How can I figure out what processes I need to have running and which ones I dont?

Kramer · 08-04-2004, 05:10 PM

Is there a website that describes what each process does? Right now I have 94 processes chewing almost half my memory, and I get the feeling that some if not most of them are unnecessary. Any points of advice?

win32sux · 08-04-2004, 05:19 PM

it would be cool if you could post the output of ps aux

the key to not having so many processes running is to make sure you're not loading unnecessary stuff at startup...

Kramer · 08-04-2004, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by win32sux
it would be cool if you could post the output of ps aux

the key to not having so many processes running is to make sure you're not loading unnecessary stuff at startup...

Yeah, thats what I mean. I load a bunch of stuff I have no idea what it does. If I can figure out what I need and what I dont, Ill disable what I dont.

Here is the output of ps aux:

Quote:

USER PID %CPU %MEM VSZ RSS TTY STAT
START TIME COMMAND
root 1 0.0 0.0 1356 76 ? S
Jul19 0:04 init [5]
root 2 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? SW
Jul19 0:01 [keventd]
root 3 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? SWN
Jul19 0:00 [ksoftirqd_CPU0]
root 4 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? SW
Jul19 0:16 [kswapd]
root 5 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? SW
Jul19 0:00 [bdflush]
root 6 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? SW
Jul19 0:00 [kupdated]
root 8 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? SW<
Jul19 0:00 [mdrecoveryd]
root 12 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? SW
Jul19 0:00 [kjournald]
root 91 0.0 0.1 2260 592 ? S
Jul19 0:01 devfsd /dev
root 186 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? SW
Jul19 0:00 [khubd]
root 371 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? SW
Jul19 0:04 [kjournald]
root 786 0.0 0.0 1352 264 ? S
Jul19 0:00 /sbin/ifplugd -w
root 930 0.0 0.0 1480 4 ? S
Jul19 0:00 /sbin/cardmgr
rpc 949 0.0 0.0 1504 124 ? S
Jul19 0:00 [portmap]
root 965 0.0 0.0 1452 356 ? S
Jul19 0:02 syslogd -m 0
root 973 0.0 0.0 2056 164 ? S
Jul19 0:00 klogd -2
rpcuser 1020 0.0 0.0 1580 0 ? SW
Jul19 0:00 [rpc.statd]
xfs 1257 0.0 0.4 5508 1784 ? S
Jul19 0:02 [xfs]
daemon 1326 0.0 0.0 1392 104 ? S
Jul19 0:00 [atd]
root 1375 0.0 0.0 3720 4 ? S
Jul19 0:00 saslauthd -a pam
root 1394 0.0 0.0 3720 4 ? S
Jul19 0:00 saslauthd -a pam
root 1395 0.0 0.0 3720 4 ? S
Jul19 0:00 saslauthd -a pam
root 1396 0.0 0.0 3720 4 ? S
Jul19 0:00 saslauthd -a pam
root 1397 0.0 0.0 3720 4 ? S
Jul19 0:00 saslauthd -a pam
root 1408 0.0 0.0 1360 244 ? S
Jul19 0:00 /usr/sbin/acpid
root 1450 0.0 0.0 2848 4 ? S
Jul19 0:00 /usr/sbin/sshd
daemon 1485 0.0 0.0 1556 208 ? S
Jul19 0:00 [tmdns]
root 1522 0.0 0.1 1984 464 ? S
Jul19 0:00 xinetd -stayalive
root 1558 0.0 0.0 4668 312 ? S
Jul19 0:00 cupsd
root 1643 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? SW
Jul19 0:00 [nfsd]
root 1645 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? SW
Jul19 0:00 [lockd]
root 1646 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? SW
Jul19 0:00 [rpciod]
root 1647 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? SW
Jul19 0:00 [nfsd]
root 1648 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? SW
Jul19 0:00 [nfsd]
root 1650 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? SW
Jul19 0:00 [nfsd]
root 1651 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? SW
Jul19 0:00 [nfsd]
root 1652 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? SW
Jul19 0:00 [nfsd]
