TPC! Memory Usage for WordPress

Hi Chris,

Are you sure that the notifications you are getting aren’t being sent by TPC! Memory Usage? Version 0.3.1 actually has notifications sent by default if the memory usage exceeds 16MB. They would be from whoever hosts your site if you don’t have your own server (usually), so that makes sense. I included an example of what they look like below. You can deactivate them or increase the memory threshold within the TPC! Memory Usage settings section.

They look something like this…

Subject:
[blogname] High memory usage notification

Message:
WordPress memory usage exceeded xx MB
WordPress peak memory usage: xx MB

-Chris

@brettbum
Hey brettbum,

The activity log is something I’m actively working on. It will be included in the next major release.

As far as the second comment… do you have thirty separate sites, or are you using WP Mu?

Thanks,
Chris

Brian:

Hi Chris,

Could you please explain what the difference between Usage Sample, Peak Usage, and All-Time is? I think Usage Sample is the current use. I don’t understand what’s different between Peak and All-Time although there clearly is some sort of difference because I have two different values, and it obviously wouldn’t be there if it was the same.

Thanks for a great plugin!

Of course! I’ve outlined them below for you:

Usage Sample – the current memory usage when the dashboard/comment is displayed
Peak Usage – the peak memory usage as reported by PHP for the current script
All-Time – the peak memory usage as defined by checkpoints since plugin was activated or last stats reset

I hope this answers your questions. Thank you for the kind words and support!

-Chris

Hey cdcr1985,

Thanks for reporting this. I found the bug… WordPress changes the runtime value of ‘memory_limit’ so when we used ini_get(‘memory_limit’), it wasn’t pulling the original php.ini configuration value. The PHP memory limit is now pulled from the php.ini directive instead of the runtime variable. This fix is as of version 0.7.2.

Thanks again, cdcr1985! You’ve been extremely helpful in finding some of these issues.

-Chris

Jake:

I tried your latest 1.8.1 Version and this is still reporting values incorrectly. I have raised my memory limit to 128M and it is still showing 32M.

Hi Jake,

I’ve tried several different development environments including CentOS, Ubuntu, and Windows 7… all with Apache 2.2.13/.14. I’ve tried PHP 5.2.11, 5.3.0, and 5.3.1. I can’t seem to replicate this issue. If you want to contact me via e-mail about this, I’d be happy to try to delve into your situation more.

Have you tried restarting your server? Keep in mind this pulls the PHP memory limit from the global php.ini file. That means it won’t be affected by changes after that (runtime, .htaccess, etc.).

I hope this helps a little.

-Chris

Denis Kristanda:

Hi Chris,
Really great plugin. I am about to develop similar tool but yours really do the job! Well done & Thanks!
2 small feedback as my contribution:
1. ability to “reset” all time peak could be useful feature
2. detection of apache module (mod_security) could be misleading as the signature not always “mod_security” or “mod_security2″. I sent one of my non-geek friend in a bit of panic mode as your plugin indicates no mod_security but it’s actually has different signature of “security2_module” – perhaps a warning that the host could alter the name and user should check with their host will be more useful for non-technical user.

But, well done – I’ll create a massive article based on your tools ! Watch out your traceback !

Hi Denis,

1. You’ll be happy to know that this feature is available already. You can find it on the Settings page.

2. Thanks so much for pointing this out. I’m going to come up with a statement to this effect for the next release.

…and last, but not least, thank you for your support. I look forward to reading the article!

Thanks to everyone who has helped out with this!

-Chris

det:

hi there! this seems to be a great plugin, but i have a question…

i have a shared server with a bunch of wordpress instalations, and i usualy get 500 internal server errors…

i know i’m having memory issues, but i can’t seem to be able to find out the cause…

does this plugin would allow me to identify it? or is just a way of monitoring overall memory usage?

thanks

Hi det,

Yes! This plugin can help pinpoint exactly where memory usage is at its peak. I plan on writing a guide on how to best use this plugin eventually, but here’s a few pointers to hold you over until then.

1. Look for WordPress actions within the plugin files, and write them down. It may look like this… do_action(‘delete_post’). TPC! Memory Usage will log memory usage at each of those checkpoints. By measuring the difference in usage between different checkpoints, you can find out where your problem areas are.
2. Add all those actions as checkpoints within the WordPress administration panel. (Memory Usage > Add Checkpoint)
3. Turn on file logging, and set the log level to ‘always’ or ‘checkpoints_only’.
4. Visit some of the sections on your blog – tags, search, index, etc. All data will be recorded within /wp-content/plugins/tpc-memory-usage/logs/tpcmem.log, which can be viewed within any text editor.
5. Turn off file logging when done. (You should avoid file-based logging on production sites, as it can slow things down a little. If it’s a low traffic site, you may not see much of a difference. YMMV)

I hope this helps!

-Chris

James:

Hi,

Thanks for making this plugin. When ever I try to activate it, I see this error:

Parse error: parse error, unexpected T_ARRAY, expecting ‘)’ in /chroot/home/anaconda/hiddenanime.com/html/forums/word/wp-content/plugins/tpc-memory-usage/tpcmem-checkpoints.php on line 206

Any idea what I should do? I have the latest version installed – (.9).

Thanks in advance

Hey James,

My educated guess is that you are using a PHP version less than 5.1. This application uses array type hinting at that exact point, which isn’t available until PHP 5.1+. Can you check and get back to me? If that’s not it, we’ll take a look again.

Thanks!

-Chris

James:

Chris,

You are right! I checked with my host and they only have 4.3.11 of PHP installed.

Is all hope lost for me?

Your plugin is really well rounded, but I am really looking for the cpu stats and memory stats. If there is no way around it, is there something I can do with my 4.3.11 that would allow me to view those two items?

Thanks in advance

Hi James,

Unfortunately, your best bet is to update to PHP5. PHP4 is losing support rapidly, not to mention it is lacking in MANY features. I think v0.5.1 should work for you, but it lacks most of the new features (see changelog).

Is there anyway you can get your provider to upgrade to PHP5? If not, you can always switch to a new provider (many offer BOTH PHP4/5).

I hope this helps!

-Chris

Hi Mort,

This is a new one! Could you show me a screenshot so I can see what’s going on? I will do my best to help figure this out.

Thanks!
-Chris

Hey Mort,

It appears to be specific to Internet Explorer (works in Firefox, Chrome, etc.). I’ll look into a fix for 0.9.1. Thanks for reporting this!

-Chris