WordPress Monitoring

Monitor WordPress websites using Site24x7 and stay on top of issues.

WordPress is a free and open-source content management system (CMS) based on PHP and MySQL. WordPress is reportedly the easiest and most popular website management or blogging system in use on the Web, supporting more than 60 million websites. Configure our agent and check WordPress performance using a wide variety of metrics.

This document details how to configure the WordPress plugin and the monitoring metrics for providing in-depth visibility into the performance, availability, and usage stats of WordPress servers.

WordPress performance monitoring metrics:

Take informed troubleshooting decisions by keeping track of critical WordPress metrics including:

Apache version

"apache_version" mentions the version of Apache running on the server. Important in understanding which Apache features are available and whether an update is required or not.

Apache status

Use the metric "apache_status" and note down the status of Apache server in your WordPress server.

PHP version

The version of PHP running in your WordPress server is noted down using the metric "php_version". Important in understanding which PHP features are available and whether an update is required or not.

PHP CPU

The metric "php_cpu" gets the portion of CPU occupied by PHP processes specific to your WordPress server. It is displayed as percentage on the dashboard.

MySQL version

"mysql_version" mentions the version of MySQL database running in your WordPress server. Important in understanding which MySQL features are available and whether an update is required or not.

PHP status

Use the metric "php_status" and get the current status of PHP process in your WordPress server.

MySQL status

Status of MySQL database in your WordPress server is obtained using the metric "mysql_status".

PHP memory

The portion of memory occupied by PHP processes specific to your WordPress server. "php_mem" is displayed as percentage on the dashboard.

MySQL memory

The portion of memory occupied by MySQL queries specific to your WordPress server. "mysql_mem" is displayed as percentage on the dashboard.

Apache CPU load

The metric "apache_cpu" measures the portion of CPU used by all Apache worker threads combined. It is displayed as percentage on the dashboard.

MySQL CPU

The portion of CPU occupied by MySQL queries specific to your WordPress server. "mysql_cpu" is displayed as percentage on the dashboard.

Apache total accesses

Use the metric "apache_total_access" and get the total number of times your Apache server was accessed.

Apache total bytes

The total number of bytes count served by your Apache server is measured using the metric "apache_total_bytes".

Apache requests per second

Get the average number of requests per second recieved by the Apache server with the metric "apache_req_per_sec".

Apache bytes per request

Use the metric "apache_bytes_per_req" and get the average number of bytes present in each request served by the Apache server.

Apache bytes per second

"apache_bytes_per_sec" gives the average number of bytes per second served by the Apache server.

Apache uptime

The metric "apache_uptime" gives the total amount of time the Apache server was up and running.

Apache busy workers

The number of workers serving requests received by the Apache server is monitored using the metric "apache_busy_worker".

Apache idle workers

With the metric "apace_idle_worker" get the number of idle workers available to serve requests recieved by the Apache server.

How it works?

  • Log-in to your Site24x7 account. Sign up here if you don't have one
  • Download and install the latest version of Site24x7 Linux agent
  • Install the WordPress plugin
  • The agent will execute the WordPress plugin and push the data to the Site24x7 server.

Prerequisites:

  • The plugin requires 'Curl' tool to fetch the statistics. Please ensure this tool is installed before using the plugin.

WordPress plugin installation:

  • Create a directory with the name "wordpress", under the Site24x7 Linux Agent's plugin directory - /opt/site24x7/monagent/plugins/
  • Download the file ""wordpress.sh" from our GitHub repository and place it under the "wordpress" directory
  • Commands to perform the above step:
    • cd /opt/site24x7/monagent/plugins/
    mkdir wordpress
    cd wordpress
    wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/site24x7/plugins/master/wordpress/wordpress.sh

Configure Apache to support statistics:

  • Edit your httpd.conf file so that it enables sending statistics. As mentioned at https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/mod/mod_status.html#machinereadable
  • Sample code for stats setup in the file "/usr/local/apache/conf/httpd.conf":
    SetHandler server-status
    Order deny,allow
    Deny from all
    Allow from 127.0.0.1 ::1
    < /Location>
  • Restart apache server and check wether the configured URL is receiving apache statistics by opening it in a browser

WordPress plugin configuration:

  • Now change the following values in the plugin file (copied to agent plugin's directory earlier):
    "APACHE_STATS" to "ENABLED" ("DISABLED" by default)
  • Enter your stats URL as specified while configuring Apache for statistics to the variable "APACHE_STATUS_URL". The final stats URL should contain "?auto" in the end as this is required to fetch the statistics from our agent
    Sample value - APACHE_STATUS_URL="http://localhost:80/server-status?auto"

Monitor additional metrics:

  • To monitor additional metrics, edit the "wordpress.sh" file and add the new metrics that need monitoring
  • Increment the plugin version value in the file "wordpress.sh" to view the newly added metrics ( For e.g., change the default plugin version from PLUGIN_VERSION = "1" to "PLUGIN_VERSION = "2")

Related plugins:

  • Redis plugin - Monitor performance metrics of your Redis databases
  • PostGres plugin - Monitor performance metrics of your PostGreSQL databases
  • Zookeeper plugin - Analyze performance of your Apache Zookeeper server
  • Nagios plugin - Execute thousands of Nagios plugins in Site24x7 without the need of running a Nagios server
  • Out-of-the-box plugins - Monitor your entire app stack with our extensive list of integrations
  • Create custom plugins - Create custom Linux and Windows plugins and monitor custom attributes

Troubleshooting tips: