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Tuning Apache and MySQL for Best Performance in a Shared Virtual Hosting Environment

By on August 22, 2011 in Wordpress

Web hosting has changed dramatically in the last few years. The majority of accounts are now running PHP scripts and MySQL, whereas in the past most accounts were only serving static HTML files. This presents challenges in security as well as performance tuning.

It is impossible to predict whether a certain configuration will work properly for a given server, unless the hardware, software, accounts, network and traffic are identical to a previously configured server… therefore it is impossible to give a configuration which will cover all applications.

Firewall Unnecessary Traffic from Affecting the Server

Before you begin performance tuning, please consider using a stateful packet inspection (SPI) firewall & login failure daemon (LFD) for your server: ConfigServer Firewall is an excellent free firewall & lfd. This will help prevent brute force probes, port flooding, DDOS, etc. If you have 600 virtual hosts running on a server, it is very likely that the server is experiencing constant malicious exploits, especially if you are also running email servers on the same IP addresses.

Tune Apache the Sane Way (Requires Basic Math Skills)

If you wish to tune your Apache MPM settings, you should consider following this method:
https://telvps.com/clients/knowledgebase/25/HOW-TO-Optimize-Apache-for-Low-Memory-Usage.html
(the formula works well for any level of traffic and memory).

MySQL Tuning Is More Difficult: Trial and Error

To test your MySQL cache variables, you may try mysqltuner: https://github.com/rackerhacker/MySQLTuner-perl

This script will analyze MySQL performance and make suggestions regarding your my.cnf configuration. If you are running MySQL 5 or later, the configuration statements can be in the following form (example from one of my servers):

[mysqld]
safe-show-database
net_buffer_length = 1M
max_allowed_packet = 4M
myisam_sort_buffer_size = 24M
sort_buffer = 8M
key_buffer = 32M
table_cache = 1000
query_cache_size = 128M
thread_cache_size = 8
innodb_buffer_pool_size = 22M
join_buffer_size = 12M
tmp_table_size = 64M
max_heap_table_size = 32M
max_connections = 85

This is for example only! table_cache should be set a little higher than the total number of tables (sum of MYISAM,INNODB,MEMORY etc.), as reported by mysqltuner. If you anticipate adding more virtual hosts, or clients adding more databases or tables, you will need to raise table_cache value.

Follow the recommendations from the Apache tuning, and then follow the recommendations of the mysqltuner script. The apache tuning will give you the number of maxclients, and from this you will know the appropriate beginning value for [mysqld] maxconnections. Begin with maxconnections set slightly higher than maxclients.

Take Time to Get a Realistic Assessment of MySQL Performance

If you have a PHP opcode and database caching strategy (such as APC) implemented on your web server and for your PHP script packages, you will be able to lower maxconnections, based on the information you receive from mysqltuner after 24-48 hours of steady traffic. For example, I have a server with Apache set to 256 maxclients, but the MySQL maxconnections set to 200, because many web requests do not require direct interaction with the MySQL server.

Take a look at “Highest usage of available connections”, and lower maxconnections accordingly. It is safe to lower maxconnections to a number slightly above the reported highest usage. Doing so will allow you to set higher values for the individual cache settings which affect the thread cache size, because the total thread buffer memory size is multiplied by maxconnections. Feedback is available in the reports for “Total buffers” and “Highest usage of available connections”.

After you have the proper settings for maxclients and maxconnections, restart httpd and mysqld. Wait 1 hour, and run mysqltuner to see if there are any recommended changes. Mysqltuner will show you the maximum memory which will be used by mysql. You should adjust config variables to take up no more than 60% of total RAM. Wait 24-48 hours and run mysqltuner again.

