Server Overload Question

[Sarah Bynes]

Hi! I am new here and to the VPS community as well! I know nothing about Servers and I am hoping to learn a bit so I can manage to solve some of the issues I am having with my site.

What I know:
2 CPU cores:
Processor #1: AMD Opteron(TM) Processor 6274 - Speed: 2199.982 MHz - Cache: 512 KB
Processor #2: AMD Opteron(TM) Processor 6274 - Speed: 2199.982 MHz - Cache: 512 KB
4 GB RAM
System information:
Linux server
Platform:
WordPress Version 4.4
Theme:
- Removed -
Unique Visitors:
Between 5K & 6K Unique Visitors Daily.
PHP Version:
PHP Version 5.4.28

After further investigation and chat session with the awesome BlueHost team, we found out that the theme I am using is the culprit and that some of the PHP functions are the cause of the server spike and overload. (PHP process) I do not know which functions is causing the issues and would love your input on this issue and on how to find out. I LOVE the theme and I am hoping to continue using it. The theme author is a "No Go" for help!

The strangest thing is that when I re-tweet some of the articles or share them on Facebook (10 or 15 of them) I get a VERY high server overload immediately and my site gets shut down.

Some of the stuff I got from Bluehost (You might understand it better than I would)

[B]Tons of php processes:[/B]

5408 website  20  0  303m 110m  39m R 14.3  2.9  0:01.77 /usr/bin/php
15123 website  20  0  314m 106m  39m R 12.5  2.8  0:14.91 /usr/bin/php
15131 website  20  0  303m 101m  39m R 12.5  2.7  0:16.82 /usr/bin/php
15233 website  20  0  316m 122m  39m R 12.5  3.2  0:14.55 /usr/bin/php
15295 website  20  0  298m 107m  40m R 12.5  2.8  0:06.49 /usr/bin/php
15326 website  20  0  291m 100m  40m R 12.5  2.6  0:03.76 /usr/bin/php
15328 website  20  0  289m  98m  40m R 12.5  2.6  0:03.88 /usr/bin/php
15398 website  20  0  311m 118m  40m R 12.5  3.1  0:02.19 /usr/bin/php
15400 website  20  0  310m 117m  40m R 12.5  3.1  0:02.08 /usr/bin/php
15404 website  20  0  300m 108m  39m R 12.5  2.8  0:01.73 /usr/bin/php
15237 website  20  0  315m 122m  40m R 10.7  3.2  0:16.99 /usr/bin/php
15294 website  20  0  315m 123m  40m R 10.7  3.2  0:08.34 /usr/bin/php

Some of the Code that was provided to me by Bluehost during the time of overload:

