Not sure what 'Resource Abuse' is

6-12-04, 09:27 PM

Hi,

I just got back from a 3 day vacation and when I tried to access my webpage, I noticed just a blank white screen where it just said "charon.powweb.com 66.152.97.246." I then checked my e-mail and it said that my site was disabled because of "resource abuse." I am just very confused right now because I unfortunately don't really know what resource abuse is or how to fix it.

Here's a copy of my e-mail below. My website is called "Godzilla Stomp" and the address is http://gojistomp.org/

Quote:

Site disabled due to resource abuse. Please adjust the load requirements on your script(s) then contact abuse@powweb.com to be reactivated.

USER PID %CPU %MEM VSZ RSS TT STAT STARTED TIME COMMAND
gojistomp 99854 0.7 0.3 12584 5740 ?? S 12:25PM 0:00.11 /usr/local/bin/php viewforum.php
gojistomp 95282 0.0 0.0 0 0 ?? Z 12:05PM 0:00.00 (php)
gojistomp 99570 0.0 0.0 12584 0 ?? SW - 0:00.00 /usr/local/bin/php viewforum.php
gojistomp 99572 0.0 0.0 12584 0 ?? SW - 0:00.00 /usr/local/bin/php viewforum.php
gojistomp 99597 0.0 0.0 12584 0 ?? SW - 0:00.00 /usr/local/bin/php viewforum.php
gojistomp 99621 0.0 0.0 12584 0 ?? RW - 0:00.00 /usr/local/bin/php viewforum.php
gojistomp 99623 0.0 0.1 13200 1492 ?? S 12:25PM 0:00.14 /usr/local/bin/php posting.php
gojistomp 99626 0.0 0.2 12836 3136 ?? S 12:25PM 0:00.13 /usr/local/bin/php viewforum.php
gojistomp 99650 0.0 0.0 13092 0 ?? SW - 0:00.00 /usr/local/bin/php viewtopic.php
gojistomp 99728 0.0 0.0 12484 0 ?? RW - 0:00.00 /usr/local/bin/php index.php
gojistomp 99792 0.0 0.0 13092 0 ?? SW - 0:00.00 /usr/local/bin/php viewtopic.php
gojistomp 99798 0.0 0.3 12584 5628 ?? S 12:25PM 0:00.14 /usr/local/bin/php viewforum.php
gojistomp 99820 0.0 0.3 12584 5628 ?? S 12:25PM 0:00.11 /usr/local/bin/php viewforum.php
gojistomp 99835 0.5 0.3 12584 5628 ?? S 12:25PM 0:00.12 /usr/local/bin/php viewforum.php
gojistomp 95642 0.0 0.0 0 0 ?? Z 12:09PM 0:00.00 (php)

Judging from the e-mail I know that it obviously had something to do with my site's phpBB but I really do not know how to fix it. I looked at a few other topics on this board but I'm still confused on what to do because I'm a beginner at this script stuff.

Could it have something to do with the database size or how many posts people make per topic? The users on my site's message board tend to have long topics that can span over 10 pages and the last time I checked, I believe the database size might have been over 47 MB. Can someone please help me on how to fix this problem? Please keep in mind that I'm a beginner at all of this. Thank you!

**Croc Hunter** · 6-12-04, 10:52 PM

Hard to say.. at a guess your phpBB was being attacked or a script was looping unable to terminate a process. Because the times are all at 12:25. In either case what's happened is your forum was using more than it's fair share of CPU resources dragging powwebs server down. Slowing all sites on that server so powweb terminates your HTTP disabling your site. Your logs for that date/time may give more clues to track down the problem.

Have you made any mods to the standard phpBB?. You could start by reloading the viewforum.php it should be at phpbb/viewforum.php and reload phpbb/templates/subsilver/viewforum_body.tpl

You will need to contact support to re-enable your site.

6-12-04, 11:39 PM

I have good reason to suspect that my site, namely the forums of course, was being attacked by another user. There is this one site in the Godzilla Fandom where the users on that site's board often tries to start massive flamewars and such on other Godzilla boards. About a month ago they found an excuse to attack my site's board and have been going at it ever since. My guess is that something really bad happened while I was gone during the last few days that my moderators could not handle, and since I'm the board's only administrator, no one else would have been able to ban the troublemakers. It has always been suspected too that some of the users on their boards are hackers.

I have installed some mods to the site but not recently. I do though had made a few appearance themes a while back by following a tutorial where you modify a copy of the subSilver theme. Could these also be the reason why my site had used so much resources? Thanks.

