I recently (6/30/07) migrated from old host21 to host28.fremont.linode.com. Since then apache has been periodically dying. Here's an error message I don't understand:

[Sat Jul 7 13:11:06 2007] [notice] Accept mutex: sysvsem (Default: sysvsem)
Allowed memory size of 8388608 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 140 bytes)
Allowed memory size of 8388608 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 140 bytes)
Allowed memory size of 8388608 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 140 bytes)
Allowed memory size of 8388608 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 140 bytes)
Allowed memory size of 8388608 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 140 bytes)
Allowed memory size of 8388608 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 140 bytes)
Allowed memory size of 8388608 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 140 bytes)

This is apache 1.3.33-6sarge3 running in 'Debian 3.1 (Small)' image. The kernel is

Linux alison 2.4.29-linode39-1um #1 Wed Jan 19 12:22:14 EST 2005 i686 GNU/Linux

I did note the caution about installing a 2.6 kernel if certain problems arose as a result of the migration; could I be looking at one of those?

Best,

_________________
Dean Swift

Allowed memory size of 8388608 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 140 bytes)

The message looks like PHP is hitting the 'memory_limit = 8M'.

_________________
/ Peter

Ah...that sheds light on things. Since posting here I have upgraded about two hundred and fifty Debian packages to bring the OS into sync with 'Etch,' and a *lot* of PHP packages were upgraded.

I notice now that a fairly constant stream of php-related entries in apache's error log has dried up. True confessions: I never bothered to resolve them because my principal php application, squirrelmail, did not present any deviant behaviour.

Apache's error log is quiet now. Squirrelmail seems to run ok. Hopefully things will continue on this present course, alleviating the need for small furry animal sacrifice.

_________________
Dean Swift

Don't kill any squirrels!

Just set

memory_limit = 16M

in php.ini. You have twice as much memory after the upgrade - let PHP live a little.

_________________
/ Peter

Oh...ok. Party pooper.



Done. Thanks much.

_________________
Dean Swift

While I believe Squirrelmail respects the PHP memory limit setting, anyone running across this thread should know that there are occasional apps that don't. I spent a few hours beating my head against PhpMyAdmin until I found that it has some config files that override the memory and timeout settings, so I had to change those too......