Re: [users@httpd] Apache spawning "broken" sub-processes under load

[Dave Barton <da...@comodo.com>]

Hi,

To answer the questions from the other email first;

>>Which version of WP?
>>Did you make -- recently -- any changes? Upgrade, install new plugins?
>>Did you traffic spontaneously increase?

It's an old version (2.7) but I'm not sure how much of an option an
upgrade is. I'll have to raise it with our developers.

>>Given the line-breaks it's *really* hard to read what you mean :-/

Sorry :(

>>Are you running this in a Zone/Container/Jail/Vz/blah

The WordPress installation is running as an Apache vhost on a Xen
virtual machine. The VM is only used for Apache and doesn't run anything
else (except stuff like ntpd and snmpd of course).

Other answers are in-line below. Thanks for trying to help me out! :)

Dave

On 31/01/11 18:28, Igor Galić wrote:
> 
> ----- "Dave Barton" <da...@comodo.com> wrote:
> 
>> Should really have included this;
>>
>> # apache2 -v
>> Server version: Apache/2.2.14 (Unix)
>> Server built:   Jan 29 2010 12:34:06
>>
>> # apache2ctl modules
>> [Mon Jan 31 17:29:24 2011] [warn] module status_module is already
>> loaded, skipping
>> Loaded Modules:
>>  core_module (static)
>>  mpm_worker_module (static)
>>  http_module (static)
>>  so_module (static)
>>  alias_module (shared)
>>  auth_basic_module (shared)
>>  authn_alias_module (shared)
>>  authn_anon_module (shared)
>>  authn_default_module (shared)
>>  authn_file_module (shared)
>>  authz_groupfile_module (shared)
> 
> Do you really need all these modules?
> Take a look at: http://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/mod/
> To see which you can safely remove.

Looking into that now, thanks for the tip.
> 
> [snip]
>>  info_module (shared)
>>
>> # php -v
>> PHP 5.2.12-pl0-gentoo (cli) (built: Jan 26 2010 16:48:31)
>> Copyright (c) 1997-2009 The PHP Group
>> Zend Engine v2.2.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2009 Zend Technologies
> 
> Are you running PHP with APC or a different accelerator? If not,
> you should a) consider it, and b) be aware that WP has some issues
> with these..

We're not running any accelerator with PHP. The traffic levels for this
site are generally so low that it's not an issue and they can be more
trouble than they are worth.

> 
>> # uname -a
>> Linux mcpweb2 2.6.31-xen-r10 #1 SMP Sat Nov 27 14:17:17 UTC 2010
>> x86_64
>> Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5530 @ 2.40GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux
>>
>> If anything else is needed, please let me know.
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>> Dave Barton
>> Senior Systems Administrator
>> Comodo CA Ltd
> 
> i
>