Page load inefficiency causing site to shut down

  • We’ve been having problems with our site lately, as our dedicated server is getting overloaded. Our tech traced it to a combination of some bots and NGG:

    It does look like a sudden influx of traffic caused by bots/scans is causing the recent problems.

    The root of the problem is the inefficiency of the ngg plugin. Each ngg page load causes a significant load on the mysql database which in turn causes a high read load on the hard drive which then slows down each concurrent request causing a snowball effect. These bot scans are loading dozens of ngg pages in a small time span and causing the system to get backlogged.

    It seems some idiots with malicious intent have seized upon this vulnerability to attack our site. Is there any way you can see to address this from the plugin side?

    I am using Cloudflare, btw, if that matters.

    Thank you.

    https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/nextcellent-gallery-nextgen-legacy/

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  • Thread Starter jamminjames

    (@jamminjames)

    We found that the Bing search engine was accessing our many galleries often, causing the overload, and have since blocked that Bing url.

    However, it would seem that NextCellent needs some form of caching help, as the galleries are using a lot of resources to load. I have W3T Cache set up, and Cloudflare, but for some reason, they don’t seem to be able to cache the gallery pages well enough.

    Any ideas for making these galleries load more efficiently, or for helping the caching program cache it better? Something, perhaps, like Tubepress does?

    Thanks for any help.

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