Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2005 05:24:15 -0700 (PDT) From: "ALeine" <aleine@austrosearch.net> To: killing@multiplay.co.uk Cc: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: kernel killing processes when out of swap Message-ID: <200504121224.j3CCOFXL019177@marlena.vvi.at>
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killing@multiplay.co.uk wrote: > Just had a problem with a box where it looks like it ran out of > swap due to a problem process, not a problem. The problem was that it > seems the kernel on detecting this starts killing off seeming random > processes, the first one being sshd hence making the machine inaccessible. > > So the question is: Does the kernel kill random processes when > out of swap or does it kill any processes that require more memory when > out of swap? Which leads to the question would it not be more > sensible to kill off the largest process first as its more than likely that > it is responsible for the problem? This procedure is not random, it indeed looks for the largest process and then kills it. It keeps repeating this procedure until the memory starvation problem is solved. You obviously are not running X on that machine, otherwise you would see that X would get killed before sshd. When you're out of swap, you're also out of luck if sshd is among the largest processes on your machine. Having a flag to tag processes as vital to prevent them from getting killed (or to give them lower next-to-be-killed priority so that all non-vital processes get killed first) when you run out of swap would be a useful feature, what do you guys think? ALeine ___________________________________________________________________ WebMail FREE http://mail.austrosearch.net
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