too many defunct processes found on unix server

[vramesh]

Hi Team,

As a general check on sun server, I have identified that the most of the commands in the /usr/sbin have been corrupted (zero bytes), and also some files in the /sbin directory. Also found that there are too many "defunct" processes on the server, since I'm unable to execute any command on the server (I'm getting "Fork-Failed too many processes) error.

I have fixed this error by copying the corrupted commands from the CD and now the server is working fine.

Anyone pls. let me know what could be the root cause for this problem? and what could be done to prevent these kind of corruptions? Your great inputs are welcomed

Thanks in advance..!

Regards,
V Ramesh
Sun-Administrator