# My host has sent me a warning

> "Quota exceeded", "disk space full", "abnormal processor usage", "database locked": these are not sales reminders. They announce throttling or suspension if nothing changes, and they describe a symptom, never a cause. Here is how to trace what is really consuming.

- Source canonique : [https://allaux.fr/en/problemes/avertissement-de-l-hebergeur](https://allaux.fr/en/problemes/avertissement-de-l-hebergeur)
- Langue : EN
- Dernière mise à jour : 2026-09-30

## Direct answer

> Measure before deleting: over SSH, du -sh * at the site root, otherwise the file manager sorted by size. On PrestaShop the culprits are almost always var/cache, var/logs and img/tmp; on WordPress, wp-content/uploads and wp-content/cache. For a database quota, look at wp_options and its stale transients, or the ps_connections and ps_guest tables, which grow without limit.

## Each message names a different resource

- Disk space full: the files are overflowing — backups, logs, unresized images, temporary files never purged.
- Database quota reached: the tables have grown, often three or four of them out of several hundred.
- Abnormal processor usage: the number or weight of incoming requests, not the volume stored.
- Too many simultaneous processes: a concurrency problem, often tied to automated scanning or a badly sized scheduled task.

## A full disk: what takes up the room

On a shop, space almost never goes into the code. It goes into four places you can identify in minutes. Automatic backups written into a directory of the site and never deleted: by far the leading cause, doubling the space used on every run. Logs, both error and access, which reach several gigabytes when one error repeats thousands of times a day.

Then product images: each visual is generated in several formats, and the variants of deleted products stay behind. Finally temporary files and the compiled cache, which regenerate but do not always clean up after themselves. Deleting blindly is risky; measuring each directory’s size first is not.

## Processor usage: telling traffic from waste

A usage warning does not mean your site is popular. In most cases I see, the load comes from requests that earn nothing: scraping robots walking every filter of every category, a statistics module writing a row on every page view, a scheduled task recomputing the whole catalogue every hour, or an unindexed query scanning a full table on every display.

Server access logs give the real breakdown: which addresses, which pages, at what frequency.

Human traffic spreads across product pages; automated scanning spreads across filter and search pages.

## A locked database stops sales immediately

> When a host locks a database against writes over quota, the site keeps displaying but no order can be recorded. The visible symptom is a checkout failing at the last step, which sends people hunting for the cause on the wrong side.

## Carry on with the right page

- **My host has suspended my site** — When the warning has already become a suspension, and the cause is abuse. ([/securite/hebergeur-a-suspendu-mon-site](/securite/hebergeur-a-suspendu-mon-site))
- **Choosing e-commerce hosting** — Which limits are really worth comparing before changing plan. ([/guides/choisir-hebergement-ecommerce](/guides/choisir-hebergement-ecommerce))
- **Cleaning the database** — Which tables grow most, and which can be purged safely. ([/wordpress-woocommerce/mise-a-jour/nettoyer-base-donnees](/wordpress-woocommerce/mise-a-jour/nettoyer-base-donnees))
- **The database and its indexes** — Why an unindexed query drives processor usage up. ([/glossaire/base-de-donnees](/glossaire/base-de-donnees))

## FAQ

### Should I upgrade my plan straight away?

Not before measuring. Moving to a bigger plan when the cause is a backup that was never purged means paying monthly to avoid an hour of tidying.

### Heavy usage — is that a sign my site is hacked?

It is a hypothesis worth checking, especially if usage jumped with no rise in traffic or sales. Unknown files or outbound mail confirm the theory.

### Can I delete the logs myself?

Yes for old logs, provided you keep the last few days: those explain the current incident. Deleting everything also deletes the evidence.

### How long do I have before suspension?

It depends entirely on the host and the reason. A quota overrun usually leaves some time; detected abuse can mean immediate shutdown. The message you received sets the frame.

### Is shared hosting always insufficient for a shop?

No. Plenty of shops run perfectly on shared hosting. The tipping point is less the number of visitors than the number of products, filters and automated processes.