Services status <defunct>

[hp omni backup]

Hi ,

I have a proxy server and when i tried with ps -ef i have got the following output.

what does this status means and how can i rectify this . please guideme with some commands.

Thanks in advance.

root 2550 2367 0 Mar 12 ? 438:44 memlogd
root 2551 2367 1 Mar 12 ? 1756:05 psmctd
www 25598 13005 1 Mar 18 ? 1:19
root 2601 1 0 Mar 12 ? 0:00 /usr/sbin/rpc.mountd
root 2617 2616 0 Mar 12 ? 0:00 /usr/sbin/nfsd 4
root 2624 2617 0 Mar 12 ? 0:00 /usr/sbin/nfsd 4
root 471 467 0 Mar 20 ? 1006:54 opcmona
root 2625 2616 0 Mar 12 ? 0:00 /usr/sbin/nfsd 4
root 2616 1 0 Mar 12 ? 0:00 /usr/sbin/nfsd 4
www 25177 26011 6 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 25130 26011 2 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 2676 1 0 Mar 12 ? 8:05 ./ns-proxy -d /opt/nsproxy36/proxy-west/config
www 3999 13005 3 Mar 18 ? 1:20
www 25135 26011 1 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 22122 25149 3 Mar 19 ? 0:00
www 24965 13005 1 Mar 19 ? 1:08
www 26675 2800 3 Mar 20 ? 0:04
www 24293 25149 1 Mar 19 ? 0:00
www 15958 13005 3 Mar 18 ? 1:24
www 25156 26011 2 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 25125 26011 2 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 25777 13005 12 Mar 18 ? 1:21
www 22516 1 0 Nov 12 ? 4:10 ./ns-proxy -d /opt/nsproxy36/proxy-alert/config
www 22600 25149 0 Mar 19 ? 0:00
www 25176 26011 1 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 21666 25149 2 Mar 19 ? 0:00
www 25138 26011 1 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 25165 26011 2 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 25124 26011 1 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 25118 26011 3 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 11831 13005 1 Mar 18 ? 1:22
www 25159 26011 2 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 18450 13005 5 Mar 18 ? 1:15
www 25174 26011 1 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 13693 13005 3 Mar 18 ? 1:18
www 25797 25149 1 Mar 20 ? 0:00
www 24099 25149 1 Mar 19 ? 0:00
www 24385 25149 1 Mar 19 ? 0:00
www 21644 25149 2 Mar 19 ? 0:00
www 22666 13005 2 Mar 18 ? 1:20
www 25132 26011 1 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 7432 13005 40 Mar 18 ? 1:19
www 24311 25149 2 Mar 19 ? 0:00
www 25175 26011 2 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 2666 2676 1 Mar 19 ? 0:07
www 25126 26011 2 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 25137 26011 2 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 26676 2800 2 Mar 20 ? 0:04
www 25128 26011 4 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 25164 26011 3 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 26684 2800 1 Mar 20 ? 0:04
www 25136 26011 2 Mar 20 ? 0:02
root 7609 1 0 Nov 13 ? 0:02 /esm/bin/hpux-hppa/esmd -fv
www 15959 13005 1 Mar 18 ? 1:24
www 26687 2800 3 Mar 20 ? 0:04
www 25162 26011 0 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 25178 26011 2 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 25141 26011 3 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 25147 26011 1 Mar 20 ? 0:02
root 11842 1 2 Jul 15 ? 4235:36 ./ns-admin -d /opt/nsproxy36/admin-serv/config
www 2798 1 0 Mar 12 ? 11:10 ./ns-proxy -d /opt/nsproxy36/proxy-bulletins/config
www 17834 1 0 Aug 11 ? 8:47 ./ns-proxy -d /opt/nsproxy36/proxy-covad/config
www 25143 26011 1 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 26680 2800 3 Mar 20 ? 0:04
www 26678 2800 2 Mar 20 ? 0:04
www 14936 13005 54 Mar 18 ? 1:22
www 872 13005 20 Mar 19 ? 1:13
www 18345 13005 0 Mar 18 ? 1:08
www 25123 26011 3 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 26685 2800 2 Mar 20 ? 0:04
www 26690 2800 5 Mar 20 ? 0:04
www 14058 13005 4 Mar 18 ? 1:18
www 15062 13005 32 Mar 18 ? 1:23
www 25148 26011 2 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 25152 26011 2 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 25179 26011 3 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 25140 26011 1 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 12145 13005 22 Mar 18 ? 1:14
www 11359 13005 1 Mar 18 ? 1:20
www 22225 25149 1 Mar 19 ? 0:00
www 25120 26011 2 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 25169 26011 1 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 25160 26011 3 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 2799 2798 0 Mar 12 ? 2:28 ./ns-proxy -d /opt/nsproxy36/proxy-bulletins/config
www 2800 1 0 Mar 12 ? 16:38 ./ns-proxy -d /opt/nsproxy36/proxy-bulletins/config
www 25134 26011 1 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 4725 1 0 Aug 6 ? 3:52 ./ns-proxy -d /opt/nsproxy36/proxy-napsac/config
root 467 1 0 Mar 20 ? 317:39 opcctla -start
www 25127 26011 2 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 25145 26011 1 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 25170 26011 1 Mar 20 ? 0:02
devi 17535 17520 4 08:59:19 pts/tf 0:00 ps -ef
www 25599 13005 6 Mar 18 ? 1:17
www 22343 25149 4 Mar 19 ? 0:00
devi 17520 17519 1 08:59:10 pts/tf 0:00 -sh
