ISPConfig 3.0.1.4 causes Apache to have too many open files

We have encountered a very weird error after installing ISPConfig 3.0.1.4.
Basically it causes Apache/mod_php to create thousands of open files (actually FIFO pipes), and they are staying open until the system runs out.

REFERENCE
On our production servers running ISPConfig 3.0.1.3, lsof |wc-l shows 2-5000 open files, and if traffic is declining this number decreases fast, no problem there.
On newly installed servers with 3.0.1.3, there is no problem.

ERROR
Ou our newly installed server with 3.0.1.4, after clicking through the web interface a couple of times (and maybe some PHPMyAdmin pages as well, to increase load a bit), lsof shows a growth to 10-20000 open files in a minute, and they never close.
After a couple of minutes, the web server slows to a halt and PHP pages do not load anymore.

ENVIRONMENT
We have tested this on several different (freshly installed) servers:

- Ubuntu 8.04 with perfect server setup (OpenVZ)
Apache/2.2.8 (Ubuntu) PHP/5.2.4-2ubuntu5.7

- Debian 5 with perfect server setup (OpenVZ)
Apache/2.2.9 (Debian) PHP/5.2.6-1

The only difference is that on Debian, restarting apache actually closes the open files, while on Ubuntu they are kept open even then.

 

This could be related to OpenVZ, beacuse i can't reproduce it on non vps server and on esxi vps. I'm running multi server setup (ispconfig 3.0.1.4) on debian 5.0.3.

 

First of all, I'm not using FCGI (it's not even installed).
Second, there are no sites, only one that has PHPMyAdmin installed under it for the testing.
Third, the problem does not manifest itself until ISPConfig 3.0.1.4 has been installed.

Basically, the ONLY DIFFERENCE between the working and the problematic server is the version of ISPConfig installed.

This is what I do for every VPS on the host (needed for Pure-FTPD):

Code:

cat >vpscap.sh
VPSID=XXX
for CAP in CHOWN DAC_READ_SEARCH SETGID SETUID NET_BIND_SERVICE NET_ADMIN SYS_CHROOT SYS_NICE CHOWN DAC_READ_SEARCH SETGID SETUID NET_BIND_SERVICE NET_ADMIN SYS_CHROOT SYS_NICE
do
  vzctl set $VPSID --capability ${CAP}:on --save
done

chmod +x vpscap.sh
./vpscap.sh

And here is what I do before installing ISPConfig:

Code:

apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade
apt-get install mc psmisc wget man ftp lsof

apt-get install mysql-client openssl apache2 apache2.2-common apache2-doc apache2-mpm-prefork apache2-utils libexpat1 ssl-cert libapache2-mod-php5 php5 php5-common php5-gd php5-mysql php5-imap php5-cli
a2enmod suexec rewrite ssl include actions
/etc/init.d/apache2 restart

modprobe capability
echo 'capability' >> /etc/modules
apt-get install pure-ftpd-common pure-ftpd-mysql quota quotatool
echo 'yes' > /etc/pure-ftpd/conf/DontResolve
echo '50000 10' > /etc/pure-ftpd/conf/LimitRecursion

apt-get install vlogger webalizer cron

Are there any Apache or vhost configuration differences between 3.0.1.3 and 3.0.1.4?

 

Hi! I think I have same problem, but on real server - single server setup (ISPConfig 3.0.1.4) on Debian Lenny.

Problem occurs after some time of working in control panel (if i don't use it everything works fine).

Problem is php get error "Failed to open stream. Too many open files..." while file-nr is about 1000 times smaller than file-max.

 

Are you both running single server or multi server setups?

I'm running multi server setup, with the interface on a signle server and lsof | wc -l stays between 2100 - 2500. I will keep my eye on it during the day to see if it grows.

 

I'am new to ISPconfig so I don't clearly undestand this question. If you mean that all SW servers (apache, mysql etc.) runing on the same HW server (PC) than YES I running single server setup. If you mean something different, please explain.

P.S. sorry for my english

 

There is nothing except GREP itself

 

Hi,
I'm having the same problem on a fresh Debian 5.0.3 64bit server, with ISPConfig 3.0.1.4 installed as "slave" server.

Here is an example of the error I get, trying to add a client:

Code:

Warning: listform_actions::include(/usr/local/ispconfig/interface/lib/lang/en.lng) [listform-actions.include]: 
failed to open stream: Too many open files in /usr/local/ispconfig/interface/lib/classes/listform_actions.inc.php on line 143

Some more info:

Code:

/home/admin# lsof |wc -l
6192

Code:

/home/admin# ps aux | grep php
root      7593  0.0  0.0   5160   784 pts/0    S+   23:02   0:00 grep php

I get the same "Too many open files in ..." error randomly across other sections.


Also, any website creation done from the master panel to the slave server remains forever in the monitor jobqueue of the master.... maybe it's related.

The master server works correctly on itself.

 

Probably the interface is there because I first installed ISPConfig3 in normal mode, then I deleted the ispconfig database and reinstalled all in expert mode in order to let it work as slave.
Should I remove everything and reinstall everything from scratch?
Should I just remove the admin interface application on slave? How can I do that?

Ok, I fixed that: the slave created on the master a database user with access permission on the wrong IP address. The cause is likely to be that on the slave I have more than one IP address on the same interface.

 

Has this bug been found and fixed since 3.0.1.4?

 

I don't know about all other, but I don't have this problem any more. It just disappear... with no actions from me...

 

Well, I just created a new ISPConfig installation based on 3.0.1.6, and the problem is still there. After a couple of clicks on PHP pages, lsof climbs to the tens of thousands.

If any of the developers are interested, I can give you SSH and HTTP access to this server. Message or email me and I'll send you the login details.

 

I have the same problem with .1.6.
On the server there is only myDNS, apache2 and mySQL installed.
No slave, only master.