connorjackson View Post
    if your that concerned and want to optimize the box, hire someone to harden/optimise your server.
    I want to optimize by what I learn. Even as it is it, I am sure it'll handle whatever the load easily.
    If someone else does it for me, it's pretty much useless for learning isn't it?
    Last edited by ZviSoft; 07-31-2009 at 12:32 AM.

  8. #8
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    IMO when it comes to memory footprint you should be looking at Apache, PHP, MySQL and SpamAssassin (or whatever other webserver, scripting language, database server and spam filter you might choose to use). Compared to those, on a hosting server, the combined memory usage of everything else isn't worth worrying about.
    Chris

    "Some problems are so complex that you have to be highly intelligent and well informed just to be undecided about them." - Laurence J. Peter

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by foobic View Post
    IMO when it comes to memory footprint you should be looking at Apache, PHP, MySQL and SpamAssassin (or whatever other webserver, scripting language, database server and spam filter you might choose to use). Compared to those, on a hosting server, the combined memory usage of everything else isn't worth worrying about.
    Agree... start with the low-hanging fruit
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  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Zvis View Post
    Thanks a bunch! I found thread thingy earlier. I'll test the rest.


    I want to optimize by what I learn. Even as it is it, I am sure it'll handle whatever the load easily.
    If someone else does it for me, it's pretty much useless for learning isn't it?
    True, Anyway I should think there's some tutorials about this forum or on the WHT Wiki.
    Follow me on Twitter: @conrjac

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by connorjackson View Post
    ... or on the WHT Wiki.

    Thanks. I've checked tutorial here, learned quite a bit useful stuff, but those are more security related.
    I didn't know there was WHT wiki, thanks for the tip!
    Last edited by ZviSoft; 08-01-2009 at 03:18 AM.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by foobic View Post
    IMO when it comes to memory footprint you should be looking at Apache, PHP, MySQL and SpamAssassin
    Spamassasin is currently disabled, but once the site goes live I'll probably have to enable it, I get lots of spam. Apache I think I did what I could, at least what I knew. There is plenty of info on Apache optmizations, that included rebuilding apache with mod_deflate. Same is true for mysql. Haven't looked into php yet.

    Exim, pop3 and pretty much everything mail related is more difficult, at least to me. Docs and specs I found aren't very "explanatory" for inexperienced guys like me.

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