Example mysqltuner results:

-------- Storage Engine Statistics -------------------------------------------
[--] Status: -Archive -BDB -Federated +InnoDB -ISAM -NDBCluster
[--] Data in MyISAM tables: 2G (Tables: 748)
[--] Data in InnoDB tables: 20M (Tables: 76)
[--] Data in MEMORY tables: 1M (Tables: 1)
[!!] Total fragmented tables: 55

-------- Performance Metrics -------------------------------------------------
[--] Up for: 15h 7m 18s (1M q [31.195 qps], 105K conn, TX: 7B, RX: 285M)
[--] Reads / Writes: 63% / 37%
[--] Total buffers: 390.0M global + 18.6M per thread (200 max threads)
[OK] Maximum possible memory usage: 4.0G (66% of installed RAM)
[OK] Slow queries: 0% (13/1M)
[OK] Highest usage of available connections: 25% (51/200)
[OK] Key buffer size / total MyISAM indexes: 72.0M/1.1G
[OK] Key buffer hit rate: 99.9% (1B cached / 1M reads)
[OK] Query cache efficiency: 78.2% (967K cached / 1M selects)
[OK] Query cache prunes per day: 0
[OK] Sorts requiring temporary tables: 0% (0 temp sorts / 74K sorts)
[OK] Temporary tables created on disk: 20% (7K on disk / 38K total)
[OK] Thread cache hit rate: 99% (294 created / 105K connections)
[OK] Table cache hit rate: 84% (1K open / 1K opened)
[OK] Open file limit used: 71% (1K/2K)
[OK] Table locks acquired immediately: 99% (684K immediate / 686K locks)
[OK] InnoDB data size / buffer pool: 20.2M/28.0M

-------- Recommendations -----------------------------------------------------
General recommendations:
Run OPTIMIZE TABLE to defragment tables for better performance
MySQL started within last 24 hours - recommendations may be inaccurate
Enable the slow query log to troubleshoot bad queries

I suggest you NOT enable the slow query log unless the Slow Queries result is very high. Slow Queries result % will be somewhat high if MySQL has run for less than 24 hours.

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APC Cache Considerations for Virtual Hosting Environments

By on August 22, 2011 in Wordpress

APC cache does not work well in a virtual hosting environment unless PHP is running as FCGID, and every individual virtual host has a unique PHP.ini and a unique fcgiwrapper. This is not the case with many virtual hosting environments because the memory and CPU requirements are too great.

Also, APC user cache on a shared hosting server may not work properly, because several accounts may run similar PHP script packages, causing conflicts if scripts are named the same but contain different source code. e.g. if several users are running different versions of WordPress or Joomla, the code in each version will be different, but a cached script may be accessed by several different accounts. Obviously a very bad thing!

I suggest using Virtualmin for a shared hosting environment with APC cache, because it does allow to set php.ini and fcgiwrapper for every individual virtual host, and so to set an individual configuration for APC per virtual server. However with 200+ virtual hosts all running PHP script packages, as is the case with a commodity shared hosting server, this will use a lot of memory, and you will need somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-30GB apc.shm_size if you attempt to configure a single APC cache for the entire server.

My web hosting server is for a small number of personal clients, and so I adjust the APC settings for each individual account, depending on the number and type of PHP script packages running on the account. These accounts are all administered by myself, not by the clients.

I do not think APC is the correct cache for most shared web hosting servers, given the number of virtual hosts. You will probably have better results if you remove APC and concentrate on Apache performance tuning and MySQL cache.

If your clients are adamant in their requests to use APC cache, you may wish to move them to a different server which can properly handle their needs. Virtualmin is a very good choice for this, as it allows individual accounts to be configured with individual php.ini and fcgiwrapper, or even different versions of PHP. Of course, because this will require greater management, it should be charged as a premium service.

If you wish to enable APC on a commodity web hosting server, you may try the following method to selectively enable APC per directory:
http://www.php.net/manual/en/ini.php

 

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Remote publishing to WordPress from Facebook via RSS

By on July 25, 2011 in Wordpress

Most WordPress developers know you can use one of several plugins to publish from WordPress to a Facebook wall, app or fan page. Did you know you can also do the opposite? You can publish from Facebook to WordPress by using the FeedWordPress plugin and the RSS feed from your fan page. This can be handy for clients who want to keep their site updated with blog posts, or share links and information, but don’t necessarily want to spend the time to post with WordPress.

Let’s face it, Facebook is convenient to use to share a link, upload small photos and video, or write a brief update.

Your Blog is Hungry

FeedWordPress is a plugin that pulls content from an RSS feed and publishes articles as WordPress posts. It is somewhat complex to set up properly, so I won’t go into that here. It’s up to you to figure it out, but it is very useful for adding non-copyright or permitted content to your site or a client’s site. For instance, I use it to publish bicycle manufacturer’s RSS feeds to a local bike shop’s WordPress site. You can also use it to create a scraper site, but you wouldn’t do that, would you?

