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
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linux

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network

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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.

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