www 25154 26011 1 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 20781 25149 1 Mar 19 ? 0:00
www 13515 13005 21 Mar 19 ? 1:14
www 22286 25149 1 Mar 19 ? 0:00
www 20848 25149 2 Mar 19 ? 0:00
www 23747 13005 14 Mar 18 ? 1:22
www 25166 26011 2 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 25933 25149 0 Mar 20 ? 0:00
www 25142 26011 2 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 23502 25149 3 Mar 19 ? 0:00
www 7448 13005 1 Mar 18 ? 1:26
root 17509 1 0 Feb 14 ? 0:36 ./ns-cron -d /opt/nsproxy36
www 26007 1 0 Mar 5 ? 2:41 ./ns-proxy -d /opt/nsproxy36/proxy-iw/config
www 26686 2800 0 Mar 20 ? 0:04
www 20427 25149 1 Mar 19 ? 0:00
www 26682 2800 2 Mar 20 ? 0:04
www 25171 26011 2 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 24818 25149 0 Mar 19 ? 0:00
www 16200 1 0 Feb 21 ? 1:58 ./ns-proxy -d /opt/nsproxy36/proxy-ccihdalite/config
www 25119 26011 2 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 14098 13005 2 Mar 18 ? 1:24
www 26677 2800 2 Mar 20 ? 0:04
www 22479 25149 1 Mar 19 ? 0:00
www 25157 26011 2 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 25167 26011 1 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 25149 1 0 Nov 20 ? 201:26 ./ns-proxy -d /opt/nsproxy36/proxy-chat/config
www 25121 26011 2 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 25116 26011 1 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 25117 26011 1 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 24863 25149 1 Mar 19 ? 0:00
www 24330 25149 1 Mar 19 ? 0:00
root 17519 1971 0 08:59:10 pts/tf 0:00 telnetd
root 2905 1 0 Mar 12 ? 253:34 /etc/opt/resmon/lbin/p_client
root 2907 1 0 Mar 12 ? 0:01 /usr/sbin/stm/uut/bin/tools/monitor/disk_em
www 25144 26011 2 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 25808 25149 2 Mar 20 ? 0:00
www 26683 2800 2 Mar 20 ? 0:04
root 2964 1 0 Mar 12 ? 2:09 /usr/sbin/stm/uut/bin/tools/monitor/dm_core_hw
www 23947 13005 39 Mar 18 ? 1:23
root 3493 2596 0 Mar 12 ? 2:05 /usr/sbin/stm/uut/bin/tools/monitor/dm_memory
www 25155 26011 2 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 13005 1 0 Jul 15 ? 0:22 ./ns-proxy -d /opt/nsproxy36/proxy-emailforms/config
root 472 467 0 Mar 20 ? 5:40 opcmsgi
root 2942 1 0 Mar 12 ? 96:17 /usr/sbin/stm/uut/bin/tools/monitor/fc60mon
www 28523 13005 2 Mar 18 ? 1:22
www 25163 26011 3 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 19315 13005 24 Mar 18 ? 1:18
www 25131 26011 2 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 11997 13005 1 Mar 18 ? 1:28
root 469 467 0 Mar 20 ? 225:00 opcacta
www 23430 25149 1 Mar 19 ? 0:00
www 20495 25149 1 Mar 19 ? 0:00
www 25122 26011 1 Mar 20 ? 0:02
root 468 467 0 Mar 20 ? 298:41 opcmsga
www 19779 2676 1 Mar 19 ? 0:07
www 26011 1 0 Mar 5 ? 22:33 ./ns-proxy -d /opt/nsproxy36/proxy-iw/config
www 15606 13005 2 Mar 18 ? 1:21
www 15610 13005 44 Mar 18 ? 1:28
www 25158 26011 2 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 26681 2800 1 Mar 20 ? 0:04
www 25115 26011 2 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 25139 26011 2 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 25168 26011 2 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 7072 2676 0 Mar 19 ? 0:06
www 11526 13005 2 Mar 18 ? 1:26
www 3344 2676 1 Mar 19 ? 0:07
www 25173 26011 2 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 25161 26011 3 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 12278 2676 1 Mar 19 ? 0:06
www 26679 2800 0 Mar 20 ? 0:04
www 25129 26011 3 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 25150 26011 1 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 23872 25149 2 Mar 19 ? 0:00
www 25146 26011 4 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 25133 26011 1 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 20497 25149 1 Mar 19 ? 0:00
www 22276 25149 0 Mar 19 ? 0:00
www 23024 25149 0 Mar 19 ? 0:00
www 21451 25149 1 Mar 19 ? 0:00
www 25151 26011 0 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 25172 26011 1 Mar 20 ? 0:02
www 21389 25149 2 Mar 19 ? 0:00
www 21516 25149 0 Mar 19 ? 0:00
www 11267 13005 0 Mar 18 ? 1:23
www 26689 2800 1 Mar 20 ? 0:04
www 16431 2676 1 Mar 19 ? 0:04
$ sw4232p
$ ps -ef | more
UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME COMMAND
root 0 0 0 Mar 12 ? 9:09 swapper
root 1 0 0 Mar 12 ? 91:46 init
root 2 0 0 Mar 12 ? 235:28 vhand
root 3 0 0 Mar 12 ? 7320:25 statdaemon
root 4 0 0 Mar 12 ? 334:06 unhashdaemon
root 8 0 0 Mar 12 ? 0:00 supsched
root 9 0 0 Mar 12 ? 0:00 strmem
root 10 0 0 Mar 12 ? 0:00 strweld
root 11 0 0 Mar 12 ? 0:00 strfreebd
root 12 0 0 Mar 12 ? 3232:28 ttisr
root 18 0 0 Mar 12 ? 65:22 lvmkd
root 19 0 0 Mar 12 ? 64:18 lvmkd
root 20 0 0 Mar 12 ? 64:52 lvmkd
root 21 0 0 Mar 12 ? 64:26 lvmkd
root 22 0 0 Mar 12 ? 65:52 lvmkd
root 23 0 0 Mar 12 ? 63:15 lvmkd
root 24 0 0 Mar 12 ? 0:00 lvmschedd
root 25 0 0 Mar 12 ? 0:42 smpsched
root 26 0 0 Mar 12 ? 0:42 smpsched
root 27 0 0 Mar 12 ? 0:00 sblksched
root 28 0 0 Mar 12 ? 0:00 sblksched
root 7019 1 0 Jul 1 console 0:00 -sh
Standard input