root 1653 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? SW
Jul19 0:00 [nfsd]
root 1654 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? SW
Jul19 0:00 [nfsd]
root 1670 0.0 0.0 1472 4 ? S
Jul19 0:00 rpc.mountd
root 1689 0.0 0.0 1384 116 ? S
Jul19 0:00 rwhod
root 1702 0.0 0.1 1396 476 ? S
Jul19 0:00 rwhod
root 1880 0.0 0.0 4060 184 ? S
Jul19 0:00 [master]
postfix 1895 0.0 0.0 4204 172 ? S
Jul19 0:00 [nqmgr]
root 2196 0.0 0.6 7464 2468 ? S
Jul19 0:00 httpd-perl -f /et
root 2219 0.0 1.9 11952 7176 ? S
Jul19 0:03 httpd2 -f /etc/ht
nobody 2243 0.0 0.0 3728 96 ? S
Jul19 0:00 [proftpd]
root 2259 0.0 0.0 1412 120 ? S
Jul19 0:00 crond
root 2277 0.0 0.2 8292 748 ? S
Jul19 0:00 /usr/bin/perl /us
root 2296 0.0 0.0 5272 4 ? S
Jul19 0:00 smbd -D
root 2331 0.0 0.1 2372 564 ? S
Jul19 0:00 /usr/bin/lisa -c
root 2446 0.0 0.0 1332 4 vc/1 S
Jul19 0:00 /sbin/mingetty tt
root 2447 0.0 0.0 1332 4 vc/2 S
Jul19 0:00 /sbin/mingetty tt
root 2448 0.0 0.0 1332 4 vc/3 S
Jul19 0:00 /sbin/mingetty tt
root 2449 0.0 0.0 1332 4 vc/4 S
Jul19 0:00 /sbin/mingetty tt
root 2450 0.0 0.0 1332 4 vc/5 S
Jul19 0:00 /sbin/mingetty tt
root 2451 0.0 0.0 1332 4 vc/6 S
Jul19 0:00 /sbin/mingetty tt
matthew 26769 0.0 0.6 3968 2256 ? S
Jul25 0:00 oafd --ac-activat
root 493 0.0 0.1 2436 652 ? S
Jul26 0:00 /usr/bin/mdkkdm -
root 496 0.8 11.1 61052 41164 ? S<
Jul26 111:13 /etc/X11/X -defer
root 497 0.0 0.4 3456 1592 ? S
Jul26 0:00 -:0
matthew 565 0.0 0.3 2412 1216 ? S
Jul26 0:00 /bin/sh /usr/bin/
matthew 646 0.0 1.4 20600 5380 ? S
Jul26 0:00 kdeinit: Running.
matthew 649 0.0 0.4 20500 1776 ? S
Jul26 0:01 kdeinit: dcopserv
matthew 652 0.0 0.8 21884 3124 ? S
Jul26 0:00 kdeinit: klaunche
matthew 654 0.0 2.6 22916 9960 ? S
Jul26 1:14 kdeinit: kded
matthew 655 0.0 0.4 3372 1712 ? S
Jul26 0:02 [fam]
matthew 666 0.0 2.9 28176 11004 ? S
Jul26 0:38 kdeinit: knotify
matthew 667 0.0 0.0 1340 300 ? S
Jul26 0:00 kwrapper ksmserve
matthew 669 0.0 2.2 21992 8316 ? S
Jul26 0:25 kdeinit: ksmserve
matthew 670 0.1 2.9 23400 11076 ? S
Jul26 25:01 kdeinit: kwin -se
matthew 671 0.2 1.6 10464 5992 ? S
Jul26 35:25 /usr/bin/gkrellm
matthew 675 0.0 4.3 29736 16148 ? S
Jul26 4:58 kdeinit: kdesktop
matthew 678 0.0 3.5 25476 13176 ? S
Jul26 0:55 kdeinit: kicker
matthew 684 0.0 2.6 23000 9932 ? S
Jul26 0:12 kdeinit: kwrited
matthew 690 0.0 3.6 25464 13500 ? S
Jul26 2:07 superkaramba -ses
matthew 691 0.0 3.6 25464 13500 ? S
Jul26 0:42 superkaramba -ses
matthew 692 0.3 4.1 27688 15412 ? S
Jul26 39:24 superkaramba -ses
matthew 707 0.0 2.5 22416 9240 ? S
Jul26 2:25 kalarmd --login
matthew 893 0.0 0.6 14820 2364 ? S
Jul26 0:00 [kdesud]
matthew 1016 0.0 2.9 22732 10888 ? S
Jul26 2:17 kdeinit: kio_uise
matthew 8422 0.0 1.7 21648 6504 ? S
Jul27 0:00 kdeinit: kio_file
root 13449 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? SW
Jul28 0:00 [eth0]
apache 31934 0.0 0.7 7560 2596 ? S
Aug01 0:00 [httpd-perl]
apache 31935 0.0 0.7 7560 2596 ? S
Aug01 0:00 [httpd-perl]
apache 31936 0.0 0.7 7560 2596 ? S
Aug01 0:00 [httpd-perl]
apache 31937 0.0 0.7 7560 2596 ? S
Aug01 0:00 [httpd-perl]
root 31943 0.0 0.3 3416 1292 ? S
Aug01 0:00 /usr/bin/perl /us
apache 31948 0.0 1.9 12060 7300 ? S
Aug01 0:00 [httpd2]
apache 31949 0.0 1.9 12060 7300 ? S
Aug01 0:00 [httpd2]
apache 31950 0.0 1.9 12060 7300 ? S
Aug01 0:00 [httpd2]
apache 31951 0.0 1.9 12060 7300 ? S
Aug01 0:00 [httpd2]
apache 31953 0.0 1.9 12060 7300 ? S
Aug01 0:00 [httpd2]
postfix 27055 0.0 0.3 4164 1424 ? S
17:20 0:00 [pickup]
matthew 27097 12.0 3.8 23624 14144 ? R
18:44 0:01 konsole
matthew 27099 1.1 0.4 2604 1520 pts/1 S
18:44 0:00 /bin/bash
matthew 27128 0.0 0.2 2580 760 pts/1 R
18:44 0:00 ps aux