php  15999 mydirectory  cwd  DIR  252,1  4096 1074277 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl
php  15999 mydirectory  5r  DIR  252,1  4096 1581025 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/themes/goodnews5/framework/options/redux/sample/patterns
php  16248 mydirectory  cwd  DIR  252,1  4096 1074277 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl
php  16248 mydirectory  5r  DIR  252,1  4096 1581025 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/themes/goodnews5/framework/options/redux/sample/patterns
php  16250 mydirectory  cwd  DIR  252,1  4096 1074277 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl
php  16250 mydirectory  mem  REG  252,1  2710 1441863 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-seo-premium/frontend/class-googleplus.php
php  16250 mydirectory  5r  DIR  252,1  4096 1581025 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/themes/goodnews5/framework/options/redux/sample/patterns
php  16250 mydirectory  6r  REG  252,1  2710 1441863 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-seo-premium/frontend/class-googleplus.php
php  16252 mydirectory  cwd  DIR  252,1  4096 1074277 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl
php  16252 mydirectory  mem  REG  252,1  103892 1202822 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-includes/deprecated.php
php  16252 mydirectory  5r  REG  252,1  103892 1202822 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-includes/deprecated.php
php  16253 mydirectory  cwd  DIR  252,1  4096 1074277 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl
php  16253 mydirectory  5r  DIR  252,1  4096 1581025 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/themes/goodnews5/framework/options/redux/sample/patterns
php  16256 mydirectory  cwd  DIR  252,1  4096 1074277 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl
php  16256 mydirectory  mem  REG  252,1  7272 1581773 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/themes/goodnews5/framework/widgets/postsImages-widget.php
php  16256 mydirectory  5r  DIR  252,1  4096 1581025 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/themes/goodnews5/framework/options/redux/sample/patterns
php  16256 mydirectory  6r  REG  252,1  6768 1581774 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/themes/goodnews5/framework/widgets/postsList-widget.php
php  16256 mydirectory  7r  REG  252,1  6768 1581774 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/themes/goodnews5/framework/widgets/postsList-widget.php
php  16258 mydirectory  cwd  DIR  252,1  4096 1074277 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl
php  16258 mydirectory  mem  REG  252,1  52716 1573547 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/plugins/gravityforms/includes/webapi/webapi.php
php  16258 mydirectory  5r  REG  252,1  52716 1573547 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/plugins/gravityforms/includes/webapi/webapi.php
php  16260 mydirectory  cwd  DIR  252,1  4096 1074277 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl
php  16260 mydirectory  5r  DIR  252,1  4096 1581025 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/themes/goodnews5/framework/options/redux/sample/patterns
php  16262 mydirectory  cwd  DIR  252,1  4096 1074277 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl
php  16265 mydirectory  cwd  DIR  252,1  4096 1074277 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl
php  16265 mydirectory  5r  DIR  252,1  4096 1581025 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/themes/goodnews5/framework/options/redux/sample/patterns
php  16268 mydirectory  cwd  DIR  252,1  4096 1074277 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl
php  16268 mydirectory  mem  REG  252,1  3528 1182099 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/themes/goodnews5/sidebar.php
php  16268 mydirectory  5r  REG  252,1  3528 1182099 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/themes/goodnews5/sidebar.php
php  16270 mydirectory  cwd  DIR  252,1  4096 1074277 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl
php  16271 mydirectory  cwd  DIR  252,1  4096 1074277 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl
php  16271 mydirectory  mem  REG  252,1  77063 1182846 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/plugins/bbpress/includes/replies/functions.php
php  16271 mydirectory  5r  REG  252,1  77063 1182846 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/plugins/bbpress/includes/replies/functions.php
php  16273 mydirectory  cwd  DIR  252,1  4096 1074277 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl
php  16277 mydirectory  cwd  DIR  252,1  4096 1074277 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl
php  16277 mydirectory  mem  REG  252,1  52716 1573547 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/plugins/gravityforms/includes/webapi/webapi.php
php  16279 mydirectory  cwd  DIR  252,1  4096 1074277 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl
php  16279 mydirectory  5r  DIR  252,1  4096 1581025 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/themes/goodnews5/framework/options/redux/sample/patterns
php  16281 mydirectory  cwd  DIR  252,1  4096 1074277 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl
php  16281 mydirectory  5r  DIR  252,1  4096 1581025 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/themes/goodnews5/framework/options/redux/sample/patterns
php  16282 mydirectory  cwd  DIR  252,1  4096 1074277 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl
php  16282 mydirectory  5r  DIR  252,1  4096 1581025 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/themes/goodnews5/framework/options/redux/sample/patterns
php  16284 mydirectory  cwd  DIR  252,1  4096 1074277 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl
php  16284 mydirectory  5r  DIR  252,1  4096 1581025 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/themes/goodnews5/framework/options/redux/sample/patterns
php  16287 mydirectory  cwd  DIR  252,1  4096 1074277 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl
php  16287 mydirectory  mem  REG  252,1  41588 1202807 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-includes/class-wp-theme.php
php  16288 mydirectory  5r  DIR  252,1  4096 1581025 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/themes/goodnews5/framework/options/redux/sample/patterns
php  16289 mydirectory  cwd  DIR  252,1  4096 1074277 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl
php  16289 mydirectory  5r  DIR  252,1  4096 1581025 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/themes/goodnews5/framework/options/redux/sample/patterns
php  16300 mydirectory  cwd  DIR  252,1  4096 1074277 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl
php  16300 mydirectory  mem  REG  252,1  36895 1188685 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/plugins/buddypress/bp-xprofile/bp-xprofile-template.php
php  16300 mydirectory  5r  REG  252,1  36895 1188685 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/plugins/buddypress/bp-xprofile/bp-xprofile-template.php
php  16301 mydirectory  cwd  DIR  252,1  4096 1074277 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl
php  16301 mydirectory  mem  REG  252,1  10356 1188659 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/plugins/buddypress/bp-xprofile/bp-xprofile-activity.php
php  16301 mydirectory  5r  REG  252,1  10356 1188659 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/plugins/buddypress/bp-xprofile/bp-xprofile-activity.php
php  16309 mydirectory  cwd  DIR  252,1  4096 1074277 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl
php  16309 mydirectory  mem  REG  252,1  6592 1188666 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/plugins/buddypress/bp-xprofile/classes/class-bp-xprofile-field-type-checkbox.php
php  16309 mydirectory  5r  REG  252,1  6592 1188666 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/plugins/buddypress/bp-xprofile/classes/class-bp-xprofile-field-type-checkbox.php
php  16334 mydirectory  cwd  DIR  252,1  4096 1074277 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl
php  16334 mydirectory  mem  REG  252,1  5052 1188936 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-includes/widgets/class-wp-nav-menu-widget.php
php  16334 mydirectory  5r  REG  252,1  5052 1188936 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-includes/widgets/class-wp-nav-menu-widget.php
php  16334 mydirectory  6r  REG  252,1  5052 1188936 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-includes/widgets/class-wp-nav-menu-widget.php
php  16336 mydirectory  cwd  DIR  252,1  4096 1074277 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl
php  16336 mydirectory  mem  REG  252,1  86188 1182844 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/plugins/bbpress/includes/forums/template.php
php  16336 mydirectory  5r  REG  252,1  86188 1182844 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/plugins/bbpress/includes/forums/template.php
php  16337 mydirectory  cwd  DIR  252,1  4096 1074277 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl
php  16337 mydirectory  mem  REG  252,1  127938 1182855 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/plugins/bbpress/includes/topics/template.php
php  16337 mydirectory  5r  REG  252,1  127938 1182855 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/plugins/bbpress/includes/topics/template.php
php  16338 mydirectory  cwd  DIR  252,1  4096 1074277 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl
php  16338 mydirectory  mem  REG  252,1  80096 1182842 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/plugins/bbpress/includes/forums/functions.php
php  16338 mydirectory  5r  REG  252,1  80096 1182842 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/plugins/bbpress/includes/forums/functions.php
php  16342 mydirectory  cwd  DIR  252,1  4096 1074277 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl
php  16342 mydirectory  mem  REG  252,1  80096 1182842 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/plugins/bbpress/includes/forums/functions.php
php  16342 mydirectory  5r  REG  252,1  80096 1182842 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/plugins/bbpress/includes/forums/functions.php
php  16343 mydirectory  cwd  DIR  252,1  4096 1074277 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl
php  16343 mydirectory  mem  REG  252,1  7295 1182697 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/plugins/LayerSlider/wp/scripts.php
php  16343 mydirectory  5r  REG  252,1  7295 1182697 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/plugins/LayerSlider/wp/scripts.php
php  16348 mydirectory  cwd  DIR  252,1  4096 1074277 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl
php  16348 mydirectory  mem  REG  252,1  2311 1573528 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/plugins/gravityforms/includes/fields/class-gf-field-text.php
php  16348 mydirectory  5r  REG  252,1  2311 1573528 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-content/plugins/gravityforms/includes/fields/class-gf-field-text.php
php  16365 mydirectory  cwd  DIR  252,1  4096 1074277 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl
php  16365 mydirectory  mem  REG  252,1  22592 1189011 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-includes/class-wp-meta-query.php
php  16365 mydirectory  5r  REG  252,1  22592 1189011 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-includes/class-wp-meta-query.php
php  16366 mydirectory  cwd  DIR  252,1  4096 1074277 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl
php  16366 mydirectory  mem  REG  252,1  41588 1202807 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-includes/class-wp-theme.php
php  16366 mydirectory  5r  REG  252,1  41588 1202807 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-includes/class-wp-theme.php
php  16371 mydirectory  cwd  DIR  252,1  4096 1074277 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl
php  16371 mydirectory  mem  REG  252,1  18498 1202778 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-includes/capabilities.php
php  16371 mydirectory  5r  REG  252,1  18498 1202778 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-includes/capabilities.php
php  16372 mydirectory  cwd  DIR  252,1  4096 1074277 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl
php  16372 mydirectory  mem  REG  252,1  6969 1188942 /home/mydirectory/public_html/myurl/wp-includes/class-wp-roles.php
[B]

