Title: Reducing autoload data in database Last modified: May 7, 2024 --- # Reducing autoload data in database * Resolved [RebeccaBlackman](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rebeccablackman/) * (@rebeccablackman) * [2 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/reducing-autoload-data-in-database/) * Hi there (Paul?), I installed the plugin yesterday and am really liking it so far. * I have a question that I hope you can help with before I upgrade. I had some issues with my website last night – I sell products at fixed times (using Woocommerce) and so most of my buyers login at the same time, though only around 30. My site went down with a gateway error multiple times which has never happened before. * On speaking to my host (WP Engine) they told me I have 1.6Mb of autoload data in the database and it needs to be under 0.8Mb. They identified Shield Security as having the most autoload data at 0.38Mb, so that’s nearly half of my limit used by one plugin. * Is this typical, or is there a way to reduce this? I really would like to stay with your plugin as it’s the most user-friendly I’ve found and doesn’t noticeably cause performance issues. Plus it shows me the kind of data I really appreciate( having moved from WP Cerber). * Many thanks for your advice. 🙂 Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total) * Plugin Author [Paul](https://wordpress.org/support/users/paultgoodchild/) * (@paultgoodchild) * [2 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/reducing-autoload-data-in-database/#post-17738025) * Hi Rebecca, 🙂 * It’s interesting you say you’re hosting with WP Engine and you’re seeing Gateway Errors. We had another customer that is in the same position as you, with the same problem. They run 90+ websites on Shield and this is their only site showing the errors. * The WPE team again pointed to autoloading. We explained to our customer and this is not what causes the problems you’re seeing. Certainly since 90 other sites don’t show this Gateway Error. Our client did share another error they’re seeing and they’re running WooCommerce and this is more likely to be the issue as it’s hitting access denied errors when trying to read files that they appears they shouldn’t be: * _[2024-05-02T14:46:38.759504+00:00] PHP Warning: parse\_ini\_file(/etc/php/8.2/ fpm/php.ini): Failed to open stream: Permission denied in /wp-content/plugins/ woocommerce-square/vendor/apimatic/jsonmapper/src/JsonMapper.php on line 130 [ 2024-05-02T14:51:15.571001+00:00] message repeated 3 times: [ PHP Warning: parse\ _ini\_file(/etc/php/8.2/fpm/php.ini): Failed to open stream: Permission denied in /wp-content/plugins/woocommerce-square/vendor/apimatic/jsonmapper/src/JsonMapper. php on line 130] * Are you also running the “Woocommerce Square” plugin (I don’t know the name, just the slug of the plugin). * For some reason WPE support staff are pointing to the autoloads. This isn’t likely the problem… a gateway error is a critical error in the web host and will likely populate the logs. My suggestion is to respond to the support staff and ask them to provide you with any errors, not “guesses” about the state of the site, which is what they’re doing. * If your autoload is too high and beyond their ability to handle, then you wouldn’t be able to load your WordPress site at all… since autoloads are on every page load. * There were some changes brought into Shield to optimise options storage which would ultimately reduce autoload size, but the post-changes-cleanup isn’t in the Shield plugin yet as we want as many people to complete the upgrade to 19.1 as possible before we clean-up old data. * So to summarise, I understand you’re being told something by WPE support, but it’s a good idea to push back and ask them that, since their hosting is throwing out Gateway Errors, their hosting should also be logging this and they should point to the actual errors logs they’re seeing. * We’ll probably include some cleanup of the older Shield data options in our next release, but again, we’re highly doubtful that this is the problem and it’s interesting that only WooCommerce + WP Engine are the only reports of this issue. * Let me know how you get on, and thanks for reporting this. Thanks, Paul. * Thread Starter [RebeccaBlackman](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rebeccablackman/) * (@rebeccablackman) * [2 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/reducing-autoload-data-in-database/#post-17738077) * Hi Paul, * Thanks for the fast reply! 🙂 Very interesting that this isn’t the first you’ve heard about this. * I do agree that it’s unlikely Shield Security is causing a problem. WP engine told me they couldn’t see anything obvious in the logs and there were no fatal errors. * I’m not using Woocommerce Square, or anything with a similar name I’m afraid. * However at the time of the issues, I was using Matomo Analytics, which I had only just installed. I noticed it runs a bit slowly, even with few users online, so disabled it instantly and within about 60 seconds, the gateway errors stopped and the site started running smoothly again. So I wonder if the autoload is something of a red herring as the real cause has now been disabled. * Unfortunately I won’t be able to test this theory until I do another timed sale, but I will definitely keep investigating and push WP Engine for more answers when I find something. I was hoping they could have reassured me when I spoke to them earlier, but they’ve just given me something else to worry about that may not even be necessary. * Thanks again for your advice. 🙂 * Plugin Author [Paul](https://wordpress.org/support/users/paultgoodchild/) * (@paultgoodchild) * [2 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/reducing-autoload-data-in-database/#post-17738134) * I’m glad to hear the issues are resolved, at least for now. * We’ll continue to do everything we can to optimise Shield’s performance, but I’m confident that contributing to the autoload won’t be directly causing you Gateway Errors. * Let me know if you do see the issues again and what you do to resolve it or identify the cause. * Thanks! Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total) The topic ‘Reducing autoload data in database’ is closed to new replies. * ![](https://ps.w.org/wp-simple-firewall/assets/icon-256x256.png?rev=3054572) * [Shield Security – Smart Bot Blocking, Brute-Force Login Protection & File Scanning](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-simple-firewall/) * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-simple-firewall/#faq) * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wp-simple-firewall/) * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wp-simple-firewall/active/) * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wp-simple-firewall/unresolved/) * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wp-simple-firewall/reviews/) * 3 replies * 2 participants * Last reply from: [Paul](https://wordpress.org/support/users/paultgoodchild/) * Last activity: [2 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/reducing-autoload-data-in-database/#post-17738134) * Status: resolved