Internal Server Error (12)Cannot allocate memory; couldn't create child process suphp

Hi Guys!

I noticed that I have a bit of a weird error popping up when using the admin; when I am in the category viewing a list of my products and I click the attribute button to go to the attribute controller for that product I get an internal server error 500 pop up. I checked the site logs, no error logged, check the server error logs and get this '[Tue Dec 20 10:17:55.733979 2016] [:error] [pid 852165] (12)Cannot allocate memory: [client ip removed] couldn't create child process: /opt/suphp/sbin/suphp for /home/zcadmin/categories.php, referer: /admin/categories.php?cPath=11'

I have had a chat with my webhost and they had some great ideas about php/server/apache memory limits, all of which they have tweaked and checked with no joy. Updated the PHP version for me to 5.6. Restarted several things and nothing made any difference. They do not think that anything is a miss on the server with no major updates having been performed in the last week since I last used the attributes controller in this way and it was last working.

I have not made any changes to the site, code or otherwise in the last week. All I have done is update customers orders to dispatched.

What makes this even more weird to fix is that I can go to the attribute controller directly and select a product that way without any problems. I have not noticed the issue anywhere else yet but I will go check now.

Oh and it happens on the 2 zencart installations that I have running on this server one is v1.5.4 the other v1.5.5, so I still think it could be something that my webhost needs to sort out.

Any ideas on what it could be so I can get them to fix it? Is it something I can fix myself?

Edit: I have also just found that if I click little green edit button for a folder that it gives the same error.

1. In what ways is the PHP code for your store different from original Zen Cart code? (including plugins, as well as your own customizations)
(It strikes me that there's something your site is trying to do on that particular page that maybe most other sites aren't doing.)

2. In Admin->Tools->Server Info you will see a list of lots of config details about your server at the top of the page, above the Zen Cart version history box. Can you paste that information here? (it shows various PHP memory limit configs, mysql version, etc). Maybe include the section about Zen Cart version history too, just for context.

3. How many products, categories, attributes are in your store? Many of those stats can be obtained from the Admin home page.

Thanks for the reply and sorry for the delay in replying. I spent what little spare time I had over Christmas trying to find out why this is happening without much luck, then I tried to edit something while I was out via my phone and it worked, got back and it still didn't work on the PC. So I managed to narrow it down to a firefox issue, as chrome works on the PC. I can only assume that it was an update for firefox that caused the issue as the site had been running fine for months prior to this without any changes to code or add-ons.

However I have noticed that the issue is now worse in firefox it happens nearly all the time I am using the admin every 3 or 4 links clicked, some links just don't work at all and others you can go back and click again and they work fine. Most of the pages I am trying to access I have found other ways to get to them and the pages themselves work fine. So I still haven't figured out why it is doing it. I am getting no PHP errors logged and the only things being logged is the 'Cannot allocate memory' error.

But to answer your questions;

1. Plugins - BigRoyalMail v3_3_3, ceon sage pay form, ceon uri mapping, cookies v1.4, and front end I just have a template winchester responsive.

2. Server Host: bluechip4.ukhost4u.com (ip address) Database Host: localhost (127.0.0.1)
Server OS: Linux 2.6.32-673.26.1.lve1.4.20.el6.x86_64 Database: MySQL 5.5.52-cll
Server Date: 01/25/2017 11:48:03 Database Date: 01/25/2017 11:48:03
Server Up Time: 11:48:03 up 19:39, 0 users, load average: 7.19, 9.18, 9.81 HTTP Server: Apache
PHP Version: 5.6.30 (Zend: 2.6.0) PHP Memory Limit: 512M PHP Safe Mode: Off
PHP File Uploads: On Max Size: 64M POST Max Size: 96M
Database Data Size: 12,065 kB Database Index Size: 2,201 kB

Zen Cart 1.5.4
Database Patch Level: 1.5.4
v1.5.4 [2015-03-09 23:47:31] (Version Update 1.5.3->1.5.4)
v1.5.3 [2014-07-20 23:19:40] (New Installation)

3. products - 200
categories -9
attributes - 25 attributes with 300 options spread over the 25

I also have a second zencart installation that has been going since v1.3.7, currently at v1.5.4 also. Same server info, but has 900 products, 12 top tier cats, with each having between 4-6 sub cats, 15 attributes with about 100 options. This installation has the exact same issue.