Anything else I can do to help, let me know

win32sux · 08-04-2004, 05:57 PM

well, i took a quick look...

do you really want to be running a web server, an ftp server, a samba server, and an nfs server???

cuz you are...

=)

username17 · 08-04-2004, 06:13 PM

best way that I know of, to find what web services you are running is:
netstat -a | grep LISTEN

it will come back with a list of services.
The output is two part, if you're surfing the web, you'll see a lot of hit, scroll up, to the first lines of output (@ work, can't paste my outpud).
It will say what services are running.

To disable them:
vi /etc/inetd.conf
comment out everything you don't want (# being the comment).
-Jason

If you do edit /etc/inetd.conf you can kill the inetd daemon or just reboot.

Skyline · 08-04-2004, 08:19 PM

For services, have a look here:

http://mandrakeuser.org/docs/admin/aservice2.html

Kramer · 08-04-2004, 08:34 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by win32sux
well, i took a quick look...

do you really want to be running a web server, an ftp server, a samba server, and an nfs server???

cuz you are...

=)

Thats probably whats chewing alot of my memory I would imagine. Which ones of the bunch would you say I didnt need?

Quote:

Oringinally posted by Skyline

For services, have a look here:

http://mandrakeuser.org/docs/admin/aservice2.html

Thanks, thats exactly what Im looking for.

win32sux · 08-05-2004, 07:21 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Kramer
Thats probably whats chewing alot of my memory I would imagine. Which ones of the bunch would you say I didnt need?

if you don't use any of those, you can remove them with something like this:

urpme proftpd apache apache2 nfs-utils samba-server

then reboot and run ps aux again... post the new results if you want...

also, an idea... before you remove these things (if you choose do do so) reboot the system and as soon as it comes up do a free -m > before.txt (to record current memory usage) and then when you remove the stuff and reboot do a free -m > after.txt and you'll be able to compare how much memory you're saving by doing a cat before.txt after.txt (please DO post)...

