[Solved] How to remove / kill defunct processess?


 
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Operating Systems HP-UX [Solved] How to remove / kill defunct processess?
# 1  
Old 04-01-2010
Question [Solved] How to remove / kill defunct processess?

Hi,

Is there a way or a command to remove defunct processes on my hp-ux server?

Its shows a lot of them and i think its affecting the performance of the server.

Code:
who -d |wc -l
580

who -d shows
Code:
aktarafr   pts/109      Oct  1 15:05
passji     pts/119      Feb 25 14:20
forthm     pts/123      Jun 25 14:30
morrisgr   pts/tg       Apr  1 16:03
perumalb   pts/th       Mar 26 13:38
ahmadi     pts/ti       Mar 25 16:58
   .       pts/8        Jul 22 11:05
finlayma   pts/128      Jul 22 17:07
joeg       pts/132      Jun 25 17:37
rajera     pts/133      Jun 11 11:41
jurasikc   pts/134      Jun 12 14:10
   .       pts/135      May 30 18:22
   .       pts/136      May 19 08:35
   .       pts/137      Sep 17 05:39
limpocoj   pts/138      Sep 18 19:37
scottjon   pts/139      May 27 15:46
duyejia    pts/141      Apr  1 23:32
   .       pts/145      Sep 25 13:26
kimsa      pts/147      Sep 23 15:39
gillmerr   pts/148      May 21 17:05
beheraa    pts/149      Apr  2 00:42
burslemm   pts/150      Jun 22 19:05
   .       pts/151      Sep 18 18:50
aminmoh    pts/152      Jul 22 17:46
nbu        pts/153      Sep 18 22:01
contrerf   pts/155      Sep 17 18:06
   .       pts/9        May 20 18:17
hillc      pts/157      Jun 11 22:14
   .       pts/163      Oct 12 13:08
cruzgen    pts/165      Sep 19 00:14
morrisgr   pts/tj       Mar 25 16:58
duyejia    pts/tk       Mar 19 12:38
leeden     pts/167      Jun 11 21:27
villelar   pts/168      Nov 10 20:18
magatale   pts/169      Sep 15 12:47
addulara   pts/171      Jun 12 00:03
burslemm   pts/170      Jun 22 19:04
   .       pts/173      Sep 24 17:54
   .       pts/174      Sep 23 09:43
tanles     pts/175      Apr  1 18:31
badiv      pts/177      Sep 18 17:29
leoneroi   pts/178      Sep 23 17:26
andzakde   pts/179      Mar 16 16:56

Thanks
# 2  
Old 04-01-2010
on sco unix

kill -10 pid#
# 3  
Old 04-01-2010
but how can i get their PID?
# 4  
Old 04-01-2010
How about:

Code:
ps -ef | grep defunct

?

The following seems to indicate that one can "kill -9" a defunct process:
Kill defunct process without root
# 5  
Old 04-07-2010
Quote:
who -d
This "who" command does not show current defunct processes.
It shows current users logged in and some debris left in /etc/utmp - usually left after killing orphan processes.
A reboot clears the list.

Code:
who -ud

Shows the list complete with PIDs. Don't kill those PIDs because the main reasons the PID would exist is
because this is a current user session or because the PID has been re-used since an "old" session died untidily
sometime in the past.

This command shows defunct processes, though they are usually harmless and disappear with time:
Code:
ps -ef|grep "defunct"|grep -v "grep"


Last edited by methyl; 04-07-2010 at 12:16 PM..
# 6  
Old 04-07-2010
This issue seems to be caused by users closing Windows terminal emulation sessions without first signing off, (clicking on the X before exiting the session.)
On SCO systems, these "ghost" sessions tend to consume all the available CPU trying to re-connect.
I wrote the following script to deal with this issue, but it should be used with caution.
On SCO systems telnet sessions are named ttypnn, on HP-UX it appears they are named pts/nnn.

Code:
#!/bin/ksh
if [ $# -eq 0 ]
then
echo Usage is delete.ghosts  Y or N
exit 1
fi
ps -leaf |grep ttyp >/tmp/ps.list
who >/tmp/user.list
LIST=; export LIST
separator=" "
while read a tty c 
do
LIST=$LIST$separator$tty
separator=" |"
done </tmp/user.list
grep -v "?" </tmp/ps.list |grep -v root |\
grep -E -v "$LIST" >/tmp/ghost.list
while read a b user pid e f
do
if [ $1 = Y ]
then
echo for real $user $pid
echo kill -9 $pid
#kill -9 $pid
else
echo test run $user $pid
echo kill -9 $pid
fi
done </tmp/ghost.list
#

# 7  
Old 04-07-2010
@jgt

The script you post is terrifying, but I follow the basic reasoning. I would recommend that nobody runs that script on an operational system - especially one which has data.

Sorry, but it is scripts such as this which issue "kill -9" arbitarily actually cause the situation which we see with "who -d" in the original post.

If you were forced to issue a kill against orphan interractive process it should be "kill -15" or whatever "kill" signal is required by the application.

Never issue "kill -9" unless you are having trouble shutting a system down or encounter a process which is definitely stuck on impossible I/O.

Last edited by methyl; 04-07-2010 at 09:06 PM.. Reason: typo
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