6-13-04, 01:33 AM

I'm sorry I didn't ask this earlier but how exactly do I fix this problem so I'll be able to get my site back on the web and how will I be able to avoid this from happening again in the future? Thanks.

Skunkboy · 6-13-04, 01:34 AM

SQL is currently limited to 72,000 SELECT queries, per hour, per user. Two additional users can also be set up for a total of 3 users and a total of 216K queries. See http://forum.powweb.com/showthread.php?t=23735 for info on rotating users

extras · 6-13-04, 12:02 PM

It can be hard to find real cause in many cases
unless you know well about the program and site administration...

Many people simply disable script so that their site can be reactivated,
then try to find the problem and/or reinstall the script, change to other script,
and so on.

I went to see the site of phpBB, and found a few mod that supposed to increase
security.
Also, it is not so difficult to implement cache to reduce database access
and memory usage, in my opinion.

As there is an active user comunity of phpBB, you can ask question there, too.

**Croc Hunter** · 6-13-04, 09:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GodzillaStomp

I'm sorry I didn't ask this earlier but how exactly do I fix this problem so I'll be able to get my site back on the web and how will I be able to avoid this from happening again in the future? Thanks.

Reload the two files I mentioned above. Check your logs for that date/time. If it were one or two people attacking your site you will find their IP numbers in your logs. You can use htaccess to block the offending IP's from your site: http://www.clockwatchers.com/htaccess_block.html Additionaly you might like to block any traffic coming from these other sites. This will block or break any links to your site from theirs: http://resources.powweb.com/support/...ss&topic_id=55

extras · 6-14-04, 01:08 AM

Here is one example of how to use RewriteRule
to reduce the resource usage.

http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum92/1098.htm

I use something very similar with my perl script,
and it helps a lot when a few seach engines,
heavy trafic, and massive prefetch accesses are
coming together.
I think it virtually eliminated the risk of resource abuse.

People who experienced site shut down due to
unintentioanl resource abuse caused by huge access
(not by faulty script) should consider using something
like this, or ask author/comunity to include this
as a feature or optional package.

In many cases, the modification required should be very small.
Just a few lines at the starting and another few lines
at the end may do it.

Something similar to this.
http://simon.incutio.com/archive/200...cachingWithPHP

6-14-04, 11:18 AM

Thanks a bunch, guys. I just did a couple of things: I added two more users to the the SQL databse and followed the tutorial Skunkboy had provided and I added the "Instant Caching with php" code to the index.php, viewforum.php, and viewtopic.php files of my forum. Hopefully these two things will work and my site will be reactivated soon.

**BerksWebGuy** · 6-14-04, 11:39 AM

You have to contact support@powweb.com or maybe even chat.powweb.com to have it re-activated.

extras · 6-14-04, 11:47 AM

I did more reading about script/site optimization.
These are the links I found very helpful.
Mostly for php oriented (as I'm studying about php,
which tend to have more resource intensive scripts),
but the principle is the same for many other languages.

Excellent article, including case study, examples, charts...
http://phplens.com/lens/php-book/opt...ugging-php.php

Another good one. Also contains many good links!
http://php.weblogs.com/tuning_apache_unix

Very nice caching tutorial.
Even we may already know many of these stuff,
it's good to read and refresh our memory.
http://www.mnot.net/cache_docs/

If you care even really small details....
http://www.sitepoint.com/print/effec...e-acceleration

Something we may see in near future
http://www.esi.org/overview.html

It has PHP/Python/perl cache modules!
http://www.mnot.net/cgi_buffer/

More php oriented links

One of short php-cache example
http://klaus.e175.net/php-cache

"which php compiler cache is stable?"
http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum88/3731.htm

"php compiler cache internal"
http://php.weblogs.com/discuss/msgReader$3044

"Caching PHP Programs with PEAR"
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/php/2001...pearcache.html
http://0x00.org/php/phpCache/

Another php cache
http://pecl.php.net/package/APC

Another one?
http://wonko.com/poseidon/docs/www/lib/cache-php.html

Several other links I'm reading.
http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum92/1098.htm
http://simon.incutio.com/archive/200...cachingWithPHP
http://jbcombes.free.fr/daCode/doc/w...ml#cache_pages
http://codewalkers.com/tutorials/64/3.html
http://www.sysbotz.com/articles/phpcache.htm
http://smarty.php.net/crashcourse.php

::edit

I forgot this one from phpbuilder.
http://www.phpbuilder.com/columns/ar...25.php3?page=1

6-14-04, 01:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BerksWebGuy

You have to contact support@powweb.com or maybe even chat.powweb.com to have it re-activated.

