Tuning a small VPS: before and after
PHP-FPM, MariaDB and Apache got a weekend of attention. Some numbers, mostly flattering.
Tech
A dozen small sites on one VPS is fine until it isn’t. I spent a weekend on PHP-FPM pools, MariaDB buffers and switching off things nobody used.
Response times
Placeholder numbers for layout testing.
Memory over a week
The settings that mattered
| Setting | Before | After |
|---|
| pm | dynamic | ondemand |
| pm.max_children | 50 | 8 |
| innodb_buffer_pool_size | 128M | 512M |
| Mail server | on | off |
Placeholder values.; /etc/php/8.3/fpm/pool.d/site.conf
pm = ondemand
pm.max_children = 8
pm.process_idle_timeout = 10s
pm.max_requests = 500
The fastest service is the one you turned off.
Me, after disabling the mail server
