Question php5.4 os vendor handler much faster than any other handler

[JohnTS]

Hi all pleskers,

I have just migrated around 40 domains from my old VPS with Plesk 12.5 to another hosting provider with Plesk Onyx - Centos 7 64b + CloudLinux - with the same RAM (2GB).

From the first moment and during the testing phase, I noticed that the majority of the websites needed 20-30 seconds for the first load. After first load they load a few pages fast then occasionally they take again some time for further page loads.

When I switched DNS, 502 errors and other loading issues appeared for all the websites (except one). RAM and Swap consumption was high. Hosting provider said that my 2 GB are not enough - but all the sites are low traffic ones and they were able to run fast and with no issues for years in the old VPS.

So after switching, loading the sites (most of them Joomla ones) was a pain both front-end/back-end.
Still there was a site (relative heavy one) that had no problem to load - actually loading all the time faster than ever (faster than in the old VPS) and was still loading even when all others were reporting 502 errors or taking 20-30 seconds to load.

The VPS provider was slow to respond in my requests to investigate the issue - so I checked what could make the difference for this website. It was the only site that is using the handler OS Vendor php5.4 FPM server by Apache. I assigned more domains to this handler and guess what: No loading issues anymore instead websites are loading amazingly fast plus averaged RAM and SWAP consumption was dropping.

I reported my findings to the hosting provider and asked to create a similar configuration for the other php handlers, as I don't want to use php5.4. It is supposed to be a fully managed VPS with a very high reputable web host with great and fast support - but after 5 days the answer they managed to come with is that they played with the handlers by switching the sites and they find that indeed the sites perform better with FPM than Fast-CGI and that I should be using FPM handlers. They also said that it makes sense for the sites to load faster with php5.4 because it is older (??? like running an older OS on an old PC so it's faster ???) and that they simply leave default configurations for wider compatibility with web applications and that a developer is needed to adjust any configs.

Well not the level of answer that I was expecting...
Now I have switched most of the sites to php 7 with FPM, things look better but yet they are not as fast as when running under the said php5.4 handler, and still there pages -especially the system info page in the backend of Joomla that takes more than 30 seconds to load.

Anyhow, I have some basic experience with Plesk and Linux etc, I have root access and I am willing to try to find a solution myself - so to enjoy those speeds I see with that handler with all other handlers.

I am after any advises, guidance and suggestions.
I may have specific questions on the way ... but if someone could start by giving some general insights on the topic that would be great.

 

[UFHH01]

Hi JohnTS,

... Hosting provider said that my 2 GB are not enough ...

He/she is correct with that statement, according to:

... around 40 domains ...

When I switched DNS, 502 errors and other loading issues appeared for all the websites (except one)

Pls. consider to include depending - log - entries from your depending domains, if you would like help with your investigations. We can't guess possible 502 - errors.
With the additional statement:

It was the only site that is using the handler OS Vendor php5.4 FPM server by Apache. I assigned more domains to this handler and guess what: No loading issues anymore

... we could possibly guess, that your issues/errors/problems depend on missing NGINX - directives, if you used NGINX and Apache together, but this is just a common guess, because of missing informations from you, what sort of configuration you choosed for the domains, when you experienced issues.

and they find that indeed the sites perform better with FPM than Fast-CGI and that I should be using FPM handlers

... and in addition, if you would use NGINX as well, you would even experience another performance and load - speed - boost.

They also said that it makes sense for the sites to load faster with php5.4 because it is older

Sorry, this answer/statement from your provider is nonsense.

I am after any advises, guidance and suggestions.

Basically, you should inform yourself about FastCGI, PHP-FPM, nginx and apache and you should not forget to read the global release notes from for example "Joomla", to investigate PHP - compatibilities and recommendation for your used version(s). In addition, pls. be aware, that additional modules/addons for your CMS might as well have such informations.
We don't know, what sort of content you use ( apart from your statement "(most of them Joomla ones)" ) and are not able to guess possible modules/addons/extension and their requirements for your used content - this makes it nearly impossible to suggest something.

