Webserver load time issues

[Rambomst]

I recently purchased a Linux VPS the following specs.

Operating system: CentOS Linux 5.5
Webmin version: 1.520
Kernel and CPU: Linux 2.6.18-028stab070.4 on x86_64
Processor information: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5630 @ 2.53GHz, 16 cores
Real memory: 512 MB total, 361.74 MB used
Local disk space: 30 GB total, 3.62 GB used.

The issue I am having is that it will randomly take 1-2 minutes to load a page and this happens to everyone. When this is happening the CPU usage and RAM are not excessive.

I am extremely new to using a VPS and have most likely set something up wrong but I have no clue what.

Any assistance in diagnosing this issue would be much appreciated.

[rch1231]

A couple of things seem a bit odd to me. Your specs say you have 16 processors but only 512MB memory and 30GB hard drive space. There may be 16 processors in the server but you are not being allocated all 16. And 512MB of memory is a bit low for any web server. How about running the following and posting the results here:

This will give you a realistic memory allocation:
cat /proc/meminfo

This will verify the number of processors you can use.
cat /proc/cpuinfo

[Rambomst]

Here are the print outs for both.

cat /proc/meminfo:

MemTotal:       524288 kB
MemFree:        262100 kB
Buffers:             0 kB
Cached:              0 kB
SwapCached:          0 kB
Active:              0 kB
Inactive:            0 kB
HighTotal:           0 kB
HighFree:            0 kB
LowTotal:       524288 kB
LowFree:        262100 kB
SwapTotal:           0 kB
SwapFree:            0 kB
Dirty:               0 kB
Writeback:           0 kB
AnonPages:           0 kB
Mapped:         262188 kB
Slab:                0 kB
PageTables:          0 kB
NFS_Unstable:        0 kB
Bounce:              0 kB
CommitLimit:         0 kB
Committed_AS:   417536 kB
VmallocTotal:        0 kB
VmallocUsed:         0 kB
VmallocChunk:        0 kB
HugePages_Total:     0
HugePages_Free:      0
HugePages_Rsvd:      0
Hugepagesize:     2048 kB

cat /proc/cpuinfo:

processor       : 0
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 44
model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5630  @ 2.53GHz
stepping        : 2
cpu MHz         : 61.853
cache size      : 12288 KB
physical id     : 0
siblings        : 8
core id         : 0
cpu cores       : 4
apicid          : 0
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 11
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc nonstop_tsc arat pni monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm
bogomips        : 5067.00
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: [8]

processor       : 1
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 44
model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5630  @ 2.53GHz
stepping        : 2
cpu MHz         : 61.853
cache size      : 12288 KB
physical id     : 0
siblings        : 8
core id         : 1
cpu cores       : 4
apicid          : 2
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 11
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc nonstop_tsc arat pni monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm
bogomips        : 5066.73
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: [8]

processor       : 2
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 44
model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5630  @ 2.53GHz
stepping        : 2
cpu MHz         : 61.853
cache size      : 12288 KB
physical id     : 0
siblings        : 8
core id         : 9
cpu cores       : 4
apicid          : 18
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 11
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc nonstop_tsc arat pni monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm
bogomips        : 5067.10
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: [8]

processor       : 3
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 44
model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5630  @ 2.53GHz
stepping        : 2
cpu MHz         : 61.853
cache size      : 12288 KB
physical id     : 0
siblings        : 8
core id         : 10
cpu cores       : 4
apicid          : 20
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 11
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc nonstop_tsc arat pni monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm
bogomips        : 5067.03
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: [8]

processor       : 4
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 44
model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5630  @ 2.53GHz
stepping        : 2
cpu MHz         : 61.853
cache size      : 12288 KB
physical id     : 1
siblings        : 8
core id         : 0
cpu cores       : 4
apicid          : 32
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 11
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc nonstop_tsc arat pni monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm
bogomips        : 5067.00
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: [8]

processor       : 5
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 44
model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5630  @ 2.53GHz
stepping        : 2
cpu MHz         : 61.853
cache size      : 12288 KB
physical id     : 1
siblings        : 8
core id         : 1
cpu cores       : 4
apicid          : 34
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 11
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc nonstop_tsc arat pni monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm
bogomips        : 5066.92
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: [8]

processor       : 6
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 44
model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5630  @ 2.53GHz
stepping        : 2
cpu MHz         : 61.853
cache size      : 12288 KB
physical id     : 1
siblings        : 8
core id         : 9
cpu cores       : 4
apicid          : 50
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 11
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc nonstop_tsc arat pni monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm
bogomips        : 5066.85
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: [8]

