Can my ASP page crash a server?

been going up and down,.

[weblamer2]

Hiya,

I have been writing asp pages for the past couple of years, and I have never had a problem. Now, I will admit outright that i am a little bit of a sloppy programmer, and perhaps I do not 'tidy up' code as much as i should, IE clearing out variables, closing connectiones, etc.

Recently I have been working on a new site, and the page keeps going down.

Turns out the hosting service is not a full fledged service, the owner's brother-in-law runs it.

I have no idea how this guy has his server set up.

Is it possible that my code could be crashing his server?

[Dreamquick]

Given enough time yes - if you asked me how code could crash a server my reply would list the following very high up the list because the built-in garbage control isn't always perfect and if something isn't freed (released) then that memory isn't released either.

clearing out variables, closing connectiones, etc.

Once enough memory is used up like this the machine becomes unstable and will stall / crash.

Another equally common possibility is that something is causing the machine to crash because its not fully patched. Lots of random crashes with very little associated traffic tend to suggest that there's something wrong with the server rather than the code.

- Tony

[weblamer2]

Hmm..

Its hard to figure out what is going on, since I do not know how to run a server.

Would you say it would be the responsibility of the web host to make sure his server is patched up and running OK, instead of calling me up and saying why he doesent know why his server keeps going down?

im putting in today that the owner moves it to a more responsible host.. this nickle and dime brother-in-law hack job just is not going to cut it.

[txbakers]

Your code could be causing the server to crash. You might have created severe memory leaks and infinite loops reading from a database.

My earliest gaffe was forgetting to include a rs.MoveNext() after starting a while loop. Brought down the server in a hurry!

[weblamer2]

Heh, i have done that same mistake once or twice myself.. but i always got a server error.. not crashing the server!

I guess i relied too much on not worrying on what was going on at the other end.

[duckhunter]

Ask the hosting co. to run your site in High Isolation. This will allow it to run in it's own memory space. If your site crashes and the other sites are OK then it's your code. If other sites on the box crash and your's is OK then it's their code.

(The High Isolation will allow your "sloppy" code to crash your single Application without affecting other areas of the server)

<edit>Of course, it would be nice to run all sites in High Isolation to quickly pinpoint the problem. This feature SHOULD be implemented on a shared hosting server.</edit>

[aspdaddy]

Iv seen this happen on NT4, to convince the developer it ws his code, we edited all his scripts with error handling.

Now, all pages finish executing, all objects destroyed, no more server crashes :)

I would also suggest what duckhunter said, to protect other apps, run the suspect site in its own memory space.