For many months and quite sporadically, we received thousands of "File does not exist" errors daily causing server allocation issues on our VPS.

[Mon Mar 19 16:22:52 2018] [error] [client 64.111.122.231] File does not exist: /home/mysite.org/media/k2/items/cache/2d6c15d654bd7f03d72e8900a9ebd07f_S.jpg

I hope someone can help me pinpoint what could be causing these errors - they are all like the same, pointing to a .jpg via the same string media/k2/items/cache/

I am at a loss why the server is being bombarded by requests for all these images inside the k2 folder.

Thank you very much for any guidance or suggestions to troubleshoot.

Hello,

Did you remove any items from your site or batch delete any images?

Thanks for your reply Krikor.

No. All of the attempts on the server are the same over and over again each day for the same directory path and all the cached images end in _S.jpg

The only thing i've done is cleared cache in the Joomla admin area for JCH Optimize Pro plugin as the site is still under development and it's necessary to do that in order to see updates.

That image is the K2 item's main image.
All of K2's images are stored in that folder. Try to see the referrer to see where the request comes from.

The ip address[client] is the website's ip address...is that what you mean by "referrer"?

This means that an image from an item is being requested and it is not found.
Can you paste (some of) the logs here so I can take a look?

This means that an image from an item is being requested and it is not found.
Can you paste (some of) the logs here so I can take a look?

So by our ip address being the refferer, it looks like it's being initiated on our server - kind of like a loop?
As requested, please find below portion of the error log.

Thanks Krikor I really appreciate your time - i've changed our site name and username within the string for privacy, please let me know if you require it.