Connect WordPress to Facebook

Using the plugin Simple Facebook Connect, your client can publish WordPress posts to a Facebook fan page.  I suggest you install Simple Facebook Connect and learn how to set up a simple Facebook App using the plugin’s easy instructions. This will allow your website to use Facebook authentication to Publish to Facebook, allow comments by logged in Facebook users, etc.

Creating an App instead of a Fan Page or Business page may suit your needs. Give it a try if you have not already set up a Facebook Page. If you use SFC, don’t set it to automatically publish to Facebook, or you may create a publishing loop. Leave it set to manual publishing and you’ll have an extra Publish button in the post editor for that purpose.

Setting up the Facebook RSS Feed

If your client would like to use Facebook’s simple, highly available, multi-device platform to publish content to a WordPress website, you will need a Facebook page or app’s RSS feed.

Facebook Fan Pages or Business Pages are for groups or businesses. If you build websites, you have probably set these up for several clients already. But to make the RSS feed from the page available to RSS readers and aggregators, you must change a few settings:

  • Edit Page > Manage Permissions
  • Uncheck Only Admins can See Page
  • Age Restrictions: None
  • Country Restrictions: None

Uncheck All:

  • Users can write or post content on the wall
  • Users can add photos
  • Users can add tags to photos
  • Users can add videos

This will make your wall posts available to the general public, because users with restricted privacy settings cannot post to your wall (they can still comment on your posts).

Now you can click the Subscribe by RSS link on your page, and the RSS feed will not display the dreaded “Facebook Syndication Error”:

You probably reached this page by entering the guide of a syndicated error message into the location bar of your browser. This probably means that you can’t see the feed that you were trying to access. This is probably because the owner of the feed changed his or her privacy settings or deleted content on the feed. You may be able to get access to the feed by contacting the owner of the content being syndicated in that feed.

You will get a RSS URL: http://www.facebook.com/feeds/page.php?id=195534004499&format=rss20

If your feed’s language needs to be adjusted, for instance if your site is hosted in Netherlands but your audience is in U.S., you will need to add a locale parameter to the feed URL: http://www.facebook.com/feeds/page.php?id=195534004499&format=rss20&locale-en_US

Try it in Firefox or NetNewsWire or any RSS Reader to see if you get a valid feed. If you see Facebook Syndication Error, then go back and edit your page’s permissions (see above).

If your site is hosted in a locale different from the locale of your Facebook page (e.g. your host is located in Europe, but your Facebook page is for North America), then you should use the resolved IP address for Facebook for your locale. You can find this IP address from a terminal window with the ping command. Otherwise, Facebook.com will resolve to the IP address and language for your host server. This causes synchronization issues and may cause a sync timeout which can block your pages from loading.

FeedWordPress Syndication

OK, now you have a valid feed. Add it to FeedWordPress. The settings you may wish to change:

Posts & Links >

  • Permalinks point to: The local copy on this website
  • Relative URIs: leave relative URIs unresolved
  • Formatting filters: Expose syndicated posts to formatting filters

Now, you should have a valid RSS feed and a properly configured Syndication system.Log in to Facebook and go to the app or page (easy way is to type the name into Facebook search bar at top).Share a Link, paste the URL of the page you want to feature, e.g. http://www.extremevisionhomes.com/

Edit the fields in the Link content by clicking on them. Or, you can upload a photo or video. But be sure to add a tagline to “Say something about this…” This line becomes your Title in the RSS feed or WordPress post. Otherwise you will see a generic “Your Client’s Facebook Wall 07/12/2011 15:35:43″ as the title.

And on the client’s site, you will see this:

You may want to set up a WordPress Category for these posts. FeedWordPress can be configured to post to a specific Category, add Tags, etc. You might even separate these posts from the main blog page, or style them in your WordPress theme via CSS or a Category Template.

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Cpanel Mailman mailing lists: cannot manage lists after migrating to new host

By on July 19, 2011 in Cpanel, Mailman, Wordpress

We recently migrated 2 Cpanel servers to VPS. Most things migrated properly and without incident. However, Mailman mailing lists were the exception.

