Badwidth-Hogging Linux Server Causing Trouble

Posted by BlairHippo on Server Fault See other posts from Server Fault or by BlairHippo
Published on 2010-05-04T20:49:09Z Indexed on 2010/05/04 20:58 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 240

Filed under:

linux

|

network

|

ubuntu

We have a Linux server (2.6.28-11-generic #42-Ubuntu) that's misbehaving on a client site, gobbling up an entirely unacceptable percentage of the client's bandwidth, and we're trying to figure out what the heck it's doing. And the guy who had the sysadmin skillset has yet to be replaced.

We're at a loss for what could be causing all that network traffic, and need to figure it out SOON. What log files should I be looking at to find this information? What analysis tools would you recommend for this task?

Please note that I'm not looking for a tool that will allow me to analyze FUTURE traffic. The client is on the verge of shutting the machine off entirely; I need to figure out what it's been doing with the data I already have, if that's at all possible.

My thanks in advance for helping a development monkey play sysadmin.

© Server Fault or respective owner

Related posts about linux

apt-get install and update fail

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I've got a problem with apt-get update and apt-get install ... commands . every time update or installing fails and errors are : Get:1 http://dl.google.com stable Release.gpg [198B] Ign http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable/main Translation-en_US Get:2 http://dl… >>> More
kernel module compiling error

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
sh@ubuntu:/home/ccpp/helloworld$ make gcc-4.6 -O2 -DMODULE -D_KERNEL_ -W -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -isystem /lib/modules/`uname -r`/build/include -c -o hello-1.o hello-1.c hello-1.c:4:0: warning: "MODULE" redefined [enabled by default] <command-line>:0:0: note: this is… >>> More
Build-Essentials installation failing

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I am having trouble accessing the several critical header files that show to be a part of the build process. The "Ubuntu Software Center" shows "Build Essentials" as installed: Next I did the following two commands, which did not improve the problem: ~$ sudo apt-get install build-essential [sudo]… >>> More
Updating Debian kernel

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I'm trying to update my Debian machine to 2.6.32-46 (which is the new stable). However, after doing apt-get update my apt-cache search linux-image shows me: linux-headers-2.6.32-5-486 - Header files for Linux 2.6.32-5-486 linux-headers-2.6.32-5-686-bigmem - Header files for Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem linux-headers-2… >>> More
Serial connection over a single USB cable (Windows to linux, or linux to linux)

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I'm helping out with a project for an embedded device that only has USB and no serial. This device is running Linux. These days, when we need to connect to a serial port on a device we typically use a USB to serial adapter (on something like a phone system or a load balancing device, etc). I would… >>> More

Related posts about network

Changing network type from Unidentified network to Private network on an OpenVPN connection

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
Is it possible to change the connection type in Windows 7? I have a OpenVPN connection which is identified as "unidentified network" and I do not want to apply certain rules to all unidentified networks in the firewall. How does one conquer this? >>> More
nm-applet gone?

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
nm-applet seems to have disappeared from my system. I am running 12.10. Here's what I get when I check my package manager logs: ? ~ grep network-manager /var/log/dpkg.log 2012-10-06 10:37:08 upgrade network-manager-gnome:amd64 0.9.6.2-0ubuntu5 0.9.6.2-0ubuntu6 2012-10-06 10:37:08… >>> More
Ops Center 12c - Provisioning Solaris Using a Card-Based NIC

as seen on Oracle Blogs - Search for 'Oracle Blogs'
It's been a long time since last I added something here, but having some conversations this last week, I got inspired to update things. I've been spending a lot of time with Ops Center for managing and installing systems these days. So, I suspect a number of my upcoming posts will be in… >>> More
C# Neural Networks with Encog

as seen on Geeks with Blogs - Search for 'Geeks with Blogs'
Neural Networks · I recently read a book Introduction to Neural Networks for C# , by Jeff Heaton. http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Neural-Networks-C-2nd/dp/1604390093/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1296821004&sr=8-2-spell. Not the 1st ANN book I've perused, but a nice revision… >>> More
Need for explanation: NetBIOS over TCP/IP on VMware network adapter disturbs access to network share

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
Some time ago nearly all workstations in our team (Windows XP SP2) exhibited intermittend but frequent delays when accessing shares on the network. Typically the first access to a share which hadn't been accessed for some time resulted in a nearly frozen workstation for up to 30 seconds. Then everything… >>> More