We have to limit account resources in some capacity on our shared hosting platform, otherwise one account could potentially cause issues for other accounts held on the same server.
The resources that we limit, that when reached will cause your site to show a 503 error are:
- File count
- RAM availability
- CPU availability
- Entry processes
To check the above, log in to your cPanel, then:
File Count
The file count usage and limit can be seen on the right hand side of your cPanel immediately after logging in:
File Usage
2,042 / 5,000 (40.84%)
If the percentage is over 100, you've exceeded your file count limit. You could then either delete files to conform to the file count limit, or upgrade your account to one that provides a grater file count.
You can save reduce file count by doing the following:
- By clearing the session files from 'tmp' directory
- By setting your email client and saving emails locally. The undesirable emails can then be deleted from the server.
- By optimizing the site's code and removing the unwanted website related files and folders.
RAM/CPU/Entry Processes
All of these limits and if they're being reached can be seen via the "Resource Usage" facility in your cPanel.
After clicking the "Resource Usage" icon, click the "Details" button, then specify the timeframe you'd like to examine.
The results are displayed in graphs, and the general rule of thumb is that if a red line is being reached, then a limit is being reached. The faults graph at the bottom of the page only lists problematic events, not limits, so there's no red line on this graph, but if incidents are logged here, this is indicative of an issue.
If RAM, CPU or Entry Process limits are reached the overhead of your site combined with the traffic it's receiving causes the limits of your account to be reached. Upgrading to an account that provides more resources would be an option if this is an ongoing issue for you, or you could potentially obtain the services of a developer should you wish to have your site's overhead analysed and your site optimised accordingly.
