WC Admin Pages slow, unresponsive and return “Error retrieving settings”

Clearly this has stalled with no solution apparent so just for the record, these are some examples of the failed links that show up in the browser console (as also shown in the images attached throughout this ticket that may disappear over time). The domain in the path is replaced with ‘~’

Home
~/wp-json/wc/v3/products?status=publish&_fields%5B0%5D=id&page=1&per_page=1&_locale=user
~/wp-json/wc-admin/onboarding/profile?_locale=user

~/wp-json/wc-analytics/admin/notes?page=1&per_page=5&status=unactioned&type%5B0%5D=info&type%5B1%5D=marketing&type%5B2%5D=survey&type%5B3%5D=warning&
orderby=date&order=desc&_fields%5B0%5D=id&_fields%5B1%5D=name&_fields%5B2%5D=title&_fields%5B3%5D=content&_fields%5B4%5D=type&_fields%5B5%5D=status&_fields%5B6%5D=actions&
_fields%5B7%5D=date_created&_fields%5B8%5D=date_created_gmt&_fields%5B9%5D=layout&_fields%5B10%5D=image&_fields%5B11%5D=is_deleted&_fields%5B12%5D=is_read&_fields%5B13%5D=locale&_locale=user

~/wp-json/wc-analytics/reports/performance-indicators?after=2023-10-06T00%3A00%3A00&before=2023-10-06T09%3A07%3A55&stats=revenue%2Ftotal_sales%2Corders%2Forders_count&_locale=user

Customers
~/wp-json/wc-analytics/products/low-in-stock?page=1&per_page=1&low_in_stock=true&status=publish&_fields%5B0%5D=id&_locale=user
~/wp-json/wc-admin/options?options=woocommerce_ces_tracks_queue&_locale=user
~/wp-json/wc-admin/options?options=woocommerce_admin_transient_notices_queue%2Cwoocommerce_admin_install_timestamp&_locale=user
~/wp-json/wc-analytics/admin/notes?page=1&per_page=25&type=error%2Cupdate&status=unactioned&_locale=user
~/wp-json/wc-analytics/data/countries?_locale=user
~/wp-json/wc-analytics/reports/customers?orderby=date_last_active&order=desc&page=1&per_page=25&_locale=user
~/wp-json/wc-analytics/reports/customers/stats?fields%5B0%5D=customers_count&fields%5B1%5D=avg_orders_count&fields%5B2%5D=avg_total_spend&fields%5B3%5D=avg_avg_order_value&_locale=user

Analytics
~/wp-json/wc-admin/plugins/installed?_locale=user
~/wp-json/wc-admin/options?options=woocommerce_ces_tracks_queue&_locale=user
~/wp-json/wc-admin/options?options=woocommerce_admin_transient_notices_queue%2Cwoocommerce_admin_install_timestamp&_locale=user
~/wp-json/wc-analytics/admin/notes?page=1&per_page=25&type=error%2Cupdate&status=unactioned&_locale=user
~/wp-json/wc-analytics/reports/performance-indicators?after=2022-10-01T00%3A00%3A00&before=2022-10-06T23%3A59%3A59&stats=revenue%2Ftotal_sales%2Crevenue%2Fnet_revenue%2Corders%2Forders_count%2Cproducts%2Fitems_sold%2Cvariations%2Fitems_sold&_locale=user
~/wp-json/wc-analytics/reports/performance-indicators?after=2023-10-01T00%3A00%3A00&before=2023-10-06T09%3A26%3A37&stats=revenue%2Ftotal_sales%2Crevenue%2Fnet_revenue%2Corders%2Forders_count%2Cproducts%2Fitems_sold%2Cvariations%2Fitems_sold&_locale=user
~/wp-json/wc-analytics/reports/revenue/stats?order=asc&interval=day&per_page=100&after=2023-10-01T00%3A00%3A00&before=2023-10-06T23%3A59%3A59&fields%5B0%5D=total_sales&fields%5B1%5D=net_revenue&fields%5B2%5D=refunds&fields%5B3%5D=shipping&_locale=user
~/wp-json/wc-analytics/reports/revenue/stats?order=asc&interval=day&per_page=100&after=2022-10-01T00%3A00%3A00&before=2022-10-06T23%3A59%3A59&fields%5B0%5D=total_sales&fields%5B1%5D=net_revenue&fields%5B2%5D=refunds&fields%5B3%5D=shipping&_locale=user
~/wp-json/wc-analytics/reports/orders/stats?order=asc&interval=day&per_page=100&after=2023-10-01T00%3A00%3A00&before=2023-10-06T23%3A59%3A59&fields%5B0%5D=orders_count&fields%5B1%5D=avg_order_value&_locale=user
~/wp-json/wc-analytics/reports/performance-indicators?after=2023-10-01T00%3A00%3A00&before=2023-10-06T23%3A59%3A59&stats=revenue%2Ftotal_sales%2Crevenue%2Fnet_revenue%2Corders%2Forders_count%2Cproducts%2Fitems_sold%2Cvariations%2Fitems_sold&_locale=user
~/wp-json/wc-analytics/reports/orders/stats?order=asc&interval=day&per_page=100&after=2022-10-01T00%3A00%3A00&before=2022-10-06T23%3A59%3A59&fields%5B0%5D=orders_count&fields%5B1%5D=avg_order_value&_locale=user
~/wp-json/wc-analytics/leaderboards?after=2023-10-01T00%3A00%3A00&before=2023-10-06T23%3A59%3A59&per_page=5&persisted_query=%7B%7D&_locale=user