Mailing lists appear to have migrated properly, as they show up under WHM and Cpanel and usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/mailman/bin/list_lists

However, when cpanel user clicks Manage link, the following message appears:

cpanel1.hosting.com mailing lists – Admin Links
No such list listname_domainname.com
There currently are no publicly-advertised Mailman mailing lists on cpanel1.hosting.com.To visit the administrators configuration page for an unadvertised list, open a URL similar to this one, but with a ‘/’ and the right list name appended. If you have the proper authority, you can also create a new mailing list.

This turned out to be a permissions issue:

root@cpanel1 [/usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/mailman/bin]# ./check_perms

--snip--
directory permissions must be 02775: /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/mailman/.../list_domain.com/...
--snip--
Problems found: 2999

# ./check_perms -f

FIXED!!!

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Apache config for Worker MPM vs Prefork MPM

By on July 13, 2011 in Wordpress

Some installations of Apache will have been compiled to work with either Prefork or Worker MPM, but most by default are compiled only to work with Prefork. Changing to Worker MPM may allow your server to handle much higher traffic, more user sessions, with less RAM use. Your site or server will not scale well if it is running Prefork MPM. Worker is a bit more difficult to set up properly, and has some restrictions regarding functionality of PHP scripts.

  • To determine which MPM is running:
    /usr/sbin/apachectl -l
    • If you see worker.c in the list of loaded modules, your Apache is running Worker MPM. If prefork.c, it is running prefork.
  • To determine if apache has Worker MPM compiled in:
    /usr/sbin/httpd.worker -l
    • If you see worker.c in the list of compiled-in modules, Apache can run Worker MPM.

Here is some useful info to help if your installation of Apache will work with Worker MPM:

  • Un-Comment HTTPD=/usr/sbin/httpd.worker in /etc/sysconfig/httpd
  • restart apache
  • do some performance testing and raise your worker server and thread limits to sane levels in httpd.conf

If you need to recompile Apache and PHP, then you should do more research. Recompiling is not a trivial process.

I found that my server had much better memory usage under Worker MPM, however:

  • some scripts (squirrelmail, phpmyadmin) do not work on a per-domain basis and must be run direct to the actual server process with symlinked directories. This is much more efficient but less convenient for virtual domain owners
  • some /dev processes took on strange group permissions, getting the gid of the first user in the apache group.
  • browser caching was not well supported… the dreaded “blank screen between page loads” occurred more frequently under Worker MPM than Prefork MPM… also login/logout was sketchy on some sites… not sure why but my guess is that sessions may not be quite persistent using Worker vs Prefork due to cookie confusion… possible that multi-threading does not track cookies well.
More testing will be necessary to determine whether Worker MPM is a benefit on my server.
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Recursive chmod Tricks

By on July 5, 2011 in Wordpress

Recursively chmod only directories
find . -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;

Similarly, recursively set the execute bit on every directory
chmod -R a+X *
The +X flag sets the execute bit on directories only

Recursively chmod only files
find . -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;

Recursively chmod only PHP files (with extension .php)
find . -type f -name '*.php' -exec chmod 644 {} \;

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How to Configure APC Cache on Virtual Servers with PHP running under FCGId

By on November 8, 2010 in Wordpress
APC INFO Monitor

APC INFO Monitor

My Virtualmin CentOS 5.6 Virtual Private Server runs several virtual domains with PHP under FCGId using APC for opcode caching: Joomla, PHPbb, WordPress, etc . APC is somewhat challenging to configure properly with fcgid-enabled virtual domains, but it is quite helpful to optimize system resources and prevent traffic surges on one site from affecting overall server performance. Joomla and PHPbb have code that is pre-optimized with hooks for APC, but WordPress requires a plugin called W3 Total Cache.

First Things First

Please read my posts about APC on commodity virtual hosting servers and Apache and MySQL performance tuning before you begin.

If you are running your virtual servers under FCGId, then you should do so for all virtual servers on your machine. Why? Because then you do not need apache’s mod_php (php module). Less modules loaded, less wasted memory.

