LinuxQuestions.org - How to get my CENTOS 5.x install to be less bloated.

Hello LQ Community

Firstly let me thank the site owners and all members for the massive amounts of info on this site, i have many times been able to solve my linux problems by using information on this site.

But i have finally found myself in dire need of help, so i have finally registered an account and here we are.

I was just given my new dedicated server hosted in Amsterdam. Rather than giving me what i asked for (CENTOS, YUM and RPM) they have given me this super overbloated install of CENTOS.

The server has 2gb of ram which is plenty, but right now it is sitting with no websites, no cron jobs... nothing... and it's burning 800mb of ram according to top.

top - 10:31:36 up 22:00, 1 user, load average: 0.05, 0.06, 0.05
Tasks: 77 total, 2 running, 75 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie
Cpu(s): 0.0%us, 0.0%sy, 0.0%ni,100.0%id, 0.0%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.0%si, 0.0%st
Mem: 2066392k total, 854948k used, 1211444k free, 181708k buffers
Swap: 4192956k total, 0k used, 4192956k free, 610472k cached

Here is a copy of the ps -aux

USER PID %CPU %MEM VSZ RSS TTY STAT START TIME COMMAND
root 1 0.0 0.0 2060 612 ? Ss Aug06 0:00 init [3]
root 2 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Aug06 0:00 [migration/0]
root 3 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? SN Aug06 0:00 [ksoftirqd/0]
root 4 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Aug06 0:00 [watchdog/0]
root 5 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Aug06 0:00 [migration/1]
root 6 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? SN Aug06 0:00 [ksoftirqd/1]
root 7 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Aug06 0:00 [watchdog/1]
root 8 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Aug06 0:00 [events/0]
root 9 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Aug06 0:01 [events/1]
root 10 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Aug06 0:00 [khelper]
root 11 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Aug06 0:00 [kthread]
root 15 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Aug06 0:01 [kblockd/0]
root 16 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Aug06 0:01 [kblockd/1]
root 17 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Aug06 0:00 [kacpid]
root 103 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Aug06 0:00 [cqueue/0]
root 104 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Aug06 0:00 [cqueue/1]
root 107 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Aug06 0:00 [khubd]
root 109 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Aug06 0:00 [kseriod]
root 177 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S Aug06 0:00 [pdflush]
root 178 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S Aug06 0:01 [pdflush]
root 179 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Aug06 0:00 [kswapd0]
root 180 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Aug06 0:00 [aio/0]
root 181 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Aug06 0:00 [aio/1]
root 345 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Aug06 0:00 [kpsmoused]
root 376 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Aug06 0:00 [ata/0]
root 377 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Aug06 0:00 [ata/1]
root 378 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Aug06 0:00 [ata_aux]
root 382 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Aug06 0:00 [scsi_eh_0]
root 383 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Aug06 0:00 [scsi_eh_1]
root 384 0.1 0.0 0 0 ? S< Aug06 2:24 [kjournald]
root 411 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Aug06 0:00 [kauditd]
root 445 0.0 0.0 2248 608 ? S<s Aug06 0:00 /sbin/udevd -d
root 1172 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Aug06 0:00 [kmpathd/0]
root 1173 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Aug06 0:00 [kmpathd/1]
root 1413 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Aug06 0:00 [kondemand/0]
root 1414 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Aug06 0:00 [kondemand/1]
root 1808 0.0 0.0 12132 652 ? S<sl Aug06 0:02 auditd
root 1810 0.0 0.0 13072 796 ? S<sl Aug06 0:00 /sbin/audispd
root 1841 0.0 0.0 1720 568 ? Ss Aug06 0:03 syslogd -m 0
root 1844 0.0 0.0 1672 400 ? Ss Aug06 0:00 klogd -x
rpc 1894 0.0 0.0 1804 548 ? Ss Aug06 0:00 portmap
root 1931 0.0 0.0 1952 816 ? Ss Aug06 0:00 rpc.statd
root 1976 0.0 0.0 5432 588 ? Ss Aug06 0:00 rpc.idmapd
dbus 2003 0.0 0.0 2740 916 ? Ss Aug06 0:00 dbus-daemon --system
root 2018 0.0 0.0 2140 748 ? Ss Aug06 0:00 /usr/sbin/hcid
root 2022 0.0 0.0 1736 488 ? Ss Aug06 0:00 /usr/sbin/sdpd
root 2047 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Aug06 0:00 [krfcommd]
root 2094 0.0 0.0 12720 1324 ? Ssl Aug06 0:00 pcscd
root 2118 0.0 0.0 1908 436 ? Ss Aug06 0:00 /usr/bin/hidd --server
root 2138 0.0 0.0 9376 1156 ? Ssl Aug06 0:00 automount
root 2161 0.0 0.0 1668 528 ? Ss Aug06 0:00 /usr/sbin/acpid
root 2191 0.0 0.0 6984 1048 ? Ss Aug06 0:03 /usr/sbin/sshd
root 2206 0.0 0.0 9740 2028 ? Ss Aug06 0:00 cupsd
root 2230 0.0 0.0 9016 1856 ? Ss Aug06 0:00 sendmail: accepting connections
smmsp 2238 0.0 0.0 8068 1488 ? Ss Aug06 0:00 sendmail: Queue runner@01:00:00 for /var/spool/clientmqueue
root 2254 0.0 0.0 1896 468 ? Ss Aug06 0:00 gpm -m /dev/input/mice -t exps2
root 2269 0.0 0.0 5256 1104 ? Ss Aug06 0:00 crond
xfs 2298 0.0 0.0 3520 1324 ? Ss Aug06 0:00 xfs -droppriv -daemon
root 2327 0.0 0.0 2240 428 ? Ss Aug06 0:00 /usr/sbin/atd
avahi 2357 0.0 0.0 2560 1364 ? Ss Aug06 0:00 avahi-daemon: running [techsessie.local]
avahi 2358 0.0 0.0 2560 420 ? Ss Aug06 0:00 avahi-daemon: chroot helper
68 2373 0.0 0.1 5352 3592 ? Ss Aug06 0:00 hald
root 2374 0.0 0.0 3124 1060 ? S Aug06 0:00 hald-runner
68 2381 0.0 0.0 1992 808 ? S Aug06 0:00 hald-addon-acpi: listening on acpid socket /var/run/acpid.so
cket
root 2427 0.0 0.0 1984 512 ? S Aug06 0:00 /usr/sbin/smartd -q never
root 2430 0.0 0.0 1652 448 tty1 Ss+ Aug06 0:00 /sbin/mingetty tty1
root 2431 0.0 0.0 1656 452 tty2 Ss+ Aug06 0:00 /sbin/mingetty tty2
root 2432 0.0 0.0 1652 448 tty3 Ss+ Aug06 0:00 /sbin/mingetty tty3
root 2433 0.0 0.0 1652 448 tty4 Ss+ Aug06 0:00 /sbin/mingetty tty4
root 2434 0.0 0.0 1656 448 tty5 Ss+ Aug06 0:00 /sbin/mingetty tty5
root 2437 0.0 0.0 1656 452 tty6 Ss+ Aug06 0:00 /sbin/mingetty tty6
root 2486 0.0 0.4 24412 9876 ? SN Aug06 0:00 /usr/bin/python -tt /usr/sbin/yum-updatesd
root 2488 0.0 0.0 2692 1324 ? SN Aug06 0:00 /usr/libexec/gam_server
68 7693 0.0 0.0 1988 776 ? S Aug06 0:00 hald-addon-keyboard: listening on /dev/input/event1
root 25468 0.0 0.1 10000 2840 ? Ss 09:12 0:00 sshd: root@pts/0
root 25471 0.0 0.0 4532 1408 pts/0 Ss 09:12 0:00 -bash
root 25964 0.0 0.0 4248 948 pts/0 R+ 10:32 0:00 ps -aux
root 25965 0.0 0.0 4156 752 pts/0 S+ 10:32 0:00 less

