Plesk panel cannot change hosting settings while restore process is running

[MSmart]

Hello,


The main problem description is the following: the more domains on the server the longer restore process is running. According to plesk administrator manual, restoration process makes two steps:
1. Determining possible conflicts
2. Running restore process with conflicts resolution rules and policies.

We investigated this problem and found that the first step run among others the process like this:

websrvmng.exe websrvmng.exe 20176 5.97 NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM "C:\Program Files (x86)\Parallels\Plesk\admin\bin\websrvmng" --list-vhosts-vdirs "--vhost-names=C:\Program Files (x86)\Parallels\Plesk\PrivateTemp\tmp809.tmp" "--output-file=C:\Program Files (x86)\Parallels\Plesk\PrivateTemp\tmp20811.tmp"

It is running about 3 or 4 hours (with 650 domains currently on the server). websrvmng.exe process requires exclusive lock on IIS metabase. If in the same moment any customer makes changes in his domain hosting configuration then newly created instance of websrvmng.exe process that has to rerform this change is getting stacked in queue and waiting until that long process release the IIS metabase.
This waiting our customers evaluate as plesk slowness because their requests are not processed at the same time. And the whole restoration process of the account takes about 20 hours instead of 20 minutes on Plesk8 server.The size of such account is 50 Mb. It is very small account. It was just an example.

our environment:
Windows 2008 server R2 64 bit
Plesk 9.2.1 for Windows
it is loaded hosting server in production

Thanks

 

[MSmart]

This is the official reply from Parallels about plesk problem on the server:

This is a well-known Plesk-design problem, where its communication with IIS7 engine is affected. The thing is IIS7 API is not used the same way that IIS6, that is why adding any new account makes metabase overloaded. This issue has already been reported to developers a while ago. Unfortunately, it requires serious Plesk code review, so there is no hotfix or workaround for this problem. General recommendation is to avoid hosting more than 200 domains on Windows 2008 server. So, consider migrating part of your domains to another server to avoid slowness on virtual hosting creation or restoring.

This reply is like a suggestion to get out of the hosting business, isn't it?

Why this well-known Plesk-design problem was not added to parallels knowledgebase then?

When it will be fixed? 9.3? or 10.0?

Thanks

 

[IgorG]

Thank you for your information. We will check this problem and create corresponding KB article after additional investigation. I will update this thread with link to KB when it will be created.

 

[sergius]

http://kb.odin.com/en/7009

 

[MSmart]

I just tried to open it:

You can't see internal articles

 

[IgorG]

I just tried to open it:

You can't see internal articles

It is corrected and article is accessible now.

 

[MSmart]

Hello,

it seems we have a good Christmas gift from Parallels

Parallels Plesk Panel 9.3.0
1. [+] Windows Server 2008 R2 support added.
2. [-] Certificates from repository of domain set on exclusive IP address are reset when domain backup is restored bug is fixed.
3. [-] The "Applications" link appearing in the left frame for domain administrator's main menu when applications management is not supported by license bug is fixed.
4. [-] Panel freezing because of web applications installation in Windows 2008 bug is fixed.
5. [-] In-place migration from IIS 6 to Parallels Plesk Panel hanging bug is fixed.


"Panel freezing because of web applications installation in Windows 2008 bug is fixed" - does this mean that websrvmng.exe behaviour has been fixed while it is working with IIS7? And the topic of this theme is not the issue no more?

Thanks

 

[IgorG]

Yes, you are correct regarding this problem.

 

[MSmart]

I'm in doubt that the problem is fixed. I just upgraded one of our servers and may say that the problem is still here. While this process(shown below) is working (I started backup) the domain creation process(websrvmng.exe) is hunging and waiting for previously run websrvmng.exe to be finished.

websrvmng.exe websrvmng.exe 992 11.46 NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM "C:\Program Files (x86)\Parallels\Plesk\admin\bin\websrvmng" --list-vhosts-vdirs "--vhost-names=C:\Program Files (x86)\Parallels\Plesk\PrivateTemp\tmp22662.tmp" "--output-file=C:\Program Files (x86)\Parallels\Plesk\PrivateTemp\tmp32428.tmp"


On the server with 90 domains it takes about 5 minutes ( the same duration for 9.2.3 and 9.3.0 ). On the server with 600 domains it takes 2,5 hours.

So when the backup is running Panel is freezing if I make any web hosting changes.

 

[IgorG]

I have forwarded your results to developers for the further investigation. Let's wait their answer.

 

[MSmart]

As far as I understand websrvmng locks access to other websrvmng processed in order to make changes and to avoid any simultaneous changes that may lead to metabase corruption. It seems ok.

