RHEL 5 runs out of VM when running Seti

Questions and Answers : Unix/Linux : RHEL 5 runs out of VM when running Seti
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Chris Smith

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Message 718679 - Posted: 26 Feb 2008, 12:20:14 UTC
Last modified: 26 Feb 2008, 12:57:20 UTC

I've been running boinc/seti on a couple of low usage i386 SMP servers for a long time. I recently upgraded one of the servers from RH7.2 to RHEL5 with disastrous results. Seti seems to grab all available VM after a period of time - approx 6 weeks. The OOM Killer targets setiathome but the system eventually grinds to a halt. On both occasions since the upgrade this has happened at the weekend and has required a manual reboot on the Monday morning. RedHat support have suggested, predictably, not running seti on a production server but that doesn't explain why this only happens on the server running RHEL5 and *NOT* on the server running RHEL3. Is there a known memory leak in seti under RHEL5? Seti runs on both cpus on both servers. I also have another server at home under FC5 running seti on 2 cpus and that has never put a foot wrong either.

Regards

Chris
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DJStarfox

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Message 718902 - Posted: 27 Feb 2008, 1:35:54 UTC - in response to Message 718679.  

I'm not sure what the problem is, but obviously RHEL5 has issues with the older hardware you are using. It may be something with generic i386 kernel that doesn't show up on i686 kernels. I'd bet any other BOINC projects would have the same issue. What else runs on these machines? Any other programs with trouble?

My recommendation would be to use an older OS and kernel, such as RHEL3. Even RedHat 9 should be better than what you have now.
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Chris Smith

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Message 721400 - Posted: 3 Mar 2008, 12:57:32 UTC - in response to Message 718902.  

Hi DJStarfox

I'm not sure what the problem is, but obviously RHEL5 has issues with the older hardware you are using.


My original post was misleading as I omitted to say that I also upgraded the hardware at the same time as going to RHEL5 so it ain't that old!

It may be something with generic i386 kernel that doesn't show up on i686 kernels.


I imagine its running the i686 kernel on this hardware.

I'd bet any other BOINC projects would have the same issue. What else runs on these machines? Any other programs with trouble?


The system which displays this problem is a Samba, OpenVPN, DHCP, DNS server. No other programs have any problems. It is low usage which is why I decided it was a candidate for running boinc/setiathome on both processors

My recommendation would be to use an older OS and kernel, such as RHEL3. Even RedHat 9 should be better than what you have now.


Seems a retrograde step to me. I'm planning to bring the other server up to RHEL5 on the same hardware in the near future so I could lose that as a vehicle for boinc/setiathome!

Cheers

Chris


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Chris Smith

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Message 723091 - Posted: 7 Mar 2008, 17:52:34 UTC
Last modified: 7 Mar 2008, 17:53:44 UTC

Whoops! I've just noticed that I'm running boinc_4.43_i686-pc-linux-gnu.sh and the latest is 5.10.28 !!! Not sure what the boinc_ubuntu prefix is about nor can I see how to point run_client to the newer software. Things seem to have changed a bit since I last downloaded the software (2005).

Hmmm...

Chris
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Chris Smith

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Message 724090 - Posted: 10 Mar 2008, 9:06:10 UTC - in response to Message 723091.  

I'm answering my own queries here but...

I found the 5.10.x version, downloaded and ran it to unpack it. Moved the relevant bits to my usual boinc directory, copied boinc to boinc_client, restarted and away we went! No problemo. I have the 5.27 version of setiathome in the projects, now its a case of 'wait and see' if this version runs out of VM.

I tried to do the same on the RHEL3 server but the software requires libstdc++.so.6 which isn't available from the channel, so I downloaded the slightly older 5.8.x version and that runs OK on RHEL3.

So now all 3 servers are running much more recent versions.

Chris
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DJStarfox

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Message 727559 - Posted: 18 Mar 2008, 5:26:30 UTC - in response to Message 724090.  

I'm answering my own queries here but...

I found the 5.10.x version, downloaded and ran it to unpack it. Moved the relevant bits to my usual boinc directory, copied boinc to boinc_client, restarted and away we went! No problemo. I have the 5.27 version of setiathome in the projects, now its a case of 'wait and see' if this version runs out of VM.

I tried to do the same on the RHEL3 server but the software requires libstdc++.so.6 which isn't available from the channel, so I downloaded the slightly older 5.8.x version and that runs OK on RHEL3.

So now all 3 servers are running much more recent versions.

Chris


5.8.16 is the version I would recommend for Linux. If you're running fine on the 5.10.x version, then carry on. There are major differences between the two, and for simplicity of administration, you may want to use the same version on all your machines.

Let me know if that doesn't solve your VM problems.
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Questions and Answers : Unix/Linux : RHEL 5 runs out of VM when running Seti


 
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