Performance & Database

Dashboard Loads Slowly

PulseRank dashboard takes 5-10+ seconds to load

Diagnosis:

1. Check database size: Settings → System Health → Database Tables
2. Look for very large wp_pulserank_hits table (> 500MB)

1. Reduce Data Retention

PulseRank → Settings → General → Data Retention: Change from 365 days to 90 or 60 days. Click “Run Manual Cleanup” to delete old data immediately.

Expected Impact: 365 days → 90 days = ~70% size reduction

2. Add Database Indexes

SHOW INDEX FROM wp_pulserank_hits;

Should have indexes on: timestamp, bot_name, channel, referral_source

If missing:

ALTER TABLE wp_pulserank_hits ADD INDEX timestamp (timestamp);

3. Optimize Tables

OPTIMIZE TABLE wp_pulserank_hits;
OPTIMIZE TABLE wp_pulserank_aggregates_daily;
OPTIMIZE TABLE wp_pulserank_aggregates_hourly;

4. Enable Object Caching

Use Redis or Memcached. Install Redis Object Cache plugin. PulseRank API results cached for 5 minutes.

High Database Growth Rate

Database growing by 100MB+/week

Cause: Very high AI bot traffic (good problem!)

Solutions:

• Aggressive Retention: Set to 30 days only. Enable automatic cleanup (daily).
• Exclude Low-Value Bots: Future feature: bot filtering by category. Currently tracks all bots.
• Archive Old Data: Export via API before cleanup:

curl -u user:pass "https://site.com/wp-json/pulserank/v1/reports/raw?days=365&limit=1000" > archive.json

Cron Jobs Not Running

Settings → System Health shows ‘Cron: Not Running’

Impact:

• Daily aggregation doesn’t run (reports stale)
• Weekly cleanup doesn’t run (database grows)
• Email reports don’t send

1. WP-Cron Disabled

Check wp-config.php for define( 'DISABLE_WP_CRON', true );

If found, set up server cron:

# cPanel: Cron Jobs → Add new cron
# Or SSH/Linux:
crontab -e

# Add line:
*/15 * * * * wget -q -O - https://yoursite.com/wp-cron.php?doing_wp_cron >/dev/null 2>&1

2. No Site Traffic

WP-Cron triggers on page visits. Low-traffic sites: cron jobs may not run. Solution: Use server cron (above)

3. Check Schedule

Install WP Crontrol plugin → Tools → Cron Events. Look for: pulserank_daily_event (3 AM daily), pulserank_weekly_event (Sunday 4 AM), pulserank_send_email_report (your schedule)