What is httpd < defunc?

[ozzyman]

What's the meaning of "httpd < defunc" processes?
I see these defunc processes on my TOP stats and shows 300+ processes with HUGE load averages.
Is there a way to stop that defunc processes and a tweak to prevent these?

[jdMorgan]

I found several mentions of this by searching for "httpd < defunc", the most authoritative of which was:

Notice:
If you encounter <defunc> processes when using a local Oracle-DB
please recompile PHP and specify --enable-sigchild when configuring
(This problem has been reported un Linux using Oracle >= 8.1.5)

Which implies that PHP can be compiled in a way that omits child process signalling and causes problems... (And that's about all I know about this subject -- maybe someone else here will have some expertise).

If the above doesn't apply -- that is, if you're not using PHP and you're not using Oracle, and your OS is not Linux, then try modifying my search phrase with "-php" and "-oracle", and perhaps adding the names of whatever additional services you are using.

Jim

[andye]

I think (I'm no expert on this) that you get a defunct httpd process when the parent httpd process has told the child process to terminate itself (because it's no longer needed, for a variety of reasons you can specify in httpd.conf), but the child process hasn't died yet.

With our server, I usually assume that means the child process is waiting for a client to finish, as it always dies straight afterwards.

If you've got tons of these things then I guess they're not exiting cleanly (sorry, I know that's a bit obvious). I don't know why that would be though. Can you provide any more info?

How are load levels on the box in general? Free memory?

best, a.

[andye]

PS BTW the word is 'defunct' not 'defunc', I don't mean to be picky, I just thought it might help you if you're Googling.

hth, a.

[jdMorgan]

The error message is given as "defunc" as shown in the quote above -- probably an arbitrary six-character limit.

We also get into this with the misspelled "HTTP_REFERER" variable that contains the HTTP referrer request header value...

Jim

[andye]

I assumed it was just the OPs terminal cutting off the RHS of the process name in 'top'.

All the best, a.