  • Comment out:
    LoadModule php5_module modules/libphp5.so
    in /etc/httpd/conf.d/php.conf
  • Remove any php_memory_limit lines in httpd.conf’s virtual hosts section.
  • restart apache
  • do some performance testing and raise your server and thread limits to sane levels in httpd.conf

If possible, you may wish to run Apache with Worker MPM instead of Prefork MPM.

Installation Suggestions and Modification of Defaults

Be sure to install the newest version of APC, 3.1.9 as of the last revision of this post (I assume you know how to install and configure all the packages mentioned in this post):

pecl install apc

For W3 Total Cache (WordPress plugin):
Page Cache: do not choose APC for the W3TC’s Page Cache, choose Enhanced Disk.
Minify: do not choose APC for Minify, use Disk.
Opcode Cache: choose APC for Opcode Cache
Database Cache: choose APC for Opcode Cache

For APC running on virtual servers for opcode caching:
Remove apc.ini from /etc/php.d. Do not add the APC configuration into /etc/php.ini (main php.ini which is probably a template used for creation of new virtual servers).

Instead, enable APC on a per-domain basis by modifying the respective /home/domainname.com/etc/php5/php.ini — your httpd.conf or virtual.conf should look something like this for each virtual domain.

<VirtualHost 99.88.177.288:80>
ServerName chrisgilligan.com
ServerAlias www.chrisgilligan.com
DocumentRoot /home/chris/public_html
ErrorLog /var/log/serversoftware/chrisgilligan.com_error_log
CustomLog /var/log/serversoftware/chrisgilligan.com_access_log combined
ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ /home/chris/cgi-bin/
DirectoryIndex index.html index.htm index.php index.php4 index.php5
<Directory /home/chris/public_html>
Options Indexes IncludesNOEXEC FollowSymLinks ExecCGI
allow from all
AllowOverride All
AddHandler fcgid-script .php
AddHandler fcgid-script .php5
FCGIWrapper /home/chris/fcgi-bin/php5.fcgi .php
FCGIWrapper /home/chris/fcgi-bin/php5.fcgi .php5
</Directory>
<Directory /home/chris/cgi-bin>
allow from all
</Directory>
SuexecUserGroup "#987" "#756"
Options ExecCGI FollowSymLinks Includes IncludesNOEXEC -Indexes MultiViews SymLinksIfOwnerMatch
RemoveHandler .php
RemoveHandler .php5
IPCCommTimeout 12
</VirtualHost>

You must “babysit” the configuration: use the APC monitor (apc.php) to see how many files are being cached, and how much memory (apc.shm_size) is needed to avoid fragmentation, which will cause the 500 errors. If fragmentation rises quickly to 100%, memory usage is full, and cache full count rises above 0, you will almost surely see “500″ errors.

If WordPress is the only PHP script software package on the domain, the following configuration will likely work for you; if you have more PHP software packages, you will need to raise apc.shm_size and raise the apc.user_entries_hint and apc.user_entries_hint settings, and possibly lower TTL values to allow cached files to expire and be replaced.

In general, you must double apc.shm_size in relation to APC’s highest reported Memory Usage to avoid fragmentation completely.

Configuration Suggestion for php.ini

in the virtual server’s /home/domainname.com/etc/php5/php.ini, add the following configuration:
(you may also install memcached, and should install fileinfo for full use of W3 Total Cache)

[memcached]
;memcached for distributed servers - e.g. mysql server on separate host
;extension=memcache.so

[fileinfo]
extension=fileinfo.so

[APC]
extension = apc.so
apc.enabled = 1
apc.shm_segments = 1
apc.shm_size = 32M
apc.optimization = 0
apc.num_files_hint = 512
apc.user_entries_hint = 1024
apc.ttl = 0
apc.user_ttl = 0
apc.gc_ttl = 600
apc.cache_by_default = 1
apc.filters = "apc\.php$"
apc.slam_defense = 0
apc.use_request_time = 1
apc.mmap_file_mask = /tmp/apc-yourusernamehere.XXXXXX
;OR apc.mmap_file_mask = /dev/zero
apc.file_update_protection = 2
apc.enable_cli = 0
apc.max_file_size = 2M
apc.stat = 1
apc.write_lock = 1
apc.report_autofilter = 0
apc.include_once_override = 0
apc.rfc1867 = 0
apc.rfc1867_prefix = "upload_"
apc.rfc1867_name = "APC_UPLOAD_PROGRESS"
apc.rfc1867_freq = 0
apc.localcache = 1
apc.localcache.size = 512
apc.coredump_unmap = 0
apc.stat_ctime = 0

Save php.ini, restart apache and then watch the APC Monitor to ensure fragmentation stays below 50% (it should remain less than 10% most of the time… if fragmentation rises quickly, you should add a few more MB’s of memory to apc.shm_size and restart apache).

