Date: Wed, 26 May 1999 08:31:58 -0700 (PDT) From: Nicole Harrington <nicole@nmhtech.com> To: Doug Rabson <dfr@nlsystems.com> Cc: Sergey <serge69@nym.alias.net>, freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG, Andrew <mynet@uq.net.au> Subject: Re: kernel panic in 3.2 WAS Re: [Q] How stable is FreeBSD 3.X ? Message-ID: <XFMail.990526083158.nicole@nmhtech.com> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.4.05.9905252058520.447-100000@herring.nlsystems.com>
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On 25-May-99 My Secret Spies Reported That Doug Rabson wrote:
> On Tue, 25 May 1999, Nicole Harrington wrote:
> >> > Andrew
>>
>> I too agree that 3.1 was Very stable and 3.2 for most things seems to be OK
>> so
>> far as I have used it for many things at the ISP I work for. However I have
>> come across a reproducable problem with 3.2. just as Sergey has spoken
>> about,
>> that does not seem to occur in 3.1.
>>
>> I am testing the new FreeBSD port of the Inktomi caching server. The size
>> of
>> the processes that are used can grow quite large and are multithreaded.
>> I have found that if I set MAXDSIZ and DFLDSIZ too small (like
>> 512*1024*1024) I
>> can make the server page fault and reboot by making it work hard. (IE make
>> the
>> process grow)
>>
>> SO far a setting of (2*1024*1024*1024) for both seems to be quite stable
>> under
>> .any load, but it seems unsettling that rather than kill a process that is
>> demanding too much memory, the kernel page faults. Especially since the
>> process
>> runs as a user process not as a system process.
>>
>> I am no expert on these things, but I welcome the assistance of anyone
>> willing
>> to help identify the root of this problem to make FreeBSD more stable.
>> Flames
>> and put downs about a lack of detail or knowlege like I have seen so far,
>> please
>> send to the linux list of choice to save us both some time please. I use
>> FreeBSD as it is a professional OS with mostly professional people willing
>> to
>> lend a hand.
>
> What message is printed when the kernel page faults. If there is an
> instructions pointer in the message, use 'nm -n kernel' to find which
> function it crashed in. If possible, compile a kernel with DDB, run it
> until it crashes and get a backtrace. Getting a full kernel dump from a
> kernel compiled for debugging (use config -g CONFIG for this) is
> invaluable as it allows a developer to gather as much information as
> possible.
>
> Once you have a backtrace and/or a kernel dump, you need to get someone
> interested in fixing it. Find out roughly what part of the system is
> involved and see if you can figure out who worked on it last. If you talk
> to that person and provide them with all the information you have
> gathered, then you have a chance of getting a fix (or maybe only a
> workaround).
>
Ah, good point. I had built the kernel for DDB, but didn't get a readable
result as I forgot to compile my kernel with -g.
I woun't be back at work until Friday, but I will try that and send a copy to
the list and submit it as suggested. My Error message was basicly the same as
the one Sergey had sent to the list however.
I am still very curious why the kernel would panic so easily rather than kill
the offending process.....
Nicole
> --
> Doug Rabson Mail: dfr@nlsystems.com
> Nonlinear Systems Ltd. Phone: +44 181 442 9037
>
>
>
>
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