Thread

I recently launched a site (EE 2.3.1) that has started to show “Unable to Load Site Preferences; No Preferences Found” at random.  According to the host, it’s because the database is refusing the connection due to either too many MySQL connections or too large of packets.  Here’s an error that the host sent back to us from the MySQL log:

120111 14:56:00 [Warning] Aborted connection 1116467 to db:
‘xxxx_expressionEngine’ user: ‘xxxx_13’ host: ‘xx.xx.x.xxx’ (Got an error
reading communication packets)

Which is related to this query:

          1116467 Connect .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on
          1116467 Init DB ynab_expressionEngine
          1116467 Query   SET NAMES utf8
          1116467 Query   SELECT *
          1116467 Query   SELECT DISTINCT ee.* FROM exp_extensions
ee WHERE enabled = ‘y’ ORDER BY hook, priority ASC, class
          1116467 Query   SELECT settings FROM exp_extensions WHERE
enabled = ‘y’ AND class = ‘System_messages_ext’ LIMIT 1
          1116467 Query   SELECT *
          1116467 Query   SELECT *

I’m using CE Cache heavily on the site and most pages are coming in at under 20 queries when cached and I’ve used the disable parameter liberally.  The site is on a shared hosting account which limits the max number of concurrent database connections to 20.  I don’t know enough about databases to know if that’s too low for a site that’s getting thousands of visitors per day.

What I would like to know is if we’re hitting the max_allowed_packet limit, another potential reason the host suggested. The limit is 100MB, which I assume is ample, but any information you can give me about what a typical query size for EE is would be helpful.

Any and all information as to causes or a potential solution would be most appreciated.

Hi Adam,

Is your host a well known host?

The query is specific to a third party extension called System messages. Can you try disabling that and see if it makes a difference?

Are you using a persistent or non-persistent connection?

You could also try turning off some of your tracking

Let us know how you get on

Hi John,

The host is Pair.

The query that I provided was just a sample.  There are a buch more in the error logs from different sources and not all of them are from third party modules.

I’m using a non-persistent connection.

Tracking is disabled across the board.

What I’d really like to know is if we’re hitting the 100MB max_allowed_packet limit that I mentioned in my original post. I assume not, but I’d like to rule this out for sure.  Do you know what an average packet size would be in ExpressionEngine? 

Have you or any of the support staff encountered the “Unable to Load Site Preferences; No Preferences Found” error before that wasn’t due to a MSM issue? All of the results that I found here relate specifically to the MSM.

Hi Adam,

I found this on the MySQL site Communication Errors and Aborted Connections

One thing to try is to Optimize and repair your database via phpMyAdmin. Make a backup first.
With CE Cache are you writing cache to file or databse?

The site is on a shared hosting account which limits the max number of concurrent database connections to 20.  I don’t know enough about databases to know if that’s too low for a site that’s getting thousands of visitors per day.

That would be about right for shared hosting.

What I’d really like to know is if we’re hitting the 100MB max_allowed_packet limit that I mentioned in my original post. I assume not, but I’d like to rule this out for sure.  Do you know what an average packet size would be in ExpressionEngine?

Most shared hosts use the default mysql setting of max_allowed_packet = 1M . I don’t have an average package size for you no unfortunately

We’ve figured out that this was totally a hosting issue. We’ve since moved hosts and have had zero issues.  Thanks for the tip on repairing the database though.  I’ll keep that in mind for the future.  Feel free to close out this thread.

Hello Adam Stoddard,

Glad to hear it.

Thank you for using the ExpressionEngine forums!

Cheers,