CPU/RAM server issues with images?

[Dario D.]

Hi, all.
Does it use more server CPU or RAM if your site images call for the full URL's (like http://www.yoursite.com/folder/another_folder/image.jpg), rather than just "../image.jpeg"?

My webhost (Lunarpages) is incessantly complaining that my images are using more than 2% server CPU/RAM, saying they think it's caused by "the normal http access to the images". They've also mentioned "too many PHP calls" (Wordpress blog), but I don't think that's an image thing.

Any ideas?

 

[James-A]

Have you protected your blog images using hotlink protection feature using your control panel ? If NOT then there are chances someone is linking your images hence you are facing such problem.
I don't think having such absolute path for images should increase CPU/RAM consumption for sure !!!

 

[Dario D.]

Sorry, I forgot to mention that hotlink protection was the first thing Lunarpages said to try.

 

[Woooo]

Ofcourse it uses more resources, everytime it gives a new http call to get file, and otherwise it is local call process.

 

[abdussamad]

If hotlink protection is active then the problem is with your wordpress scripts and not the images. You will need to optimize your wordpress installation. I hear some plugins can cause increased CPU load. I have also read recommendations in favour of installing the wordpress supercache plugin to reduce CPU load.

 

[Dario D.]

I have some variant of WP Super Cache running, but CPU hasn't gone down. I suspect that it could be my theme (an unfinished, custom theme that's currently in development). My host informs me that "[wp_root_folder]/index.php" is what's currently wasting the CPU. Can a theme do this? (I've changed it, and have to wait now for Lunarpages to check the CPU)

 

[abdussamad]

Pretty much every request of a wordpress blog goes through index.php so that does not help in narrowing down the problem. My suggestion is to go through your plugins because they tend to cause this. You will have to do this yourself. You could try and ask for help on the wordpress forums. Be sure to list your plugins. People there may help you narrow down the possibilities. Another approach would be to google each plugin name along with the word "CPU" to see if any plugin is being talked about as a CPU hog.

If nothing works you will have to admit that your site is outgrowing shared hosting and upgrade to a VPS or a dedicated server.

 

[Dario D.]

I deactivated all of my plugins, but it didn't help. Could switching the images to use local addresses (instead of full http ones) relieve some index.php use?

 

[abdussamad]

As I said before the images are not the cause of the problem. Images are static files and they don't go through index.php. Images take up next to no CPU power to be served over the web. Your only option is to to admit that your site is outgrowing shared hosting and upgrade to a VPS or a dedicated server. An alternative is clustered hosting like the one offered by imountain.com.

 

[Dario D.]

Thanks for the tips. I forgot to mention that several Lunarpages techs insisted that at least the RAM usage was being affected by my large images having to be pumped to many people at once. (I use a LOT of images on my trafficked pages)

Regarding hosting, yes, I'm looking into something new (I've looked at some cloud hosting companies).