> connect wrote:
> > Hi,
> > I have a client running AIX 5.1 and have found a couple of defunct
processes
> > chewing up CPU usage.
> > We have tried killing these processes which comes back stating "Then
> > specified process does not exist" we have tried rebooting the machine
but
> > the processes are still there. Can you tell me how to get rid of these
or if
> > they are part of the unix kernal....
> > This is a quick screen shot of ps vg | head -10
> > 516 - A 16329:01 0 12 19828 xx 0 19816 24.3
0.0
> > wait
> > 774 - A 15528:23 0 12 19828 xx 0 19816 23.1
0.0
> > wait
> > 1032 - A 15743:58 0 12 19828 xx 0 19816 23.5
0.0
> > wait
> > 1290 - A 16005:45 0 12 19828 xx 0 19816 23.9
0.0
> > wait
> > # ps -ef | grep 1032
> > root 124662 169142 0 09:38:05 pts/106 0:00 grep 1032
> > # kill -1 1032
> > kill: 1032: 0403-003 The specified process does not exist.
> >
> >
> > Any suggestion would be much appreciated.
> >
> >
> > Cheers
> >
> > Pedds : )
> >
"Johannes" <johannes.gross@gmx.net> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:cgh96v$vvd$03$1@news.t-online.com...
> When a child process dies the parent process gets notified with a signal
> (SIGCHLD). The child process stays as DEFUNCT (also called zombie) in the
> process list until the parent process deals with signal (by calling wait()
or
> waitpid()). If you are not interested in your dying childs set the signal
> handler for SIGCHLD to IGNORE. BTW, this is UNIX not AIX.
>
> DEFUNCTs which stay in the process list are a programing error. Identify
the
> parent process with ps -ef and send the programer the man pages for wait()
and
> waitpid() :-)
>
> Johannes
>
>
Hallo folks,

Pedds, from your screen output I would think that you have a 4-processor
server that is running a wait process for every cpu. Whenever the cpu is
idle the wait process kicks in an will appear to use the cpu. However these
wait processes run at the lowest priority possible and will NOT affect any
other program/application. Hence no need to kill them ;-)

Johannes, full marks for the effort but I doubt that the wait processes can
be explained the way you did. Btw. most zombies I have seen so far relate to
shell scripts that spawn off other processes without handling them properly
(i.e. not closing them again / waiting for them to close). And AIX 5L
improved to a great extend when it comes to zombies. While with 4.3 zombies
almost never disappeard without a reboot 5L will almost always manage to get
rid of those zombies within a reasonable time.

Regards,
Andreas