# Mongrel process spinning with CPU & MEM maxed out **URL:** \ **Category:** Deployment\ **Created:** [October 8, 2008, 3:26am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-process-spinning-with-cpu-mem-maxed-out/150399 "2008-10-08T03:26:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chovy](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@chovy](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/chovy)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 3:26am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-process-spinning-with-cpu-mem-maxed-out/150399/1 "2008-10-08T03:26:32Z")
PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ PPID COMMAND 12565 ettinger 39 0 1110m 1.1g 2680 R 99.9 54.4 21:53.77 1 /usr/bin/ruby1.8 /usr/bin/mongrel\_rails start -C /home/ettinger/directoryofdirect CPU: 99.9% Mem: 54.4% What can I do to bring this back inline with an acceptable value? – Anthony E. 408-656-2473 [http://anthony.ettinger.name](http://anthony.ettinger.name) ---
**Author:** ![chovy](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@chovy](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/chovy)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 3:37am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-process-spinning-with-cpu-mem-maxed-out/150399/2 "2008-10-08T03:37:42Z")
Run monit on it and restart the fuckers when they aren’t playing nicely. Here’s a sample of my old monit config that did just that: [http://pastie.org/287363](http://pastie.org/287363) …OR switch to mod\_rails. I just made the switch and I’m loving not having to slap my mongrels around or deal with monit madness anymore. * * * ## seth - subimage llc ## [http://sublog.subimage.com](http://sublog.subimage.com) ## Cashboard - Estimates, invoices, and time tracking software - for free! [http://www.getcashboard.com](http://www.getcashboard.com) Substruct - Open source RoR e-commerce software. [http://code.google.com/p/substruct/](http://code.google.com/p/substruct/) ---
**Author:** ![chovy](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@chovy](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/chovy)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 7:32am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-process-spinning-with-cpu-mem-maxed-out/150399/3 "2008-10-09T07:32:35Z")
Monit doesn’t really solve the problem though. I’ve also heard mod\_rails isn’t ready for primetime yet. I’d like to know what is causing it to eat up memory and CPU usage so badly…as it ran fine for the last few weeks up until the last few releases. I’ve read that it could be anything from a bad regex to low disk space, gdb debugging rails didn’t give me much that a simpleton like myself could understand: [http://weblog.jamisbuck.org/2006/9/22/inspecting-a-live-ruby-process](http://weblog.jamisbuck.org/2006/9/22/inspecting-a-live-ruby-process) [http://eigenclass.org/hiki.rb?ruby+live+process+introspection](http://eigenclass.org/hiki.rb?ruby+live+process+introspection) On Tue, Oct 7, 2008 at 6:36 PM, seth b [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > seth - subimage llc > > > CPU: 99.9% > > > > > > > > – Anthony E. 408-656-2473 [http://anthony.ettinger.name](http://anthony.ettinger.name) ---
**Author:** ![chovy](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@chovy](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/chovy)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 8:16pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-process-spinning-with-cpu-mem-maxed-out/150399/4 "2008-10-10T20:16:32Z")
Anthony, What version of Ruby are you running? (ruby -v) I’ve seen this problem quite a few times with 1.8.6 p114. ---
**Author:** ![chovy](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@chovy](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/chovy)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 11:51pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-process-spinning-with-cpu-mem-maxed-out/150399/5 "2008-10-10T23:51:08Z")
1.8.5? Wow. That’s pretty old. I wouldn’t think that that would be the problem, but it certainly couldn’t hurt to upgrade to something a bit more recent. Unless you’re using rails 2.1 exclusively I’d suggest 1.8.6 p287 and see if that resolves your problem. ---
**Author:** ![chovy](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@chovy](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/chovy)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 10:46pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-process-spinning-with-cpu-mem-maxed-out/150399/6 "2008-10-10T22:46:07Z")
$ ruby -v ruby 1.8.5 (2006-08-25) [i386-linux] On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 11:15 AM, Alex Malinovich [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > I’d like to know what is causing it to eat up memory and CPU usage so > > > > > * * * > > > > > > On Tue, Oct 7, 2008 at 6:26 PM, Anthony E. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > > > > > What can I do to bring this back inline with an acceptable value? – Anthony E. 408-656-2473 [http://anthony.ettinger.name](http://anthony.ettinger.name) ---
**Author:** ![chovy](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@chovy](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/chovy)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2008, 1:18am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-process-spinning-with-cpu-mem-maxed-out/150399/7 "2008-10-11T01:18:59Z")
> Monit doesn’t really solve the problem though. I’ve also heard > mod\_rails isn’t ready for primetime yet. Yeah, Shopify and Cashboard are really not “primetime” Rails apps huh? LOL. > I’d like to know what is causing it to eat up memory and CPU usage so > badly…as it ran fine for the last few weeks up until the last few > releases. Could be a variety of things. Rmagick is a known culprit, but I’m sure google will lend you many answers. * * * ## seth - subimage llc ## [http://sublog.subimage.com](http://sublog.subimage.com) ## Cashboard - Estimates, invoices, and time tracking software - for free! [http://www.getcashboard.com](http://www.getcashboard.com) Substruct - Open source RoR e-commerce software. [http://code.google.com/p/substruct/](http://code.google.com/p/substruct/) ---
