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Increased memory usage by PHP-CGI processes on server after Plesk update

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Leonid Gukhman
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Plesk for Linux kb: technical ABT: Group B

Applicable to:

  • Plesk for Linux

Symptoms

  • The memory usage increased after installing Plesk updates.

  • RAM is used by dozens of php-cgi processes started by Apache:

    # top
    PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
    26267 johndoe+ 20 0 810324 72704 3372 S 0.0 0.5 0:01.62 /opt/plesk/php/5.3/bin/php-cgi -c /var/www/vhosts/system/example.com/etc/php.ini
    10022 janedoe+ 20 0 809084 71940 2108 S 0.7 0.5 0:01.72 /opt/plesk/php/5.3/bin/php-cgi -c /var/www/vhosts/system/example1.com/etc/php.ini
    996 jadedoe+ 20 0 814800 68728 10556 S 0.0 0.5 0:04.24 /opt/plesk/php/5.3/bin/php-cgi -c /var/www/vhosts/system/example2.com/etc/php.ini

  • Very big timeouts are specified in /etc/httpd/conf.d/fcgid.conf :

    FcgidIdleTimeout 2100
    FcgidProcessLifeTime 2100
    FcgidMaxProcesses 300
    FcgidConnectTimeout 2100
    FcgidIOTimeout 2100
    FcgidBusyTimeout 2100

Cause

PHP-CGI processes are consuming too much memory due to big timeout values in FastCGI configuration.

Resolution

Click on a section to expand

Solution 1

  1. Connect to the server via SSH

  2. Open /etc/httpd/conf.d/fcgid.conf in any text editor

  3. Decrease timeouts to lower values to finish php-cgi processes earlier, and execute service httpd reload command to reload Apache configuration. Default values are:

    FcgidIdleTimeout 40
    FcgidProcessLifeTime 30
    FcgidMaxProcesses 20
    FcgidConnectTimeout 30
    FcgidIOTimeout 45
    FcgidIdleScanInterval 10

    Note: The drawback of this solution is the possible failure of long-running PHP scripts. If you are sure that there is no any on the server, you can follow this option.

Solution 2

Log in to Plesk, go to Domains > example.com > PHP settings and set PHP version to 7.0.33 and handler to FPM application served by nginx:
php.JPG

Perform these configuration changes for every domain one by one.

Note: The drawback of this solution is possible websites' downtime due to switching to nginx. For example, domain-level .htaccess files can not be handled anymore, that can lead to website downtime. That's why it was recommended to switch the websites one by one, checking their availability.

Comments

2 comments

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  • Avatar
    Luca (Edited )

    Can I changed the service plan with the suggestion 2? Will be the change applied to domains associates?

    Thanks.

     

    Luca

     

     

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  • Avatar
    Alexander Nezymaev

    Hello, Luca!

    If you want to change PHP version and handler in Service Plan and apply it to all the subscription associated with it then proceed with the following:

    1. Ensure that option "PHP version and handler management" is unchecked at the Home > Service Plans > Service plan name > Permissions.

    2. Change PHP setting at Home > Service Plans > Service plan name > PHP Settings.

    3. Press Update & Sync button.

    After that PHP Settings changes will be applied to all the synced subscription which associated with the affected Service Plan.

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