CMS Made Simple Forums

I am running four installations on CMSMS at the same server. It is www.torvund.net , www.torvund.net/gitar, www.torvund.net/guitar and www.torvund.net/languedoc.

They are using the same database (but different tables in the database) and are all running version 1.2.2 of CMSMS.

For some stragne reason I have problems with one of the installations: www.torvund.net/guitar

When in the "Pages" section in the admin panel, the collapse and expand functions does not work. I get an error message reproting an "500 Internal server" error. But if I refresh the page, it is displayed correctly. I also have the same kind of problems with the "apply" button when editing a page. And the WISYWIG editor will not work. I have also got messages from some users telling that they get "500 server error" messages when they access pages, and Google report a lot of "500 server errors" preventing them for indexing files.

The strange thing is that I do not have any of these problems with the three other installations. And as I said, they are running on the same server, using the same database. I have tried to reinstall the installation causing problems, and I have even installed it with new tables in the database (and then copied the content from a back up). This makes me think that the problem is in CMSMS and not the basic serverfunctions, despite the error message. If the server had been the problem, I should have had the same problem with all the installations.

The installation causing problems is by far the largest intallation, with some 550 pages. Many of these pages call content from a database, giving several thousands of pages (probably more than 30.000)  if all the various parametres are used.

I am wondering if CMSMS is running into problems if the number of pages gets too high? Or can there be a solution to this?

Chances are that php is running out of memory.  The way that the 1.x series is written would probably require that the memory_limit be raised above the standard 8 megs as the site gets larger.

If you search for memory_limit on this forum, you should find ways to test for it and fix it if that's the problem.  You should also check the apache error log if you have access to it, as you might get an error message from php instead of just the normal 500, which requires guesswork to debug.

Good luck.

From my ISP I get 16Mb php-memory, and it seems that there are no way to get more, at least not now.

Because I suspect that server overload is causing the problem, I found it very interesting what Ted wrote about the 2.0 version in another thread. Will the demand on resources be smaller in version 2.0, meaning that there is an hope that this will be solved when 2.0 is available?

It seems that the problem prevents part of my site from beeing indexed by Google, which means that the problem is serious.

As I see it now, there are three options:

-Wait for version 2.0, and do nothing.
-Split the installation of CMSMS that causes problem in two, hoping that each installation will be below the "trouble limit".
-Find another ISP.

CMS 2.0 will definately require a newer version of PHP and will probably require even more memory.

But before you do anything, I'd suggest working with your host to find out 'exactly' the error messages from the server logs for your site.  That will (hopefully) give you the information that you need to make a correct decision.

CMSMS2.0 requirie php5.2.x. Se this 
  http://blog.cmsmadesimple.org/2007/07/08/gophp5/
A installation with php5.2.x defaults to 128Meg ram (as far I have seen)
So if your isp don't give you more than 16 megs you have trouble!
For a so big site you run there I will advice you to have minimum 128 megs ram for php.

I have been in touch with other ISPs, and at the same time I am in a dialog with the one I am using now.

The one I am most likely to use if I decide to change give 32Mb php memory (the one I am using now give 16Mb).

But before I make the decision, I would very much like to get clarification on some issues:

In Ted's descriptions on plans for 2.0, he said that 2.0 will use far less tables in the database. I tend to think that this should mean fewer database accesses and that this version will be less resource hungry. The reneh says that 2.0 will require more.

php 5.2 may default to 128Mb, but I do not know if that is per user or what it means. Both my current and possible future ISP are running php 5.x (the latter 5.2.5, I am not sure about the exact version at my current ISP.) But none of them give 128 Mb - it is 16 or 32. (And to me it seems that 16-32Mb seems to be the standard offer from ISPs)

If I get 32Mb I hope that this will be enough for my current installation? But will it also be enough for 2.0? I do not want to make a change now, and then change one more time within a few months.

I have now moved the site to another webhotel where I get 32Mb php-memory instead of the 16Mb I had with the previous service provider.

The problems I had when I was editing the site seems to have been solved by this change. I hope that problems with Google-indexing etc is solved too, but I have to wait a few days for the reports from Google.