Processor overload

[anonymous]

Hey everyone, I'm having a bit of a problem with my server's processor overloading during a live test of WiFiDog. I've been working on this system on and off for about a year, and have been able to get everything on the system to work properly in test environments. However, when the server went live just last week, the server started slowing down dramatically (taking about a minute just to navigate between the login page and signup page).

Some basic information: Gateway Version is 20090925 (I downloaded it in October, I believe, but have not svn'd most updates since) Auth server was whichever was available at the same time I downloaded that gateway (similarly, have not svn'd many updates) Debian 5.0.4 1gb RAM, 1.36 gHz processor (Pentium III)

We currently have approximately 190 wireless access points deployed through which users can connect to our Guest Wireless system for which WiFiDog is running. (Possibly the issue? A lot of people could have been connecting all at once).

My co-workers suggest the issue may also be with the email system when trying to create a new account. In the live environment, the server is running outside of our main network, outside our firewall, causing the email setup from my test environment to not work. So, when creating a new user, it loads for a very long time before throwing an error that my email address is not valid (I assure you, it is). Could this possibly throw some kind of process into a loop that uses up the CPU? (Running a 'top' reveals a number of apache processes simultaneously using up 18-20% of the CPU)

Any help with this issue will be greatly appreciated. Let me know if there's any more information you would like from me.

[anonymous]

Well, once again I seem have to solved my own issue after already submitting a long ticket. Turns out the issue was a simple DNS problem, causing the phpmailer to run into some kind of loop when trying to resolve the email domains. With that fixed, everything seems to be running quite smoothly (barring user comprehension issues).

You can go ahead and close this ticket. And unless the feature has already been requested, might I suggest some kind of javascript message that pops up upon signing up a new account to warn users about the 20 minute validation period? Our guest network, which has only been running with wifidog for 2 days, has a large number of user accounts that have failed to validate, and the number one reason given by users we've spoken to is that they did not know about the validation period (despite the message on the signup page, and my addition of a large "IMPORTANT" sign pointing to it).

Thanks again.