Confessions of a Six Figure Professional Blogger

Wordpress Borks My Server? Dealing with High Server Load

July 30, 2008 | Webmaster Crap

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I have been dealing with server issues over at PCMech for a little while now. Yesterday, I think we finally made some headway. We ended up replacing the APC PHP opcode cache with eAcellerator as well as upgraded the motherboard and processor.

Wordpress is a fantastic product, but when you add some plug-ins to it it can become a huge beast which uses a lot of server resources. Especially when your blog is hit by a lot of traffic.

A few tips on optimizing server load on a heavily trafficked Wordpress blog:

  1. Use a PHP opcode cache. I know it’s technical, but basically an opcode cache stores compiled PHP code in a cache so that it does not have to be re-compiled every time it is run. PHP, by nature, is compiled in real-time otherwise. Using an opcode cache can significantly speed up your site.
  2. Apache calls are, by nature, memory intensive. And it gets worse the more dynamic your site is (and Wordpress is pretty dynamic). One way to offload some load is to offload your images and movie files to another server.
  3. Separate the database server from the main server. At PCMech, we have a server just for MySQL and another for the main site files.
  4. Deactivate any plug-ins you’re not using. You might not save the day doing this, but it does help reduce load.
  5. Use a Wordpress cache plug-in like WP Super Cache. This can, too, work quite well. The only thing you have to be careful with is anything which is dynamic on a per-user basis. In my case with PCMech, I cannot run a blanket cache like this because I have premium members who see things differently than everybody else.

Luckily, most blogs won’t have to deal with this. Wordpress can accommodate quite a bit of traffic all by itself. It is usually the high traffic blogs that have to worry about such things.

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  5. Solution – Wordpress Theme Reverts to Default (Kubrick)

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  • Have you considered running a local server on your PC? It's easier than you think, there are now dead-easy installers which come with apache-php-mysql pre-configured.
  • What server resources in particular get hit hardest? I imagine the HDD I/O would get a fair workout.
    I assume this would affect shared webhosting servers a fair bit then? Especially when the average blogger would install as many plugins as they like and the database and pics and such would all be hosted on the same server.
  • I've been having some of the same things as you but since i started using WP Super Cache, its definitely helped out a lot.I think the one thing to look at also is the plug-in's and what type of info they are sending out/in to control the traffic that is overloading your server.
  • Server loads have been killing our sites lately too, thanks for the tips Dave!
  • yeah dave nice article. i do not fall among the type of persons tha may be having this kinda problem my isn't that popular. but am working on it.
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