I already contacted abuse@powweb.com who sent me the notification that my site was deactivated.

extras, thanks a whole bunch for those links there. I'm sure I'll spend the rest of my afternoon looking at those, lol.

extras · 6-14-04, 01:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GodzillaStomp

extras, thanks a whole bunch for those links there. I'm sure I'll spend the rest of my afternoon looking at those, lol.

I'm not trying to force you to read anything
or to make you use any of these technics.

I just put it up for you and all other people who
may share same type of problem.

So, take it easy. Don't read, or use anything
you don't feel like, you are not confortable with.
You know, I'm not going to pay a penny for you
even if you read them all.

6-14-04, 02:06 PM

Hahaha, yeah I know. That was just a casual remark I made.

extras · 6-14-04, 02:56 PM

[rant]
But I'd like to force those who write phpBB and
all other forum/CMS softwares to read them all.

I have an impression that people who use php
tend to serve everything dynamically (with MySQL).
Maybe it's better than using a script based on
huge flatfile DB.
But it still cost a lot more than static html.

For example, showthread.php of this forum can be
cached, and served again and again statically,
if we don't mind about loosing small customization
for login-users.
If there are 20 posts in that thread, you save
many MySQL requests, as well as CPU time and memory.

Most of the data in forumdisplay.php can be reused, too.
If we don't care about the "real-time" view number colum,
it doesn't change unless someone post/edit.
And depending on the type of forum,
there are often 100 view for 1 post.

If many users optimize their site, PowWeb may safely
allow more users per server and it may lead to
price reduction and increased quota, or at least it should
contribute to increase the server performance.
[/rant]

So, I post these hoping to pay less, next year.
Not to cause you any headache this afternoon.

6-12-04, 10:52 PM	#2
Croc Hunter Mod.. with bite.. Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Australia Posts: 7,295 Reputation: 442	Hard to say.. at a guess your phpBB was being attacked or a script was looping unable to terminate a process. Because the times are all at 12:25. In either case what's happened is your forum was using more than it's fair share of CPU resources dragging powwebs server down. Slowing all sites on that server so powweb terminates your HTTP disabling your site. Your logs for that date/time may give more clues to track down the problem. Have you made any mods to the standard phpBB?. You could start by reloading the viewforum.php it should be at phpbb/viewforum.php and reload phpbb/templates/subsilver/viewforum_body.tpl You will need to contact support to re-enable your site. __________________ Croc Hunter MSC :

6-14-04, 11:18 AM	#9
GodzillaStomp Guest Posts: n/a	Thanks a bunch, guys. I just did a couple of things: I added two more users to the the SQL databse and followed the tutorial Skunkboy had provided and I added the "Instant Caching with php" code to the index.php, viewforum.php, and viewtopic.php files of my forum. Hopefully these two things will work and my site will be reactivated soon. Last edited by GodzillaStomp; 6-14-04 at 11:34 AM..

6-14-04, 11:39 AM	#10
BerksWebGuy Mod Squad Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Orlando, FL Posts: 6,972 Reputation: 243	You have to contact support@powweb.com or maybe even chat.powweb.com to have it re-activated. __________________ www.GoLightMedia.com

6-14-04, 11:47 AM	#11
extras on hiatus Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Canada Posts: 5,815 Reputation: 314	I did more reading about script/site optimization. These are the links I found very helpful. Mostly for php oriented (as I'm studying about php, which tend to have more resource intensive scripts), but the principle is the same for many other languages. Excellent article, including case study, examples, charts... http://phplens.com/lens/php-book/opt...ugging-php.php Another good one. Also contains many good links! http://php.weblogs.com/tuning_apache_unix Very nice caching tutorial. Even we may already know many of these stuff, it's good to read and refresh our memory. http://www.mnot.net/cache_docs/ If you care even really small details.... http://www.sitepoint.com/print/effec...e-acceleration Something we may see in near future http://www.esi.org/overview.html It has PHP/Python/perl cache modules! http://www.mnot.net/cgi_buffer/ More php oriented links One of short php-cache example http://klaus.e175.net/php-cache "which php compiler cache is stable?" http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum88/3731.htm "php compiler cache internal" http://php.weblogs.com/discuss/msgReader$3044 "Caching PHP Programs with PEAR" http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/php/2001...pearcache.html http://0x00.org/php/phpCache/ Another php cache http://pecl.php.net/package/APC Another one? http://wonko.com/poseidon/docs/www/lib/cache-php.html Several other links I'm reading. http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum92/1098.htm http://simon.incutio.com/archive/200...cachingWithPHP http://jbcombes.free.fr/daCode/doc/w...ml#cache_pages http://codewalkers.com/tutorials/64/3.html http://www.sysbotz.com/articles/phpcache.htm http://smarty.php.net/crashcourse.php ::edit I forgot this one from phpbuilder. http://www.phpbuilder.com/columns/ar...25.php3?page=1 Last edited by extras; 6-14-04 at 12:17 PM..

