Re: [cobalt-users] [Raq 4] Running out of memory

["Dave~" <cobaltraq4@xxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message -----
Subject: [cobalt-users] [Raq 4] Running out of memory


> Scenario: RaQ 4 with 256mb Ram and ~260mb swap partition
>
> This Machine has suffered (and locked up tight) with a memory error several
> times in the last 3 months. I had 128mb ram in it until about a month ago
> then upgraded to 256.
>
> Before the memory upgrade it was happening every 1 to 2 weeks for 5 weeks.
> After the upgrade it has gone since July 4th.
>
> Looks like a memory leak to me. But how can I prove that?
>
> I suspect it is my log processing software, sawmill - which runs as a
> webserver all the time. It can be configured to run it's updates from a
> cron job which I think I will implement ASAP
>
> Most of the crashes have happened while sawmill was running, today's did
not.
>
> Any tips on knowing/proving which process is eating my machine would be
> welcome :(

SSH into the machine and type top so you can see what's running/going on.
Verify it is sawmill eating the CPU & memory- which by reading their FAQs @

www.sawmill.net/cgi-bin/sawmilldocs?ho+docs-faq

it seems as though it's a h0g!!!  Not sure if it's a *leak*, prolly more like
it's using all resources:

"Sawmill uses around 30 Meg of memory when it processes a small to medium size
log file, and it can use considerably more for very large log files. You have
some control over its memory usage through the use of the configuration
options, where you control how much memory Sawmill is allowed to use for
different tasks. Even with minimum memory settings, it will use 30 Meg; if you
increase its memory allowances, log processing will speed up, but only to a
point. Beyond 200 Meg, Sawmill does not get much benefit from extra memory."

and

"During log processing, the CPU is usually the bottleneck--Sawmill's number
crunching takes more time than any other aspect of log processing, so the rest
of the system ends up waiting on the CPU most of the time. This means that any
improvement in CPU speed will result in a direct improvement in log processing
speed. Sawmill can run on any system, but the more CPU power you can give it,
the better. Large caches also significantly boost Sawmill's performance."

Sooooooo ask yourself if you REALLY need sawmill or maybe use webalizer??
Maybe your using it for other features like bandwidth- just skimmed through
their site.  More RAM may help but I'll bet it's killing the poor CPU.
Running it as a cron job during non-peak times should help- better than
continually running it.  I'd also go learn what *other* settings can be
changed in sawmill to help things out...

Just my 2cents,

Dave~