very slow system performance

linuxandtsm · 11-01-2013, 05:18 AM

Hi,

Linux system performance is been degraded and so it takes way long to execute simple commands like ls and df etc.

I tried to look at /var/log/messages file but it is empty.
I tried reboot and no luck. I noticed that there 1025 files with name btmp.X.gz (permissions on file are -rw-rw-r-- 1 root utmp) where X=1 to 1024. Not sure what these files are and if they are anything to do with issue.

Any insight into troubleshooting this issue will be greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks!

Code:

[root@lnx09 ~]# ls -ltrh /var/log/messages
-rw------- 1 root root 0 Oct 27 04:02 /var/log/messages
[root@lnx09 ~]# cat /var/log/messages
[root@lnx09 ~]#

One more thing, i noticed many errors in ifconfig output for eth1

Code:

RX packets:4529479 errors:2327904 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:899130
TX packets:5689294 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0

see below for complete output (I removed IP address etc from output)

Code:

[root@usbmlnx0009 ~]# ifconfig -a
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 
          BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
          Interrupt:217

eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 
          inet addr:  Bcast:  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr:  Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:4529479 errors:2327904 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:899130
          TX packets:5689294 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:4141296134 (3.8 GiB)  TX bytes:3746882528 (3.4 GiB)
          Interrupt:225

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:5656 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:5656 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:471054 (460.0 KiB)  TX bytes:471054 (460.0 KiB)

sit0      Link encap:IPv6-in-IPv4
          NOARP  MTU:1480  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

andrewthomas · 11-01-2013, 05:37 AM

Perhaps the logs are not going to messages.

Post the output of

Code:

ls -al /var/log

linuxandtsm · 11-01-2013, 06:08 AM

Hi Andrewthomas,

Please find attached file for the output. I could not post it here as it was too long to post.

Thanks!

andrewthomas · 11-01-2013, 07:23 PM

So you are running Fedora? What version? Your Rsyslog config may be a bit off.

linuxandtsm · 11-06-2013, 02:25 PM

No. It is RHEL 5.3. It used to work just fine earlier though, in terms of performance and logging events in /var/log/messages.

jamison20000e · 11-06-2013, 03:58 PM

I'm not sure if it would be helpful or perhaps temporally to run a programs like BleachBit(carefully) or to clean the system; you looked into the systems monitor or top for out of control pids?

John VV · 11-06-2013, 11:02 PM

Quote:

No. It is RHEL 5.3.

you are aware that the current OLDER rhel5 is RHEL 5.10
and you are 7 minor upgrades behind

and that the current version is RHEL 6.5

well ALL of those backup archives can be deleted
it looks like you never configured "logrotate"
http://linuxcommand.org/man_pages/logrotate8.html

also the old backup bootlogs
boot.log.1 through boot.log.4

the bad login
btmp.1.gz through btmp.1024.gz

and with this rhel5 install missing the last 7 operating system upgrades
and there for WIDE OPEN to the last 4 years ( since 2009) to ALL of the NOW FIXED security holes

if a system that is missing 4 years of updates ,is misbehaving, my FIRST guess will be that you have been comprised .

that and that the log folder is eating ALL of the drive space with old back-ups

andrewthomas · 11-07-2013, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by andrewthomas

Perhaps the logs are not going to messages.

Quote:

Originally Posted by John VV

well ALL of those backup archives can be deleted
it looks like you never configured "logrotate"
http://linuxcommand.org/man_pages/logrotate8.html

Well said John. :-)