PHP memory_limit is per-script, just as a highway’s speed limit is per-vehicle. For example, although PHP’s memory limit may be set high to 1GB, that does not mean that scripts will pile up to use that 1GB. Let’s take a quick look at understanding PHP’s memory_limit setting. PHP memory_limit is a per-script setting PHP.net’s […]
PHP performance: oPcache Control Panels
OPcache is a PHP extension that improves PHP performance by storing precompiled script bytecode in shared memory, thereby removing the need for PHP to load and parse scripts on each request. The extension is built-in for PHP 5.5+. If you want to improve PHP performance, the first step should be to use PHP 8+, which […]
25 Best CDN Providers 2023
A content delivery network, also referred to as a content distribution network (CDN), is a geographically distributed network of data centers containing proxy servers. CDN providers serve internet content, including web objects (text, graphics, and scripts), downloadable objects (media files, software, documents), applications (e-commerce, portals), live-streaming media, to name closer to and thus faster, to end-users. Some of the […]
50 Top Observability and Monitoring Solutions – 2023
Back in 2014, I compiled a list of top server and application performance monitoring solutions. Sharing that list publicly was a great way to gain feedback and recommendations on other tools available. Over time that list grew from 20 to over 100 server monitoring and APM solutions! Because of its growing size, I’ve created a smaller, more […]
Linux server needs a RAM upgrade? Check with top, free, vmstat and sar.
Sometimes it can be a bit of a challenge knowing if and when you should upgrade the RAM (random access memory) on your Linux server. Even more so, when deciding how much memory you should add, or if you have adequate memory, how do you make the best use of it? This article will walk […]
PHP Benchmarks: OPcache vs OPcache w/ Performance Tweaks
A few weeks ago, I wrote a short article highlighting GUI solutions for monitoring and controlling PHP OPcache. We all know that enabling PHP OPcache provides massive performance gains (see benchmark graph at the end of the article). In addition, since PHP 5.5, OPcache is now enabled by default. With these facts in mind, is […]
Set PHP realpath_cache_size ‘correctly’
In 2012, I started enabling PHP realpath_cache_size and realpath_cache_ttl for performance benefits. At the time, I followed the settings I found here (has since been deleted). It bugged me that I was blindly setting the cache size without knowing how much storage was actually being used. In this post, I will demonstrate how to view the […]
Prune any cache directory using cron (prune Magento cache/sessions)
Over the weekend, I received a “low storage space” alert for a client’s server, a Magento-based web store. Problem: /: Disk space is critically low (used > 90%) Upon investigation, the culprit was a Magento caching plugin that accumulated 62GB of cached data. The plugin was useful but did not invalidate or rather remove old […]
Linux server performance: Is disk I/O slowing your application?
If your Linux server is bogged down, your first step may often be to use the top command in the terminal to check load averages. However, there are times when top shows very high load averages even with low CPU ‘us’ (user) and high CPU ‘id’ (idle) percentages. This is the case in the video […]
Tuning MySQL my.cnf? Avoid this common pitfall!
It took me some time to decide on the title of this article. MariaDB has been fast replacing MySQL as many Linux distributions now default to MariaDB over MySQL. MariaDB is an enhanced drop-in replacement for MySQL. Therein lies my predominantly self-made conundrum, MySQL or MariaDB? The MySQL tuning advice below applies to MySQL, MariaDB […]