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We run a dedicated server at InMotion Hosting. Here are the specs:

8 x Xeon E31230 @ 3.3GHz
32GB of Ram
2x256GB Raid 1 SSD drives (total 500GB)

The server is very fast, sites load in under a second for most accounts. However...

We are experiencing very heavy server CPU usage when we run Akeeba backups.

In WHM, my server CPU usage typically runs between 2 and 3. When we run an Akeeba backup, it can spike to over 20 which really slows down all the sites on this server. After the backup completes, the server will return to 2-3 server usage after a few minutes. NOTE: This happens every time we do a backup.

I'm looking for suggestions on what I might change in my server or Akeeba configs (I ran the wizard already) so this doesn't happen.

Let me know what else you might need.

Here are screenshots of WHM while not running Akeeba vs running it...

Yes backups are VERY hard on server resources, it's the nature of the beast. Consider that a normal web visitor uses a few php files and a couple of MySQL queries to create a page and display it. The backup on the other hand queries all records in your database and writes them out to an archive file. Then it reads every file on your site and moves them into the archive. The processing required is massive compared to the normal visitor.

There are a few things that you can do to mitigate the server load:

1. Schedule your backups for a time when the server is not so busy and there are fewer visitors to be inconvenienced. You can find more information under Schedule Backups on the Akeeba main screen on your site.
2. Use the jpa format for your archives as opposed to jps or zip. The jps format has to encrypt the archive, which takes time and processor power. The zip format needs to create CRC values for most of the files on your site. The jpa format is the easiest on the server.
3. You can adjust the timing settings in the backup configuration to slow down the backup. It still uses the same amount of resources but it uses them over a longer period of time, so it appears to use less. This is something of a "smoke and mirrors" fix but I can give you the timing settings if you want to try it.

Thank you for your quick response.

We are already using .jpa.

I guess my main concern is that Akeeba used to not do this to the server - this has been only over the last six months or so. Something in Akeeba or on my server has changed.

We do have staggered nightly backups for all the accounts, but when I'm doing an update to a site during the day, I always run a backup first and this is bringing my server to its knees.

Please do send me the timing suggestions.

These are the settings we use when we run into a problem with mod_security limiting the server resources. You're not having that problem, it works, it just uses too many resources. I would suggest creating a new profile so you don't affect your normal CRON backups.

Please go to your Akeeba Backup Configuration page and try setting:

Minimum execution time: 1 seconds
Maximum execution time: 20 second
Execution time bias: 75%

If you still experience trouble, please try:

Minimum execution time: 5 seconds
Maximum execution time: 1 second

Execution time bias: 50%

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