WordPress Dashboard – backend wp-admin performing poorly, slow

[protection]

Hello –

I’m using WP 4.7, BPS Pro 12.5. Over the last month I’ve noticed a lot of latency within my WP Admin section. My front end moves fine, but throughout the daytime, my entire admin section runs slowly. I’ve ruled out my machine, my IP address, and my OS. I’ve done many of the troubleshooting steps to remedy this (i.e. clearing all my caches, reinstalling WP, and more). Today when I was talking to my host, they pointed out that there’s an awful lot of bandwidth being used from an IP address in Germany. Upon inspection, this IP seems to be hitting my /feed/ URL a lot. Not sure why…

Anyway, from what I’ve read on the BPS pro forum, blocking IPs is not recommended. How should I remedy this? Is there a way to tell if this is a specific bot that can blocked?

Thanks

[AITpro Admin]

I don’t believe the WordPress Dashboard slowness would have anything to do with bots or another external IP address.  If that were the case then you would be seeing slowness on the frontend of your website.  The WordPress Dashboard is protected with WP Login protection.  So the only IP addresses and things that could affect your WordPress wp-admin area would have to be logged into your website.

Start with doing standard WordPress troubleshooting steps:  Deactivate all plugins and check your WP Dashboard performance, switch your Theme to one of the WP Themes and check your WP Dashboard performance.

Re-install WordPress:  Your WordPress installation may need to be reinstalled.  Dashboard menu link > Updates > Re-Install Now.

Other things to check:
Check Log files:  Check your PHP Error Log for errors.  Check your Server Logs for errors.
PHP memory limit:  Check your PHP Configuration memory limit on the BPS System Info page:  You should have a minimum of 128M for your PHP memory limit.
wp-config.php file code:  Check to make sure WP_DEBUG is not turned On (set to true).  Check your wp-config.php file for any other code that may be causing the problem and comment it out.
Browser VPN or Proxy:  If you are using a VPN or Proxy when logged into your site then disable that.  You should never be logged into your WP site with a VPN or Proxy.
Intermittent problems are caused by these things:  php memory/cache/caching plugins/CDN’s/VPN’s/Proxy’s/Load Balancers/Host server problems (DNS server/DNS configuration problem, MySQL server timeout, server overloaded, etc), /Browser problems (corrupt cache, Sessions, Cookies, add-on, extension)/ISP (connectivity)/CloudFlare, etc.
wp-admin caching:  The WP backend wp-admin area should never be cached for any reason.  CloudFlare has an option to allow caching the wp-admin area.  If you are using any caching services or features make sure you are not caching the wp-admin backend area.
Corrupt Browser Cache:  Clear your Browser cache.  You might also want to login to your website with another Browser for testing.
Browser Extensions or Add-ons:  Disable any/all Browser Extensions or Add-ons and test WP Dashboard performance.
Database corruption or damage or size problem:  This is a difficult one to figure out and should only be checked after you have done everything else.  phpMyAdmin has 2 tools that can sometimes fix general problems:  Optimize DB and Repair DB.
Switch your PHP server version:  Some PHP server builds/installations may have problems that are not obvious.  So what you want to do is to switch to another PHP server version to see if the problem is with your PHP version build/installation itself.  Check your web host help pages for how to change your PHP version.  Note:  PHP 5.4.x versions perform much faster than previous PHP versions and use much less PHP memory.  PHP 7.0.x versions perform amazingly fast, but most hosts do not have PHP 7.0.x versions available yet.

[protection]

Hi –

Thanks for the quick response and thorough details!

My apologies for not being more thorough with what I’ve tried so far. Here’s what I’ve attempted:

• Reinstalled WordPress
• Deactivated all plugins
• Switched themes (WordPress 2015)
• Checked server log files (still in the process)
• Verified I have enough memory (PHP Actual Configuration Memory Limit: 512M)
• In my wp-config file, I have define(‘WP_DEBUG’, false);
• I’m not logged into my site with a VPN or proxy
• I’m not caching my back end
• I’ve cleared all my caches (CDN, browser cache, and caching plugins)
• I’ve cleared all my browser data (cookies, password auto-fills, etc.)
• I’ve tried on multiple browsers (and on different machines)
• I’ve optimized/repaired my database via phpMyAdmin as well as various WP plugins
• I installed the P3 Profiler plugin to see if it was a plugin hogging the resources.
• I installed Query Monitor plugin, but that showed nothing significant
• I disabled/reduced the WP Heartbeat API by using the WordPress Heartbeat plugin
• I ran a malware scan with Sucuri

Since posting this thread, I’ve also disabled my feeds by using the Disable Feeds plugin. While checking my server logs and AWSTATS, I noticed a LOT of bandwidth being used by a couple of IPs hitting my /feed/ URL. I ended up blocking one of them, which I realize might be pointless since spammers can easily switch IPs, but wanted to monitor this for a couple of days.

I will update this thread within a couple of days.

Again, thanks for the great support for your plugin!

[AITpro Admin]

I thought of something else to try.  Some PHP server builds/installations may have problems that are not obvious.  So what you want to do is to switch to another PHP server version to see if the problem is with your PHP version build/installation itself.  Check your web host help pages for how to change your PHP version.  Note:  PHP 5.4.x versions perform much faster than previous PHP versions and use much less PHP memory.  PHP 7.0.x versions perform amazingly fast, but most hosts do not have PHP 7.0.x versions available yet.

[protection]

That’s a great idea. Right now I’m on 5.6.27. I’ll try this in a couple of days (once I know if the above fixes helped).

[protection]

Would you recommend installing/enabling memcache or memcached? It’s an option with my PHP version, but is currently off.

[AITpro Admin]

I can’t make a recommendation since I have not used either of these caching methods.  Do some Googling and see what people say about memcache vs memcached.

[Author]

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