Monitoring APC Performance and Detecting Errors

You should run apc.php in a password-protected directory in the domain’s public_html. Edit the apc.php code to allow passwordless access.
defaults('USE_AUTHENTICATION',0);

You can monitor errors with these commands:
tail -f -n 50 /var/log/httpd/error_log
tail -f -n 50 /home/domainname.com/logs/error_log

In the logs, you should see messages like the following:
mod_fcgid: process /home/username/public_html/scriptname.php(21272) exit(lifetime expired), terminated by calling exit(), return code: 0
... exit(server exited) ...
... exit(idle timeout) ...
if the cache is working well. If you see exit(communication error) then you have issues, probably cache full and fragmented.

Fragmentation Explained

Fragmentation is a measure of the non-available portion of apc.shm_size due to lack of contiguous memory large enough to accept new cache items. 100% fragmentation means the available memory is broken into hundreds of small pieces that are too small to accept new cache items. This occurs when cached items expire and new cached items fill their vacated memory slots; usually the new item is slightly smaller than the old item, and the leftover space may be too small for a new cache item.

Fragmentation can cause even a large amount of free memory to be unavailable for new cache items. That is why I say above you can avoid fragmentation by doubling the apc.shm_size in relation to the largest total memory usage you see. So you may want to start with 100MB, let the site run for a few hours during high traffic conditions, and then reduce shm_size to roughly double the highest amount of cache memory usage during that time.

Further Information and Suggestions

APC can have a very significant effect on minimizing overall server load and overall memory usage. It takes time to configure, and must be re-configured whenever PHP script software is added to a virtual server. The more plugins/mods/components you add to a PHP software package, the more scripts, database queries and objects will be cached.

If you have PHP scripts or plugins that do not need to be cached (low traffic pages such as contact forms, PHP scripts that do not have APC hooks and have their own caching schemes, dynamic image resizers, etc.), you can filter them out with simple RegEx:
apc.filters = "-/home/username/public_html/apc\.php$,-/home/username/public_html/wordpress/wp-content/themes/themename/thumb\.php$,-/usr/share/psa-horde/.*,+/home/username/public_html/phpmyadmin/.*"

TimThumb is a good example of a common WordPress theme plugin that may not need to be cached.

Because the apc.filters RegExp only works with filenames, it is not possible to filter out an entire PHP script package, component or plugin based on the directory where it resides. So if you do not wish to use APC cache on a particular script package, you should run it in a separate website. Some PHP script packages such as Gallery2 have an incredibly large number of .php, .inc and .class files which will be cached, so it is difficult to find them all and filter them all using apc.filters.

If you can’t raise apc.shm_size due to lack of available memory, try lowering the TTL’s (values in seconds, 0 is no limit, 600=10minutes, etc.). This will still have a good effect on high-traffic sites with many concurrent end users; caching is not at all necessary for low-traffic sites. However, be aware that lower TTL’s can cause more fragmentation.

During Testing or Debugging with CMS caching plugins or modules

While you are tweaking your opcode settings, and especially if you are using APC with a CMS like WordPress (w3 total cache) or phpbb or joomla, and you are experimenting with settings, you should set apc.stat=1 (on). Restart the web server to load the new settings.

APC.Stat is the file change polling, which checks for file change every time a cached script or object is called. So, with polling turned off, your settings/configuration files may remain cached, and this may cause you some frustration. W3 Total Cache in particular is difficult to get configured properly with apc.stat=0 because the config settings and files are dependent upon database and php, which will be cached as files or opcode.

After you have sorted out your opcode settings, switch apc.stat=0 and restart the web server to turn off polling for better performance.