processor       : 7
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 44
model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5630  @ 2.53GHz
stepping        : 2
cpu MHz         : 61.853
cache size      : 12288 KB
physical id     : 1
siblings        : 8
core id         : 10
cpu cores       : 4
apicid          : 52
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 11
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc nonstop_tsc arat pni monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm
bogomips        : 5066.62
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: [8]

processor       : 8
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 44
model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5630  @ 2.53GHz
stepping        : 2
cpu MHz         : 61.853
cache size      : 12288 KB
physical id     : 0
siblings        : 8
core id         : 0
cpu cores       : 4
apicid          : 1
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 11
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc nonstop_tsc arat pni monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm
bogomips        : 5066.78
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: [8]

processor       : 9
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 44
model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5630  @ 2.53GHz
stepping        : 2
cpu MHz         : 61.853
cache size      : 12288 KB
physical id     : 0
siblings        : 8
core id         : 1
cpu cores       : 4
apicid          : 3
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 11
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc nonstop_tsc arat pni monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm
bogomips        : 5066.76
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: [8]

processor       : 10
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 44
model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5630  @ 2.53GHz
stepping        : 2
cpu MHz         : 61.853
cache size      : 12288 KB
physical id     : 0
siblings        : 8
core id         : 9
cpu cores       : 4
apicid          : 19
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 11
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc nonstop_tsc arat pni monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm
bogomips        : 5066.79
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: [8]

processor       : 11
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 44
model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5630  @ 2.53GHz
stepping        : 2
cpu MHz         : 61.853
cache size      : 12288 KB
physical id     : 0
siblings        : 8
core id         : 10
cpu cores       : 4
apicid          : 21
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 11
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc nonstop_tsc arat pni monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm
bogomips        : 5066.79
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: [8]

processor       : 12
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 44
model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5630  @ 2.53GHz
stepping        : 2
cpu MHz         : 61.853
cache size      : 12288 KB
physical id     : 1
siblings        : 8
core id         : 0
cpu cores       : 4
apicid          : 33
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 11
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc nonstop_tsc arat pni monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm
bogomips        : 5066.77
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: [8]

processor       : 13
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 44
model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5630  @ 2.53GHz
stepping        : 2
cpu MHz         : 61.853
cache size      : 12288 KB
physical id     : 1
siblings        : 8
core id         : 1
cpu cores       : 4
apicid          : 35
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 11
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc nonstop_tsc arat pni monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm
bogomips        : 5066.78
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: [8]

processor       : 14
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 44
model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5630  @ 2.53GHz
stepping        : 2
cpu MHz         : 61.853
cache size      : 12288 KB
physical id     : 1
siblings        : 8
core id         : 9
cpu cores       : 4
apicid          : 51
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 11
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc nonstop_tsc arat pni monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm
bogomips        : 5062.24
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: [8]

processor       : 15
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 44
model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5630  @ 2.53GHz
stepping        : 2
cpu MHz         : 61.853
cache size      : 12288 KB
physical id     : 1
siblings        : 8
core id         : 10
cpu cores       : 4
apicid          : 53
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 11
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc nonstop_tsc arat pni monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm
bogomips        : 5066.77
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: [8]

[rch1231]

Ok so you do have 16 processors available. My personal recommendation would be to see if you can get more memory. 4GB should be enough and/or increase the size of your swap partition. If you think about it 512MB divided between 16 processors gives each processor 32MB to use.

Also try running "top" and see what is taking up most of your CPU time.

[Rambomst]

I got 2GB of RAM just to see if would get used up and it has not even been close yet and the lag is still there. I would try and increase the size of the swap partition if I knew how but I don't so do you know of a tutorial I could follow or something along those lines?

[rch1231]

Off the top of my head no. But you can find a bunch with google. You might also check to see if you have caching turned on.

http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.1/caching.html

[Rambomst]

Cache isn't turned on as a lot of the site has content that is changing every few mins.

[kylegetson]

if CPU and RAM usage isnt high when the page is 'loading' seems to me that the problem is elsewhere.

Do pages load successfully, or do they timeout? Most browsers have a 90sec timeout by default.

Is the server responding with a static file or a dynamic script?

Check to be sure the httpd process is running, also check to see what HTTP status code you get back when the page finishes loading.

[Rambomst]

When there is the random 1-2min load times the pages don't generally timeout and it seems that all web access doesn't work for that 1-2 mins which includes dynamic and static pages.

I have checked to see if the httpd process is running when when the pages aren't loading and it is running. I will check the HTTP status code next time I get the load time issue.

[Rambomst]

I just got a chance to see what the HTTP status code was when it happened and it seems to either be 200 or 304.

[Rambomst]

I still haven't been able to fix this and it is really becoming an issue :( Any help is much appreciated.