Site speed

[elootos]

Have spent the last few days trying to work out why this site slows to a crawl now and then

About 30hrs of reading later and endless Apache, MySQL and Linux help pages it should be firing on all cylinders.

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For those who care; Apache (web server) spawns loads of processes to handle all the connections and in some cases they can consume vast amounts of RAM and don't reset themselves. With the dynamic content this site has (Wiki, Forum, Blog databases...) they just get larger and larger and larger until, BANG! the server implodes with lack of resources and cannibalises processes to keep itself going. Sometimes it can kill vital processes that are there to keep the web-server going.

The answer? Set the MaxServer limit in the Apache config file to a number that the server's RAM can handle. Simple, but yet somehow nothing in the world of Linux is explained very well. I suppose if it was easy it would be called Windows

Bottom line: Apache should be configured to work in harmony with the site and server's capabilities. Not just blindly left to the default settings.

This site was only supposed to be a small hobby, not a full-on adventure in web-server IT!