Hey. I created a new 512MB droplet, and used the 1-click wordpress install.
I added a few plugins, and created just one page.
This is a brand new site, and currently has no other content.
The website was running fine a few days back, however, when I tried to load it today, I got the message: "error establishing a database connection"
I rebooted the droplet through SSH, and the website started working again.
A few articles in the DO community point out that this may be due to MySQL crashing because its falling short of memory.
So I checked my Google Analytics account to see if there has been a sudden surge of activity on my website, and the only activity was 5 or so visitors a couple of days back.
MySQL memory shortage seems like a plausible explanation, but I have difficulty believing that a 512 MB droplet is not enough to run a completely empty wordpress website and serve 5 users.
I have a few questions:
1. Is 512 MB really too low to just host a blank site? Should the DB fail with 5 visitors?
2. If not, then what other factors could cause the DB to stop working?
3. How can I check the logs/ or find out for sure what the problem was?
4. Is there any way to keep a track of the droplet's memory usage?
Additional information:
I installed the following plugins on my WP site:
- Better WP Security
- Google Analytics for WordPress
- WordPress SEO
- Microkid's Related Posts
- Disqus Comment System
- Contact Form 7
- All in one Favicon
I also installed a couple of other plugins, but they were deactivated.
Also, the "Better WP Security" plugin is configured to create a backup of the WP DB every few days.
Please help me out with this. I'd like to prevent my site from failing again.
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If you have 512MB ram - add 1024MB swap file.
In tutorial above swap is 256MB. Create 1024MB file like this:
dd if=/dev/zero of=/swapfile bs=1M count=1000
This seems like a common issue. I’ve contacted DO support sever times. First I was told it was due to noisy neighbors, then I was told it might be something wrong on my end. I guess—plugins. My 1gb ram droplet typically uses 5%-10% CPU, then randomly, every 1-4 days, my server gets hit with 80%-100% CPU spike. This is when I receive the database connection error.
My site has low traffic. I use WP Super Cache to only dump cache once per day. I am also using serverpilot.io to manage my WP install. I’ve followed their suggested settings. https://serverpilot.io/community/articles/how-to-install-wp-super-cache.html
The cache dumping time does not match the CPU spike time.
It also seems swap is enabled.
Running
sudo swapon -s
returns the following:
“`Filename Type Size Used Priority
/swapfile file 524284 0 -1
Go here: http://www.thegeekstuff.com/2010/08/how-to-add-swap-space/
Their WP image has no swap so memory gets used up 100% and causes mysql to crash. I wonder if it’s the same for their other images.
DigitalOcean #nochill