Hosting and memory questions

The amount of memory for a site with about 1000 hits a day, (still) depends on various factors, most importantly, how many of them are logged-in users, etc.

I have monitoring the memory and each site is over 40. Is that normal.

I have no experience with DreamHost. So, not sure what it means by 40 or if it is normal.

I am hoping for my site to grow and wanted some input as to what the memory should be for a busy site.

A VPS with at least 512 MB memory should be ideal to start with, for any busy website. Again, it depends on what various factors such as logged-in users. If your site has no logged-in users (except you as an admin for creating / publishing posts), then the above VPS configuration should be capable of handling around 1 million page views per month, assuming your host doesn’t run any control panels such as cPanel or Plesk. On DreamHost, your site should be fine with the starter VPS plan with 300 MB memory, assuming your site doesn’t have a lot of logged-in visitors.

I hope this helps.

It does help me understand a bit more thank-you but I am still having issues and I think it’s because I confused.

I switched and I am still having the same problems

I’ve got 90MB of php memory but that’s not RAM, right? That’s the same amt that I had on shared.

So even after changing, I still only have the same 90 MB and the exact same problems and, I think because of it, extremely low page page views.

I getting really disgusted and it’s because I just don’t understand

I’ve got 90MB of php memory but that’s not RAM, right?

You are right. PHP memory and the total RAM are different. So, php consuming 90MB out of 300MB RAM is normal.

So even after changing, I still only have the same 90 MB and the exact same problems

As long as you don’t get any notification from your host regarding some kind of resource abuse (that’s unlikely for a low traffic website), then you don’t have to worry about how much memory your php processes consume.

DreamHost wiki seems to have a lot of great articles, if you want to know what happens inside your VPS. Here is one such… https://wiki.dreamhost.com/PS_Server_Status_Script . It is highly technical, still you can get an overview of what could be done in a DH VPS.

It’s a lot to learn at first, I feel your pain. Remember, though, learning to drive ?? You had all this awesome freedom, and at the same time, a huge amount of responsibility and (in my experience) dread. You had to learn how to do everything with driving, riding a bike, cooking, and none of it all just jumped into your head magically formed ??

So it’s okay and perfectly normal to be overwhelmed! We’re here for you ?? We were all where you were once.

Now take a deep breath. Hold it for a count of three. Exhale. Do it again.

Crack your knuckles, and lets jump in!

1000 hits a day is a decent amount of traffic (well done!). Your site should run just fine on 90MB allocated to PHP, and while you can up that on a VPS, we should take a look at why it’s that high.

Are you using any caching plugins yet?

Thank you both. I broke my wrist so haven’t been able to type too well.

I am using W3 Total Cache for caching.

I did figure out how to up PHP memory and I upped it to 256K while I am trying to figure what is using so much memory.

I do have a number of plugins on the sites and I removed any that I don’t need or use.

I’ve read the wiki’s and installed a script to manage the VS size automatically.

I still don’t get what php does exactly.

So the PHP memory comes out of my total memory?

I optimized all database tables and I got a plugin that shows memory usage so my plan is to to deactivate all plugins and then reactivate one by one so I can tell what is hogging memory – – unless either of you have any other suggestions.

Thanks for the wiki link. I’ve read a bunch but hadn’t seen that one.

Yikes! Get your wrist better! (I broke my arm as a kid, right before exams, not fun)

PHP memory is ‘How much memory can PHP use before it’s a problem.’ Think of it as a limit, like how many hours you can work. Above 8 per day, and you have a problem (depending on your boss).

Memory is ‘How much memory can I use as a whole.’ If we extend the work example, there’s a hard limit to 24 hours a day, so you clearly cannot possibly work more than 24 hours in one day ?? However if you needed to work OT, you could feasibly work 10 hours within the 24.

The reason you want to limit PHP is that if it uses up too much memory, then your server can’t do anything else. Just like if Jack Bauer didn’t have commercial breaks in 24, he’d never be able to take a shower or tie his shoes.

Thanks a lot, I understood that.