[Mel Burslan · Accepted solution]

One command :

shutdown -ry 0

you have too many defunct processes hanging around for a long time. What is the uptime of this server I don't know but if and when you have that many defunct (a.k.a. zombie) processes laying around, only way to clear them is a reboot.

Zombie processes are not bad things per-se, but too many of them is telling me that something that is supposed to terminate in a certain way is not doing so, leaving all these defunct droppings behind. I would get in contact with sun (errrr.. oracle now) as the proxy product you are running seems to be branded as Netscape, and see why you are seeing this behavior. There might be some configuration/tuning required

[Steven E. Protter]

Shalom,

These appear to be dead processes.

You should try and kill them, perhaps kill -9 them if that does not work.

If will probably fail, resulting in zombie processes.

These are usually caused by poor application code. www user normally owns a web/httpd server.

The application that started these processes probably needs to be fixed, patched, updated.

SEP

[Pete Randall]

I think in order to kill the defunct process, you will need to kill the parent. At least I think that's what I recall.


Pete

[hp omni backup]

Mel Burslan .

Thank you somuch for your support.

shutdown -ry 0 worked for me.

it brought up all the services to normal state.

Thanks a bunch to all of you for your replies and guidelines....

Have a nice weekend.

[Steven E. Protter]

Note:

This problem was caused most likely by a poorly written application.

reboot cleared the short term problem.

The problem will most likely recur if the root problem is not addressed.

SEP

[Dennis Handly]

>what does this status means and how can I rectify this?

You have a whole herd of zombies with a whole bunch of zombie masters. You need to trace this whole zombie family to see who is doing this. ns-proxy is starting one group.
UNIX95=EXTENDED_PS ps -Hfu www

>Mel: only way to clear them is a reboot.

As Pete said, you can kill the zombies by killing the zombie master, ns-proxy.

>SEP: This problem was caused most likely by a poorly written application.

Yes, definitely.