First of all, I want to say thanks to Ben for his relentless support helping other users with their issues and constantly providing updates to the memCron code base due to some of the recent DreamHost PS changes. After spending the weekend polishing up the improvements contributed by Ben and Bret, memCron 0.6 is finally here.

Here’s a list of notable changes:

• Removed dependency on modules with built-ins and system utilities, including SendMail, LWP etc.
• Get memory info from /proc/meminfo
• Get current memory size from API rather than OS
• New option to disable updates
• New options to send out notification when changing memory setting or getting API errors
• New chart formatting options: target memory, cached memory
• Now display http server name instead of actual PS name on the graph page for extra security

Download: memCron 0.6 (34.12 KB)

Please give this new version a try if you’re having issues with the older versions.

To upgrade, follow step 1-3 listed here. FYI, the old “zscore.pl” is no longer used and can be safely removed.

memCron has been updated to address the 2x increase of swap memory recently implemented by DreamHost. So far, there hasn’t been any official confirmation of this change. I’m guessing DreamHost is still experimenting with this new change and doesn’t want to make any commitment to support these extra swap memory just yet.

Here are the changes I’ve made in this minor update:

• Added: favicon for easier recognition of memCron tab in browser
• Fixed: Memory calculation due to the 2x increase of swap memory by DreamHost
• Fixed: Proper max axis value for “Used + Total Memory”

Download: memCron 0.4.1 (32.57 KB)

Please give this update a try and let me know if there’s any issue. I have tested this on my own PS server and it seems to work just fine.

You might have noticed it from your own memCron graphs, if not, check the demo out. I believe DreamHost is rolling out a new update that gives extra swap memory to your PS server. This is the reason why you see the jump right after memCron changes your memory setting, signifying more memory is available than what memCron expects.

While memCron might act a little weird because of this change, the good news is if this change is permanent, memCron can operate at a lower margin, and you will be able to save even more money with it! I will update memCron to adapt to the new memory settings as soon as the memory change is confirmed by DreamHost. I might even release a quick fix at the mean time, once I find the time to do it.

BTW, I also notice you can now create a root user for your PS via DreamHost panel.

First of all, I want to thank DreamHost for announcing memCron as one of the two grand prize winner for its first ever API contest (congrats to Dreambot for tying the grand prize!). This is the first time I actually won something for a program I wrote, so thank you for recognizing the quality of the script I developed!

The announcement of the API contest results finally brought in many new users who have never heard about memCron up till the announcement. Luckily memCron site survived the spike of visitors without any major issues. I was actually wondering if the announcement will put up a stress test for the memCron script, but in the end the memory usage didn’t change that much at all (probably due to WP Super Cache). Instead, all I saw was a spike in CPU load, jumping the load from 0.2 straight to 13 right after the news was posted on the DreamHost blog. You can still see the spike in this graph generated by memCron.

Many of these new visitors were brave enough to give memCron a try and the feedback so far have been mostly positive. Some of the feature requests are pretty insightful and I managed to spent some time to code them into memCron 0.4. After working on it for the past few days, I think it is ready to be released. Please give memCron 0.4 a try and let me know if it works just the way you imagined it would be.

Here is a list of notable changes since version 0.3 (or check out the detailed changelog):

• Added: New parameter $max_memory and $min_memory to limit the memory range that memCron should operate within
• Added: New parameter $mem_threshold to set a memory threshold, which when exceeded, will send out notification to $email
• Added: Base memory and swap memory size to function output
• Changed: Tooltip for the resources usage graph is now cuter i.e. in yellow!
• Removed: $debug and $username parameter from config.cfg, now DreamHost API only needs API key for authentication
• Fixed: Memory target are now computed more correctly during downsize
• Fixed: Total memory is now displayed correctly on the resources graph by accounting for max swap memory, which is capped at 450MB

Download: memCron 0.4 (31.95 KB)

If you find any bug in memCron 0.4, please post them here and I’ll get them verified and fixed asap. If you love how memCron saves you time and money through its innovative memory management system, please consider donating to support this project, thank you!

As always, I’m open to new feature request so don’t hesitate to send them in. I’ll try my best to add the most requested feature into the next release! Let’s make memCron the best damn DreamHost PS app in the world! I know it can be done with your support!

memCron 0.3 is finally ready and there are several new features added to this new version:

• Customizable chart formatting — pick the data you want to plot! (see demo)
• New parameter “$downsize_resistance” introduced to prevent multiple resizes during short-term, rapid memory fluctuations

With the addition of this new parameter, memCron is now more stable than ever. If you have experienced multiple memory resizes by memCron within short period of time in previous version, memCron 0.3 has it all solved.

This should fix the “exceeding 30 resizes per day” problem that could happen in previous versions. Now, regardless of how rapidly your server’s memory usage fluctuates, memCron has you covered!

memCron 0.3 is a must have whether you are a current user or are new to memCron. The way how memCron handles your server resources will definitely change the way how you work with DreamHost’s manage resources panel up till now.

Wait no longer, download and install memCron 0.3 to experience the difference!

Download: memCron 0.3 (30.36 KB)

memCron 0.2 fixes an issue related to number of data to be included in memory calculations not being accounted for in the z-score function. What this means is memCron might use up daily limits faster than it should.

A new $debug config value is also added to replace the previous $use_api variable. When set to 1, this new variable will disable all log outputs and API calls. Only the function results will be displayed in this case.

Download: memCron 0.2 (22.72 KB)

To upgrade, just open the new “config.cfg” and insert your settings, then upload the new “memCron” directory to replace the old one. The previous logs should still be intact and the upgrade process should be seamless.

Memory graph generated by memCron

memCron is a memory manager for DreamHost PS, which optimize the memory size to ensure your site scale nicely to accommodate any traffic at any given time. memCron is written in Perl and relies on cron jobs to perform scheduled memory inspections.

Check out the demo!

Features of memCron includes:

• Automagically adjust memory limit based on previous and current memory usage
• Improves site’s uptime and saves you money by setting memory limit to where it needs to be under different server loads
• Generates pretty, customizable memory + cpu usage graphs
• Simple, one-time installation, no maintenance required
• Supports different cron job intervals to suit your site needs

Detailed installation instruction can be found here.

To do:

• Reboot server if CPU load exceeds certain limit for a period of time
• Integrated cron job management
• Web admin panel
• Better time zone support
• More customizable options on the graph page

Download: memCron 0.1 (22.52 KB)