**Author:** ![chovy](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@chovy](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/chovy)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2008, 1:34am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-process-spinning-with-cpu-mem-maxed-out/150399/8 "2008-10-11T01:34:12Z")
Thanks Alex, I’ll give it a shot. On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 2:50 PM, Alex Malinovich [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 11:15 AM, Alex Malinovich > > > > > On Oct 8, 10:31 pm, “Anthony E.” [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > > > > > having to slap my mongrels around or deal with monit madness anymore. > > > > > [Google Code Archive - Long-term storage for Google Code Project Hosting.](http://code.google.com/p/substruct/) > > > > > > > > > > > Mem: 54.4% > > > > > > 408-656-2473http://anthony.ettinger.name > > > > – > > Anthony E. > > 408-656-2473http://anthony.ettinger.name – Anthony E. 408-656-2473 [http://anthony.ettinger.name](http://anthony.ettinger.name) ---
**Author:** ![chovy](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@chovy](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/chovy)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 5:51am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-process-spinning-with-cpu-mem-maxed-out/150399/9 "2008-10-13T05:51:12Z")
Hi Alex, My ISP only has 1.8.5 and Rails 2.1. I think there is a logic error somewhere in my code, prior to about a week ago, the site was functioning fine. If someone has any ideas on how to debug the 99% CPU usage, I’d be interested in hearing. Anthony On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 2:50 PM, Alex Malinovich [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 11:15 AM, Alex Malinovich > > > > > On Oct 8, 10:31 pm, “Anthony E.” [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > > > > > having to slap my mongrels around or deal with monit madness anymore. > > > > > [Google Code Archive - Long-term storage for Google Code Project Hosting.](http://code.google.com/p/substruct/) > > > > > > > > > > > Mem: 54.4% > > > > > > 408-656-2473http://anthony.ettinger.name > > > > – > > Anthony E. > > 408-656-2473http://anthony.ettinger.name – Anthony E. 408-656-2473 [http://anthony.ettinger.name](http://anthony.ettinger.name) ---
**Author:** ![chovy](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@chovy](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/chovy)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 4:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-process-spinning-with-cpu-mem-maxed-out/150399/10 "2008-10-13T16:13:54Z")
On Sun, Oct 12, 2008 at 8:50 PM, Anthony E. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Hi Alex, > > My ISP only has 1.8.5 and Rails 2.1. > I think there is a logic error somewhere in my code, prior to about a > week ago, the site was functioning fine. > > If someone has any ideas on how to debug the 99% CPU usage, I’d be > interested in hearing. Anthony, Are you seeing similar results when running in development? Has much changed in the application (code or visitor-wise) in the last week or so that could be triggering this behavior? You might consider looking at the performance tools from New Relic or Five Runs, which can assist you in determining where some of the bottlenecks in your code might be lingering. Good luck! Robby – Robby R. Chief Evangelist, Partner PLANET ARGON, LLC design // development // hosting > **[Planet Argon](https://www.planetargon.com/)** > > Planet Argon is a Ruby on Rails development agency specializing in maintenance and support for existing Rails apps. Based in Portland, OR, Planet Argon has been a member of the Rails community since 2004. [http://www.robbyonrails.com/](http://www.robbyonrails.com/) aim: planetargon +1 503 445 2457 +1 877 55 ARGON [toll free] +1 815 642 4068 [fax] ---
**Author:** ![chovy](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@chovy](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/chovy)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2008, 8:30pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-process-spinning-with-cpu-mem-maxed-out/150399/11 "2008-11-02T20:30:24Z")
On Tue, Oct 7, 2008 at 5:26 PM, Anthony E. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > What can I do to bring this back inline with an acceptable value? After switching hosting providers (as this was the default response I got from many), the prod app still had the same issue and stopped serving. Thanks to a couple of people on #rubyonrails channel, we narrowed it down to a bad circular reference in the :include =\> […] method I was using for the sortable\_column\_headers plugin. Here’s the change I made, and the app loaded fine after that: ``` @directories = Directory.paginate( :page => ``` ## params[:page], ``` :include => [{ :software => :directories ``` }, { :status =\> :directories }], + :include =\> [:software, :status], You may be able to ascertain this by tailing the production.log and then cutting and pasting the SQL query into the mysql monitor manually, with the words “EXPLAIN ” infront of it. This could help explain where indexes could be useful, although that helped it was not my problem. My next task is to learn how to debug and profile my rails app and how to copy production data in a test database so these issues surface as soon as the code is written. For my case, the test database only had a few rows, so the exponential growth in the query time was able to pass through with only 5 data sets…on production it was 89 and tail spun into a memory/cpu hog. – Anthony E. 408-656-2473 [http://anthony.ettinger.name](http://anthony.ettinger.name) ---
**Author:** ![chovy](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@chovy](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/chovy)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 7:46pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-process-spinning-with-cpu-mem-maxed-out/150399/12 "2008-10-13T19:46:50Z")
On Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 7:13 AM, Robby R. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Are you seeing similar results when running in development? Has much > changed in the application (code or visitor-wise) in the last week or > so that could be triggering this behavior? > > You might consider looking at the performance tools from New Relic or > Five Runs, which can assist you in determining where some of the > bottlenecks in your code might be lingering. > > Good luck! Its very odd, I have [test.example.com](http://test.example.com) (test) and [example.com](http://example.com) (prod) on the same server, and the code has been deployed to both. However every time I start the prod mongrel\_rails server, each request hangs and eats up CPU at 95% and takes 10 seconds for a request to complete. [test.example.com](http://test.example.com) does not have this problem, it serves the pages in under a second. I originally thought it may be the DB, so I made prod ([example.com](http://example.com)) use the test environment, and the issue continues. I don’t know what else it could be, as they are seemingly identical when both are running as “test” environment.