=)

you're also running a ssh daemon, i'm not sure if you're using that... it doesn't use a lot of resources or anything, but it IS an unecessary risk if you don't use it... if you DO use it, make sure you disable root logins via ssh...

if you wanna get rid of it just do a:

urpme openssh-server

Kramer · 08-06-2004, 09:16 PM

ok, from the cat of the two text files we get:

Quote:

[matthew@localhost matthew]$ cat before.txt after.txt
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 360 235 125 0 10 121
-/+ buffers/cache: 104 256
Swap: 494 0 494
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 360 203 157 0 9 105
-/+ buffers/cache: 88 272
Swap: 494 0 494

Now, from the ps aux, we get:

Quote:

[matthew@localhost matthew]$ ps aux
USER PID %CPU %MEM VSZ RSS TTY STAT START TIME COMMAND
root 1 2.3 0.1 1356 496 ? S 22:06 0:04 init [5]
root 2 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? SW 22:06 0:00 [keventd]
root 3 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? SWN 22:06 0:00 [ksoftirqd_CPU0]
root 4 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? SW 22:06 0:00 [kswapd]
root 5 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? SW 22:06 0:00 [bdflush]
root 6 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? SW 22:06 0:00 [kupdated]
root 8 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? SW< 22:06 0:00 [mdrecoveryd]
root 12 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? SW 22:06 0:00 [kjournald]
root 91 0.2 0.3 2164 1364 ? S 22:06 0:00 devfsd /dev
root 186 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? SW 22:06 0:00 [khubd]
root 323 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? SW 22:07 0:00 [kjournald]
root 732 0.0 0.1 1344 460 ? S 22:07 0:00 /sbin/ifplugd -w
root 733 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? SW 22:07 0:00 [eth0]
root 806 0.0 0.2 1952 964 ? S 22:07 0:00 /sbin/dhclient -1
root 875 0.0 0.1 1480 660 ? S 22:07 0:00 /sbin/cardmgr
rpc 893 0.0 0.1 1504 532 ? S 22:07 0:00 [portmap]
root 909 0.0 0.1 1452 624 ? S 22:07 0:00 syslogd -m 0
root 917 0.0 0.3 2180 1320 ? S 22:07 0:00 klogd -2
rpcuser 964 0.0 0.2 1580 756 ? S 22:07 0:00 [rpc.statd]
xfs 1204 0.0 1.0 5400 3920 ? S 22:07 0:00 [xfs]
root 1248 0.0 0.3 2512 1320 ? S 22:07 0:00 /bin/sh /etc/X11/
root 1257 0.0 0.3 2288 1140 ? S 22:07 0:00 /usr/sbin/autolog
daemon 1273 0.0 0.1 1392 500 ? S 22:07 0:00 [atd]
root 1311 0.0 0.2 3720 1100 ? S 22:07 0:00 saslauthd -a pam
root 1333 0.0 0.2 3720 1100 ? S 22:07 0:00 saslauthd -a pam
root 1334 0.0 0.2 3720 1100 ? S 22:07 0:00 saslauthd -a pam
root 1335 0.0 0.2 3720 1100 ? S 22:07 0:00 saslauthd -a pam
root 1336 0.0 0.2 3720 1100 ? S 22:07 0:00 saslauthd -a pam
root 1349 0.0 0.1 1356 532 ? S 22:07 0:00 /usr/sbin/acpid
matthew 1374 0.0 0.3 2416 1216 ? S 22:07 0:00 /bin/sh /usr/X11R
daemon 1375 0.0 0.1 1524 616 ? S 22:07 0:00 [tmdns]
root 1422 0.0 0.2 1984 876 ? S 22:07 0:00 xinetd -stayalive
matthew 1443 0.0 0.1 2316 612 ? S 22:07 0:00 xinit /etc/X11/xi
root 1444 3.6 6.2 43212 23272 ? R 22:07 0:05 [X]
root 1482 0.0 0.4 4664 1576 ? S 22:07 0:00 cupsd
root 1552 0.0 0.1 1384 484 ? S 22:07 0:00 rwhod
