Thanks for the suggestions: The puzzling thing is this server HAD been running flawlessly! and I haven't installed any new software to it since the day it was installed. It serves solely as an Intranet server!
I couldn't understand apache using 253mb either, but that's what the gnome system monitor said! The only thing new about the server yesterday was a few PHP web-pages I am working on that talk to Active Directory via LDAP. Could one of these pages cause a runaway httpd process ?? (it shouldn't do as PHP has a 30 second maximum processing time limit, but perhaps the way PHP uses LDAP to connect to AD?) After looking through virtually every log file in the system, it seems as though the lack of responsiveness was because all of the memory was used up. (there are a few errors relating to failure to create tempory files, and failure to create process forks etc..) Under normal usage none of the SWAP is ever used and rarely does the RAM get used close to full capacity. But I did notice yesterday that at one point the RAM was fully used and the SWAP was at 90% usage. (this was shortly before the system totally refused to lock up) I have TOP running now I'll keep monitoring the memory usage and get back to the list if anything crops up.(BTW can I get TOP to display the amount of memory used rather than %?) Thanks for your help. Jamie -------------------------------------------- [EMAIL PROTECTED] ITS Internal Extension : 5806 Direct Dial : 0870 754 5806 -------------------------------------------- -----Original Message----- From: Lanman [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 13 January 2004 13:20 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [newbie] Un-responsive server -- help!! On 1/13/2004 at 12:17 PM Jamie Kerwick wrote: >HELP!!! > >I have our Intranet server hosted on Mandrake 9.0. Until yesterday it >had been working flawlessly for nearly 200 days. > >Yesterday afternoon after lots of 'Disk Thrashing' the problems began. > >Web page requests (via apache) were served very slowly, (I'm talking 5 >minutes to serve a page that would typically take less than a second. >Telnet & ftp connections took similarly extended times to be made, even >the X-Windows system doesn't respond. Curiously though pings are >answered immediately! > >I rebooted the machine (in the end I had to just switch off at the >mains!) and on reboot it began working fine again. > >10 minutes ago the same thing has happened again. > >What I would like to know is where to start to try and find what the >problem is and how to rectify it. > >I did notice earlier that there was a httpd process using 253MB of >memory which seems rather excessive - is there any way to trace what >this process is doing ? > >Thanks for any advice. > >Jamie *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** Jamie; Try running "top" in a console on the server. I can't see apache using 253Mb's of ram for an Intranet site. There may be something else going on. If everything slows down again, top can show you what's chewing up the resources, and then we can go looking for the actual problem. I've had 9.0 running on a server here almost since 9.0 came out, and it's been flawless. Unless you've done a lot of kernel patching, or the server's been hacked, I would think that the problem would either be a runaway process from something new you recently installed , or from bad hardware. If you see the slow-down happening again, check top ( which should be running already ) to find the process ID. Lanman ************** E-mail Disclaimer ************** This e-mail message is confidential and for use by the addressee only. If the message is received by anyone other than the addressee, please return the message to the sender by replying to it and then delete the message from your computer. Please note that any views, or opinions presented in this e-mail are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Benenden Healthcare Society Limited. The recipient should check this e-mail and any attachments for the presence of viruses. The Benenden Healthcare Society Limited accepts no liability for any damages caused by any virus transmitted by this email and its attachments. The Benenden Healthcare Society Limited is regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and is an Incorporated Friendly Society, registered under the Friendly Societies Act 1992. Registered No: 480F. The Benenden Healthcare Society Limited, Registered Office: Holgate Park Drive, York, YO26 4GG. Tel 0870 7545 700 Fax 0870 7545 821 www.benenden.org.uk. ***********************************************
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