Knowledgebase
High CPU load on Parallels Plesk Panel server after upgrade to 9.2.1 and 9.2.2
Symptoms:
After upgrade you may see many processes "authpsa" which cause high CPU utilization (high "load average") and the server may periodically look unresponsive.
For example:
~# top
top - 11:15:38 up 46 min, 2 users, load average: 71.07, 38.78, 16.87
Tasks: 147 total, 33 running, 114 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie
Cpu(s): 13.9%us, 85.7%sy, 0.0%ni, 0.0%id, 0.0%wa, 0.2%hi, 0.2%si, 0.0%st
Mem: 2024824k total, 1728172k used, 296652k free, 199328k buffers
Swap: 3919840k total, 0k used, 3919840k free, 771688k cached
PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
31251 root 20 0 20428 1588 1248 R 7.3 0.1 0:10.32 authpsa
31241 root 20 0 20420 1596 1252 R 6.6 0.1 0:10.90 authpsa
31259 root 20 0 20420 1596 1252 R 6.6 0.1 0:06.68 authpsa
31263 root 20 0 20416 1592 1248 R 6.6 0.1 0:06.22 authpsa
31267 root 20 0 20404 1596 1252 R 6.6 0.1 0:06.00 authpsa
31269 root 20 0 20392 1596 1252 R 6.6 0.1 0:05.94 authpsa
31274 root 20 0 20404 1596 1252 R 6.6 0.1 0:05.10 authpsa
31276 root 20 0 20388 1600 1256 R 6.6 0.1 0:04.80 authpsa
31279 root 20 0 20400 1596 1252 R 6.6 0.1 0:04.32 authpsa
31281 root 20 0 20384 1596 1252 R 6.6 0.1 0:04.02 authpsa
31283 root 20 0 20420 1600 1256 R 6.6 0.1 0:03.94 authpsa
31285 root 20 0 20376 1596 1252 R 6.6 0.1 0:03.92 authpsa
Cause:
In version 9.2.1 mail authorization policy has changed. Now it is a memory consuming process that causes high server loading.
Resolution:
The problem will be fixed in future update of Parallels Plesk Panel that is going to be released after 9.2.2.
As a workaround for the moment it is recommended to disable POP3 before SMTP authorization. You may configure it through Parallels Plesk Panel: login to Plesk Control Panel as administrator and switch to page Home -> Mail Server Settings. In section "Relay options" disable POP3 authorization.
If server is already loaded with huge number of "authpsa"processes, you may kill them all with the following command:
~# ps ax | grep authpsa | awk '{print $1}' | xargs kill -9
This allows to decrease server loading and login to Parallels Plesk Panel for reconfiguration.
After upgrade you may see many processes "authpsa" which cause high CPU utilization (high "load average") and the server may periodically look unresponsive.
For example:
~# top
top - 11:15:38 up 46 min, 2 users, load average: 71.07, 38.78, 16.87
Tasks: 147 total, 33 running, 114 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie
Cpu(s): 13.9%us, 85.7%sy, 0.0%ni, 0.0%id, 0.0%wa, 0.2%hi, 0.2%si, 0.0%st
Mem: 2024824k total, 1728172k used, 296652k free, 199328k buffers
Swap: 3919840k total, 0k used, 3919840k free, 771688k cached
PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
31251 root 20 0 20428 1588 1248 R 7.3 0.1 0:10.32 authpsa
31241 root 20 0 20420 1596 1252 R 6.6 0.1 0:10.90 authpsa
31259 root 20 0 20420 1596 1252 R 6.6 0.1 0:06.68 authpsa
31263 root 20 0 20416 1592 1248 R 6.6 0.1 0:06.22 authpsa
31267 root 20 0 20404 1596 1252 R 6.6 0.1 0:06.00 authpsa
31269 root 20 0 20392 1596 1252 R 6.6 0.1 0:05.94 authpsa
31274 root 20 0 20404 1596 1252 R 6.6 0.1 0:05.10 authpsa
31276 root 20 0 20388 1600 1256 R 6.6 0.1 0:04.80 authpsa
31279 root 20 0 20400 1596 1252 R 6.6 0.1 0:04.32 authpsa
31281 root 20 0 20384 1596 1252 R 6.6 0.1 0:04.02 authpsa
31283 root 20 0 20420 1600 1256 R 6.6 0.1 0:03.94 authpsa
31285 root 20 0 20376 1596 1252 R 6.6 0.1 0:03.92 authpsa
Cause:
In version 9.2.1 mail authorization policy has changed. Now it is a memory consuming process that causes high server loading.
Resolution:
The problem will be fixed in future update of Parallels Plesk Panel that is going to be released after 9.2.2.
As a workaround for the moment it is recommended to disable POP3 before SMTP authorization. You may configure it through Parallels Plesk Panel: login to Plesk Control Panel as administrator and switch to page Home -> Mail Server Settings. In section "Relay options" disable POP3 authorization.
If server is already loaded with huge number of "authpsa"processes, you may kill them all with the following command:
~# ps ax | grep authpsa | awk '{print $1}' | xargs kill -9
This allows to decrease server loading and login to Parallels Plesk Panel for reconfiguration.