6-12-04, 11:39 PM	#3
GodzillaStomp Guest Posts: n/a	I have good reason to suspect that my site, namely the forums of course, was being attacked by another user. There is this one site in the Godzilla Fandom where the users on that site's board often tries to start massive flamewars and such on other Godzilla boards. About a month ago they found an excuse to attack my site's board and have been going at it ever since. My guess is that something really bad happened while I was gone during the last few days that my moderators could not handle, and since I'm the board's only administrator, no one else would have been able to ban the troublemakers. It has always been suspected too that some of the users on their boards are hackers. I have installed some mods to the site but not recently. I do though had made a few appearance themes a while back by following a tutorial where you modify a copy of the subSilver theme. Could these also be the reason why my site had used so much resources? Thanks.

6-13-04, 01:33 AM	#4
GodzillaStomp Guest Posts: n/a	I'm sorry I didn't ask this earlier but how exactly do I fix this problem so I'll be able to get my site back on the web and how will I be able to avoid this from happening again in the future? Thanks.

6-13-04, 01:34 AM	#5
Skunkboy Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: . Posts: 2,009 Reputation: -39	SQL is currently limited to 72,000 SELECT queries, per hour, per user. Two additional users can also be set up for a total of 3 users and a total of 216K queries. See http://forum.powweb.com/showthread.php?t=23735 for info on rotating users

6-13-04, 12:02 PM	#6
extras on hiatus Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Canada Posts: 5,815 Reputation: 314	It can be hard to find real cause in many cases unless you know well about the program and site administration... Many people simply disable script so that their site can be reactivated, then try to find the problem and/or reinstall the script, change to other script, and so on. I went to see the site of phpBB, and found a few mod that supposed to increase security. Also, it is not so difficult to implement cache to reduce database access and memory usage, in my opinion. As there is an active user comunity of phpBB, you can ask question there, too.

6-14-04, 01:08 AM	#8
extras on hiatus Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Canada Posts: 5,815 Reputation: 314	Here is one example of how to use RewriteRule to reduce the resource usage. http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum92/1098.htm I use something very similar with my perl script, and it helps a lot when a few seach engines, heavy trafic, and massive prefetch accesses are coming together. I think it virtually eliminated the risk of resource abuse. People who experienced site shut down due to unintentioanl resource abuse caused by huge access (not by faulty script) should consider using something like this, or ask author/comunity to include this as a feature or optional package. In many cases, the modification required should be very small. Just a few lines at the starting and another few lines at the end may do it. Something similar to this. http://simon.incutio.com/archive/200...cachingWithPHP

6-14-04, 02:06 PM	#14
GodzillaStomp Guest Posts: n/a	Hahaha, yeah I know. That was just a casual remark I made.

6-14-04, 02:56 PM	#15
extras on hiatus Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Canada Posts: 5,815 Reputation: 314	[rant] But I'd like to force those who write phpBB and all other forum/CMS softwares to read them all. I have an impression that people who use php tend to serve everything dynamically (with MySQL). Maybe it's better than using a script based on huge flatfile DB. But it still cost a lot more than static html. For example, showthread.php of this forum can be cached, and served again and again statically, if we don't mind about loosing small customization for login-users. If there are 20 posts in that thread, you save many MySQL requests, as well as CPU time and memory. Most of the data in forumdisplay.php can be reused, too. If we don't care about the "real-time" view number colum, it doesn't change unless someone post/edit. And depending on the type of forum, there are often 100 view for 1 post. If many users optimize their site, PowWeb may safely allow more users per server and it may lead to price reduction and increased quota, or at least it should contribute to increase the server performance. [/rant] So, I post these hoping to pay less, next year. Not to cause you any headache this afternoon.