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archieval 03-25-2013 03:37 AM

Cannot execute command, out of memory
 
Hello,

I am accessing a remote unix server and for some reason I think the memory is all used up. All I can execute is cd command. ls does not work also. Is there any way for me to kill any running processes under my username so I can free up memory? If I exit the server I cannot login again. I am left with one terminal and no one is on the other side to reboot the server there..

When executing other commands, this is shown:

ksh: 0403-031 The fork function failed. There is not enough memory available.

First I thought of using 'exec killall' to use the current shell so there will be no forking, but I have not done it yet because if it does not work, I will no longer have any shell..

Regards,
archieval

pan64 03-25-2013 04:51 AM

as a normal user you will have no way to solve it. you would need either need sudo access, root passwd or someone who can help you.

archieval 03-25-2013 07:22 AM

I have sudo access and I have tried the 'exec killall' but i didn't work. Guess I will have to wait for someone else to check it there. But if anyone has a solution in case this happens again, I will be interested for the answer. Thanks!

pan64 03-25-2013 07:28 AM

exec killall may kill itself (I do not know how did you executed). You would need to find the root cause, but it is really hard because of the system is not responsive. Probably the process table is full, there can be several reasons...


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