I'm a heavy mod_perl user, running 3 sites as virtual servers, all with lots of custom Perl code. My httpd's are huge(~50mb), but with the help of a startup file I'm able to get them sharing most of their memory(~43). With the help of GTopLimit, I'm able to keep the memory usage under control.
But... recently, something happened, and things have changed. After some random amount of time (1 to 40 minutes or so, under load), the parent httpd suddenly loses about 7-10mb of share between it and any new child it spawns. As you can imagine, the memory footprint of my httpds skyrockets and the delicate balance I set up is disturbed. Also, GTopLimit is no help in this case - it actually causes flailing because each new child starts with memory sharing that is out of bounds and is thus killed very quickly. Restarting Apache resets the memory usage and restores the server to smooth operation. Until, it happens again. Using GTop() to get the shared memory of each child before and after running my perl for each page load showed that it wasn't my code causing the jump, but suddenly the child, after having a good amount of shared memory in use, loses a 10MB chunk and from then on the other children follow suit. So, something I did on the server (I'm always doing stuff!) has caused this change to happen, but I've been pulling my hair out for days trying to track it down. I am now getting desperate. One of the recent things I did was to run "tux" (another web server) to serve my images, but I don't see how that could have any effect on this. If anyone has any ideas what might cause the httpd parent (and new children) to lose a big chunk of shared memory between them, please let me know. Thanks in advance, -bill
