Today, for the third time, my Dot Net Nuke site has stopped responding completely. When it does this, it seems to start working again after about 12 hours (usually overnight). Here are the facts:

1. When accessing the site while it's down, there are NOOOO error messages, no Page Cannot be Displayed, no script errors, no timeouts. You just get a perpetual white screen with progress bar moving.

2. Site is hosted on GoDaddy (www.AlphaKappaOmega.com)

3. The site usually goes down when I'm saving a module (store, site settings, etc)

4. The problem is ONLY with the .NET files. All HTML files and FTP work fine.

5. GoDaddy placed a test .ASPX file on the site, and it failed too.

6. I checked out the DNN SQL log, and didn't see anything that appeared abnormal.

Here are the responses I got from GoDaddy, which do not appear to have worked:

1. "There is a problem with your web.config file. We disabled it and the site worked fine, so check your web.config."

      Ok.... Either I'm COMPLETELY misinformed, or this was some of the worse advice of all time. How in the world does an ASP.NET app work without a web.config file??? I ended that conversation immediately!

2. This appears to be an issue with the application pool and your site using a lot of resources. We would recommend reviewing your site's coding to ensure that you are not using too many resources.

     Reseting the app pool seemed to work fine for a week or so, but the problem has now happened again.

As you can imagine, having the site down for random half-days is UNACCEPTABLE :-( Hopefully someone can help!!

Robert

Is the "using too many resources" issue a Dot Net Nuke problem or a problem specific to Go Daddy?? Is there a way to reduce the resources used by Dot Net Nuke??

Wow... you had this problem with virtual dedicated too? That's what they were trying to switch me too to "fix" the problem. What can be done to fix the problem?

I am dreading the thought of relocating the entire site :-(

Robert

We mortals who use DNN and don't program it are caught in the middle with typical hosts like GoDaddy. Having been a reseller for years, I have had many of those frustrating conversations. And face it, they are powerless to help in most situations. They are hosts, not programmers. With a shared account your resources are pretty limited. I had a similar situation when I used a particular flash module. If multiple people tried to log in at the same time, each instance was taking up server resources, and the application would die. Well, actually, the entire server instance would grind to a halt. I finally ditched that module, and 2 years later the site is fine. So if you have any flash picture rotators you might try disabling or removing them and see how it goes.

Anytime it gets in that condition you may be able to generate an application restart yourself simply by editing and re-posting the web.config. Anytime the web.config is changed (as simple as adding a return then deleting it, and re-posting) this forces an app restart. If that does not do it, then indeed, it is probably a pool issue. Their automation should detect it and reset the web server. That's why it seems to free up after 12 hours. Before that though you should be able to request a server restart. If it is at that level it is affecting all applications running in that pool, and perhaps all on that server instance.

You could also ask them to change the application pool you are assigned to. That may help, assuming they will do it for you. Someone else in the pool may be hogging resources as well. Two hogs in the same pin = less bacon for all.

The advantage of the virtual server is you would have more control. But now you will also need to purchase your own copy of MSSQL. Unless things have changed you don't get the luxury of sharing MSSQL server with a dedicated or virtual server. Assuming this is a low budget project (did you say AlphaGammaGotBucks.com?) I would ask to be migrated to a different server, or simply try re-uploading the program files.

I hope this is helpful.