Here, we will show you the possible reason for the high I/O and RAM usage of the WordPress site and its solution.
What is I/O?
I/O is the transfer rate between the hard disk and ram. All servers have a maximum I/O limit. The max is determined by the CPU speed, bus speed, hard drives, and ram.
What is the cause of high IO and RAM usage in cPanel with the WordPress site?
Generally, the I/O is caused due to the increased output and input, or, you can say, increased reading and writing speed on the disk. Below are the possibilities for the high IO and RAM usage in cPanel with the WordPress site.
Malware: If your site has been affected by Malware, make sure you have cleaned all the site’s content because hackers always try to down your site by increasing the load on your site. You can take a backup of your entire account and scan them using any anti-virus tool. You will get the result once you review all the files and get the information about which plugin or file is causing the issue. Then, you can stop using that plugin or theme or clean all the files using any anti-virus software and re-upload them to the server.
Backup Plugin: When Backup plugins start taking the backup of your site, and in the meantime, you perform the input and output on the hard drive, also if the total size of your site content is too high, the backup plugin will take more time to secure the backup, and your I/O usage will get too high.
PHP Script: If the Linux server runs the Apache web server, most of those support CGI and FastCGI scripts, and the most popular is SuPHP. All CPU, IO, memory resources, or Apache processes can theoretically be consumed by a single site bringing the server to a complete grinding halt.
Cron Jobs: you will find the file wp-cron.php inside the file manager that is involved in running your automatic task; make sure that the file is not infected with Malware. As the plugin’s task is scheduled to run automatically, there is a chance to run the short PHP file to execute the task and increase the IO usage. If you have not set any cron job or automated tasks, it is better to disable access to the cron file by changing the permission to 0000.
How to Fix the High IO usage?
Use cache plugin: The main benefit of the cache plugin is to reduce the read and write speed by storing the data in the user’s buffer. You can use several plugins like W3 Total Cache, WP Fastest Cache, WP Rocket, WP Super Cache, and Cache Enabler.
Use only trusted wordpress themes and plugins: Use only authorized plugins because some plugins contain Malware or suspicious codes, which can drain the memory and slow your site.
Use WordPress plugins Less: Disable all the plugins which are not in use. Some wordpress plugins increase IO usage significantly; disabling plugins will help to reduce IO usage. However, as the plugins serve each user, more plugin usage can increase the IO/memory usage and make the site slow.