Error establishing a database connection

  • Resolved involuntarytwitch

    (@involuntarytwitch)


    9 years, 10 months ago

    Hello,

    I am running WordPress on my website, http://www.pokemonuranium.com.

    We recently have been drawing a lot of traffic to our website, and with the numbers of people trying to access it simultaneously, it keeps going down. It either says “Error establishing a database connection”, or it displays a blank WordPress install page, which I’m worried is a security risk.

    I’m led to believe that the theme I’m using, which relies on PHP, is causing too much PHP requests and it’s timing out the server. Would switching themes help? I like the theme I’m using now and would rather not change it, but I’d also like to find a way to accommodate the sheer volume of users we seem to be receiving on an hourly basis.

    For the curious: We are using our own external host, iPage, rather than WordPress itself for hosting.

    If anyone has any suggestions for how I can improve stability and keep the site from going down again, I’d appreciate it. I’m not very tech-savvy myself so a simple solution is best.

    Thank you!

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  • Moderator Steven Stern (sterndata)

    (@sterndata)

    Volunteer Forum Moderator

    9 years, 10 months ago

    Your server is becoming overloaded and shutting down (then restarting) MySQL to keep itself from crashing. You probably need more memory for your server (and maybe more CPU) to handle the traffic.

    How are you hosting this site? If it’s basic shared hosting, keep in mind that basic shared hosting really only works for low volume, low traffic sites. For high traffic sites, you’ll probably need either a more costly hosting plan, managed WordPress hosting with the same host, or a VPS you manage yourself. Since you say you’re not tech-savvy, I’d rule out that last one. Contact your host and see what they can do to accommodate traffic spikes.

    Thread Starter involuntarytwitch

    (@involuntarytwitch)

    9 years, 10 months ago

    Thanks for your support. Unfortunately my host has not been so accommodating and is recommending I pay for an expensive VPS plan and even more in order to transfer over all the site files. I will search for a web hosting solution that better fits my needs. I will continue to use WordPress though, it’s a great platform for content management.

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

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