• This reply was modified 9 months, 1 week ago by Guy Chapman.

Hi @battouly,

Thanks so much for checking in with the dev team.

Regarding the logging, I do have pretty good access to the host and have checked server logs and have enabled php debug.

On occasions when the whole system used to freeze when opening a WooCommerce page (this is not happening now after the hosting capacity increase) there were server errors in the logs like the ones below, but that was because the whole system was dying so no surprises there. Now that loading a WooCommerce page no longer brings down the host nothing is written to the server logs when the json errors are displayed in the browser console.

mod_fcgid: can't apply process slot

[error] mod_fcgid: ap_pass_brigade failed in handle_request_ipc function

For php logging, I have tried two methods to see if anything is written out about the browser console json errors. One is to enable php logging via the php.ini that I have access to modify via the host, the other by disabling that (as they conflict) and using this in wp-config.php

define( 'WP_DEBUG', true );
define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true );

Neither method writes out any log files when repeatedly loading the WooComerce pages with the errors.

Also, nothing new is reported at WooCommerce > Status > Logs

I agree, you would think the 503 error reported in the browser console would also be in the server log, but there is nothing there. If there are any other tricks to getting logging happening I’m happy to give them a go.

I’ve had a couple of tickets open with the hosting company where they have checked logs and have raised limits on the host but report that nothing looks out of place for them.

I mentioned the Elementor slowness previously as it was vastly worse as soon as WooCommerce plugin is enabled. Perhaps this is just because Elementor is bloated / heavy and shows up the issue easily. The console errors displayed are with WooCommerce json/ajax/rest links.

Database issues could be worth exploring further. The error is repeatable on a test vanilla install of WP with a new db. Any tips on where to look for logging there are more than welcome.

Cheers,
Guy

Hi @seanomattic,

Thanks for your comments. Yes, I tested it on vanilla, staging and production instances on the host and all displayed the error – even the absolutely minimal vanilla installation. Testing on a local dev did not have the issue.

I went back to my hosting company and asked them to have a further look as I couldn’t see anything in any logs. I also gave them access to WP/WC admin so they could reproduce the error using the WooCommerce Home and Analytics pages. Following that they made the configuration changes listed below to Apache and this seems to have resolved the issue.

According to them, the Analytics page is considerably heavy and makes 230+ requests and increases the load of the VPS.

The admins have increased the following VPS limits:
ServerLimit 4 => 30
FcgidMaxProcesses 1000 => 1500
FcgidSpawnScoreUpLimit 10 => 40
FcgidMaxProcessesPerClass 5 => 15

So it’s been an epic journey, I’ve optimised a ton of things in the site along the way (that needed to be done anyway so no regrets there).

It sure looks like there are some optimisation opportunities in the app but at least we found a way out the other end of this, hope all the text in here is of some use to others with similar issues.

Cheers
Guy

Thanks @seanomattic,

I’d be interested in what the Dev team have to say. Even if it’s that these Apache settings always have to be adjusted like this it would be good to know. I searched for a WooCommerce page for any detailed recommendations on this but couldn’t find anything, may have missed it, but it would be great to see a definitive page on recommended settings – even if they are just a minimum starting point.

Cheers
Guy

Thanks @thup90, appreciate you logging that. I’ve got a working solution now so all good from this end but it will be good to see if there are any optimisations that come from that GGH issue.

Cheers,
Guy