I recently transitioned from Plesk on Windows to Plesk on Linux, and initially, everything was incredibly fast on my VPS with 80GB SSD, E5-2620 CPU, and 4GB of RAM. The panel was set to auto-update, keeping up with minor version changes, and nothing new was installed on the CentOS server.
However, after a few weeks, I noticed a significant slowdown. Navigating the panel or performing any actions now results in noticeable delays of a few seconds. I host around 20 websites, but they receive minimal traffic since the VPS is primarily used for development purposes.
In an attempt to resolve the issue, I upgraded to Plesk Onyx, and for the past month, the performance has remained suboptimal. I then upgraded from version 18.0.x to 18.0.63, but the slowdown persists.
I haven’t made any manual installations on the server since the initial setup, so I’m uncertain about what might have caused the performance degradation. The server’s general CPU usage is consistently between 0% and 5%.
Does anyone have suggestions for diagnosing and resolving this performance issue?
It sounds like you’re dealing with some frustrating performance issues on your Plesk server. Since you’re running CentOS 7, it’s worth noting that it’s now deprecated, so it might be a good time to consider migrating to something like AlmaLinux for better support and future-proofing.
As for the slowdown, here are a few things you can check:
Disk Usage: Sometimes, the issue is with the SSD itself. Use tools like iotop or iostat to check if there’s any unusual disk activity slowing things down.
Database Optimization: Since you’re hosting multiple sites, it’s possible that your MySQL or MariaDB databases need some tuning. A tool like mysqltuner can help you see if there’s anything that needs adjustment.
Log Files: Check your Plesk logs and system logs for any errors or warnings that might give you a clue as to what’s causing the slowdown.
Web Server Settings: Depending on how much traffic your sites are receiving, it might be worth tweaking your Apache or Nginx configurations. Sometimes, adjusting the number of allowed connections or worker processes can make a big difference.
Given that CentOS 7 is reaching the end of its lifecycle, now could be a good time to migrate to a newer system like AlmaLinux, which will offer better security updates and performance improvements.