CPU/Load issues (FreeBSD, BIND 9.4.1)

Mark Andrews Mark_Andrews at isc.org
Mon Jul 2 23:50:12 UTC 2007


> This is now the third posting I've made, and it's getting frustrating.
> 
> Assume the following:
> 
> I have a server which answers authoritatively for about 20 zones, and
> is caching DNS for about 1000 recursive clients.  This server process
> occasionally eats 90 percent of the CPU and stops responding to {rndc,
> kill -HUP, kill}.  Both our DNS servers do this occasionally, but one
> FAR more than the other.
> 
> What logging level would be useful in finding out what, exactly, the
> server is DOING to cause it to do that.  This level activity can take
> days or weeks to build up.  Sometimes the activity level drops down to
> normal, sometimes it sticks at 95+ percent cpu.  I would LOVE to be
> able to give more information on this, without having to muck my way
> through a debugger.  How do I go about it?

	Sometimes the best way is to muck through with a debugger.
 
> If the answer is "Ask my OS mailing list", please tell me.  If it's
> "buy a BIND support contract", please tell me.  If it's "screw it, the
> latest FreeBSD, the latest BIND, and 2g of ram on a Dell 600SC is
> inadequate to run solely a DNS server and sshd", tell me.

	Well FreeBSD has a 512MB per process limit built into the
	kernel by default.  See your OS documentation for how to
	change this at boot time.
 
> Thanks for any and all help,
> 
> Dan Mahoney
> Frustrated in Long Island
> 
> 
-- 
Mark Andrews, ISC
1 Seymour St., Dundas Valley, NSW 2117, Australia
PHONE: +61 2 9871 4742                 INTERNET: Mark_Andrews at isc.org



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