collectinfo.pl running rampant

Virtualmin
1

Ok, about every 5 minutes, collectinfo.pl runs and it basically slams the CPU, and load. Load will be at about 0.45 and jump to 20.00+ when collectinfo.pl starts running. It seems to lock everything up until it is finished.

Perusing through the code, the only assumption I can come up with is that it is locking a file(s) somewhere that is needed by httpd, such as a log or conf file…

Never had much of a problem with it before… Last night I upgraded webmin, then virtualmin to the latest versions in hopes this would stop.

Is there some sort of log file it is choking on? Anything to look for?

It is getting to the point where I might just disable the job because it is bringing all the sites down…

2

Anyone?

3

Howdy Jafo,

It’s not locking any files that would prevent web service. I’m guessing it’s just overloading your box. I believe 3.49 should have made collectinfo.pl less demanding rather than more…nice is used to run it at the least demanding priority.

Any chance memory is a problem? If Apache gets pushed out to swap, it could make service quite slow.

4

collectinfo.pl has failed a few times lately on my box. I will make a note of the error email report next time it happens.

5
Any chance memory is a problem? If Apache gets pushed out to swap, it could make service quite slow.

Thanks, I really appreciate your reply!

It is possible, however this would be a new thing as it has run fine for about 6 months now. Really have not added anything new to the server and traffic is within normal parameters.

I disabled the cron job last night and my load stats are back to normal.

What adverse affects will this have on virtualmin if it is not running?

6

Any adverse effects?

7

Not really any adverse effects, except you won’t have useful data on the system information page. collectinfo.pl is what gathers that data on a regular basis. This includes the historic graphs.

8

Here’s a couple of recently botched cron jobs.

From root@--.net (Cron Daemon) To root@--.net Date Wed, 19 Dec 2007 07:15:13 -0500 (EST) Subject Cron <root@--> /etc/webmin/virtual-server/collectinfo.pl

Message text

Error: Failed to query Postfix config command to get the current value of parameter
process_id_directory: <tt></tt>
Error

Failed to query Postfix config command to get the current value of parameter process_id_directory:
<tt></tt>
-----

From root@--.net (Cron Daemon) To root@--.net Date Tue, 18 Dec 2007 00:10:03 -0500 (EST) Subject Cron <root@--> /etc/webmin/status/monitor.pl

Message text

postfix::is_postfix_running failed : Failed to query Postfix config command to get
the current value of parameter process_id_directory: <tt></tt> at …/web-lib-funcs.pl
line 980.

9

Any chance this is a virtuozzo virtual server?

10

edit

11

Ooops, I guess I’m in for a hammering now! Admin, please delete the post with all the IP’s… :frowning:

12

My collectinfo.pl was running crazy too.
I upgraded from 3.52 GPL to the Pro, but that didn’t fix it.
I disabled it for now…if you figure it out, let me know.
The body of the emaill would repeat this about 20 times:
quota: Quota file not found or has wrong format.

I disabled quotas, and that still came every 5 minutes.

13

I’m having the same issue as Fuzzie…

mail with this:

quota: Quota file not found or has wrong format. quota: Quota file not found or has wrong format. quota: Quota file not found or has wrong format. quota: Quota file not found or has wrong format.
every 5 minutes even though quota's are disabled..

any idea?

sys info:
Operating system Debian Linux 4.0
Webmin version 1.420
Virtualmin version 3.60.gpl (GPL)
Kernel and CPU Linux 2.6.18-5-amd64 on x86_64

14

Hrm, yeah, that message appears to be generated by calling the quota tools.

So just to verify a few things:

  • Log into Virtualmin, then click Webmin -> System -> Disk Quotas, that quotas are listed as disabled there?

  • Clicking Virtualmin -> Limits and Validation -> Disk Quota Monitoring – is the all the quota monitoring disabled?

Perhaps one of those options is causing what you’re seeing.
-Eric

15

Hi Eric,

Yeah, it’s off in the first option… (all are listed with an Enable quota link behind it.

Can’t find the second option. It’s present on my Virtualmin pro install, but not on the box in question (which is Virtualmin GPL).

Adam

16

I’m having the same problem with collectinfo.pl taking my cpu to 100% every few minutes. It’s just recently started happening and I can’t figure out why. I don’t really see any answers here though.

I’ve had the system up and running for over a year without problem.

17
I'm having the same problem with collectinfo.pl taking my cpu to 100% every few minutes.

But, is it causing an actual problem? (A process taking all available CPU for a short time isn’t actually a “problem”. It’s just doing work. If it is interfering with other, more important tasks…then that would be a problem.)

18

no, no problems with interference, it’s causing my computer to get very loud every few minutes which is driving us crazy though.

19

Heheheh…Your first mistake was letting a server live anywhere near you. Ours are 1500 miles away. :wink:

You can turn off collectinfo.pl, or make it run less often. It is configured in the "Status collection" page in Module Configuration.

Its purpose is to gather information about the system…stuff like memory usage, CPU usage, quotas, number of virtual servers, etc. If you can live with out of date information on the System Information page, or nothing changes very often, then you could set it to run once per day, or similar.

20

perfect. thank you! That makes a world of difference to our sensitive ears.

This is what I get for having a home based server.