[Arvixe hosting] page_handler.php using high CPU resources of the server.

Well, my problem is that my file page_handler.php is using almost 60%(!!!) of the cpu.

I don't know what is causing this (my site has 20 visits/day) and I didn't change anything on it.No new plugins and no new codes written.

How can I investigate what is going on wrong, so I could fix it?

  • I don't think there's anything wrong. It's not an "absolute" CPU usage but "relative" CPU usage. This means that page_handler.php isn't consuming 60% CPU cycles all the time but from the total CPU usage 60% are from page_handler.php. As page_handler.php is responsible for processing the page request of users it's perfectly normal that it looks from the outside that most of the work is done by page_handler.php.

  • iionly, so I think it is time to change to a dedicated server, right?

    I am worried about it, because I use this shared server more than one year, and only now it comes to happen.

    Anyway, if I move to a dedicated one, will I have problems with page load?

  • @Phil Collins

    Could you check if there are any spammers on your elgg network?

  • Sometimes the bots will try to run your site to try and register on your site so that the bot or spam copanies can spam your site. This normally leads to high cpu usage even though you are only having 20 active users. To help combat this issue for non- loged in users, you can try elgg hammer plugin. Install it and watch for a few months and see if you have the same issue. https://community.elgg.org/plugins/1488356/1.8.15D/elgg-hammer

  • Hi Phill,

    If there is anything that we can help, please let us know at QA[@]arvixe[.]com.

    Regards

  • @Phil Collins

    I sent you a private message yesterday. Could you please respond to that?

    Thanks

  • @Phil: are you really sure that it has changed?

    As I've tried to explain the 60% are very likely NOT "60% total available CPU resources used" but rather "60% of the CPU resources used are by pagehandler.php". And this would be a perfectly normal situation. If the site is not having any visits for example in 23h59min in a day you still would have "~60-80% CPU resources used by pagehandler.php" in the remaining 1min even if the CPU is idle for almost all day.

     

  • Almost all requests end up going through the pagehandler, so either explanation is valid.  If the site is doing something to eat up resources it would still likely be reported as pagehandler.php

    Unfortunately without additional details there's no good way of identifying the real issue or a solution.