> 1) We have no idea why this happens at that particular time. There are > no crons that run then, and we think have a finite ammount of users > accessing the system who do not do anything different at the time the > spike happens. The site is public though, so perhaps spiders could be > doing this? Any suggestions?
Try study your access log and see if you find something there. > > 2) Does Apache create a new mysql connection/process for EVERY child > apache process that is spawned? I assume some apache processes are > spawned to handle simple non-database actions such as retrieving a > graphic or static html file. Because we're using Apache::DBI, does > this mean that even these little processes are creating a big mysql > process? yes, if you are using Apache::DBI, that's what happen, one presistence connection for each children. Since connection to mysql is fairly 'cheap', it might be a good idea to disable Apache::DBI and establish a connection everytime you need them. Or alternatively, try reducing your max apache children setting, that should ease your overloading problem with mysql. Good luck. Tor.
