2006 MySQL server has gone away

[kobra]

Have your host check their mysql timeout setting

[steve1965]

Have your host check their mysql timeout setting

seems like it is a problem there end ,but they are trying to make me upgrade my account ,which for the size of my website is a pathetic solution , i have paid for a service and they are failing to provide it . this is the reply they gave me

2008-09-20 03:17am by Niko - Hello,

The value of the wait_timeout variable in the MySQL configuration is set to 10 and has been recently equalized on all our shared hosting servers. As for the "2006 - MySQL server has gone away" error, it is most likely caused by the fact that the queries which you site generates exceed this value. The timeout settings have been configured by our System Administrators as part of setting up the shared servers based on their best knowledge for optimal server performance. The settings cannot be altered on per account basis and increasing them further in the global MySQL configuration might lead to a serious disruption in the provided service, if not downtime, which will affect all the customers whose accounts reside on the the same server.

In case you need these settings to have higher values than their current ones, we can offer you a dedicated solution (VPS server or a Dedicated one) where we will be able to fulfill such a request and tweak the server's settings as per your own specific requirements. The upgrade to a dedicated solution can be issued from the Order Extras section of your Customer's Area. For more detailed information about our private servers and their features, you can refer to the following URL:

siteground.com/dedicated_solutions.htm

Alternatively, you can contact a developer which is familiar with the source code of your application and the structure of its database and possesses the required knowledge to assist you in optimizing the website and its database. For more detailed information about optimizing a MySQL databases, you can refer to the following URL:

developer.com/db/article.php/3667831

Best Regards,


Support Team
SiteGround.com

[dkerfoot]

I am getting very similar replies from SiteGround...

Maybe it is time to dump them.

[dkerfoot]

My website's DB is less than 10MB and my bandwidth is less than 1GB/month, yet they are pushing Virtual Server Hosting at me.

Seems funny that they never consider something radical - like limiting the number of users per server!

Here is the reply I got from SiteGround.


Before we have talked about server load problems and I have confessed that the old server gave a few errors out of a thousand. This has been mainly because of times of higher load during which we stop all scripts (including web scripts) in order to prevent a server crash. This is an explanation but not the excuse. After we have acknowledged the problem your site has been moved to a newer server where there are no such problems. I have officially apologized and offered a small compensation.

Your current problem is with the mysql timeout. It is set to 10 secs on all of our servers. This is critical for fast and reliable performance. This is rather a best industry practice than a whim of ours.

You will rarely find an application which requires higher mysql timeout than 10 secs. Definitely there is no popular application with default setup to have such a requirement. You can try installing any application from Fantastico, for example, and I guarantee that there will be no such problems.

I understand you consider moving your site to another host. Not all shared hosts have such strict limits and this might solve your problem. The drawback is that other users will be also able to run slow queries. It is natural that such a server will be slower. Unfortunately we cannot allow this.

I am sorry but you will have to either optimize your site for better performance, or to look for a more generous and slow host. The current load on the server is less 1.45 unix CPU units and your site continues to be too slow. Most shared hosting servers in the industry operate at load above 7-8, not to mention that the one you will have to look for will operate probably at more than 40-50 unix CPU units.

I have been perfectly honest with you and I do defend our server's setup and company policy. I am sorry that our shared server setup is not suitable in your case. Whatever your decision is I respect it and I wish you good luck with your future activities. I will close the ticket now.