Slow Site/MySQL shuts: What do we need for Dolphin

If I could get some guidance here it is appreciated.  We originally was set up on an Arvixe shared host.  The site ran fine on that shared host but we kept getting warning messages about reaching our resource limits; mostly with the MySQL server.  We set up on a Constant.com VPS with 1 Gig of Ram, and 1 CPU.  We took the site live and it crashed; specifically, the MySQL server kept shutting down.  I contacted Constant and was told that we either needed to restrict the number of connections to the MySQL server or increase the memory.  We put in an order to have the memory increased; that took the server down for some time while they reconfigured the VPS.  When the server came back up, our site was gone, gone as in the files were gone.  So we had to wait again while they managed to recover the files for the website.  Then we found out that even with the increased memory, the MySQL server kept shutting down.  So we set the connections to the MySQL server to 50 and it stop shutting down but continued to get database connect errors.  I replace @mysql_pconnect with @mysql_connect in BxDolDb.php and set mysql.allow_persistent = Off in php.ini.  The database connect errors seemed to stop.  However, this morning the MySQLServer was shut and I had to restart it.  The site also takes too long to load but I am not sure what to check in Apache's config and the Boonex doc on this seem to broken.

Why did the site run on Arvixe without these problem?  Was it simply because with their unmetered setup we had the resources to run the site and we don't on our VPS?  We are looking now to move to a dedicated server with a six core processor with 8 gigs of ram.  If we up the VPS configuration with Constant, we are looking at dedicated costs anyway.

We are going to be having around 800 members on the site.  I don't really have any idea how many will be on the site at any one time.  This project needs to be running smoothly, not crashing every hour and flashing database connect errors to the users.  We promised our members a site they could use and so far we are not delivering.  We even plain on them using the chat room and I am certain that will send the MySQL server screaming into the next room with our current problems.

This is my personal advise to you.

First change your host, cuz i don't see any benefit to stick with them. Get a dedi if you want or can. You need to optimizing your server. Let me know if you need help with it.

 I agree, you need a new host.

I moved the site to an Arvixe VPS while I wait for the dedicated server to become ready.  The logs show that we are not maxing out memory, yet the site can not handle very many users.  I believe the problem to be that the MySQL server is being overloaded with requests; which is why it kept shutting down on the old VPS.  I noticed the forum post block on the front page never loaded, it just sat there with the spinning icon.  The old 7.0.9 site is on a business class shared host and is not having this problem.  I have asked about 7.1 and the forum in another topic but I guess no one had any knowledge so no one replied.

I have asked for Dolphin configuration for PHP, MySQL Apache, etc but no one has answered and the Boonex link returns a 404.

I'm on Arvixe Business Pro shared and it can only handle one user at a time... With 1 user logged in, 50% of processor used and get max memory warnings in error log. Support tickets take 5 to 20 hours for a response from Tech. How in the hell did they make a preferred host list for Dolphin?

Waste of my freaking money. Paid two years up front too. If I have a live site with users, the system would crash.

change host probably be good ! whats your site ?

The current site is on an Arvixe VPS, 2 CPU cores, 1 Gig of Ram.  I just now changed the configuration of PHP to see if it could help my problems.  Currently have about 25 users on line but want to wait until 50 or more before knowing for sure as when that many were on before the site was unusable.

Dolphin on a share host; even business class, will still bump up against the MySQL processes limits and they will yell at you and threaten to take your site down.  Some shared hosts will kick you out, or if they see Dolphin install will delete the install because of the load on the MySQL server.

For PHP config I set the following:

set the mysql persistence off

Turned magic quotes off

max_execution_time = 3000;

max_input_time = 3000;

Go to phpMyAdmin and click on variables and check for the MySQL settings as outlined in http://www.boonex.com/trac/dolphin/wiki/HostingServerSetupRecommendations

If you are on a shared host with shared access to the MySQL server, you won't be able to touch the SQL settings.  For PHP you will need to get a copy of the php.ini file and put it in the root of your Dolphin installation and add the settings outlined above.

To see what the current settings are for php, you probably have a way to run phpinfo().  If you don't, then use a text editor to create a php_info.php script that you can place in your root and execute by typing http://domain-name.tld/php_info.php replacing domain-name.tld with our actually domain of course.

The script would be:

<?php // Show all information, defaults to INFO_ALL phpinfo(); ?>

My site is not ready for prime time (I need my mood icons and poke icons re drawn and I am a coder damnit, not a graphics artist (LOL)).

In testing, I've had 4 users on at the same time and run into 0 problems so far.  I've not even approached the memory limit once. 

I have a total of 60 users as volunteers, and the site sends out emails as scheduled, and maintenance crons run as scheduled without a hickup.

Now, I am running 7.0.9 that I have been modding since it came out,  but, it seems to run smooth.

The host? www.zarconia.net

He was VERY helpfull as I transitioned from my self hosted ubuntu box to this shared server. 

Even when I had some applications that kept trying to use the wrong password on the new site and kept locking me out!

Once I get up and running, The dedicated server is going to be next!

Oh!  I have 1 site and a sub domain (for development) and even running multiple users on both domains, I don't hit any limits.

www.zarconia.net

I am a paying customer, so I am not getting anything in return, I'm just letting other people know this host works for me so far.

@geek_girl

This is very strange that your sites always hit mysql limit. I have setup many servers to run dolphin and setup dolphin to run on servers but i have never seen problem this much strange.

I have a question. Did you have custom work on your site? There might be a bad code or query somewhere in your site that might be overloading your server. Maybe your dev made a mistake. I myself made a query mistake once that caused so heavy load that needed to restart the server. I learned with my mistake. Maybe contact your dev and let them check all custom work.

 I swear!!