Server load spikes every hour

[Tim van Rooijen]

For a few weeks, I get some extreme resource usage spikes every hour. I only host the website ImproveYourArchery.com (WordPress) and a LimeSurvey survey on this hosting. My website ImproveYourArchery.com is linked to Ezoic and Cloudflare.

I don't know why this is happening or what to do next. Could someone with a bit more technical knowledge help me?

Thanks in advance!

Screenshot 1


Screenshot 2

 

[cPRex]

Hey there! It's hard for me to tell from the graphs what the timeframe is, but it seems to be happening regularly. Is there a cron on the account that does something, like a mailing list or an update of some sort?

In general, though, from these particular images, the usage doesn't look too extreme as it's never getting above 20% CPU or 50% RAM.

 

[Tim van Rooijen]

Hey there! It's hard for me to tell from the graphs what the timeframe is, but it seems to be happening regularly. Is there a cron on the account that does something, like a mailing list or an update of some sort?

In general, though, from these particular images, the usage doesn't look too extreme as it's never getting above 20% CPU or 50% RAM.

Thank you for your thoughts. I know that my CPU and RAM aren't that high, therefore I don't think it's caused by normal web traffic. But my I/O usage is what causes the errors. I Googled this issue again and some guides told me that I/O usage doesn't matter that much, while others said that it can cause a lot of issues.

I didn't configure any cron jobs myself, apart from one, which is set on 2 times per day (0,12 per hour). This was recommended in a tutorial from my host to speed up Wordpress. You can see all the cron jobs below:

 

[cPRex]

Thanks for the additional details.

Is that the I/O of the disk itself? If so, it can definitely be a major issue, as even a small cron that is accessing the disk could cause a spike.

I'd recommend reaching out to the hosting provider to see if they can test the hard disk itself, as high I/O with little CPU or RAM activity can be an indicator of a failing drive.

 

[Tim van Rooijen]

Thanks for the additional details.

Is that the I/O of the disk itself? If so, it can definitely be a major issue, as even a small cron that is accessing the disk could cause a spike.

I'd recommend reaching out to the hosting provider to see if they can test the hard disk itself, as high I/O with little CPU or RAM activity can be an indicator of a failing drive.

Yes, I believe the I/O is of the disk itself. But I think I have to switch to another host. It took ages to get in contact with customer service and when I talked about this issue, they tried to upsell me to a higher package. But that doesn't make a lot of sense to me because the CPU and Physical memory stay at reasonable levels.

Thanks for your answers!

 

[cPRex]

You're very welcome! Having a good host is critical, so you may want to shop around to see what's available that fits your needs.