Re: Server REALLY slow after console messages

[Carl Fink <carl@finknetwork.com>]

On Wed, Jun 28, 2006 at 09:07:02AM +1200, Simon wrote:
> Hi There,
> 
> Can anyone have a look at this screenshot and give me a glimmer of
> what is going on here?
> 
> This server is responding to pings, but all services are 'stuck', i
> can login, but it times out after 60 seconds and typing is REALLY
> slow...
> 
> http://gremin.orcon.net.nz/mx.JPG

You're out of memory, just like the messages say.  Presumably some process
on that server has used it all, including all your swap.  Eventually the
process should be killed automatically or the program might segfault.  If
you can get on as root and stay on long enough to type some commands, you
could do:

	dd if=/dev/zero of=/var/spool/swapfile bs=1024 count=262144

	swapon /var/spool/swapfile

That would add about 256 meg of swap, which might let you run, e.g., top and
find out what process is eating all your memory.

(Apache2 got killed, but since that isn't helping the problem I don't know
that it was the process at fault.)
-- 
Carl Fink                                   carl@finknetwork.com
   "Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your
   government when it deserves it."
                      - Mark Twain