Multiple, defunct shell processes

  • Document ID:3247638
  • Creation Date:22-Jul-2007
  • Modified Date:30-Apr-2012
    • Micro Focus Products:
      ZENworks Linux Management

Environment

Novell ZENworks 7.2 Linux Management - ZLM7.2

Situation

When checking processes, it can be seen that multiple shell processes have been launched, for example
root 3797 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? Z Apr10 0:00 [sh]

root 4265 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? Z Apr10 0:00 [sh]

root 7746 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? Z Apr10 0:00 [sh]
root 13408 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? Z Apr10 0:00 [sh]
root 18652 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? Z Apr10 0:00 [sh]
root 32371 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? Z 09:01 0:00 [sh]
root 6379 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? Z 13:23 0:00 [sh]
root 16696 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? Z 18:04 0:00 [sh]
root 16720 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? Z 18:07 0:00 [sh]
These processes have all been spawned from zen-event-watch.

Resolution

To obtain access to a hot patch with the fix for this problem, follow the instructions in KB 3469853 "Updates to Novell ZENworks 7.2 Linux Management" which can be found at https://www.novell.com/support

As a workaround, kill the existing 'zen-event-watcher' process and restart zmd /etc/init.d/novell-zmd process to clean up the existing defunct process.