Unfortunately, you don't seem to investigate issues/errors/problems with the help of your domain - specific log - files, which mostly directly point to the root cause.



Apart from the above mentioned hints and answers, pls. be aware that this forum is a PLESK - related forum, but all of your ( partial ) described issues are based on your domain - specific content.

 

[IgorG]

Apart from the above mentioned hints and answers, pls. be aware that this forum is a PLESK - related forum, but all of your ( partial ) described issues are based on your domain - specific content.

Actually, you are absolutely right, but note, that personally I do not mind such discussions, but only in Open Topics forum section.

 

[JohnTS]

Thanks for attending my thread.

Well actually initially the post was to give a basic description of how the issues manifest themselves, whatever the underlying causes are. I thought that the pattern could reveal something obvious, I guess I was wrong believing so.

To clear out a few things:

He/she is correct with that statement, according to:

40 domains - actually my bad here as not all are running content/sites here. Some are just parked domains with no traffic at all. From those that run content, only a few have a traffic more than 100 users /day and with a max of 200-300. Most of the others hardly get visitors.
So, I believe that for now 2GB RAM should be adequate. It was so in the old VPS where never had any RAM issues.
I also believe that the issues are not RAM related - as they happen when there is RAM available to be used, plus plesk and those sites under the other php 5.4. by OS vendor handler are still running fast and with no issues. If there was no RAM available then I should see that affecting everything - or I am wrong?

and you should not forget to read the global release notes from for example "Joomla", to investigate PHP - compatibilities and recommendation for your used version(s). In addition, pls. be aware, that additional modules/addons for your CMS might as well have such informations.
We don't know, what sort of content you use ( apart from your statement "(most of them Joomla ones)" ) and are not able to guess possible modules/addons/extension and their requirements for your used content - this makes it nearly impossible to suggest something.

I also believe that it's not content related - nothing regarding Joomla, its extensions or whatever site is there. The same sites are running fast and with no issues on the said php handler and the same happens if I upload them in any common hosting - Nothing extraordinary, nothing fuzzy, nothing to consider about special system requirements, right php version etc.

... we could possibly guess, that your issues/errors/problems depend on missing NGINX - directives, if you used NGINX and Apache together, but this is just a common guess, because of missing informations from you, what sort of configuration you choosed for the domains, when you experienced issues.

... we could possibly guess, that your issues/errors/problems depend on missing NGINX - directives, if you used NGINX and Apache together, but this is just a common guess, because of missing informations from you, what sort of configuration you choosed for the domains, when you experienced issues.

I was suspecting that issues should be related with this. At that time I wasn't sure for where to look for config files and error logs.

Now I have some log entries to present, plus a few other findings:

WARNING: [pool ] server reached max_children setting (5), consider raising it
WARNING: [pool ] child 147010 said into stderr: "libpng warning: Interlace handling should be turned on when using png_read_image"
WARNING: [pool ] child 122308 exited on signal 1 (SIGHUP) after 78.016811 seconds from start

What I also found is that in /etc/php-fpm.d/

I see the:
www.conf file (which only contains:
# Default www-pool configuration has been disabled by Plesk Panel.
# Pool configuration was saved in '/etc/php-fpm.d/www.conf.saved_by_psa'.)

the
www.conf.saved_by_psa

and then I see
example.com.conf files
- but only for those sites that use the said php 54 os vendor handle which have no problem.
These configs have also pm = ondemand, which may be involved in my issues.


- Why config files are autogenerated for these domains only?
- How to adjust the config for the other plesk php handlers?
- Any other recommendations or thoughs you may have?

In addition the www.conf.saved_by_psa have these settings:
pm.max_children = 50,
but in the logs for the sites with the problem the warning says limit is 5. So it looks like this config file is not being used - I am confused of what this file is supposed to do.



Thanks