"ps -ef" command gets stuck.

[GnanaShekar]

Hi,

I have a RHEL ES4 OS running on HP Itanium server.

[root@bangpcia4 ~]# more /etc/redhat-release
Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES release 4 (Nahant Update 3)
[root@bangpcia4 ~]# uname -a
Linux bangpcia4 2.6.9-34.EL #1 SMP Fri Feb 24 16:49:08 EST 2006 ia64 ia64 ia64 GNU/Linux

The "ps -ef" is getting stuck. That is the "ps -ef" command gets hung in the middle and I won't get to the # prompt.
However, I am able to start a new telnet/putty session and work. But again when I give the "ps -ef" command I am stuck.

From the vmstat command I do not see any load on the system. I don't know what is going wrong.

[root@bangpcia4 ~]# vmstat 5
procs -----------memory---------- ---swap-- -----io---- --system-- ----cpu----
r b swpd free buff cache si so bi bo in cs us sy id wa
0 0 0 4013632 1009424 2736736 0 0 7 22 4 10 4 0 96 0
0 0 0 4013568 1009456 2736704 0 0 0 14 4109 66 0 0 100 0
0 0 0 4013568 1009456 2736704 0 0 0 0 4113 66 0 0 100 0
0 0 0 4013568 1009456 2736704 0 0 0 0 4107 62 0 0 100 0
0 0 0 4013568 1009456 2736704 0 0 0 0 4112 67 0 0 100 0
0 0 0 4013568 1009456 2736704 0 0 0 0 4107 62 0 0 100 0
0 0 0 4013568 1009456 2736704 0 0 0 1 4111 65 0 0 100 0
0 0 0 4013568 1009456 2736704 0 0 0 4 4110 64 0 0 100 0

I restarted the system and now "ps -ef" command seems to be fine. If any of you have come across a similar problem please suggest.

The user has informed me a couple of times regarding this problem. I have been restarting the server all the time. I want to root cause the issue and fix it permanently.

Please suggest,
Thanks & Regards,

[Jollyjet]

plz confirm that you had applied recent security patches which was release if not download the patches and install it.

the below link will help you to download the patches

http://www.redhat.com/security/updates/

[Alexander Chuzhoy]

Is it just the ps -ef command or any command?

Do you have nfs mounts that become unavailable for short times?