Ubuntu high memory usage

[disturbedone]

Relative Linux newbie here. Basic stuff is known but nothing too in depth.

I have an Ubuntu 8.10 server that is a web server with Joomla. Over the period of 1-2mths the memory usage grows and grows until it reaches 95-100%. Rebooting resolves this but over time it grows again and the cycle continues.

Running top shows

PID 4850
USER plone
%MEM 83.7
TIME 1518:54
COMMAND python

The next closest entry has %MEM at <1% and hardly any time. But the python entry is flat out.

Restarting every few months resolves it but I'd rather find the cause and a permanent fix. Any ideas?

 

[Noway2]

Assuming your not compromised, there is probably a memory leak in an application.
I noticed that you said, "Ubuntu 8.10 server" This is an EXTREMELY outdated version, probably even beyond LTS (which is currently on 10.04 or 10.10). Running outdated software is one of the biggest risk factors for being PWN'd. I would recommend that you upgrade to a more current version of both the OS and of the application and see if this resolves your problem as it will undoubtedly apply fixes to MANY bugs.

 

[Annihilannic]

Besides Noway2's long-term solution, what is the full command-line of that process (ps -fp <pid> should tell you)? Does the "plone" user name mean something to you? It may be sufficient to just kill that particular process, depending on whether it is doing something critical or not; even so, I can't imagine it having any more impact than your current "reboot solution".

Annihilannic
[small]tgmlify - code syntax highlighting for your tek-tips posts[/small]

 

[disturbedone]

Plone" is an open source content management system -

http://www.plone.org

Although I stated Joomlan in the initial post I think it must've been replaced by Plone.
I'll have a look at updating to a newer version of Ubuntu shortly.

 

[Annihilannic]

In that case I'd just recycle the Plone service rather than the entire server to fix the problem... but do go ahead with the updates as recommended earlier.

Annihilannic
[small]tgmlify - code syntax highlighting for your tek-tips posts[/small]