Hitting memory limits on hosted server

Message Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic Printable Version Translate Topic

   We have our ProductCart hosted on DiscountASP, using IIS6 and a max memory limit of 100 megabytes. Randomly we "lose" the cart, due to the memory limit being reached and the worker process recycling. The customer gets the recovered cart message, etc. which isn't that bad, but if they're in the middle of actually trying to pay for their order, they get a session timeout message and must start over. This is obviously less than ideal.

DiscountASP said we could either switch to IIS7, with a memory limit of 200 megabytes, or have a dedicated server. Does anyone know if ProductCart will work properly under 200 megabytes, or does it require more?

Thanks in advance.

Author	Message Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic Printable Version Translate Topic
nicholas_head Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 27-July-2010 Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote nicholas_head Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Hitting memory limits on hosted server Posted: 27-July-2010 at 1:57pm
	We have our ProductCart hosted on DiscountASP, using IIS6 and a max memory limit of 100 megabytes. Randomly we "lose" the cart, due to the memory limit being reached and the worker process recycling. The customer gets the recovered cart message, etc. which isn't that bad, but if they're in the middle of actually trying to pay for their order, they get a session timeout message and must start over. This is obviously less than ideal. DiscountASP said we could either switch to IIS7, with a memory limit of 200 megabytes, or have a dedicated server. Does anyone know if ProductCart will work properly under 200 megabytes, or does it require more? Thanks in advance.

Matt Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Moderator Group Joined: 20-July-2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 73	Post Options Post Reply Quote Matt Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 27-July-2010 at 2:03pm
	100 is not enough for an ecommerce business. I always recommend 250 and a dedicated application pool. If you are low traffic to moderate traffic, then 200 will probably be ok.

cognecy Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Certified ProductCart Developers Joined: 18-March-2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 8	Post Options Post Reply Quote cognecy Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 27-July-2010 at 4:15pm
	As a ProductCart host, I can definitely concur with with Matt is telling you. Some time ago I actually dug into this problem quite extensively and what I found was that under no or very little traffic times (no one actively shopping), ProductCart will consume between 20-40MB of its application pool. Now when you start browsing the store you will have period spikes in resource usage which is Perfectly Normal and expected with any ecommerce application. Depending on the amount of traffic you have, you will see spikes definitely up to 100MB but more often than not you will see it peaking out at 150-180MB. Occasionally you will get above 200MB. Matt's suggestion of 250MB is right on the money. I would say that 200MB should be the minimum for your site. There are many indicators of when it is time to switch to a dedicated or VPS environment and pool usage is definitely one of them. When I am evaluating my own customer site's performance, I start getting concerned when they are consistently spiking above 200MB. If I do see that, the first thing we do is take a look at the code and any modifications as a memory leak can cause high pool usage as well. If all is good there, we may try tweaking the environment but in the end, it may come down to moving them into their own server. PLEASE NOTE: I do not want readers of this post thinking this is a ProductCart problem because is absolutely IS NOT! I would give the same advice for ANY ecommerce application running on Windows. Very important that you confirm with your host your site is set into a Dedicated Application Pool. Then ask them if they can adjust that application pool's resource allocation to a higher value. To be honest many budget hosts are not willing to do this because they are not really set up for application hosting. The whole goal of a budget host is quantity and not quality. That in and of itself is not necessarily a bad thing but it certainly does not mesh with what you are trying to accomplish as a store owner. Many of us on the board likely sound like a broken record in this regard but it is so vitally important you host your ProductCart site with a host that understands the software application. If you had an oscommerce site, I would tell you to pick a host that specializes in that application. Hope this helps some. Edited by cognecy - 27-July-2010 at 4:16pm
	Mark Shipp Cognecy Solutions, LLC Hosting/Design/Customization/Database Migration www.cognecy.com www.cognecy.co.uk

RobertZ Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 21-January-2007 Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote RobertZ Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 27-July-2010 at 5:54pm
	Hi agree with everything said, its all 100% on the mark and exactly the process we took with our site. 1) Hosted site 2) Hosted site + Dedicated App Pool 3) VPS 4) Next will be totally dedicated. Our step from 2 to 3 happened pretty quickly as our hosted wanted the same amount of dollars for dedicated pool, as the cost for changing hosts and going for a VPS. Having a dedicated pool, I think the most important part in hosting PC. Its not until you start having problems, you find this out. (Or read it on the forums beforehand)