MYSQL Crash – Error Establishing Database Connection

Hello Benjamin-

Thanks for the report! A database connection error is a very big deal, so we definitely want to find out what’s causing that.

Other than the things you’ve already checked (i.e. Credentials, Repairing the Database), I’m not aware of anything in the plugin itself that might cause this error just from being active.

I can imagine in some situations that you might get an error while a backup is actually running. Total Upkeep temporarily “pauses” the database while it’s backing up to prevent any changes during that period, which could cause data corruption. Typically, this pause is extremely brief (less than one second), but if your database is very large, or if it’s on a remote server with a slower connection, I could imagine this might take “3 or 4 times” to reload. To avoid this, we recommend scheduling your backups for a “slow” time-of-day for your traffic, such as late night or early morning.

Can you confirm if this is happening while Total Upkeep is just active, or if it’s happening when a backup is being created?

May I ask what type of hosting you’re using? If you’re on a VPS, you might be able to get more information from the MySQL error logs, or if you’re on a shared plan, your host may be able to check for you.

Is your MySQL server running on localhost, or a remote server? Is there anything “special” about your database setup?

Hello Jesse,

thank you for your fast and detailed response.
In fact the problems already appear when I just activated the plugin – I did not take any action and the plugin causes the mysql faults. When deactivated, everything is fine!
We are on a shared server. And yes, we dont use localhost, we had to pick a custom name.
But I think i can not change this.

Any ideas?

Thank you!
Best
Benjamin

Hi Benjamin-

On a shared server, you’re probably right that you don’t have much control over the MySQL server like that.

I’d like to speak with the developers when they get back on Monday to see if we can identify anything else we can troubleshoot. I’ll reply back here as soon as I have some more information.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 7 months ago by Jesse Owens. Reason: Spell name correctly

Hi Benjamin-

Thanks for your patience over the weekend. I was able to consult with our developers.

We couldn’t think of anything in the plugin itself that could cause a database connection error, and this is the first time we’ve heard of this problem.

You mentioned that the site does load after a few refreshes, so the connection issue is “intermittent.” If I’m right about that, it means we can rule out problems in your wp-config for sure, and we also know that it doesn’t happen every time that Total Upkeep is enabled.

One possibility is that your server might limit the number of active connections to the database, and Total Upkeep is the “straw that broke the camel’s back,” the last push over the edge for your site’s limit.

One way we could test that is to disable all of the other plugins in the site temporarily, and leave only Total Upkeep active. If that loads reliably, re-enable them one-by-one and see if problem re-occurs.

To get more information, I’d recommend contacting your host and ask them for the MySQL Errors pertaining to your site. If you have an approximate time that one of the errors happened, that will help them to locate any issues. Those error logs could also help us narrow down the cause of the problem.

Hi Benjamin-

It’s been a couple of weeks since we’ve heard back, so I’m marking the issue as “resolved,” but please let us know if you’re still having trouble, we’re happy to help.