[users@httpd] Apache Sometimes Ignoring MaxSpareServers, Running Out of Memory

[Dave Mabe]

I'm running Apache from the apache-perl Debian package out of stable.

Every so often (just infrequently enough to be very annoying), Apache will all of the sudden ignore the MaxSpareServers and start up more and more Apache child processes until it brings the server down.  During normal operation, it works just fine.  But when it gets in this state, it brings the server to its knees and I have to reboot.

I'm using this version of apache-perl: 1.3.33-6sarge1

Any ideas about how to troubleshoot and fix this problem?

--
Dave Mabe
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