dynamically generating images in PHP sometimes isn't working

Question

I have a page that needs to load several dynamically generated images. Everything works fine 90% of the time, but sometimes some of the images are not generated (I just get the missing image icon instead). Since most of the times it works, and the missing images are not always the same, I think that maybe it has something to do with the server not having enough resources. Are there any ways I can prevent this from happening (and make sure the images get generated)?

Answer 1

I would try upping the memory limits and timeouts of PHP and restart your web server. In particular, look at memory_limit and max_execution_time.

Also in that configuration file, look at output_buffering, which controls how much of the output can be built up in memory before sending. This can sometimes affect how much can be output before the headers.

I assume you've already looked at your log files, but I would recommend writing out debugging around the image generation statements to see if they're returning or not.