From owner-freebsd-isp  Fri Sep 19 05:34:36 1997
Return-Path: <owner-freebsd-isp>
Received: (from root@localhost)
          by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.7/8.8.7) id FAA08455
          for isp-outgoing; Fri, 19 Sep 1997 05:34:36 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from thecore.com (sfinn@guardian.thecore.com [206.136.149.11])
          by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.7/8.8.7) with ESMTP id FAA08449
          for <freebsd-isp@FreeBSD.ORG>; Fri, 19 Sep 1997 05:34:31 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from localhost (sfinn@localhost) by thecore.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id IAA03763; Fri, 19 Sep 1997 08:34:07 -0400 (EDT)
Date: Fri, 19 Sep 1997 08:34:07 -0400 (EDT)
From: Shaun <sfinn@thecore.com>
To: Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com>
cc: Cassandra Perkins <cassy@loop.com>, freebsd-isp@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject: Re: Sendmail 8.8.6 and Running Out of Swap
In-Reply-To: <19970919155227.30484@lemis.com>
Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.96.970919083036.3394A-100000@guardian.thecore.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Sender: owner-freebsd-isp@FreeBSD.ORG
X-Loop: FreeBSD.org
Precedence: bulk

On Fri, 19 Sep 1997, Greg Lehey wrote:
> On Thu, Sep 18, 1997 at 10:11:46PM -0700, Cassandra Perkins wrote:
> > Since I upgraded from sendmail 8.6.12 to 8.8.6, the systemp started
> > reporting the kernel messages:
> >
> > Sep 18 20:00:42 patty /kernel: swap_pager: out of space
> > Sep 18 20:00:42 patty /kernel: Process 15473 killed by vm_pageout -- out
> > of swap
> >
> > The mail server has 32MB of RAM and 128MB swap.  The server doesn't
> > appears any more active than before.  Is there a possible bug or option in
> > the new sendmail version that could be causing this problem?
> 
> There's no a priori reason to expect that this is related to sendmail;
> the only thing pointing to is is the upgrade.  Take a look at your
> process sizes (ps and top) and swap space usage (pstat -s).  They
> should point you towards the real culprit.
> 
> Swap usage seems to be on the increase.  A year ago, I got by quite
> happily with 50 MB on a 32 MB system.  Now I have increased memory to
> 96 MB, but frequently use up to 200 MB swap.  I can't make up my mind
> whether this reflects changes in my habits or changes in the system.

I experienced a similiar problem about a week ago. Same complaint
on the console with sendmail and out of swap. It actually turned out
to be procmail attempting to deliver a 40MB email. Once I removed
the large message from the mailq everything went back to normal.

+------------------- http://www.download.net ----------------------+
| Shaun M. Finn                    TechnoCore Communications, Inc. |
| sfinn@thecore.com                Internet Web Services & Access  |
| VOICE: (732)928-7400             P.O. Box 106                    |
|   FAX: (732)928-7402             Jackson, NJ 08527-0106          |
+------------------- http://www.thecore.com/ ----------------------+