I have X GB traffic/bandwidth, and have not used all, why is my site creating load and being asked to upgrade?

Server load and bandwidth are two entirely different things. Server load refers to the amount of time the server needs to run in order to process a request. The more concurrent requests that the server receives, the higher the load. Bandwidth refers to the amount of data that is sent over the network after the request is processed. In the case of a php/MySQL web application e.g. forum or portal, the server receives a request for a URL. It finds the file that maps to the URL and sees that it is a executable file (PHP script, etc.) so it determines what it needs to use to execute the file, executes it (which probably includes connecting to the database and executing several queries), collects the output and then sends this to the requester. All of this work contributes to the server’s load. The output (which is usually relatively small unless there are large graphics or multimedia content on the page) contributes to bandwidth usage when it is actually sent. In contrast, a simple HTML page or a movie download creates almost no server load because all the server has to do is open the file and send its contents down the pipe. When you are asked to upgrade to higher plan, it means your scripts are utilizing more than normal CPU and memory of the server, and causing the server load to go high, which in turn causes all sites hosted on that server to slow down. The main reason could be number of requests to your site or it could be a rogue script or code that needs...

How many SQL queries are allowed on shared/sdx (max_user_connections)? Which dedicated server can fit my needs for it?

There is no hard and fast rule. It all depends on your queries. One bad query can take down the whole server and hang the mysql server. So being a shared server we have setup the limits at optimum level so that the server does not crash when one of the user site is hit with lots of traffic. If you are getting “too many connections” mysql error, then either you are hitting the limits or your code is not closing open mysql connections before opening new ones. Only person(s) who can tell you how many queries will make your site work fine is the developer of the code you are using. They should do a stress test and see how many queries will require how much system resources (cpu, ram). Depending on that result, we can help you with identifying which dedicated server will fit your needs. Otherwise it is just a hit and trial...

Someone is spamming my forms/blog/guestbook, what can I do to stop or report them?

1) Reporting spammer to the source network does not usually help. However, if you really want to report, you can note down the IP of the spammer [ your form or application should have the ability to record the IP, if not please check with the developer of that application ] You can then visit www.arin.net and check the owner network by checking the whois record for that IP. If the owner is apnic, ripe or lacnic, you wil need to visit their site to find the owner of that IP. Here is some relevant information: http://www.arin.net/abuse.html Once you have found the abuse email address of the IP owner, you can report them the incident with full details. 2) The real solution is to protect your site from such attacks. You can do the following steps: a) Add Captcha on your form to validate that a human is submitting the form. More details at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captcha Also check with the developer to add this feature or find a better script that comes with this feature. Most spamming activity is done by automatic bots, and this will protect against those attacks. b) Block the IP of the offender from your control panel. c) Give the ability to add comments to guestbook/blog to registered users only. We recommend solution (a) as the most appropriate, however depending on your own situation and your own decision on the usability of the site, you can do (b) and (c) as well to protect your...

My website got hacked, what to do?

Here are some tips to keep your site secure. This was primarly written in response to a hacked site: 1. First thing you need to do is check all vendor/developer sites for ALL web scripts/applications used in your account for any update including any mod you may be using in any web application. If you are using any open source web application, that may be the prime suspect. However, you must check all and keep them upto date. Check the database on www.secunia.com for any known exploits released in public. 2. Once you have verified that 100% of scripts are latest stable, you will need to go through all files of your account and make sure none is uploaded by hackers before you audited or left by you from an old install of an application. There may be files in folders you would never imagine. You can use ftp or cpanel file manager to go through all files under public_html and compare them with your local copy. [You should always maintain a local copy for this comparison as well as backup] 3. Make sure all passwords are mix of alpha-numeric and not a dictionary word. Just because you thought of a difficult word from dictionary does not make you safe. 4. The MySQL database access to all web application should be using separate db users. Do not ever use your main account user/pass for it. Your main user/pass should never be stored in any file in your account. 5. In your control panel, activate archive option of your web logs in Raw Log Manager. This will give you the...

My website is very slow. I am getting very slow response from web/vps/server, what is the problem?

Please open a support ticket and provide this information so support can troubleshoot the problem for you: 1. Exact steps to reproduce the slow response including any login details or URLs to visit/browse. 2. Your IP address by visiting this page: www.myipaddress.com 3. Traceroute from your computer to the server. To do a traceroute on your windows xp computer, please follow this: Start : Programs : Accessories : Command Prompt Once there, enter this command: tracert XX where XX can be your domain hosted on the server or the server machine name (e.g. yodha.nocdirect.com) Copy/paste the result in the support ticket. 4. Test result by placing a large file in your account and downloading it on your vps via http. For example upload a php source tar.gz from this page http://www.php.net/downloads.php to somewhere in your account via ftp, and then download it via your browser, and provide the download speed in the support ticket. Note: If you have linux machine available, please try wget http://url-to-php.tar.gz-file And copy/paste the result in the support...

I am unable to reach my server/account/web site?

Please login to your client area and check the network status. If your server is up and running, then you need to check for any network problems between your computer and the server. To help troubleshoot this, you can take a traceroute. To do a traceroute on your windows xp computer, please follow this: Start : Programs : Accessories : Command Prompt Once there, enter this command: tracert YOUR_DOMAIN_COM and tracert...