Hi all

I have a problem where having multiple simultaneous startups in the crontab causes the entire server (running RHEL-AS3). Three process are set to be fired off at the same minute. Individually, they all start fine. As soon as they start via these cron jobs, the server halts. Doesn't turn off, but it does lose all network connectivity, terminals and other interactivity.

Any idea if this is a known fault? The workaround is easy enough - spread the processes' startups over several minutes. But I'm curious how these innocent binaries can cause so much havoc. They're not running as root and not filling the drive or anything.

Also, when a box is in this state (no output on video interfaces, apparently not responding to any normal input, no response to ping or other network requests), is there any diagnosis steps that can be taken to restore it other than a hard reset? What is it likely to be doing?

Cheers!

Not posting any solution to your problem. Definately it could be either cron or NIC driver BUG. Make sure you keep Your RHAS3 "up2date"!!!

Troubleshooting something like that is going to require a lot of stamina and some innovativeness. As a first step I guess you could tweak logging etc way on up and maybe attach a logging host over a serial cable to capture all those debug logs. Sounds like the workaround is ... a lot less work.