High server load problem (apache/mysql)

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Hey guys,

We're having a lot of problems with one server out of the 10 we manage. This server is a brand new dual xeon with the latest version of cPanel, PHP 4.4.2 and MySQL 4.1.

Problem we're having is the server at times has a load of 20.74, 24.37, 14.67 which is causing the server to become non-responsive which is very rare for a dual cpu server.

By restart php and mysql the problem will go away but come back around 20-30mins later. Viewing the processlist in mysql it doesn't show and insane queries but the problem continues to occur.

The customers on this server we're recently migrated from an old single cpu server as we thought it couldn't handle the customers requests, but since found this not to be the problem.

Watching 'top' when the load begins to rise it doesn't show and processes using excessly cpu or mem which we've found to be very odd.

Last thing we tried was the myisamch (spelling) for all databases on the server which seemed to have resolved the issue over night but the following morning the problem came back.

If anything is able to advise what is able to be done it would be greatly appreciated.


Cheers,
Mick

[AndyReed]

Problem we're having is the server at times has a load of 20.74, 24.37, 14.67 which is causing the server to become non-responsive which is very rare for a dual cpu server.

Watching 'top' when the load begins to rise it doesn't show any processes using excessly cpu or mem which we've found to be very odd.

It is very hard to say what's causing this sudden spike of load without looking into your server. I could be mistaken, but it could be either a bad/insecure script or a hardware issue.