503: Server Unavailable

[theRKF]

We have a WP plugin for real estate sites that requires cron tasks to be run via WGET.
Often the job will fail with a 503 error.

$ wget -T 10800 'https://www.example.com/wp-content/plugins/plugin/cron.php'
--2017-04-11 16:00:55--  https://www.example.com/wp-content/plugins/plugin/cron.php
Resolving www.example.com (www.example.com)... xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
Connecting to www.example.com (www.example.com)|xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 503 Service Unavailable
2017-04-11 17:00:56 ERROR 503: Service Unavailable.

As you can see the script is cutting off after one hour.
stderr.log shows this:

2017-04-11 17:00:56.113 [STDERR] Child process with pid: 9453 was killed by signal: 15, core dump: 0

PHP has a long timeout (10800), and high memory limit.

Any suggestions on what I can tweak with LiteSpeed to avoid this?

 

[NiteWave]

how about access

https://www.example.com/wp-content/plugins/plugin/cron.php

in a browser ? 503 error as well ?

 

[theRKF]

Yes, in the browser as well.

 

[NiteWave]

please refer
https://www.litespeedtech.com/support/wiki/doku.php/litespeed_wiki:php:503-errors

 

[theRKF]

Sorry - latest test was 500 error in the browser, not 503.

 

[Jon K]

After visiting it in your browser do you see anything else in stderr.log?

 

[theRKF]

Hard to say - the script runs for a while so it's hard to determine the timing of when it ends in order to find a log entry.

 

[theRKF]

FWIW the cron job always cuts out at exactly 1 hour. I'm not sure what setting might affect that, though.

 

[NiteWave]

then please check
http://www.litespeedtech.com/products/litespeed-sapi/php/suexec-processgroup

• The Max Idle Time setting (WebAdmin console > Configuration > External App > your external application) will control how long before idle parent processes are killed.

see if it's set to 3600

 

[theRKF]

Max Idle Time was set to 10.
I'm setting it to -1 to test.

 

[NiteWave]

just noticed, we already have a wiki regarding "Max Idle Time":
https://www.litespeedtech.com/support/wiki/doku.php/litespeed_wiki:php:max-idle-time

also this wiki
https://www.litespeedtech.com/support/wiki/doku.php/litespeed_wiki:php:run-without-timeouts
maybe match your issue more.

 

[theRKF]

Thanks, but still no joy.

--2017-04-14 03:15:23--  (try: 2)  http://www.example.com/wp-content/plugins/plugin/cron.php
Connecting to www.example.com (www.example.com)|xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 503 Service Unavailable
2017-04-14 04:15:24 ERROR 503: Service Unavailable.

 

[theRKF]

No other ideas about why it's dying right at the hour mark?

 

[NiteWave]

since this is not a common issue, so I don't think I(or we) have much experience on it. but inspired by your strong hint, I visited
http://www.litespeedtech.com/docs/litespeed-sapi/php-lsapi/configuration
and search "3600", looks like just what we're looking for:
LSAPI_MAX_PROCESS_TIME (default: 3600 seconds)
can you try to increase it and see if finally resolve the issue.

 

[williamhold]

A 503 Service Unavailable Error is an HTTP response status code indicating that your web server operates properly, but it can't temporarily handle the request at the moment. This error happen for a wide variety of reasons. Normally, this error can be due to a temporary overloading or maintenance being performed on the server and it is resolved after a period of time or once another thread has been released by web-server application.

How to fix HTTP 503 errors

• Reload (Refresh) the page
• Restart Your Devices
• Scan for Malware
• Clear Temporary Files
• Visiting the website later
• Contact server admin

 

[herry331]

• The 503 Service Unavailable error occurs because the server is too busy or maintenance being performed on it so this error may have occurred.
• A 503 error message can appear on the website or the server software that generates it, so you can contact with hosting provider to resolve the issue.
• https://windowserrors.org/error-503-service-unavailable/