# "MySQL server has gone away" with Apache 2.2 + Mongrel clust **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [October 10, 2006, 5:41pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mysql-server-has-gone-away-with-apache-2-2-mongrel-clust/71669 "2006-10-10T17:41:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![erubin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/82dd89/32.png) [@erubin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/erubin)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 5:41pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mysql-server-has-gone-away-with-apache-2-2-mongrel-clust/71669/1 "2006-10-10T17:41:46Z")
Hi I just setup a server (Apache 2.2, mod\_proxy\_balancer, mongrel\_cluster) with 2 Rails applications according to this excellent Post: [http://blog.codahale.com/2006/06/19/time-for-a-grown-up-server-rails-mongrel-apache-capistrano-and-you](http://blog.codahale.com/2006/06/19/time-for-a-grown-up-server-rails-mongrel-apache-capistrano-and-you) Everythings works great, but after a long inactive period (say one night), the first 3 connections allways get an Error 500 Excerpt from production.log: … Rendering authentication/login Completed in 0.00301 (332 reqs/sec) | Rendering: 0.00279 (92%) | DB: 0.00000(0%) | 200 OK [[http://myapp/authentication/login](http://myapp/authentication/login) ] Mysql::Error: MySQL server has gone away: SELECT \* FROM sessions WHERE (session\_id = ‘875b6a6dff4de7e8bb2f7709cf9c31db’) LIMIT 1 … Note: the mongrel cluster is configured to have 3 mongrel processes. Is this a clue why only the first 3 connections allways get the error ? Thanks for your input. ---
**Author:** ![erubin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/82dd89/32.png) [@erubin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/erubin)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 6:01pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mysql-server-has-gone-away-with-apache-2-2-mongrel-clust/71669/2 "2006-10-10T18:01:51Z")
what version of MySQL are you running? ed On 10/10/06, Eric R. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Note: the mongrel cluster is configured to have 3 mongrel processes. Is > this a clue why only the first 3 connections allways get the error ? > > Thanks for your input. > > > – Ed Hickey Developer Litmus Media 816-533-0409 removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid A Member of Think Partnership, Inc [www.ThinkPartnership.com](http://www.ThinkPartnership.com) Amex ticker symbol: THK ---
**Author:** ![erubin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/82dd89/32.png) [@erubin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/erubin)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 6:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mysql-server-has-gone-away-with-apache-2-2-mongrel-clust/71669/3 "2006-10-10T18:13:56Z")
> Everythings works great, but after a long inactive period (say one night), > the first 3 connections allways get an Error 500 Did you “gem install mysql” the latest version of the mysql gem? That always seems to clear up my mysql issues. ---
**Author:** ![erubin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/82dd89/32.png) [@erubin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/erubin)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 6:17pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mysql-server-has-gone-away-with-apache-2-2-mongrel-clust/71669/4 "2006-10-10T18:17:59Z")
On Debian Sarge: dpkg --list | grep mysql ii libdbd-mysql-p 2.9006-1 A Perl5 database interface to the MySQL data ii libmysqlclient 3.23.56-3 LGPL-licensed client library for MySQL datab ii libmysqlclient 3.23.56-3 LGPL-licensed client development files for M ii libmysqlclient 4.0.24-10sarge mysql database client library ii libmysqlclient 4.1.11a-4sarge mysql database client library ii mysql-client-4 4.1.11a-4sarge mysql database client binaries ii mysql-common-4 4.1.11a-4sarge mysql database common files (e.g. /etc/mysql ii mysql-server-4 4.1.11a-4sarge mysql database server binaries ---
**Author:** ![erubin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/82dd89/32.png) [@erubin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/erubin)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 7:02pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mysql-server-has-gone-away-with-apache-2-2-mongrel-clust/71669/5 "2006-10-10T19:02:19Z")
I dont know what the latest mysql gem version is. However, gem list --local shows mysql (2.7) ---
**Author:** ![erubin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/82dd89/32.png) [@erubin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/erubin)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 6:19pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mysql-server-has-gone-away-with-apache-2-2-mongrel-clust/71669/6 "2006-10-10T18:19:35Z")
MySQL times out connections after a period of inactivity. (see [http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/gone-away.html](http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/gone-away.html)) I think the period defaults to 8 hours. You can see the same behavior if you open a connection using the “mysql” command-line client, and leave it inactive for a long time. The next query will fail at first (but the client automatically reconnects). Apparently, there are system variables (wait\_timeout and interactive\_timeout) that you can set to increase the timeout. I’ve never had to do this from Rails, though, so I’m not sure of the procedure. In our case, we have a monitoring script that hits our site and database periodically to make sure it’s all still up, and that has the side effect of keeping the mysql connections alive. Daniel A. [Zoodango.com](http://Zoodango.com) Eric R. wrote: > Everythings works great, but after a long inactive period (say one > night), > the first 3 connections allways get an Error 500 > > Excerpt from production.log: > … > Rendering authentication/login > Completed in 0.00301 (332 reqs/sec) | Rendering: 0.00279 (92%) | DB: > 0.00000(0%) | 200 OK > [[http://myapp/authentication/login](http://myapp/authentication/login) ] > Mysql::Error: MySQL server has gone away: SELECT \* FROM sessions WHERE > (session\_id = ‘875b6a6dff4de7e8bb2f7709cf9c31db’) LIMIT 1