I have received a notification that my shared hosting account is about to be suspended due to excessive cpu usage. what should i do to prevent it?

Answer by: George Kaloyanov, Aplus.Net Knowledge Base Support

You have two options to prevent your account from being suspended because of excessive CPU usage. You can either upgrade your service plan or optimize your website code to decrease the CPU usage.

Note: With Unix-based plans (Personal Unix, Business Class Unix, Pro or eCommerce Unix), you can check your CPU usage through the Usage Meter tool available in the Aplus.Net Control Panel.

I. Upgrading your plan:

Aplus.Net monitors the daily average CPU resource that your website consumes. Since your website consumes more CPU resource than allowed with your hosting plan, you should consider an upgrade. The notification email that you received from Aplus.Net states the exact CPU time your website is using, as well as the service plan we suggest you upgrade to.

CPU usage limitations on Aplus.Net’s shared hosting plans are as follows:

Aplus.Net Unix-based hosting plans:

Unix-based plans:

Personal Unix – 4mins / daily

Business Class Unix – 16mins / daily

Pro – 32mins / daily

eCommerce Unix – 64mins / daily

Please contact our friendly Sales Department to request an upgrade. Sales Representatives are available 24/7, toll free, at (877) 275-8763 or (858) 410-6929 for International callers.

II. Decreasing your daily average CPU usage:

Check the coding of your scripts on the server. Usually, misconfigured scripts will generate unnecessary CPU load.
Script files that include infinite loops will result in a background processes running on the server for an extended period time. These processes generate high CPU usage with absolutely no need for your online presence. You should check all your loops in the PHP, Perl, or JSP files to ensure they are configured properly so as to avoid infinite loops.
Misconfigured online applications like online boards, forums, live chat applications, etc., may generate unnecessary CPU load. If this is the case, you should reconfigure your applications for optimal performance and lower CPU utilization.
High CPU usage might also be cause by the number of SQL queries that your website generates. You should reconsider the services available on your website and remove unnecessary SQL queries to decrease the number of queries your site generates. Another option is to optimize your scripts that produce SQL queries to decrease the actual number of queries sent to the server.

Technical Support: If you are uncertain as to the exact reason your website is generating high CPU load, we ask that you contact one of our Customer Service Representatives to help you locate the problem. Customer Support can be reached 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, at 1-888-301-2516 (toll free) or 1-858-410-6900 (for International callers).