Application pool problems

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This is the place to report bugs and get support

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10/13/2015 6:39:08 AM
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Application pool problems

mojoPortal Version 2.4.0.9 MSSQL
Operating System Microsoft Windows NT 6.3.9600.0
ASP.NET Info 4.0.30319.42000 Running in Full Trust
Server Time Zone Pacific Daylight Time
Server Local Time (GMT -7) 13/10/2015 04:29:50
Greenwich Mean Time (GMT/UTC) 13/10/2015 11:29:50

Since upgrading to 2.4.0.9 my multi-site installation has been having problems with the application pool stopping.  Previously I never had any such problem.  I have raised several tickets with Arvixe and asked if it's possible to have the application pool restart automatically.  After being told that they had done this, I have now been told the following:

"We don't support having the application pool auto-restart at this time. Please note that the issue is not with the Server, the issue is that your application is hitting its memory limit and causing the application pool to stop or recycle.

You would need to have your developer look into reducing the applications memory footprint. "

I have tried looking at the system log, but nothing has been added since September 25th.  I have cleared the log to see if it will capture anything else.

Any idea what the problem may be?  Arvixe seem to be having big problems with their support at the moment - servers going down daily for emergency maintenance, tickets going unanswered for days on end, the discussion board disabled (presumably to stop customers complaining about the poor service)

Any ideas?

10/13/2015 8:38:41 AM
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Re: Application pool problems

most hosts place a limit on the amount of server memory that is available to an application pool in shared hosting. If the application consumes more than the limit it forcibly recycles that application pool to clear the memory. If an application frequently hits that limit it causes frequent recycling of the application which impacts performance and perceived performance of the site, so you generally don't want to be hitting that limit frequently and you don't want the application to recycle frequently.

As far as I know Arvixe provides 250MB and that generally is enough to run mojoportal without problems. However if you add multiple sites it is possible to start hitting that limit.

Also many hosts let you setup multiple web sites with one hosting account (I'm not talking about mojoportal multi sites feature here I'm talking about IIS web sites) but they generally give you one application pool so resources are shared across those sites and if you add more sites it will not have enough resources for them. They make it sound like you can add more sites but you get what you pay for basically, they don't keep giving you more server resources.

If you are not satisfied with your hosting you could try another host. I've never heard a single complaint about i7MEDIA hosting for example. I suspect that hosting is a tough business and many hosts are probably struggling more and more because cloud style hosting like Azure are disrupting their business model more and more.

10/13/2015 9:09:20 AM
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Total Posts 66

Re: Application pool problems

Joe

Thanks (as always) for the prompt response.  I have one multi-site installation, handling 7 sites and two single site installations.  I have no problem with the single sites, just the multi-site.

I still have over a year's hosting with Arvixe paid for, so I am loath to move at the moment.

Do you have any idea why the system log might not be getting written to?

 

10/13/2015 9:13:33 AM
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Total Posts 18439

Re: Application pool problems

system log not being written to is an indication of file system permissions preventing it from writing to the log file.

it could be bad permissions on the log file itself, you could try deleting the file /Data/currentlog.config

if folder permissions are good that file should be recreated automatically, if not then folder permissions are bad.

10/13/2015 4:46:22 PM
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feet planted firmly on the ground

Re: Application pool problems

Folder permissions can change when upgrading a mojoPortal site on Arvixe, depending how you do it. If you FTP the new files into the website folder using Filezilla (other FTP programs are available) this will not happen (but it can take ages!), but if you copy from another folder using the WebsitePanel interface I have generally found I have to reset all the permissions afterwards, which is dull.

I have not seen any problems after upgrading sites to 2.4.0.9 on Arvixe (or on our own servers). The changes are more likely to be in the hosting environment.

I have noticed that their performance has suffered recently - my sites are all reporting around 99.0% uptime for the last 30 days, which means many hours of downtime, plus I've had problems with the email service dropping messages. Plus their chat support being offline when you need it. But it is very dependent on which server you are on - my sites are on "pine" which has been fast and reliable, until recently. It might be worth asking them whether they can increase your memory allocation or whether they can move you onto another server.

10/15/2015 12:58:08 PM
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Total Posts 537
feet planted firmly on the ground

Re: Application pool problems

And if you still have folder permissions issues after upgrading on Arvixe, see this video

http://blog.arvixe.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Arvixe_Blog_Permissions9.mp4

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