I am getting better and better at understanding things liux related these days, so i will state what i think is the biggest problem and hope that i am not on the wrong path... i think that basically there are just too many services started that are not needed on a typical LAMP setup.

From my research i found that i could use chkconfig and i found this info.

chkconfig --list|egrep '[123]:on'
acpid 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
anacron 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
apmd 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
atd 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
auditd 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
autofs 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
avahi-daemon 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
bluetooth 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
cpuspeed 0:off 1:on 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
crond 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
cups 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
firstboot 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:off 5:on 6:off
gpm 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
haldaemon 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
hidd 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
ip6tables 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
iptables 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
irqbalance 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
isdn 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
kudzu 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
lvm2-monitor 0:off 1:on 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
mcstrans 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
mdmonitor 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
messagebus 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
microcode_ctl 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
netfs 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
network 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
nfslock 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
pcscd 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
portmap 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
readahead_early 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
restorecond 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
rpcgssd 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
rpcidmapd 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
sendmail 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
setroubleshoot 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
smartd 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
sshd 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
syslog 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
xfs 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
yum-updatesd 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off

If i am correct in my thinking, can someone please tell me which of these i can safely switch off? Or if the list is shorter of what to leave swtiched on then that would also be welcome info for me.

Thanks in advance for any help, i hope one day to be able to help other here.

Sneef