Server stops responding every ~10 minutes - can't figure out what's going on!

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KevySaysBeNice

[H]ard|Gawd
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Dec 7, 2001
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Hi all!

So, I'm not sure if this belongs in "webmastering & programming" or here, or somewhere else completely, so mods please feel free to move the thread if it should be somewhere else (and sorry for the hassle).

So, I have a webserver (a dedicated server actually on serverbeach) and as of late it will randomly stop responding every 10-15 minutes for a minute or so. I can't access the server via SSH, and it doesn't respond to web requests (ie my websites are down).

I know this could be a million different things, but I'm really new to server "stuff" and am not sure where to start looking. We've contacted ServerBeach, but they say it's not a hardware problem.

Again, this seems to affect all sites on the server.


Are there logs that I should be looking at that might give me an idea of what's going on?

Thanks for any help!!
 
What OS does the server run?
Do you lose the ability to ping the server when it's unavailable as well? If so I want start with network issues...

Need more info.
 
Yea, is the server locking up and you have to force a reboot? Or does it just stop publishing the websites?
 
Thanks for the replies guys :)

Database said:
What OS does the server run?
Do you lose the ability to ping the server when it's unavailable as well? If so I want start with network issues...

Need more info.
Click to expand...

Yep, also loose the ability to ping the server. Ping times out.

jtr8178 said:
Yea, is the server locking up and you have to force a reboot? Or does it just stop publishing the websites?
Click to expand...

I don't have to force a reboot, the server comes back in what seems like less then a minute. Maybe a minute tops. Though, it could be more (1-2 minutes). Honestly though, I haven't timed it. Is there a tool out there (maybe this is a waste of time) that will ping the server and graph the responses over time so I can get an idea of how regularly this is happening? Again, maybe this isn't useful though.

j-sta said:
what OS is the server?
If Windows, check the Windows event logs.
Click to expand...

It's a linux box. I'm honestly not sure of the distro. Ubuntu or CentOS I think.


If I try to get to one of the sites that's hosted on the server, say http://www.domain.com, then sometimes the page will just hang. I'm not sure if this is because of a TTL thing or something, but Chrome (for instance) will just hang as though it's waiting for a response. Sometimes the server will come "back to life" and actually serve the page after XX seconds, or sometimes it takes too long and Chrome stops waiting and gives a page not found error or whatever.


Thanks again for the help/advice on this guys :heart:
 
KevySaysBeNice said:
Thanks for the replies guys :)

Yep, also loose the ability to ping the server. Ping times out.

I don't have to force a reboot, the server comes back in what seems like less then a minute. Maybe a minute tops. Though, it could be more (1-2 minutes). Honestly though, I haven't timed it. Is there a tool out there (maybe this is a waste of time) that will ping the server and graph the responses over time so I can get an idea of how regularly this is happening? Again, maybe this isn't useful though.

It's a linux box. I'm honestly not sure of the distro. Ubuntu or CentOS I think.

If I try to get to one of the sites that's hosted on the server, say http://www.domain.com, then sometimes the page will just hang
Click to expand...
The easiest way would be to have a look at the logs* and correlate the downtime from your pinging to the log-file. As for the tool you're looking for, there are lots of applications out there that will do what you want. Just Google "Graphical ping" and pick the one that most suits your needs. I've used GPing before (it's pretty simple).

*edit: completed my thoughts :p

*edit2: I forgot to mention, to see what version of linux is running type "uname -a" :)
 
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Do you have two network interfaces configured?

Do both of them have gateway addresses configured?
 
KevySaysBeNice said:
Stupid question: which log? Apache? The OS log (is there a "general" OS log?)
Click to expand...

There is a general log, its: /var/log/syslog. Also you could look at your apache log, for Centos: /var/log/httpd/error_log and /var/log/httpd/access_log or for Ubuntu: /var/log/apache/error_log and /var/log/apache/access_log. Hope this helps.
 
RiDDLeRThC said:
Do you have two network interfaces configured?

Do both of them have gateway addresses configured?
Click to expand...

I hate to respond to help without anything useful, but I'm not sure what the answer is to either of those questions. To be honest, I sort of "inherited" this server.

Also an update, strangely(ish), the server today hasn't been doing the whole "stop responding every 10 minute" thing - it hasn't been restarted, and as far as I know nothing else has changed on the server.


Here are two images, one is the ping response over time, and the other is "top." I'm not sure if either one of these will mean anything to anybody, but just in case...


fileu.png

file2.png
 
Alright... well you know where we are if it happens again ;)

For future reference, the command "ps" shows all running processes... it's a bit better for copy/pasting :)

That spot where the ping rises above 200 ms is a bit odd... I'd check /var/messages first and then /var/mysqld.
Use "nano /var/messages" or whatever text editor is installed.
 
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