If you cannot get APC to configured correctly for your WordPress sites, I suggest WP Super Cache and WP Minify… that combination will probably have a better effect, as it will serve pages very quickly and accellerate user experience for a small number of users. Joomla 1.5 and phpBB3 are much easier to work with, as their caching systems are built to use APC and other opcode caches. Apparently, Gallery3 now also supports opcode caching.

More advice:

  • turn on apc.stat (documentation says, not for production servers, but W3 needs stat to monitor file status)
  • turn off apc.optimization (experimental and unstable, may cache user session info, fubaring items which should not be cached, such as admin pages and logged-in site pages)
  • turn off apc.include_once_override (use carefully; only useful with PHP scripts that do not have cache hooks, such as Joomla 1.0, phpBB2, etc.)
  • turn off apc.slam_defense (may cause objects to be replaced with PHP warnings which are displayed to the user, especially on Joomla 1.5)
  • set apc.user_ttl = 0 (allows your php scripts to set appropriate timeouts for queries and objects)
  • set apc.mmap_file_mask = /tmp/apc-yourusernamehere.XXXXXX for file-backed mmap; make file mask unique by adding your unique string; XXXXXX (exactly 6 X’s) must remain to allow APC to add random string
    OR set to /dev/zero for anonymous mmap if you can spare the memory

APC Manual: http://www.php.net/manual/en/book.apc.php
APC Runtime Configuration http://www.php.net/manual/en/apc.configuration.php

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Farmers Market Website

By on September 5, 2010 in Agriculture, Content Management Systems, Organic Farms, Portfolio, Wordpress

Main St Farmers Market website

This is a major redesign of the website for Chattanooga’s Main St Farmers Market. Local designers Widgets & Stone came up with the logos and suggested the look and feel, and I worked with Padgett Arnold to get the visuals and content just right. One interesting fact about the site: the web server is located on Main St as well! Keepin’ it LOCAL!

  • Interactive home page presents tons of information in a compact javascript slider
  • Fresh content includes recipes and a list of what’s available each week
  • Facebook fan page gets automatically updated with new content
  • New photos and videos are easily uploaded via SlideShowPro and YouTuber for a fun, engaging user experience
  • Lightweight CSS3 design and an alternative layout for mobile browsers present the site quickly and efficiently
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Social Media — Facebook, Twitter, Blogging and Sharing

By on December 3, 2009 in Content Management Systems, Wordpress

Social media, including sites like Facebook and MySpace, micro-blogging platforms like Twitter, and sharing/bookmarking tools like Digg, Del.icio.us and Stumble Upon are all very important to your outreach to customers, not to mention the incoming links they provide, and the potential of exponential viral traffic.

Add to this the need for regular blogging (on your site and other platforms) and email updates, and the management of all this online communication becomes daunting. What if there were a way to integrate all of your modes of online presence, so you’d only have to post once to update all of the different platforms? Well, the short answer is: there is.

I’ve been working with a local organic farm to update their online presence, and we’ve come up with a very simple implementation of WordPress that cross-posts to Facebook Pages and Twitter. Every blog post automatically creates an entry with linkback on Facebook Pages, and an accompanying Tweet with linkback. It has been a great way to keep the farm’s audience informed and engaged.

Additionally, we’ve added bookmarking links for all of the major social media platforms and favorites keepers, thus adding to the potential for viral sharing.

I’m also working on a mailing list that further integrates with WordPress, and it’s looking very promising. There is a new WordPress mailing list plugin that allows opt-in or manually entered mailing list clients to manage automated subscriptions to blog and page updates, and allows administrators to manage multiple mailing lists, and send newsletters and alerts. It integrates with the website seamlessly and also has WYSIWYG editing.

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Organic Farm Website with Slideshows and Content Management

By on November 13, 2009 in Agriculture, Content Management Systems, Organic Farms, Portfolio, Wordpress
Sequatchie Cove Farm website

Sequatchie Cove Farm website

This site was produced in tandem with Widgets & Stone, a Chattanooga design firm. We’re members of Sequatchie Cove Farm’s Community Shared Agriculture program, so we are very familiar with the quality of the eggs, dairy, meat and produce coming out of the clean and fertile Sequatchie Valley. Continue Reading →

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