Requests that don't end - Apache hung

[pfaut]

I've been having problems with my apache server. After a while it stops responding to requests. If I can get in before it is totally gone, I find many sessions in "Sending Reply" mode and all are processing some PHP page. These requests are all very old and there is no TCP/IP connection associated with them.

The only PHP applications I run on my server is a PHPBB forum and Serendipity. I shut down the forums (they were hardly used) and the problem persists with Serendipity.

I have been doing web searches to try to find a solution for this problem. I have found several people having similar problems but I haven't found a solution yet. It appears to be a PHP or a PHP application issue. For some reason, the PHP application is not ending so apache thinks it is still generating a reply. Apache can't do anything if the application isn't responding so apache timeouts do nothing. PHP timeouts don't seem to apply either. I have adjusted a few with no affect on the problem.

Is anyone else having similar problems? Can anyone offer suggestions on where to look for a solution?

[garvinhicking]

Hi!

This can be related to your spamblock plugin and connections this plugin issues to trakcback spam. What are your settings for that plugin?

HOWEVER this problem should not happen because usually PHP and apache timeouts should cover that, so it might be a misconfiguration issue also. You might get help on the Apache or PHP forums to see which timeouts must be applied or looked into.

Best regards,
Garvin

[pfaut]

I'm using the Spam Protector plugin. I think I left most of the settings at defaults. I have 'Check Trackback URLs' enabled but I don't see anything else that should cause an outbound connection.

As I stated, the apache group's opinion seems to be that this is a PHP or application issue.

[garvinhicking]

Hi!

I'm using the Spam Protector plugin. I think I left most of the settings at defaults. I have 'Check Trackback URLs' enabled but I don't see anything else that should cause an outbound connection.

Exactly this setting is known to cause the apache to create unused network connections if the spammers urls do not properly resolve.

You should disable this behaviour.

As I stated, the apache group's opinion seems to be that this is a PHP or application issue.

It is a PHP core problem, a PHP application should not be able to override timeouts or settings. But I believe that PHP can be configured to not allow such timeouts and endless running scripts...

Best regards,
Garvin