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It’s not getting better

March 20, 2013

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The problem hasn’t gone away, in fact it’s beginning to look like cancer. The message that says “Error establishing a database connection” has been steadily multiplying. Often I can’t even read my own site. Trying to address this problem has gotten in the way of my finishing new articles, including reports on Sabah.

And on top of this, I’m flooded by SPAM mail coming from various static IP addresses in only ONE COUNTRY.

Tweaks to the CMS and scripts haven’t done much so far. Following Alan’s advice I’m troubleshooting it more systematically. Please bear with the inconvenience and the maddening database connection error messages.

I’m weighing other options.

But I’ve decided, database connection error or not, I will simply update.

Comments

  1. Mel says

    March 25, 2013 at 9:44 PM

    I can not post or submit at ‘I need your advice, guys’.

    So I am posting my comment here.

    —

    Raïssa

    DOJ Secretary De Lima has just submitted the legal brief on the Sabah claim to Pres. Aquino.

    The Malaysian PM has just announced to move residents from invasion zone, and setup (created) an Eastern Sabah Safety Zone , plus Pres. Aquino asked for the postponement of the GPH-MILF Peace Talks to April.

    You may have to publish online your ‘exclusives on Sabah’, suggestion only.

  2. jun says

    March 24, 2013 at 2:21 AM

    Hi Raissa.

    Without access to the server and database, this is just a guess to your problem.

    The flood of spam your site is experiencing will cause problems to your site because it is causing too many database write operation. This is really a problem especially if the underlying database table used by wordpress is myisam instead of innodb. Adding a single row locks the whole table so any further operation to that table has to wait. So if you get flooded by spam, database access crawls because the queue is now very long.

    Captcha can help ease the problem. Even a simple fixed question of “what is 1+1?” can help weed out most automated spam. Unless you are dealing with a targeted attack with a human at the helm.

    • praetorius says

      March 24, 2013 at 12:20 PM

      the host has good security measures (or I’m not that good, lol).

      I tried. :)

  3. seaman_pinoy says

    March 22, 2013 at 5:09 PM

    To reduce spam on your comment section install a CAPTCHA WordPress plugin (version 3.1).

    Please check Wikipedia regarding captcha.

    • praetorius says

      March 23, 2013 at 1:16 PM

      or using htaccess and htpassword to access the site or modify user_agent to root out users without a user-agent in their headers (usually bot/spammers). this may stop most, but not all.

      again, this is root level, better done by the techs of the host.

  4. seaman_pinoy says

    March 22, 2013 at 4:54 PM

    @raissa,

    Try to get in touch with UP Linux Users’ Group seniors staff or someone you can trust with technical knowledge on LAMP stack and WordPress. They might able to help you with your website problem.

    Also I forgot to add. Please also check what GNU Linux distribution version your web-site is running. Make sure it is the latest stable with the latest security updates.

    Debian is one of the good and very stable GNU Linux distribution.

    The latest stable Debian is 6.0.7 (codename “squeeze”) released February 23rd, 2013. And its latest stable linux kernel version is 2.6.32-48squeeze1.

    It would be a good practice to regularly update your website operating systems software especially security updates.

    Regarding local web-server as a test machine, you can use Virtualbox. It is a virtual PC running on your desktop or laptop. Just make sure you have enough RAM memory on your PC or laptop to run it decently.

  5. seaman_pinoy says

    March 22, 2013 at 3:14 PM

    @raissa,

    Please check the software version of your web-site infrastructure (ISP) and make sure they have the latest security update.

    It would be nice if you have a local webserver at your place to test before upgrading your production web-site.

    Hopes this help.

    ***********

    WordPress
    WordPress 3.5.1 Maintenance and Security Release
    Release date: January 24, 2013

    ***********

    Apache web server
    Apache httpd 2.4.4 Released 2013-02-25
    Apache httpd 2.2.24 Released 2013-02-26

    ***********

    PHP Stable Releases
    Current PHP 5.4 Stable: 5.4.13
    Current PHP 5.3 Stable: 5.3.23
    Release date: 14-Mar-2013

    ***********

    MySQL Community Server 5.6.10

    or

    MariaDB – An enhanced, drop-in replacement for MySQL.

    MariaDB 5.5.30
    Release date: 12 Mar 2013
    MariaDB 5.5 is the current stable (GA) release of MariaDB. It is MariaDB 5.3 + MySQL 5.5.
    Includes MariaDB 5.3.12 and MySQL 5.5.30

    ***********

    MariaDB 5.3.12
    Release date: 12 Mar 2013
    MariaDB 5.3 has subquery optimizations, join enhancements, group commit, dynamic columns, microsecond support and windows performance fixes.
    Includes MariaDB 5.2.14 and MySQL 5.1.67

    ***********

    MariaDB 5.2.14
    Release date: 30 Jan 2013
    MariaDB 5.2 contains added features which did not have time to be put into MariaDB 5.1.
    Includes MariaDB 5.1.67 and MySQL 5.1.67

    ***********

    MariaDB 5.1.67
    Release date: 30 Jan 2013
    Includes MySQL 5.1.67

  6. Jim says

    March 22, 2013 at 12:44 PM

    Hi Raissa,

    This has not much to do with a spam issue and it is not a dddos attack either. This symptom usually happens when your mysql server reaches the max_connections setting: you probably have a little more visitors than before and reached the limit set by your hosting provider for mysql.
    Solution:
    – try to install Wp Super Cache: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-super-cache/. It will relieve the database from a part of the load.
    – Ask your hosting provider to rise the max_connections setting.

    Keep up the good work !

    • raissa says

      March 22, 2013 at 7:17 PM

      I will.

      Thanks.

      I did try Super Cache once but it crashed my site.

    • praetorius says

      March 23, 2013 at 1:07 PM

      if it is indeed a maxed out connection to the database, then modifying the max_connections is a naive step if you think it will solve thr problem.

      what this entails is a careful interpretation of the logs, and monitoring on a per minute basis. of which it should be the duty of the hosting provider to do this things as it may involve adding hardware to compensate against connection demand vs pool size.

      having said that, if the host cannot solve the issues ( even after migrating your site to a dedicated server) then it’s time to start shopping for better ones.

  7. Antonio says

    March 21, 2013 at 10:09 PM

    Hi Raissa, this problem is not uncommon for popular sites that use WordPress. WordPress is open source so it is a common target for spammers. I would suggest that you host you site on commercial wordpress hosting providers instead so you won’t have to deal with problem like this. Some popular ones are wpengine.com and vip.wordpress.com. I hope it gets fixed soon and thanks for doing what you do best!

    • raissa says

      March 21, 2013 at 11:09 PM

      Actually, I’m using a commercial host provider.

      But I will look at those you suggested.

      Thanks.

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First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Socialist Then they came fof the Trade Unionists, and I did not out speak out— Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me— And there was no one left to speak for me. —Martin Niemöller (1892-1984)

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