I haven't come across the issue at all in Chrome so I will likely transfer over to using that on a regular basis, but it is a concern that people might not be able to access the site on the front as I have encountered the same issue a few times while checking things recently from the users perspective, but not as often as I do in the admin. I don't have IE or other browsers installed currently for checking them which is the next thing I will do when I get a spare half a day!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Draxwyn

(12)Cannot allocate memory: [client ip removed] couldn't create child process: /opt/suphp/sbin/suphp

I have had a chat with my webhost and they had some great ideas about php/server/apache memory limits, all of which they have tweaked and checked with no joy.

Oh and it happens on the 2 zencart installations that I have running on this server one is v1.5.4 the other v1.5.5, so I still think it could be something that my webhost needs to sort out.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Draxwyn

I also have a second zencart installation ... Same server info ... This installation has the exact same issue.

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smacks of it being a server problem.

Got access to another server? Preferably with a different host (since your host probably configures all their servers the same, and it sounds like a problem with that).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DrByte

smacks of it being a server problem.

Got access to another server? Preferably with a different host (since your host probably configures all their servers the same, and it sounds like a problem with that).

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No I don't. It also means that they have been lying to me, as I thought the same thing to begin with but they swear blind that nothing had been changed or updated on the server at that point for 25 days. I'll reopen the ticket with them and get them to go through everything again.

You quoted earlier your PHP Memory Limit: 512M
That's more than enough for typical Zen Cart use (actually 128M is more commonly used, but a typical Zen Cart can run on 32M quite happily! )

But if the same cannot-allocate-memory errors are occurring the it sounds like it's a problem with whatever is trying to start PHP, and perhaps not PHP itself.

Either that or you've got some completely rogue code running in your site that's interfering with things.

But when you say you've got two separate sites on the same server having the same problem, the common denominator is the server. Or, if your second site was a "duplicate" of the prior one before customizing, then maybe it's some common customization/plugin you've put on both sites.
But the error you're getting tastes server-ish.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Draxwyn

No I don't. It also means that they have been lying to me...

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The number of posts I've read over the years where the server is at fault - and hosts denying it - must run into the hundreds.

Choice of host is a business decision - not a "technical" one - or "who's got the cheapest webspace I can rent".

Your web host is a PRINCIPAL BUSINESS PARTNER and in the same way you would choose marketing agency, legal consultant, insurance specialist, so too should you select your webhost on their knowledge and understanding of eCommerce and - more specifically - their knowledge of zencart. I'm not saying any of this to promote or advertise our hosts - Terranetwork - but to say that in the nearly 10 years we have hosted there, our sites have had 0% downtime. Further to that, we are often alerted to forthcoming server upgrades and tweaks that may affect our installed versions of ZC.

Don't waste a second of time abandoning a clueless, unhelpful host. Downtime costs you customers, sales, and even google ranking.

load average: 7.19, 9.18, 9.81

There definitely is something amiss as the load average shows a very busy (overloaded?) server. If this is a Shared Hosting account I would ask to be moved to another server. Until the load averages come down down, to less than 4.0 or lower, everyone on the server is going to have problems.

Hello team,

I am not sure where to find answer for my situation.

I am using v1.5.5

I can login into admin and use any menu item expect anything under "Configuration"

I am getting white screen with following message for any item I click under "Configuration":

"Internal Server Error
The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.
Please contact the server administrator at [email protected] to inform them of the time this error occurred, and the actions you performed just before this error.
More information about this error may be available in the server error log.
Additionally, a 500 Internal Server Error error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request."

I am not sure when it happen as well.

Any ideas what I could do wrong?

Look in your store's /logs directory to find the most recent myDEBUG-adm-*.log file (a log file created during an admin access).

You can post back that file's contents using the "Code" tags (the big # in the post-writing menu-bar) ... but be aware that the log file will contain references to your admin-directory's name, so you should xxx-out that text before posting.