I hope that this is the right place to ask this question, so:
We are running a Debian (virtualized) server with Apache running php as fcgi. Today the administrator told me that the processes are consuming the RAM on the system. He asked me to look around my code.
Well I think that virtually I have no control over the php processes since Apache spawns them, so this seems more like a server configuration problem. It seems that every request spawns a new php process (this is ok). After my script terminates the php process goes to sleep.
This is what top looks like. I sorted by memory and these are the php processes (they run on the user edem):
top - 14:49:35 up 41 days, 2:09, 2 users, load average: 0.16, 0.13, 0.06
Tasks: 228 total, 1 running, 227 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie
Cpu(s): 0.7%us, 0.3%sy, 0.0%ni, 98.7%id, 0.0%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.3%si, 0.0%st
PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
12358 edem 20 0 67380 6464 2976 S 0.3 0.2 0:00.06 php
12250 edem 20 0 66960 9776 6584 S 0.0 0.3 0:00.11 php
12253 edem 20 0 67480 7812 3832 S 0.0 0.3 0:00.19 php
12254 edem 20 0 67464 7108 3316 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.07 php
12255 edem 20 0 67404 7340 3604 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.14 php
12256 edem 20 0 67464 7128 3336 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.07 php
12257 edem 20 0 67380 6484 3000 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.04 php
12258 edem 20 0 67464 7092 3312 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.05 php
12259 edem 20 0 67464 7184 3392 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.07 php
12260 edem 20 0 67464 7088 3296 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.06 php
12263 edem 20 0 66960 9780 6584 S 0.0 0.3 0:00.11 php
12265 edem 20 0 67464 7084 3280 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.09 php
12266 edem 20 0 67436 7376 3600 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.14 php
12267 edem 20 0 67464 7144 3340 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.06 php
12268 edem 20 0 67380 6508 3016 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.05 php
12269 edem 20 0 67540 7672 3820 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.22 php
12270 edem 20 0 67496 6488 3040 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.05 php
12271 edem 20 0 67436 7372 3596 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.15 php
12272 edem 20 0 67464 7108 3304 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.07 php
12277 edem 20 0 66960 9776 6584 S 0.0 0.3 0:00.11 php
12279 edem 20 0 67436 7368 3596 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.15 php
12280 edem 20 0 67464 7096 3296 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.07 php
12281 edem 20 0 67464 7748 3808 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.18 php
12282 edem 20 0 67496 7388 3600 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.14 php
12283 edem 20 0 67380 6464 2976 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.04 php
12284 edem 20 0 67380 6464 2976 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.05 php
12285 edem 20 0 67464 7168 3368 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.07 php
12286 edem 20 0 67464 7104 3304 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.06 php
12287 edem 20 0 66960 9780 6584 S 0.0 0.3 0:00.11 php
12289 edem 20 0 67464 7140 3336 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.07 php
Do you have any ide how to kill those sleeping (idling) php processes? Is there something I’m doing wrong?
edem, I think you shouln’t kill em. As fastcgi idea not to spawn new processes. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FastCGI#Implementation_details
As a workaround you can try to play with your webserver fcgi settings to for example reduce “sleepin” number. Also I think your admin tells you about some peak usage, but we don’t see it here, as you top your memory in possible calm time.