PHP slowing down?

My pages generated using PHP and mySQL seem to be getting slower.
I have a PHP script using mySQL which runs every 15 minutes. Part of the output from this script is the execution time. I've noticed that recently the times have been getting longer and longer (from 10 secs in December to around 40 secs now). The script is doing the same job, and the compared times were both taken at the same time of day (17:00 - 19:00). This applies for other scripts/pages too. My site is getting roughly the same amount of traffic now as it has been for the past few months, so I don't think that is the cause.
It's getting to the point that my Windows 98, P3 450Mhz server I use for developing is almost as fast as my proper Dreamhost webspace (whereas it used to be 10 times slower).

Is anyone else experiencing this, and does anyone have any suggestions for fixing it?

Data getting populated? See how long your MySQL queries are taking.

Data will ALWAYS get slower. It's a simple fact. Majority of the time, the issue lays within the database: more data to store, means more data for the database to shuffle through.

Maybe you can look at adding indexing in some places or archiving and purging old data to keep the database small.

I thought that, so I drastically reduced the size of the database. No effect. Also, it's been operating fine for the first 8 months or so, it's just got bad in the last month. There have been no big changes at all in the last few months.

I probably can speed it up- the script isn't all that efficent, and there are certainly ways I can make it faster- the point is that I shouldn't really have to. It always used to work.

Just sounds like then you're getting aheavier load on your server which is most likely slowing it down.

In reply to:

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- the point is that I shouldn't really have to.

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And I think programmers that think that should be shot. ;)
Take that statement and then multiply it by the number of people on your shared server. Now tell me, do you really think you shouldn't have to. :)

I'd run debugs then within your code, try to figure out the specific location that's taking the most time (bunch of time prints, through-out your code). Maybe it's in the execution or in the queries. Where ever it is, it'll be able to tell you more about what's most likely causing the slow down.

I'm having the same issues - yesterday my site took 2 secs to load, now it takes 12 secs to load. I tested from multiple providers. There were no code changes and no off site code that would be slowing it down.

I put in a support request. Hopefully this is just server load and they'll move me.

I have only been provisioned here for one week. My http access to a small php site (wordpress, gallery) was very slow. I inquired, and they said it was due to server overload and moved me to another server last night. My access is now worse today. :( I have another inquiry in.

I was on hoover before. Now on hyperion.

I put a request in last night, but haven't heard anything yet. I'm currently on virgil. I can't see how the server could be so bogged down on an early Saturday morning though. This only started occuring yesterday, so I wonder if something else is going on.

I have also been having this problem. My site has slowed down to a crawl. It used to fly, but now takes about 45 secs to load. Data is added VERY sparingly, for the most part I 'shift' the data, not add to it. I have had a support ticket in for about 8 hours now, hopefully will have a response by morning.

I got a reply saying it was a 'broad' DNS problem and I should have already known about it. They gave me no target as to when it would be fixed. This is now 48 hours later.

Whats worse is that they said they checked my site and it 'seems fine' - how is going from a 2 second load time to a 12 second load time considered 'fine'?

I'm glad I'm not the only one experiencing this.
I was also moved to a different server because of "heavy load" without any improvement. I'd like to hope that it will be fixed soon, but somehow I'm having trouble believing that.

I currently have accounts open with three hosts, all with joomla installed. Dreamhost takes about 8 seconds for the site to load, whereas the other two take less than two. This is not acceptable. I love the way dreamhost is setup, but they better show some improvement soon or I'll be relocating some of my sites. :/

I hear that. I cannot believe how long it takes for my site to load. I can't even administer the site because it takes so long. That is pretty sad. Ticket up for 1day 3 hours =/

Have had my request alittle over 24 hours. I have a small website right now with 0 traffic, not public, and have been adding articles. I don't even have 100 articles in the database.

Started loading slow about 3 or 4 days ago, even created a subdomain and installed the directory script with a blank database. Still loads slow but not as slow as the main site. Before both sites loaded instantly.

On server 'holt' and mysql server 'sebastian'

fyi, server load is easy to check. Log in via ssh and type: uptime

1 and lower is ideal. 2-4 is okay. 5+ is heavy. Anything above 10 is a problem. Anything about 50 is a SERIOUS problem.

I finally just decided to sign up with another host. Since I have no timeline as to when things may or may not get fixed, I didn't want to risk it. If things get better, I'll use the rest of my account again.

I signed up about 5 days ago and my site has been ridiculously slow from the beginning. It's a basic Drupal installation. There's virtually no data in it yet, and no traffic, and it's super-slow. My server is on firestone; not sure what server the DB is on.

Here's the unhelpful response I got to my support ticket about the slowness:

"There are no performance enhancements available on your shared hosting plan. You would need to upgrade to a dedicated server to see a performance boost."

I guess that response implies that Dreamhost thinks this sort of site response is normal.

Really disappointing! Guess I need to look elsewhere as our club can't afford dedicated servers.

I too am experiencing VERY slow website loading times and general download speeds off the server.

I believe it is fairly evident that the MASSIVE over-selling DreamHost are currently engaged in is causing a detrimental effect to the hosting quality for all current customers.

This can't be anything approaching normal hosting standards. My site takes an absolute age to load in. Yesterday it was fine but today it's utterly awful, taking entire minutes to fully load a simple web page.

I'm sure this is a temporary blip in the system, as until now I've been really happy with Dreamhost. This - however - is no small problem, and I hope it will be sorted very quickly.

I was also pretty happy with DH before this.

After 48 hours they moved me to a different server, which didn't help. =/
This is killing me, my community was just starting to grow and now this happens =(

Signed up on Monday, and the default Wordpress installation that took 0.3 secs to load in my previous hosting now takes between 4 and 6 seconds to query the database. Submitted a ticket yesterday and no sign of a response yet, not even "Yes, we are aware of slowdowns but we'll fix it this month".

(the cryptic and annoying m1234567 e-mail usernames and remote databases weren't a great first impression, by the way)

Oh, well, I guess we'll have to switch to another host again. The shortest hosting period ever :P

Oh good, more people are having the problem... after the first few posts I thought I must be doing something wrong.
The good news is it seems to have speeded up somewhat. Still not as fast as it really should be, but passable (just). Anyone hear back from their tickets yet? Are Dreamhost even working on the problem?

It indeed has speeded up a bit, now it's at least "decent".

They replied to my ticket (after 48 hours) saying that my server was under abuse by another user, but that the load was now normal.