[Tue Mar 27 00:02:40 2018] [error] [client 64.111.122.231] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/media/k2/items/cache/b8292acafd72142128a3481ac4b0abff_S.jpg
[Tue Mar 27 00:02:40 2018] [error] [client 64.111.122.231] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/media/k2/items/cache/e7c0584255fa6f2981e510285a9e9e4f_S.jpg
[Tue Mar 27 00:02:41 2018] [error] [client 64.111.122.231] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/media/k2/items/cache/85b62d4a27ea43297eb1ab349b6e06c6_S.jpg
[Tue Mar 27 00:02:41 2018] [error] [client 64.111.122.231] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/media/k2/items/cache/cd66a7a18d37d7e5dd969c249e9a1ecb_S.jpg
[Tue Mar 27 00:02:41 2018] [error] [client 64.111.122.231] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/media/k2/items/cache/45e8f4939bc3bd36e4b87ab1e324d227_S.jpg
[Tue Mar 27 00:03:13 2018] [error] [client 64.111.122.231] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/media/k2/items/cache/8835fed4de3847a26822c5cc338a0cab_S.jpg
[Tue Mar 27 00:03:14 2018] [error] [client 64.111.122.231] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/media/k2/items/cache/a28321ba8f3530fc856783a3123dd44c_S.jpg
[Tue Mar 27 00:03:14 2018] [error] [client 64.111.122.231] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/media/k2/items/cache/7ae73efe4c50580e061849ef2d5b5ea4_S.jpg
[Tue Mar 27 00:03:14 2018] [error] [client 64.111.122.231] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/media/k2/items/cache/60cac5bf67bfb0259c686e8da95fd599_S.jpg
[Tue Mar 27 00:03:15 2018] [error] [client 64.111.122.231] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/media/k2/items/cache/051a22dde3b372e5c058fbc303756df4_S.jpg
[Tue Mar 27 00:03:15 2018] [error] [client 64.111.122.231] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/media/k2/items/cache/7081cca2f9cd0c06f2cce9e93d01dda9_S.jpg
[Tue Mar 27 00:05:54 2018] [error] [client 111.125.208.174] ModSecurity: Access denied with code 418 (phase 1). Pattern match "^Mozilla/5.0 \\\\(Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:40.0\\\\) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/40.1$" at REQUEST_HEADERS:User-Agent. [file "/dh/apache2/template/etc/mod_sec2/99_dreamhost_rules.conf"] [line "345"] [id "1990098"] [msg "Malicious Bot UA"] [hostname "www.mysite.org"] [uri "/wp-login.php"] [unique_id "WrntUkBveucAAF5cPsUAAAAA"]
[Tue Mar 27 00:06:27 2018] [error] [client 64.111.122.231] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/media/k2/items/cache/93ba6c299f04f710c35672b0f157402a_S.jpg
[Tue Mar 27 00:06:27 2018] [error] [client 64.111.122.231] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/media/k2/items/cache/5b62d01506bd8a53b6c4928e25fa9b8a_S.jpg
[Tue Mar 27 00:06:27 2018] [error] [client 64.111.122.231] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/media/k2/items/cache/d197c421d422f5cbf569ea13f09ef700_S.jpg
[Tue Mar 27 00:06:28 2018] [error] [client 64.111.122.231] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/media/k2/items/cache/1a9baee2108527eeffc063ebca11f242_S.jpg
[Tue Mar 27 00:11:24 2018] [error] [client 64.111.122.231] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/media/k2/items/cache/935dbd09c0a7727e2143877810820513_S.jpg
[Tue Mar 27 00:11:25 2018] [error] [client 64.111.122.231] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/media/k2/items/cache/4e0d2946bafc44e656cf2886c0b75bb2_S.jpg
[Tue Mar 27 00:11:26 2018] [error] [client 64.111.122.231] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/media/k2/items/cache/144aba6c568fde2fce1a77afef2ebf5c_S.jpg
[Tue Mar 27 00:11:26 2018] [error] [client 64.111.122.231] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/media/k2/items/cache/58b053c805beeea9e04dde1724076741_S.jpg
[Tue Mar 27 00:11:26 2018] [error] [client 64.111.122.231] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/media/k2/items/cache/59b514757c03f4e14c006ca63de02928_S.jpg
[Tue Mar 27 00:11:27 2018] [error] [client 64.111.122.231] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/media/k2/items/cache/778faba3e3dc8c6c6db24b403da494ae_S.jpg
[Tue Mar 27 00:12:41 2018] [error] [client 118.193.158.22] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/favicon.ico
[Tue Mar 27 00:14:15 2018] [error] [client 64.111.122.231] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/media/k2/items/cache/9962afd4d7801adbe96e49a2f2eab69f_S.jpg
[Tue Mar 27 00:14:15 2018] [error] [client 64.111.122.231] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/media/k2/items/cache/2039f9c06c46d5e4b5d871c0089d076b_S.jpg
[Tue Mar 27 00:14:16 2018] [error] [client 64.111.122.231] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/media/k2/items/cache/161bb2cd9d87d4fb2583e55eca6a3af4_S.jpg
[Tue Mar 27 00:14:16 2018] [error] [client 64.111.122.231] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/media/k2/items/cache/f2db05517411d6eb0e1fc32654b32d49_S.jpg
