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EC2 stops running intermittently

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We are encountering an issue with our Python application hosted on an EC2 instance. Although the EC2 instance itself remains active, our application stops running intermittently without any obvious errors or warnings. We are using nohup to keep the Python app running in the background, but it still stops unexpectedly, requiring us to manually restart it. Here are the details of our environment: Instance Type: t2.micro Region: ap-southeast-1b Application: Python app (run using nohup) Symptoms: The application stops unexpectedly while the instance remains active. I've checked our CPU Utilization, the highest is 30%. Could anyone help identify any potential system-related issues, such as memory or CPU limits, that could be affecting the app's stability? Additionally, any recommendations on configuring the environment to prevent the application from stopping would be highly appreciated. Thank you.

asked a month ago49 views
2 Answers
2

Hi,

The best solution is to start by capturing the terminal output from the command with which you launch the Python application.

See https://medium.com/@charmilagiri6/mastering-terminal-capture-using-python-26eec8fee4aa

You will very probably find in this capture some information that will help you understand and fix your problem. Most often, it will be an exception throw by a 3rd party package that you use or from you own scripts.

Then, to improve the situation after you fixed, you can probably follow the recommendations of our AI bots aimed at improving the operability (observability and actionability) of your application.

The re:Post community will be happy to help you further when you provide the terminal capture if you need support to fix what you'll find in it

Best,

Didier

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answered a month ago
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reviewed a month ago
1

Based on the information provided, there are a few potential reasons why your Python application might be stopping intermittently on your EC2 instance:

  1. Memory constraints: The t2.micro instance type has limited memory (1 GiB). If your Python application is memory-intensive, it's possible that it's running out of memory and being terminated by the operating system's out-of-memory (OOM) killer. This can happen even if CPU utilization is low.

  2. CPU credits: T2 instances use a CPU credit system. While your CPU utilization peaks at 30%, if sustained over time, you might be exhausting your CPU credits, leading to performance throttling that could affect your application.

  3. Insufficient error logging: The application might be encountering errors that aren't being properly logged, making it appear as if it's stopping without warning.

To address these issues and improve your application's stability, consider the following recommendations:

  1. Upgrade instance type: Consider using a larger instance type with more memory and CPU resources, such as t3.small or t3.medium.

  2. Implement proper logging: Ensure your application has comprehensive error logging to capture any issues that might be causing it to stop.

  3. Use a process manager: Instead of relying solely on nohup, use a process manager like Supervisor or systemd to automatically restart your application if it crashes.

  4. Monitor memory usage: Set up CloudWatch alarms to monitor memory usage and alert you when it approaches the instance's limits.

  5. Consider using Elastic Beanstalk or ECS: These services can manage the deployment and scaling of your application, automatically restarting it if it stops.

  6. Implement health checks: Add a simple health check endpoint to your application and use an external monitoring service or AWS Route 53 health checks to detect when your application becomes unresponsive.

By implementing these measures, you should be able to improve the stability of your application and reduce unexpected stoppages.
Sources
Amazon RDS Custom architecture - Amazon Relational Database Service
AWS App Runner Pricing – Fully managed container application service – Amazon Web Services

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answered a month ago
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reviewed a month ago

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