root 1567 0.0 0.1 1388 544 ? S 22:07 0:00 rwhod
matthew 1605 0.0 0.3 2424 1228 ? S 22:07 0:00 /bin/sh /usr/bin/
root 1757 0.0 0.3 4060 1336 ? S 22:07 0:00 [master]
postfix 1772 0.0 0.3 4164 1424 ? S 22:07 0:00 [pickup]
postfix 1773 0.0 0.3 4200 1456 ? S 22:07 0:00 [nqmgr]
root 1900 0.0 1.0 7468 3852 ? S 22:07 0:00 httpd-perl -f /et
root 1907 0.0 0.3 3420 1308 ? S 22:07 0:00 /usr/bin/perl /us
apache 1908 0.0 1.0 7564 3936 ? S 22:07 0:00 [httpd-perl]
apache 1909 0.0 1.0 7564 3936 ? S 22:07 0:00 [httpd-perl]
apache 1910 0.0 1.0 7564 3936 ? S 22:07 0:00 [httpd-perl]
apache 1911 0.0 1.0 7564 3936 ? S 22:07 0:00 [httpd-perl]
root 1924 0.0 0.1 1412 596 ? S 22:07 0:00 crond
matthew 1942 0.0 2.2 20588 8232 ? S 22:07 0:00 kdeinit: Running.
matthew 1945 0.0 2.2 20500 8404 ? S 22:07 0:00 kdeinit: dcopserv
matthew 1948 0.1 2.6 21840 9648 ? S 22:07 0:00 kdeinit: klaunche
matthew 1950 0.5 3.3 22864 12328 ? S 22:07 0:00 kdeinit: kded
matthew 1951 0.0 0.4 3292 1588 ? S 22:07 0:00 [fam]
root 1952 0.0 1.6 8292 5912 ? S 22:07 0:00 /usr/bin/perl /us
root 1977 0.0 0.2 2372 1048 ? S 22:07 0:00 /usr/bin/lisa -c
root 2122 0.0 0.1 1332 408 vc/1 S 22:07 0:00 /sbin/mingetty tt
root 2123 0.0 0.1 1332 408 vc/2 S 22:07 0:00 /sbin/mingetty tt
root 2124 0.0 0.1 1332 408 vc/3 S 22:07 0:00 /sbin/mingetty tt
root 2125 0.0 0.1 1332 408 vc/4 S 22:07 0:00 /sbin/mingetty tt
root 2126 0.0 0.1 1332 408 vc/5 S 22:07 0:00 /sbin/mingetty tt
root 2127 0.0 0.1 1332 408 vc/6 S 22:07 0:00 /sbin/mingetty tt
matthew 2136 1.6 1.6 11304 5968 ? R 22:08 0:02 /usr/bin/artsd -F
matthew 2138 0.4 3.9 28144 14576 ? S 22:08 0:00 kdeinit: knotify
matthew 2139 0.0 0.0 1340 300 ? S 22:08 0:00 kwrapper ksmserve
matthew 2141 0.2 2.9 21972 10956 ? S 22:08 0:00 kdeinit: ksmserve
matthew 2142 0.7 3.5 23184 13048 ? S 22:08 0:00 kdeinit: kwin -se
matthew 2143 0.5 1.6 10456 5980 ? S 22:08 0:00 /usr/bin/gkrellm
matthew 2145 1.9 4.8 30160 17888 ? S 22:08 0:02 kdeinit: kdesktop
matthew 2150 0.7 3.8 24896 14304 ? S 22:08 0:00 kdeinit: kicker
matthew 2151 0.0 2.3 20748 8720 ? S 22:08 0:00 kdeinit: kio_file
matthew 2152 0.0 2.3 20748 8716 ? S 22:08 0:00 kdeinit: kio_file
matthew 2156 0.3 3.3 23000 12484 ? S 22:08 0:00 kdeinit: kwrited
matthew 2162 0.7 3.6 25388 13372 ? S 22:08 0:00 superkaramba -ses
matthew 2163 0.8 3.6 25392 13376 ? S 22:08 0:00 superkaramba -ses
matthew 2164 1.6 4.0 27104 14788 ? S 22:08 0:01 superkaramba -ses
matthew 2166 0.4 3.1 22432 11552 ? S 22:08 0:00 kalarmd --login
matthew 2173 1.8 3.8 23644 14192 ? S 22:09 0:01 konsole
matthew 2174 0.1 0.4 2616 1532 pts/1 S 22:09 0:00 /bin/bash
matthew 2206 0.0 0.2 2580 756 pts/1 R 22:10 0:00 ps aux

Now, what else can I get rid of from that list? Im still running 80 processes, but at least Im not chewing that extra 32 Mb of RAM now.

win32sux · 08-06-2004, 10:51 PM

seems like you still have the apache web server running, and that superkaramba is memory-hungry (but i'm guessing you wanna keep that anyway)...

okay, i'd say this:

urpme portmap apache postfix cups

of course don't remove cups if you're using it to print...

don't forget to post the new stats...

=)