But in case of running backups(or restores) websrvmng with --list-vhosts-vdirs option does not do any changes, it just kind of "converting" IIS configuration to plesk's dump.xml. But we have IIS7.x server that all configuration already keeps in XML(IIS6 has XML config as well):
---------
IIS 7.0 enhances administration by replacing the metabase with distributed XML-based configuration files (similar to Apache) allowing users to port their Web server settings simply by copying the configuration file to another server. Users can even put the configuration file on a network share and then point all the servers in their Web farm at it, to ensure identical configuration and a centralized location for changes.
---------

So why should we lock out access to web settings changes while one process getting all the info (the result dump.xml may raise up to 10 Mb) instead of just copy IIS'es XML configuration in a temp folder and convert it there to needed XML format?

Thanks

 

[MSmart]

Dear Support,

are there any updates from developers in regards of thsi issue?

Thanks

 

[IgorG]

Problem still under developer's investigation.

 

[IgorG]

I have received following information from developers:

We've fixed only APS installation operation performance on IIS7. Any other operations is still very slow if domains count is big. Unfortunately, complete fix is requiring full redesign of PP backend and service-team don't have resources to such huge work. It would be possibly provided in Plesk Panel 10
At least I can suggest not to do backup big number of domains.

 

[MSmart]

Dear Support,

we were waiting for Plesk10 with hope to see this problem resolved. Unfortunately no, the problem still exists even in PLesk 10 Marketing preview:

c:\>type "c:\Program Files (x86)\Parallels\Plesk\version"
10.0.0 Windows 2003/2008 20100615.19

Operation system: Windows 2008 Standard Edition 64 bit

We have converted to plesk10 backup format and restored about 100 domains. Then to check the issue in this forum topic subject we have started the full server backup. WHile the backup is in progress we returned to plesk panel and tried to open Subscription controlpanel to check and possible change some domain's property. Clicking "Website and Domains" tab doesn 't show anything - the page started to load and was lloading for a long time. A way too long time.

We have checked the processes currently running in the system and found:

The process websrvmng.exe that was started by backup process and is collecting some metabase info:

websrvmng.exe websrvmng.exe 736 5.42 NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM "C:\Program Files (x86)\Parallels\Plesk\admin\bin\websrvmng" --list-vhosts-vdirs "--vhost-names=C:\Program Files (x86)\Parallels\Plesk\PrivateTemp\tmp14861.tmp" "--output-file=C:\Program Files (x86)\Parallels\Plesk\PrivateTemp\tmp38265.tmp"


Another two websrvmng.exe processes that were in waiting state :

websrvmng.exe websrvmng.exe 4412 NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM "C:\Program Files (x86)\Parallels\Plesk\/admin/bin/websrvmng" --get-subdomain-performance "--vhost-name=test.com" "--subdomain=blog"


websrvmng.exe websrvmng.exe 4952 NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM "C:\Program Files (x86)\Parallels\Plesk\/admin/bin/websrvmng" --get-subdomain-performance "--vhost-name=test.com" "--subdomain=blog"

These two processes were started by plesksrv in order to get needed info to show requested plesk control panel page.

As a result - while backups are running Plesk control panel hangs.....

Please open a bug with developer team and ask to treat this problem as very urgent.

And please suggest alternate solution we may use to backup customer's content .

Thanks

 

[IgorG]

MSmart, I have updated already submitted request to developers with your additional information. Request under developer's investigation now and I hope it will be fixed soon.

 

[Frank.P]

Now is 2010 and in 2 month will be 2011 and the problem is not fix in version 9.

The new version 10 are fix this problem?

 

[MSmart]

Guys,

IgorG just posted fixed websrvmng.exe file for plesk 9.5.3!!!

http://forum.parallels.com/showpost.php?p=431166&postcount=4

websrvmng.exe.953.zip

I have checked it and can confirm it fixes the problem:

http://forum.parallels.com/showpost.php?p=431226&postcount=5

Let me know your experience please.

Thanks

 

[MSmart]

Great news from Parallels!

plesk_agent_manager.exe plesk_agent_manager.exe 3944 NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM "C:\Program Files (x86)\Parallels\Plesk\admin\bin\plesk_agent_manager.exe" server --for-conflicts "--session-path=C:\Program Files (x86)\Parallels\Plesk\PMM\rsessions\20110625065522417"
php.exe php.exe 6864 NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM "C:\Program Files (x86)\Parallels\Plesk\admin\bin\php.exe" -q -dauto_prepend_file="" -c "C:\Program Files (x86)\Parallels\Plesk\admin\php.ini" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Parallels\Plesk\admin\plib\cu\aps.php" --get-web-space-instances 125

It means that plesk from now resolving conflicts with its own dedicated resolver! It doesn't use websrvmng.exe any more for this purposes!

I am so happy with this! The only thing that upgrade/transfer to Plesk 10.2.0 is needed

Thanks
MSmart