Please help!


Sarah.[/B]

 

[Infopro]

I LOVE the theme and I am hoping to continue using it. The theme author is a "No Go" for help!

This is more of an issue with your wordpress site, the plugins you're using and the style itself. You should post over on the wordpress support site for support with your wordpress.

An out of date wordpress, or plugin, or style can not only cause issues similar to your issue, but they can also get your site attacked and compromised.

 

[kotakomputer]

Check your WP theme file, maybe contain hacking code.

 

[Sarah Bynes]

The theme files are clean! I used one of the diagnostics plugins to scan the site. I have about 500 posts that require a lot of images (which I optimize every time I publish an article). Thanks to the admin who suggested to look elsewhere since it might be a theme issues which I agree on; I was just thinking that there might be some ways to investigate through the server on which functions on the theme that are causing my server to overload. Thank you so much!

Sarah.

 

[mageshm]

@Sarah Bynes,
Are you start facing this issue recent (suddenly) or since long time. for Server overload on wordpress site could be some reason and (we can't decide blindly) not for theme and any particular things. As per your update you are holding VPS, so you have root access. I advise you to check server load using top -c command when its spike. Also check apache access log, error log & dmesg log which will give you the path to identify root causes of issues because last week we have faced out of memory issue which lead to down the server very often due to xmlrpc exploit and we found digging into log file.

Hope you will fine to troubleshoot the server load issue now.

 

[max_payne]

When the problem has been identified, there is little server administrators can do to help you. The theme is clearly the issue here. Find a new one! From the CPU numbers in the top command you have provided, it is time to move on from this theme.

 

[ElviCities]

PHP Version:
PHP 5.4.28

Hold the phone... I would make it a priority to upgrade PHP. Your performance issues may not be related, but you are asking for trouble using such an old version of PHP.