Too CPU Intensive

What can I do?

[BlueScreen]

A PHP script I have on my website which is pretty simple, basically comprising of a few includes (header, footer) and a single database query has been criticised by my host for being too CPU intensive and must be disabled.

I run the script locally on my machine under apache and watch the CPU usage and it's fine.

Is there anything I can do to see if my script really is as bad as my host seems to reckon, could my host be mistaken it's my script that's at fault and pushing the memory and CPU up, or what can I do?

Thanks

[lorax]

Run some benchmarks of your own and ask to see theirs. If the numbers don't match then you have something to discuss with them.

[BlueScreen]

Thanks for the reply.

However, I'm not exactly sure how to proceed benchmark wise. I dont have a proper webserver, and my local server is only Windows XP with just me using it, a bit different to a unix based server with loads of people accessing the site.

[coopster]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld, BlueScreen.

One thing to watch out for is using an include() in a loop when you should be using a function. It eats memory. One way to help you monitor where and when you are having issues is a simple plug-in of the PHP memory_get_usage [php.net] function. Follow the link for usage examples.

[freeflight2]

any chance to install mmcache? (or have host install it), also dedicated servers go for $39/mo... then you'd be the boss!

[BlueScreen]

Thankyou for the replies and the welcome :)

I tried creating a test file with my template and the memory_get_usage function but alas that didnt work ( Fatal error: Call to undefined function: memory_get_usage() )

Are there any other ways of seeing just how bad my script apparently is?

Sorry if I'm missing something obvious, I apreciate the help.

[coopster]

memory_get_usage() will only be defined if your PHP is compiled with the --enable-memory-limit configuration option.

I would follow lorax's advice here. If you don't have a test server setup, you may want to so you can compile in the functions and features that you want to use. Benchmark on your system to see what and where issues may be.

[BlueScreen]

Unfortunately, all the servers I do have access to (well, limited access) do not have it enabled, and I only have a windows machine to develop on, so I can't do it here either, so I'm rather stuck as to finding some way I can test using that function :( - is there no other way?

[coopster]

I see you haven't visited our PHP Forum Library [webmasterworld.com] yet ;)

Installing a new web server: Apache2, PHP5, MySQL4 and PHPmyAdmin [webmasterworld.com]

[Forse]

Why not use caching? That way you'll display static content 99% of the time. You should see cache_lite at pear.php.net