Server running slow

NotionCommotion · 07-20-2013, 10:38 AM

I recently found my VPS (hosted by others) was running very slow. How do I determine what is causing it? The following is the output of cat /proc/meminfo, lscpu, and cat /proc/cpuinfo. Which items are of particular importance? What other tools should be run to determine the cause? I noticed zero's for buffers, cache, and swap memory. Maybe part of the culprit? Do I change these, or does the VPS host? Thanks

Code:

MemTotal:     12448864 kB
MemFree:      12030424 kB
Buffers:             0 kB
Cached:              0 kB
SwapCached:          0 kB
Active:              0 kB
Inactive:            0 kB
HighTotal:           0 kB
HighFree:            0 kB
LowTotal:     12448864 kB
LowFree:      12030424 kB
SwapTotal:           0 kB
SwapFree:            0 kB
Dirty:               0 kB
Writeback:           0 kB
AnonPages:           0 kB
Mapped:              0 kB
Slab:                0 kB
PageTables:          0 kB
NFS_Unstable:        0 kB
Bounce:              0 kB
CommitLimit:         0 kB
Committed_AS:        0 kB
VmallocTotal:        0 kB
VmallocUsed:         0 kB
VmallocChunk:        0 kB
HugePages_Total:     0
HugePages_Free:      0
HugePages_Rsvd:      0
Hugepagesize:     2048 kB
Architecture:          i686
CPU op-mode(s):        32-bit, 64-bit
Byte Order:            Little Endian
CPU(s):                0
Vendor ID:             GenuineIntel
CPU family:            6
Model:                 44
Stepping:              2
CPU MHz:               2400.194
BogoMIPS:              4800.14
Virtualization:        VT-x
processor	: 0
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 44
model name	: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5620  @ 2.40GHz
stepping	: 2
cpu MHz		: 2400.194
cache size	: 12288 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 8
core id		: 0
cpu cores	: 4
apicid		: 0
fdiv_bug	: no
hlt_bug		: no
f00f_bug	: no
coma_bug	: no
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 pbe nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc ida nonstop_tsc arat pni monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm [8]
bogomips	: 4800.38

processor	: 1
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 44
model name	: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5620  @ 2.40GHz
stepping	: 2
cpu MHz		: 2400.194
cache size	: 12288 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 8
core id		: 0
cpu cores	: 4
apicid		: 1
fdiv_bug	: no
hlt_bug		: no
f00f_bug	: no
coma_bug	: no
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 pbe nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc ida nonstop_tsc arat pni monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm [8]
bogomips	: 4800.13

processor	: 2
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 44
model name	: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5620  @ 2.40GHz
stepping	: 2
cpu MHz		: 2400.194
cache size	: 12288 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 8
core id		: 1
cpu cores	: 4
apicid		: 2
fdiv_bug	: no
hlt_bug		: no
f00f_bug	: no
coma_bug	: no
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 pbe nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc ida nonstop_tsc arat pni monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm [8]
bogomips	: 4800.15

processor	: 3
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 44
model name	: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5620  @ 2.40GHz
stepping	: 2
cpu MHz		: 2400.194
cache size	: 12288 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 8
core id		: 1
cpu cores	: 4
apicid		: 3
fdiv_bug	: no
hlt_bug		: no
f00f_bug	: no
coma_bug	: no
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 pbe nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc ida nonstop_tsc arat pni monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm [8]
bogomips	: 4800.08

processor	: 4
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 44
model name	: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5620  @ 2.40GHz
stepping	: 2
cpu MHz		: 2400.194
cache size	: 12288 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 8
core id		: 9
cpu cores	: 4
apicid		: 18
fdiv_bug	: no
hlt_bug		: no
f00f_bug	: no
coma_bug	: no
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 pbe nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc ida nonstop_tsc arat pni monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm [8]
bogomips	: 4800.13

processor	: 5
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 44
model name	: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5620  @ 2.40GHz
stepping	: 2
cpu MHz		: 2400.194
cache size	: 12288 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 8
core id		: 9
cpu cores	: 4
apicid		: 19
fdiv_bug	: no
hlt_bug		: no
f00f_bug	: no
coma_bug	: no
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 pbe nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc ida nonstop_tsc arat pni monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm [8]
bogomips	: 4800.14

processor	: 6
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 44
model name	: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5620  @ 2.40GHz
stepping	: 2
cpu MHz		: 2400.194
cache size	: 12288 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 8
core id		: 10
cpu cores	: 4
apicid		: 20
fdiv_bug	: no
hlt_bug		: no
f00f_bug	: no
coma_bug	: no
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 pbe nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc ida nonstop_tsc arat pni monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm [8]
bogomips	: 4800.15

processor	: 7
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 44
model name	: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5620  @ 2.40GHz
stepping	: 2
cpu MHz		: 2400.194
cache size	: 12288 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 8
core id		: 10
cpu cores	: 4
apicid		: 21
fdiv_bug	: no
hlt_bug		: no
f00f_bug	: no
coma_bug	: no
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 pbe nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc ida nonstop_tsc arat pni monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm [8]
bogomips	: 4800.14

shivaa · 07-20-2013, 11:41 AM

Running processes cannot be the only reason for slowness, but slowness could be because of network issues. Since you can see that most of the system memory is free. So, post the output of top command to check what processes are consuming your system resources.

NotionCommotion · 07-20-2013, 11:52 AM

I don't think it is network driven as when SSH'd into the server, I did commands such as find / -name somefile, and it took 1000x longer than it should. So, the lack of cache memory has nothing to do with it? Below is the output from top. Doesn't look like it has any activity to me, but I can be wrong. Thanks

Code:

top - 11:49:42 up 1 day,  3:41,  2 users,  load average: 0.10, 0.05, 0.01
Tasks:  37 total,   1 running,  36 sleeping,   0 stopped,   0 zombie
Cpu(s):  0.0%us,  0.0%sy,  0.0%ni,100.0%id,  0.0%wa,  0.0%hi,  0.0%si,  0.0%st
Mem:  12448864k total,   411644k used, 12037220k free,        0k buffers
Swap:        0k total,        0k used,        0k free,        0k cached

  PID USER      PR  NI  VIRT  RES  SHR S %CPU %MEM    TIME+  COMMAND
    1 root      18   0  2900 1420 1240 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.08 init
 1372 root      14  -4  2464  560  332 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 udevd
 1633 root      18   0 35976 1356  996 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.07 rsyslogd
 1651 named     22   0  128m  15m 3048 S  0.0  0.1   0:00.13 named
 1672 dbus      18   0  3000  856  664 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 dbus-daemon
 1684 root      18   0  8576 1020  540 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.03 sshd
 1698 root      18   0  6824  640  276 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 vsftpd
 1738 root      18   0  3044 1324 1132 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 mysqld_safe
 1864 mysql     15   0  140m  29m 6620 S  0.0  0.2   2:03.41 mysqld
 1908 root      15   0 12348 2120  876 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 sendmail
 1916 smmsp     17   0 12144 1728  692 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 sendmail
 1927 root      18   0 67988  13m 9.8m S  0.0  0.1   0:00.06 httpd
 1935 root      18   0  3880 1168  612 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.01 crond
 1948 apache    18   0 70632  13m 8876 S  0.0  0.1   0:00.23 httpd
 1949 apache    18   0 70648  16m  12m S  0.0  0.1   0:01.94 httpd
 1950 apache    18   0 70616  15m  10m S  0.0  0.1   0:01.31 httpd

NotionCommotion · 07-21-2013, 10:46 AM

Don't know if this was the only problem, but filled hard drive contributed to much of the decrease in performance. See http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ed-4175470386/.