"Server Load" in cpanel (is it accurate)?

[Apokalupsis]

Just trying to monitor my site, make sure I keep the server load low. I'm in Cpanel --> Server Status looking at the Server Load stat.

Right now it seems to be fluctuating between 1.00 - 2.62 (although, it seems as if anything above 2.0 is an anomaly as it almost always goes back down to the 1.0 range).

Questions:

1) Is this an accurate way of determining server load? If not, is there a way?

2) Is this showing the load coming from my site or is it the entire server?

3) If Cpanel's stat is accurate and usable, what is acceptable as the server load stat?

Thanks in advance for any explanation(s).

[Sam]

Originally Posted by Apokalupsis

1) Is this an accurate way of determining server load? If not, is there a way?

'top' in SSH shows the load better, the load displayed in cpanel is cached.

2) Is this showing the load coming from my site or is it the entire server?

Entire server.

[Apokalupsis]

ok, so how can I determine as the site owner, if my site is using too many resources, or inching up to the point that it may be unacceptable? I'd like to be proactive vs reactive.

[slapshotw]

Unfortunately there's not many easy ways to do it. Do you have something you suspect will cause problems? Ask live chat to watch it while it runs a few times. You can also request SSH access and run "top" to see the kinds of resources your scripts are taking.

[Apokalupsis]

I don't have anything installed yet that I would suspect causing a problem. But I'm not sure about an Ajax shoutbox from vb.org that I'd like to install sometime. I don't have a chat room, no IRC, no download center, or anything intensive other than running vb.

[RainbowViper]

Interesting that you mention an AJAX shoutbox. I'm using one written for IP Board, with ioncube encoding. Works perfectly, but I'm curious how this affects load as well.

At the moment, I have a 15-second refresh. Does that impact the server, or is than unanswerable without a lot more info?

RV

[slapshotw]

Will it impact the server if you have 1 visitor? No. If you have 10,000 visitors? Yes.

It also depends on what the scope of the XMLHttpRequest is. Usually something like that is using a database call.

[TonyB]

Ya, like any chat room load is determined by how many active users there are on at the same time.

I have Inferno vbshout and it idles people out in 1 minute (default, changeable) to minimize server load.

[Apokalupsis]

max members I've ever had on my site (members =/= guests/spiders) is around 20 or so. Of those, only 2-3 would use the shoutbox, and of those 2-3, only 1 would make multiple shouts in a session.

[Goddess Dix]

you can add a debug command in your vb config file that will let you see what queries your board is running and how long each one takes.

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/archi.../t-188992.html

i've heard that the shoutbox is a resource hog, so i think it's definitely a good idea to check. even if it's not bad enough to ding you on the shared, it could slow down your site for your members.

[TonyB]

Originally Posted by Goddess Dix

i've heard that the shoutbox is a resource hog

I think this belief got started on the large boards where 100 people would go sit in the shoutbox and use it as a chatroom. Kill a site quick.

But when people are idled out every minute, that discourages that type of abuse. While I have 20 people use my shoutbox in a day, I rarely see more than 1 or 2 active users in there.

[RainbowViper]

Satan would scream for snowplows before my site hit 100 users logged in, let alone 10,000.

And yes, people will be idled out quickly when I finish putting the screws to the settings.

Thanks for the answers.