Problems with process running amok on Openserver 5.0.4 machine

[N8bak]

We have a problem with a specific process running amok within a vendor's software on an Openserver 5.0.4 machine. The application is running fine at the rest of our 100 locations and the vendor appears clueless as to the cause. Our business relies heavily on this software so it's imperative that we get it running properly.

Under normal conditions, the process in question opens a port and communicates with other processes within the vendor's application. Currently the process is opening the port but the communication piece times out causing a cascading failure of the processes within the vendor's app.

So far I have been able to isolate the specific process using "ps -efo" and monitor it using sar and vmstat but can do little else. Is there a way determine what the process is attempting to do from the UNIX side akin to debugging? Are there any other tools that I can use to "help" the vendor diagnose the problem?

Sorry for the long winded if not vague post, due to the nature of the software I am limited as to the information I can provide. Thanks in advance for any help!

~N8

"Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon `em." - Twelfth Night, II:5

 

[Annihilannic]

You could try using scotruss (you'll have to find and download it from somewhere) which works like truss on Solaris (or strace on Linux) to trace the system calls made by the process.

Annihilannic.

 

[PHV]

truss is part of 5.0.7
5.0.4 is pretty old but you may have a look here:

http://protectedmode.org/

Hope This Helps, PH.
Want to get great answers to your Tek-Tips questions? Have a look at FAQ219-2884 or FAQ181-2886

 

[N8bak]

Thanks for the responses Annihilannic and PHV. Our vendor's support team found an indexing issue within one of their tables that was causing the process to lock up. Since fixing the issue we have not seen the same problem.

~N8

"Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon `em." - Twelfth Night, II:5