Infrequent but Annoying Database Connection Errors

oneoldvet
(@oneoldvet)

13 years, 2 months ago

Site: http://oneoldvet.com
Host: Bluehost.com

Issue: When “adding” a completed post we sometimes get a database connection error from WP. When we check the site we see that the post actually went through. So it appears that we are getting this error message with the screen that acknowledges the post has been added.

Problem:We are adding a group of guest columnists and freelance writers to our staff who will have direct acess to our WP blog. Some of them are new to blogging and may have difficulty dealing with database connection error messages.

That being said I have noticed that most of these issues arise between the hours of midnight and 4:00 am EST. However since some of our new writers are from the west coast. That time frame may be irrelevant from a user standpoint.

For the record we had 7 error messages this morning between 12:59 am, EST and 3:40 am EST.

Attached are four screenshots involving to posts.

Example1.png is the error message we received at 3:29 am EST 03.27.13 when we hit the publish button to publish post
http://oneoldvet.com/?p=40465

Before doing anything else we checked the site and http://oneoldvet.com/?p=40465 had indeed been posted and was appearing correctly.

We hit F5 to refresh the error message page and received what you see in the screenshot example1a.png. This is what should have come back to us after we hit the publish button the first time.

At 3:40 am EST 03.27.13 we had a similar error message involving http://oneoldvet.com/?p=40467 as reflected in screenshots example2.png and example 2a.png.

The fact that two different urls involving 2 entirely different WP posts leads us to believe that this is NOT an error with the browser’s cache which is where the Bluehost tech support was suggesting

What may be a minor inconvenience to experienced WP bloggers may be a stumbling block for our new writers.

We are using the fastest data rate AT&T offers, so we’re not inclined to think this is a local connectivity issue.

I don’t claim to be an expert but this really does look like a problem at the BH end.

Thoughts?

Viewing 9 replies - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)

Mark Ratledge
(@songdogtech)

13 years, 2 months ago

Intermittent database connection errors are a host problem; talk to BH again and insist they look at the server logs and possibly move you to a less loaded server.

The other option is to go to one of BH’s pro servers which are not CPU limited and which are better for heavily trafficked sites, but they cost more, and BH should fix the account you have now.

Are you sure you’re on BH? DNS shows your site on unifiedlayer, which could be a reseller of BH.

Thread Starter oneoldvet
(@oneoldvet)

13 years, 2 months ago

I am on a pro account with BH. My registrar is GoDaddy which I retained in case I have to switch to one of their service plans which is looking more likely.

It’s been 10 days since BH TLevel II tech support allegedly escalated my issue and I still haven’t heard from anyone.

For $249.00 upfront I expected more from a hosting service that purports to be WP friendly.

Thanks for your input.

Bas Schuiling
(@basszje)

13 years, 2 months ago

To add – looking at the times you have this the case might be your hoster is preferring those times for maintenance or scripts who do clean-up since it’s typically more quiet.

Mark Ratledge
(@songdogtech)

13 years, 2 months ago

@oneoldvet: Call them and raise hell; I’ve had to do that in the past. Your story and my own experience is almost to the point where I will stop recommending BH.

@b.Schuiling: Sure, but that still means BH is incompetent. Why would they let maintenance runs cause database timeouts?

WPyogi
(@wpyogi)

13 years, 2 months ago

GoDaddy which I retained in case I have to switch to one of their service plans which is looking more likely.

FWIW – certainly agree with songdogtech above, but GD is probably not a good alternative to BH…

Bas Schuiling
(@basszje)

13 years, 2 months ago

@songdoctech I wasn’t disagreeing 🙂

Thread Starter oneoldvet
(@oneoldvet)

13 years, 2 months ago

Any recommendations for hosting alternatives?

I talked to BH today and they said it would be a few more days before they could get to me.

When I mentioned that I may have to cancel the account no one really seemed concerned that I was considering doing that.

I had been self-hosting the site on a Linux box in my home office since 2005 and never had these problems before.

Thanks again for your input.

IslandOwl
(@islandowl)

13 years, 2 months ago

Wow! I just posted a similar question here.

I am using Bluehost too. Their help is denying the issue is with them! I am arguing with them via email/support ticket only because I have not had time to sit on the phone.

I am equally at the point of not referring people to Bluehost and looking for a new hosting site. How sad. They used to be a good company.

WPyogi
(@wpyogi)

13 years, 2 months ago

@oneoldvet – from what you’ve said, that’s certainly terrible customer support. These are the officially recommended hosts: http://ww.wp.xz.cn/hosting/ – which probably does not do you much good or inspire confidence. I’d recommend you check those out if you wish but do further research on your own as there are many sources of information on this topic out there. Unfortunately, per forum policy we close threads that get into discussions of hosting as they attract too much spam, etc., sorry.

If you need additional help with your issue, please feel free to open another thread (you can link to this one if needed), though I’m not sure that we can offer much help if it’s a BH problem 🙁 .