killing zombie process through crontab

[kat115]

can i get rid of zombie process by putting this command in crontab :

kill -9 `ps -ef | grep defunct | awk '{print $2}'`

or maybe

kill -9 `ps -ef | grep -v grep | grep defunct | awk '{print $2}'`

?
any better idea?
thanx a lot

 

[Chapter11]

Zombies should die off quickly. If they are sticking around, there is a problem and you should troubleshoot the problem instead of treating the symptom.

 

[uptodate]

Not all defunct processes can be killed using the method you are using.

There are 2 different kinds of zombie processes and depending on the owner of the process it may not be able to be "killed."

There is one trick you can try that may have more effect than just a kill -9, which is:

kill -6 -<PGID>

 

[MoshiachNow]

HI,

Normally you will not be able to kill zombies without restarting the system.

&quot;Long live king Moshiach !&quot;

http://www.7for70.com/

 

[kat115]

The problem is that users just close their xwindows sessions without disconnecting properly. And when they do so, a zombie process appears.
I can see IBM telling me that I should ask WRQ (reflexionX) to solve the problem, and I already know they won't help..

kat

 

[alexhu]

Why do you want to get rid of them - they're not using cpu are they

Alex

 

[unixfreak]

Lots of processes slows down the process reprioritising in the scheduler.

Cheers

 

[alexhu]

Ah I see - fortunately I've never come across this problem before

Alex

 

[dlpar]

I know your problem.
I got the same with exceed.
This is my way to work with:
stopsrc -s dtsrc
startsrc -s dtsrc

But this kill all your xterms.
You have to do it by script during the night.

 

[Yegolev]

not better in principle but more efficient than your initial method:

ps -ef | awk '/[d]efunct/{system("kill -9 "$2}'

spawns fewer processes.

IBM Certified -- AIX 4.3 Obfuscation