[Tue Mar 27 00:14:16 2018] [error] [client 64.111.122.231] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/media/k2/items/cache/a01253be6ea05e1e8a72b1a2a0636467_S.jpg
[Tue Mar 27 00:14:17 2018] [error] [client 64.111.122.231] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/media/k2/items/cache/4a071c64184f6ed127d1b90fcde1a863_S.jpg
[Tue Mar 27 00:16:45 2018] [error] [client 178.221.118.134] ModSecurity: Access denied with code 418 (phase 1). Pattern match "^Mozilla/5.0 \\\\(Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:40.0\\\\) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/40.1$" at REQUEST_HEADERS:User-Agent. [file "/dh/apache2/template/etc/mod_sec2/99_dreamhost_rules.conf"] [line "345"] [id "1990098"] [msg "Malicious Bot UA"] [hostname "www.mysite.org"] [uri "/wp-login.php"] [unique_id "Wrnv3UBveucAAF5cPwgAAAAA"]
[Tue Mar 27 00:16:46 2018] [error] [client 178.221.118.134] ModSecurity: Access denied with code 418 (phase 1). Pattern match "^Mozilla/5.0 \\\\(Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:40.0\\\\) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/40.1$" at REQUEST_HEADERS:User-Agent. [file "/dh/apache2/template/etc/mod_sec2/99_dreamhost_rules.conf"] [line "345"] [id "1990098"] [msg "Malicious Bot UA"] [hostname "www.mysite.org"] [uri "/"] [unique_id "Wrnv3kBveucAAF5cPwkAAAAA"]
[Tue Mar 27 00:16:58 2018] [error] [client 178.197.237.43] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/apple-touch-icon-120x120-precomposed.png
[Tue Mar 27 00:16:59 2018] [error] [client 178.197.237.43] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/apple-touch-icon-120x120.png
[Tue Mar 27 00:16:59 2018] [error] [client 178.197.237.43] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png
[Tue Mar 27 00:17:00 2018] [error] [client 178.197.237.43] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/apple-touch-icon.png
[Tue Mar 27 00:17:00 2018] [error] [client 178.197.237.43] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/favicon.ico
[Tue Mar 27 00:17:01 2018] [error] [client 178.197.237.43] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/apple-touch-icon-120x120-precomposed.png
[Tue Mar 27 00:17:02 2018] [error] [client 178.197.237.43] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/apple-touch-icon-120x120.png
[Tue Mar 27 00:17:02 2018] [error] [client 178.197.237.43] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png
[Tue Mar 27 00:17:03 2018] [error] [client 178.197.237.43] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/apple-touch-icon.png
[Tue Mar 27 00:17:04 2018] [error] [client 178.197.237.43] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/favicon.ico
[Tue Mar 27 00:23:13 2018] [error] [client 64.111.122.231] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/media/k2/items/cache/0d7764695c55c5d1c3edadce4a2a2cb9_S.jpg
[Tue Mar 27 00:23:14 2018] [error] [client 64.111.122.231] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/media/k2/items/cache/fe392f78a62c6fc460cf8c2a182b395f_S.jpg
[Tue Mar 27 00:23:15 2018] [error] [client 64.111.122.231] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/media/k2/items/cache/47b9371a5ec847a6416d19e09506ac86_S.jpg
[Tue Mar 27 00:27:46 2018] [error] [client 64.111.122.231] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/media/k2/items/cache/3dcbd8056f504532259e733a4b9e2ae3_S.jpg
[Tue Mar 27 00:27:48 2018] [error] [client 64.111.122.231] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/media/k2/items/cache/218fa54275e0e31c37b4e5091d9112ba_S.jpg
[Tue Mar 27 00:27:48 2018] [error] [client 64.111.122.231] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/media/k2/items/cache/9962afd4d7801adbe96e49a2f2eab69f_S.jpg
[Tue Mar 27 00:27:48 2018] [error] [client 64.111.122.231] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/media/k2/items/cache/2039f9c06c46d5e4b5d871c0089d076b_S.jpg
[Tue Mar 27 00:27:49 2018] [error] [client 64.111.122.231] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/media/k2/items/cache/161bb2cd9d87d4fb2583e55eca6a3af4_S.jpg
[Tue Mar 27 00:27:49 2018] [error] [client 64.111.122.231] File does not exist: /home/username1/mysite.org/media/k2/items/cache/f2db05517411d6eb0e1fc32654b32d49_S.jpg

You need to scan your site to see in which items the image is missing and furthermore you need to double check your template to make sure that the image is not being requested if it is not present.
Example: github.com/getk2/k2/blob/master/components/com_k2/templates/default/item.php#L198
To be honest this seems like a template or module issue.

You need to scan your site to see in which items the image is missing and furthermore you need to double check your template to make sure that the image is not being requested if it is not present.
Example: github.com/getk2/k2/blob/master/components/com_k2/templates/default/item.php#L198
To be honest this seems like a template or module issue.